This past week at the end of our seminar, the class did an exercise with guided imagery and spirit animals. At first I was a little unsure about the whole thing, but once the exercise started I became open to the experience and was amazed by it!
We started by getting in a comfortable position in a room away from any commotions. We pictured ourselves in a meadow surrounded by woods. In the woods is a river/stream and on the other side of the woods is the beach and then the ocean. We are told that we are feel safe and secure in our environment, free of any fear. We can choose to stay in the meadow, go into the forest, sit by the river/stream, or continue on to the beach. I chose to go and sit by the river and chose a comfortable rock by the bank.
Then we look up and an animal is approaching us. Again, we feel no fear, and are completely at ease. This animal is our own spirit animal. The animal that approached me was a grey wolf. We ask our spirit animal the question that we came to ask. My question is if I was on the correct path (with my life). Without talking, the grey wolf communicated to me that I was doing good, but needed to become closer to the earth and nature. With this, he gave me a present which was a smooth river rock.
After the exercise, our professor read us what some of the animals meant and I do not remember what the wolf meant. I do remember that I was surprised that it fit my current situations however.
Overall I was AMAZED at this exercise. The mind is an amazing thing! I did not realize that I was feeling disconnected from nature until this exercise. I cannot wait to find out what we do this next week in seminar!
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Naomi,
ReplyDeleteI had similar misgivings about this exercise. Honestly, it seemed hokey! However, there has been much about this class, and I'm sure there will be more that has chanllenged my thought processess. I remind myself to keep an open mind. So I tried to that this time.
During the exercise, I chose to stay in the meadow and I saw a brown bear. According to Farmer's book, the brown bear signifies a greater need for relaxation and meditation and was reminder to take time to play. Now I suppose you could say that those apply to many of us, but what made it stand out in my mind was that earlier in the day I had told someone that sometimes I wished I were a kid again and could play and relax more. It seems the exercise only re-inforced what I already knew.
It will be interesting to see what else other exercises we get to try. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Naomi,
ReplyDeleteIt really is about keeping an open mind and allowing our mind to give us clues to consider. I at first was unsure about the exercise, but found it very interesting and like that we get to share during seminar.