Grey breath

Grey breath rising,
swirling in the tree tops.
Pneuma, vital breath, spirit.
You are silent, but you speak to my eyes and my heart
feels your edges dissipate to nothing.
You tell me of where we have been
and how the forest breaths new life.
I am forever drawn to you...
knowing that the disappearing parts of you are in the process
of becoming
that which i do not yet know,
of self,
and the delicate mystery that surrounds and composes me.
I breath you in...
and as I exhale
I lend you my voice.

A Land Prayer

The following is a prayer inspired by the entrainment exercise

I drink the waters of khaos, and I am given love
I slip under its current, and its thoughts are my own
the cycle of life is turned
I am khaos

I grew from the land, nourished by khthon
my bones are made from the ancestors,
the soil is rich with their wisdom and memories
I am khthon

I breath in the air and khora sees through my eyes,
moving my feet and moving my mind and moving my heart
the land is my skin and the air is my breath
I am khora

you are khaos
you are khthon
you are khora

we are chaos
we are khthon
we are khora

The reference to khaos (chaos) is from the Greek creation narrative, as with Khora being the landscape and spirit of place it self, and Khthon being the soild and underworld.

Bioregional Animist Entrainment

Find a wild place...
Stand there... relax... open up... heighten your alertness and awareness... feel... sensitize... breath... pay Attention...
BE receptive and responsive most importantly...
Feel the air move around your hands... your hands and face... the skin is so sensitive... you can feel even the Slightest movements of air around your face and hands... allow those currents of air to move you... follow them... There is a moving stream of consciousness... of spirit that is the intelligence of space, the spirit of place the mind Of place... this is who you are. its a part of all that is... but its still localized here and now all around you and under Your feet....
Open your self up to this... be thins... embody this spirit of place... surrender as an offering the delusion that you Are separate entities... and just allow yourself to be this place AS WELL as YOU. you can do it.... its easy if you Try...
Your flesh and bones is its body... your mind is its mind... there's just one... allow it to move you... relax... Breath... feel... allow the feelings to move and guide you... trust... relax...feel the tensions and the resistances in Your body... scan for them... feel them emotionally and with thought... identify them... they are resistances to this Guidance... why are they there... what are you afraid of? surrender for a moment...
There is a stream of warm clear water flowing over smooth stones... slip into it... this is what its like... just slip in... Tune your self, resonate... think of it in what ever way you need... sing a song that is in tune with the voice of the Place, dance a pattern that is a pattern of the place, drum or rattle a rhythm that is the rhythm of the place... you Are Entraining your mind and body to be one with this place that you are... find a way.. ask for a way... this mind Of your after all and this voice after all is the voice of the wild place you find your self in...
Listen... pay attention... remember... be receptive and responsive...
You feel it... its moving you... its guiding you... there is no it no you... the difference, whats between has blurred, There is now a synergy... a new awareness... you are that which is guiding you and what is guiding you is you... This is synergy...
This is it... this is bioregional animism...
It's not just a combination of bioregionalism and animism.
It's not an idea... a belief... or a concept...
It's a felt reality...
An Expereince you can have...
Be where you are...
Go out side...
Breath...
Be receptive and responsive...
Breath... move... feel... be...

The Entrainment

Transformation Principle

"A physics phenomenon of resonance, first observed in the 17th century, has an effect on all of us. Entrainment is defined as the tendency for two oscillating bodies to lock into phase so that they vibrate in harmony. It is also defined as a synchronization of two or more rhythmic cycles. The principle of entrainment is universal, appearing in chemistry, pharmacology, biology, medicine, psychology, sociology, astronomy, architecture and more. The classic example shows individual pulsing heart muscle cells. When they are brought close together, they begin pulsing in synchrony. Another example of the entrainment effect is women who live in the same household often find that their menstrual cycles will coincide.

Discovery of Entrainment.

The history of entrainment is linked to Dutch scientist, Christian Huygens in 1665. While working on the design of the pendulum clock, Huygens found that when he placed two of them on a wall near each other and swung the pendulums at different rates, they would eventually end up swinging in at the same rate. This is due to their mutual influence on one another."

The process of Entrainment has been noted in transpersonal psychology and has been worked with in neoshamanic circles as well as in work with the manipulation of consciousness by various means. Entrainment is indeed universal "appearing in chemistry, pharmacology, biology, medicine, psychology, sociology, astronomy, architecture and more." It is a phenomena within nature, and a common one at that... synchronization and synergy are also ways of looking at the product of Entrainment. Entrainment can be consciously produced via many practices spiritually, and it would be my argument that many animist practices of altering consciousness are aimed at some sort of Entrainment in general. Doing this practice as described above aids one in getting a much deeper understanding of bioregional animism. Being able to feel the land as part of ones self and to be able to feel that the land feels you as a part of its self is basically the root experience of Bioregional animism. I created this practice in the hope that more people would be able to actually feel and experience bioregional animism out side of it just being an idea for them. Please feel free to post your experiences with the practice...

