Tapping into Our Breath and Purifying Our Hearts. Guidance from Beetle Wisdom.

Posted by Barbara Techel

How are you doing? Know that I think of you often and I’m holding a place of love and peace in my heart for each of you.

So today I pulled two oracle cards for us asking the question: What do we all most need to know right now as we continue to navigate this time of uncertainty?

The first card I pulled from The Wisdom of the Oracle is Breathe and it came out in reverse. In this deck when in reverse it means protection.

I meditated longer than usual this morning and pulling this card I felt myself move to another level of calm and peace and actually let out a sigh when I turned the card over. It’s such a beautiful reminder that we must take time to really breathe right now. When uncertain and afraid, it’s a natural tendency to forget to breathe or breathe shallowly.

So this card is a reminder to check-in with yourself when fear arises. When we take time, even for two minutes to check how we are breathing and stop to take some deep inhales, it helps to settle our nervous system, which at times of fear and uncertainty as we are currently experiencing, puts us into fight or flight mode.

We tend to want to hold our breath when we feel fear as a way to control a certain outcome or situation. More now than ever, we are being called to go within and one of the best ways is through slowing down, tuning into our breath, and listening to our soul. This requires a great deal of trust at times, but I’ve found time and time again how beneficial and helpful it is. Remember to have patience with yourself and that this is a practice. One day, one hour, one moment at a time. We can do this.

When we connect to our breath, we connect to something far greater that is supporting us. It’s something we can tend to forget in times of stress. But our breath brings us back to that connection to how we define our higher power and helps us remember we aren’t alone.

The animal guiding us as we remember to breathe is a card I pulled from Animal Kin Oracle and it is Beetle with the word purity. Did you feel another shift to a more calm place within with that word purity? I sure did.

The symbol above the Beetle is representative of Spirit. When we tap into our breath and slow ourselves down we are cleansing our hearts of fear. When we do so, we can more easily feel that we are protected and being taken care of by an energetic force we can’t see, but can feel if we tap into moments of stillness and taking deeper breaths more often.

Sarah Wilder, author of this deck says this of Beetle: “These curious creatures have the ability to tunnel and burrow to chambers to store food.”

I see this as a message for us that in order to refill our reserves that may be feeling depleted during this time, it’s vitally important right now to take time to journey inward and look at what needs healing for ourselves personally. This will add to the collective in a transformational way as we each do our personal work.

I can’t tell you how often in the last week I’ve thought about the deep healing journey I took two years ago around this exact time as I healed a childhood wound which I wrote about in my newest memoir. I have felt such gratitude for having done that inner work. I feel certain it is what has helped me move through these challenging times with much more ease. I still have my moments of fear as I’m human just like anyone else, but the tools I’ve been practicing and tapping into for the past twenty years have been so helpful to me.

Beetle reminds us that we are being asked to clear out what no longer works, get out of our own way, and open to something far greater than we can even imagine right now.

While the Beetle has a hard shell, it’s wings open to the most beautiful of translucent colors and is such a sweet reminder that we will each experience this too as we stay connected to our breath, focus on healing, and tapping into what most matters. This is what will give our wings new life and together we will bring about a new and better world.

I’m Here to Support You

If you are struggling with how to cope through these challenging times, I’m here to support you with my oracle readings and intuitive guidance sessions. In my own life and the clients I’ve worked with, I’ve been so moved many times at how this simple, but profound tool, often guides us to see a perspective we’d not considered and how that can move us to a space of peace.

So please feel reach out to me if I can be of service to you. I’ve reduced my rates to help during this time to $60 for an hour session. You can email me through my contact page here or barb (at) joyfulpaws (.com) to set up a session.

Much love and peace to you.

xo,

Barbara

This Morning. I heard it and I felt it.

Posted by Barbara Techel

This past Monday, a friend had posted on her Facebook wall asking if other’s were feeling the peaceful energy since the crisis we are experiencing began?

While a part of me was, other parts of me were feeling anxious though I was incorporating meditation two to three times a day, deep breathing, etc. which was helping to keep me grounded.

Before I share what I felt this morning, I have to be honest in telling you that when I saw that post, I was thirteen hundred miles from home. I was feeling quite a bit of guilt for having left on a vacation in our R-pod just three days before. 

Our intention was to be as self-contained as possible which we felt we achieved and John and I took every necessary precaution and came in contact with very few people.

Our plan all along had been to treat this three-week vacation as a test of someday living in a warmer climate for a few months in our R-pod a few months out of the year. So that meant we’d pretty much function as we did at home, only going out to eat one night a week or one day a week for lunch. We hadn’t planned on doing much site seeing, but just relaxing, doing a little work we’d brought along, going for walks and enjoying the warm weather. We wanted to also do the trip as cost-efficient as possible.

