Intuitive messages in symbols and synchronicities
Guest blog: by Sebastian Deans, Shiatsu Therapist and Teacher
What does it mean to connect to the fabric of life and the greater consciousness?
Connection to being a part of Life as it is (as we are) happening in the present moment and interpreting patterns and signs in Life to mean something in us, with how our lives are. Carl Jung called these timely signs ‘Synchronicities’. This is similar to people saying “Life is not happening TO you … it is happening WITH you”... I may even say that it is happening AS you.
Messages in nature
When I was younger (coming out of a stage of heavy drinking and mild drug use to mask earlier trauma and the resulting emotions I did not want to face) I was becoming more aware of Self, Life, Spirit and ways of approaching it all in an integrated way.
I read about a Native American ceremony called a ‘vision-quest’ performed alone in Nature. I decided I would try a miniature version that Summer – I arranged a circle of stones (a medicine wheel) in the meadow behind the house, I judged by eye the angle of the sun in the sky giving myself a single day within which to see what ‘signs’ Life brought along (in truth I was looking for the big bang, the blinding light, etc). I was to stay in the circle for the day without food or water, though being epileptic I felt a small amount of both would be wise. I waited and watched.
As the evening drew in, my mind still buzzing like the summer bugs, I sat and watched Nature happening around me, checking in with a book of sign interpretation:
the mist rolled in - Mystery
an owl flew over and around me before disappearing - Ability to see through people or situations, Messages from the Dead or Wisdom
rain began to fall in the depth of the night - Cleansing
Messages from ancestors
Finally discomfort set in… there was no interpretation in the book for this. I would like to add that the book stated that it was a basic starting point and that we need to recognise our own interpretation or meanings. For example, my father had always said that when he died he would like to come back as a barn owl. When I was 10 years old he died of Kidney failure, and yes… it was a barn owl that flew around me that night.
However, as I was looking for ‘the great Spiritual Insight’ to hit me between the eyes, I overlooked all of these! By the following day I was tired and disgruntled and full with my own blocked wishes and lack of Love. I stood up, almost giving in as the sun neared the place it had started the day before, and childishly said out loud “if there isn’t a clear sign Now, then I’m going to give up on all of this spiritual stuff and trying to find peace in myself!!”.
Powerful symbols
At that point I looked over to where a ray of light seemed to be shining nearby on a young oak sapling no more than 4-5ft high… I had never noticed it before (and haven’t been able to reliably find it since!) I walked over to it and remembered how the oak tree grows slowly, how it can hold and support more types of Life than any other tree in Britain by a long margin.
I felt this in myself, interpreting this sign in an embodied way as if being gently told – “this is you… you are young like this oak, allow time to grow, much in life will be held and supported by you being this way”.
In hindsight, of course, the other signs held so much for me too. In the moment it seemed to take me pushing myself and Life until almost giving up before I could see something, allow something, to be a sign and be interpreted as self; inside and out. When we are trying to push on through Life without shifting perspective, or taking time and space to be part of Life, then we feel pushed around / pressured / overwhelmed by Life … We push in Life, Life pushes back … Though perhaps we can be part of Life happening and take moments to find where Love is, in ourselves, and so by allowing this… Life is Loved, and Life Loves back.
Importance of centring
For anyone, but especially when we are sensitive, it is important to find anything that helps us to be able to settle into a sense of our ‘centre’ (our metaphorical Heart-space, to ground into our Body-Soul) and to become aware of symbols and messages presented to us. To simply breathe, re-centre and relax allows for the more stuck perspective, the babble of voices and feelings of overwhelm, the drama to soften or even drift away thus allowing for the broader perspective, for Love to return inside and out, for things to make sense and for the sign that ‘Life is happening WITH us’ to again be the Way.
There are many ways of finding our centre; I offer treatments of Shiatsu as well as teaching it, one can learn QiGong, Yoga, Martial Arts, or simply by dancing. Perhaps it is through the inspiration of Art or Music or Prayer / Meditation, even simply catching oneself in the moment and shifting our perspective and feeling, as I mentioned. The main thing, which was stated over one of the early Greek Philosophy schools, is to ‘know yourself’… and you will soon come to learn what is your centre and what is not of you.
"Allowing Life's circumstances to direct your Heart,
get drawn out of your centre,
and lose what is needed
Allowing your Heart to direct your Life's circumstances,
stay in your centre,
and draw out what is needed"
Basti Deans, Shiatsu Therapist and Shiatsu College Teacher.
Email: shiatsu.sebastian@gmail.com / 07789 071761