A bioregional animist film by Rogerio

"Many mistakes I have made... still do. But I realize now that breathing is a gift that can be shared, nurtured and grown. Enjoying to do so, means I still have the strength to give something back to Earth before I surrender my body to her as final offering."
-Rogerio

It is my honor to present this art and message.......

I Stand With You Against the Disorder by Jeanette Armstrong

I was extremely excited to read this article... I have learned so much from the Okanagan people. They have been a great source of inspiration to me in the past and have informed much of the work in BRA I have shared here.

"Okanagans teach that the body is Earth itself. Our flesh, blood, and bones are Earth-body; in all cycles in which Earth moves, so does our body. We are everything that surrounds us, including the vast forces we only glimpse. If we cannot continue as an individual life form, we dissipate back into the larger self. "

"As Okanagans we say the body is sacred. It is the core of our being, which permits the rest of the self to be. It is the great gift of our existence. Our word for body literally means “the land-dreaming capacity.”

"The emotional self is that which connects to other parts of our larger selves around us. We use a word that translates as heart. It is a capacity to form bonds with particular aspects of our surroundings. We say that we as people stay connected to each other, our land, and all things by our hearts"

"I do know that people must come to community on the land. The transiency of peoples crisscrossing the land must halt, and people must commune together on the land to protect it and all our future generations. Self-sustaining indigenous peoples still on the land are already doing this. They present an opportunity to relearn and reinstitute the rights we all have as humans."

Please take the time to read her words in yes magazine...
http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=1346

Living it

Nanci...

Living an animist lifestyle helps me to be in balance with all people of creation, whether I understand them as teachers, medicine helpers, brothers, or sisters. Listening to their sense of knowing and learning how that relates to my own sense of knowing and well being helps me to be a more well rounded person in my own right. It assists me in practicing empathy and compassion for all of my human and other than human community.
Intentional mutual respect with all people allows me to maintain a balance in my own life and helps me not to enforce my will, but to harmonize and blend with theirs to create a higher vibration in the universe.
Bioregionally practicing animism gives me a sense of place and belonging, as an individual, as well as part of the larger community. I also feel that having a bioregional philosophy only serves to strengthen my commitment to walking in my life ways and cultural teachings. There is something about being on your own soil or ancestral ground that gives you a stronger sense of who you are and more of a commitment to the future generations to come, which is a very big part of native teachings and way of life...The Seven Generations.

Synergy is Shamanry

syn·er·gy (snr-j)

n. pl. syn·er·gies

1. The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.

2. Cooperative interaction among groups, especially among the acquired subsidiaries or merged parts of a corporation, that creates an enhanced combined effect.

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[From Greek sunergi, cooperation, from sunergos, working together; see synergism.]
[New Latin synergismus, from Greek sunergos, working together : sun-, syn- + ergon, work; see werg- in Indo-European roots.]

Years ago, sitting in my bedroom with my very good friend Eric, we passed back and forth Eagles and crows feathers... and we discussed the relationship between Law and Freedom. At one point I handed Eric a handful of eagle feathers... over a dozen I believe. They were to many eagle feathers for him to hold so he handed them back to me. I sat above him for a moment, and I wished that he would understand how to hold and work with an eagles feather. Spirit moved through my words at that moment and eagle filled the room as well as wolf. I told Eric that when he smudged some one with an eagle feather he was not "using" the feather, controlling it, but instead the eagle was there still a part of the feather and that all he must do is hold the intention in his mind to cleanse with the feather and smoke. The feather started to move his hand and arm on its own, and his face turned to a look of pure amazement. I could feel the insight and the excitement that comes from realization, at that moment spirit and I shared with him that shamanry is not using nature or spirit to our own end, but holding a larger intention that nature holds as well and WORKING WITH NATURE to accomplish what is truly needed. Eric bowed and was grateful to learn this, and I sat down next to him on the floor once more, just as much a holy fool as he.

I've discovered that the definition of the word synergy is what was being communicated through me, from the whole, that evening. It was eagles message and wolfs message to both of us that night. I had never known that that was how I worked or the insight that spirit was gestating within me for so many years until I had had an opportunity to teach it to my beloved friend. This point of view on shamanry and animism is what I try to share so much in my work... SYNERGY...
In so many ways, animism is the spiritual practice of natural synergy.