Full disclosure is that I had some conflicted feelings before we left. But in the end, John and I felt we’d be okay with the plan we’d made and the fact that we’d be traveling by car (and R-pod). 

On Sunday when the news came of restaurants and bars closing down, the worry of being far from home and questioning the decision we’d made increased the anxiety I was feeling. 

But again, in being honest, I also didn’t want to trap myself in the fear. I still feel that way. While I believe at my core this crisis will bring about a new and better world, the truth is that at times I too feel afraid. But I’m also feeling grateful for the practices I’ve put in place since beginning my spiritual journey twenty years ago as they are the foundation that is helping me.

Monday late afternoon we received notice from the KOA campground office that as of Wednesday they’d be closing indefinitely, though we were free to stay and they’d be available via phone. As I’m sure you’ve all felt in your own way, things just seemed to escalate so fast. It was at times hard to wrap our heads around what was transpiring.

Moments after receiving that notice, John and I sat in our R-pod and talked about how we were feeling. We were sad, mad, disappointed, and a myriad of our own individual feelings, but in the end, we decided to head back home.

I know I can’t live in that space of feeling guilt as it won’t serve me or anyone in a positive way. I also know I have to have compassion for myself. It’s something that really hit home as we were traveling the roads back home, the world still in many ways functioning around us. Coming across town after town along the highway seeing empty parking lots at malls, no lights on in many buildings, and closed signs on many restaurants (though some remained open), there was such diversity in perspective that flashed through my mind. 

And as I circle back to continue to practice self-compassion, I find my heart cracking open more and more, and having compassion for others and their choices and situations, knowing that so many are doing the best they can – that they too are absorbing the enormity of what is unfolding the best they can and in their own time.

This morning as I woke, I looked out the window next to my bed. I keep the shade open about three inches to let in the morning light – and I heard and felt that peaceful energy my friend had written about earlier in the week.

It was, and is, deeply healing. This slowing down and coming back to what truly matters is at the heart of what I believe we are being called to do and this is what I believe will bring about a new world that has been wanting to be birthed for a long time now.

And as I opened the shades on the patio doors, I saw life fluttering about with my winged friends and a red squirrel taking great delight in eating birdseed. This moved me to another level of peace and healing. The animals are here guiding us and to remind us that there is hope. Thank you so much, sweet friends.

Mr. Red Squirrel on my patio table

Much love and peace to each of you.

xo,

Barbara

Guidance from Whale Spirit During These Challenging Times

Posted by Barbara Techel

I’m thinking of all of you as we go through this challenging and unprecedented time in our world. I hope you are finding ways to stay calm, grounded and centered. For the most part, I’m feeling centered, though in being honest, I have had a few moments of feeling scared too. This is natural and vital for each of us to feel our way through this.

And this is one of the teachings (of many) I believe is unfolding from this time. We are being called to hold it all, be in a space of flow, acceptance, and surrender, and find peace within, plus feel the myriad of feelings we feel.

I’ve been using some of my tools in my toolbox more of late like 5-10 minute meditations two to three times a day. I’ve also been practicing, even more, to stop and take deep breaths, and taking time to reflect on the bigger perspective of this time and my belief that we will get through this and we will all be better for it.

Another tool I find helpful and always feel comforted by is tapping into the energy of animals and so I chose a card for us today from The Spirit Animal Oracle.

I pulled Whale Spirit in protection and the message on the card is Trust in the Great Mystery.

Because it came out in reverse we are being called to check in with ourselves when we feel scared. When we are frightened we are giving in to fear (again, totally natural). But this is truly a mystery of what is unfolding right now and we are being called to trust that this is all for the better of our planet. To trust that we will, and already are, learning from this. 

I see Whale Spirit card as a message that this is a time to really lean into your connection with a higher power, no matter how you define it, God, Spirit, Goddess, Universe, etc.

Last night I woke in the middle of the night and my thoughts started to spiral. But I stopped myself and felt into an experience I had almost two years ago when I had a transitional breath session. I recalled how after that session, for the first time in my 55 years, I felt this undeniable energy, and what I identified as God that enveloped me with this deeply touching love I’d never felt before in my life.

I knew in that moment that I was worthy and that I was safe. I had always been. And I hope this is of some help for you too that I share this. It also reminds me  of when listening to Marianne Williamson when in her meditations she says, “God is here.”

So just like what we are going through right now and we don’t know how it will all unfold, we have to trust in what we can’t see. But know we are safe and are being guided by a loving force that is there.

Lastly, I share this from the booklet that I find comforting and I hope it will serve you in this way too:

“You must trust absolutely that what will come will be for the highest good. Stay in your present moment awareness and allow the Hidden Realms to hold your intentions safely until it is time for them to manifest in the Realm of Form. Let go, for you will not be left behind.”

Sending you all so much love and light!

xo,

Barbara