Shifts, Changes and Moving On by Saralee Sky

In the words of the great Joseph Campbell: “We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”

In that spirit, and with some trepidation and heaviness of heart, I have decided to close Babynut/Womb To Grow down by the end of March, 2010. I have enjoyed so much making this small gesture to the Universe. It has been a huge focal point for me and a way for me to reach out to mothers and babies and offer love, support, information and healthy products. I have no idea what I will do next. I guess I will just have to see what is waiting for me.

Taking this leap of faith and shutting down Babynut reminds me of the first time I discovered I was pregnant in 1975. I did not plan this pregnancy. I was unprepared for it and completely surprised. But some inner place of knowing spoke inside of me and said, “You can do this.” And so I did. My son Joseph Ananda is 34 now and expecting his own first child in August. I let go of the life I had planned and walked into the life that was waiting for me.

In 1987 I attended my 20th high school reunion. It was the first – and the last – reunion I had ever attended. While there I renewed my friendship with my old high school beau, Nunzio. He was a chiropractor and living in West Virginia. He invited me to come and see what he was creating in a little town called Summersville. I did eventually visit Summersville, where I was totally miserable for the entire visit. Again that inner voice said, “You can do this.” In April of 1988, my family and I moved to Summersville from Sebastopol, California(!), and I became a therapist for abused and neglected children. I let go of the life I had planned and walked into the life that was waiting for me.

In April of 2003, my second grandchild, Jordan Gabriel, was born. I had been working full-time as the director of a Camp Fire USA Council, and also helping to take care of Jordan’s older sister, Crystal. Jordan’s birth called out to me as an opportunity to stay at home with him for a few months. I resigned from Camp Fire with the idea of spending the summer at home and looking for a job in September. During the months from April to November, Womb To Grow/Babynut was born. I let go of the life I planned and walked into the life that was waiting for me.

And so here I am again; letting go, wondering where it will lead. I have loved (almost) every minute of my time as Babynut’s owner/manager. I hope that I have been able to provide healthy products, help and inspiration to my customers and readers. I wish us all love and shalom and we walk into the life that is waiting for us.

The Feminine Power of Yin

As I get ready to celebrate Babynut's 6th birthday, I feel called to celebrate not only Babynut, but all women and their magical ability to create and nurture life and to give birth. This is the Power of Yin; of nurturing and holding life. It is the power of Shakti, the Feminine Principle.
Here is what Sharon McErlane*, author of Our Love is Our Power has to say about the primal energy of Woman:
Women embody "not the yang-based power that is nearly worshipped in our world, but real power. Woman as the container, the wheel, the Mother ship, She who HOLDS. These ideas are foreign in our culture, foreign in our world. For thousands of years woman has been treated as the 'second sex' the 'also ran' of the human family, told to 'stand behind' men and know her place. Woman as shakti, the Feminine Principle, the elemental power of the universe, is not something our culture understands."
To all of the women who read this article, I say, embrace in your power. Visualize yourself as the vessel that you are. Sit in meditation and imagine yourself holding all that you love - your children, your spouse, your family, your friends. Now expand your vessel, your holding, to include the place where you live, all the animals and plants and people in your town, even the people or animals you don't like. Just hold them.
As you get comfortable with this exercise, you can expand your holding to include more and more of the Earth and all that dwell in and upon it. There is no limit to your holding. You are one with the Great Mother.
When a woman holds and contains, she is coming from the foundation of her power, the Power of Yin. Yin is the complementary universal force to Yang, which goes out into the world and is active and strong. But Yang cannot exist without Yin, and for much too long, women have been unaware of their power.
If a woman tries to imitate the Yang way men are powerful in the world, she will be a shadow of her real self. To be powerful, to be the mother that you are, you must learn how to hold, to be a vessel of love and strength and light.
I created Babynut as a way to hold all babies in the womb or newly born, all women pregnant, giving birth or caring for newborns. I believe that the time a child is in the womb and the first few years after birth is the most important time in that child's life. How babies are held in the womb and then birthed and held as they grow strong enough to walk on their own will determine how safe they feel in the world, how much they feel loved and nurtured, and in turn are able to love and nurture themselves and others.
Now is the time for women to own their power. I feel blessed to be living in a time when I can help to heal and rebalance the Earth with the Power of Yin. I am now a grandmother and am in the Autumn of my life. Before it is my time to go, I hope to grow strong with the Power of Yin, with holding.
"When the wisdom of the Grandmothers is heard, the world will heal." Native American Prophecy

*To learn more about Sharon McErlane and the wisdom of the Grandmothers, click here.

Dragon's Breath by Saralee Sky

I received a gift from my friend Cherryne for my birthday in March. It was a little copper dragon holding a crystal heart. I thought this was a lovely and interesting choice and at first did not know what to do with it. I set it on my altar table which is filled with pictures and other spiritual objects like crystals and feathers and semi-precious stones. Still the little dragon called out to me.
I picked it up and discovered that it had little loops on the back. So I put it on a silver chain and started wearing the dragon around my neck. A few months later I received an email from my friend, Cathy. She told me that in her meditation she saw me sitting on a rock with my hair blowing in the wind. And she heard the words "dragon's breath". She asked me if I knew what that meant. I told her about the little dragon I wore on a chain, but I really didn't know what the words "dragon's breath" meant.
A few days later Cathy sent me another email. She spoke with a Reiki Master about dragon's breath and learned that Dragons Breath was one of the Archetypal Reiki Cards created by Dorothy May. Dragon's Breath = Spritual Initiation.
"The dragon is a powerful symbol that represents life force and great potency. This is the time to step into your power. Dragons also guard treasure. The treasure that your dragon guards may be your precious Higher Self.
"In ancient times it was thought that, hidden in a cave guarded by a dragon, lay a horde of gold and jewels. This symbolism commonly represents the spiritual wisdom buried in the unconscious. The winged dragon is a powerful symbol of transcendence and can mean ascension to spiritual and mystical heights. The dragon's breath is like the fire of purification....
"Think of the dragon as a powerful ally that can help you to build up and contain your power. Use the dragon as a spirit guide and its breath will strengthen your ki. Try saying this: 'With the dragon's breath I blow power into my soul.'"
Wow!
I started thinking more and more about the dragon and dragon's breath. I realized it was no coincidence that two friends - one in California and one in Michigan - thought of the dragon in regards to me. I have written a bajan (sacred chant) about dragon's breath. Here are the words:
Dragon's breath blow into my soul. (2 times)
Dragon's fire purify me. (2 times)
Spirit Guide show me my power. (2 times)
I sing it over and over. I play it on a dulcimer and would like to add a strong drum beat to it. It calls out for drums!
Here is a guided meditation that Cathy also sent to me:
You are in a misty, foggy place with lots of stone around. It is an ancient place. You feel the power of this place and know you are here for an important reason. You are here to do the work of the dragon.
You see a large, old tree with hanging branches. In its shade is a carved stone bench. You sit on the bench and look all around you. A single golden flower calls to you. You stare at it and in its center you see emerging a beautiful gold and green dragon. Fire comes out of the dragon's nostrils, but it is not a fire that consumes. It is the fire of purification. You ask the dragon if it is here to help you. It tell you mind to mind that, yes, it is here to help you as long as you need its fire power and energy.
The dragon indicates that you are to climb upon its back and hold on to the spikes on its neck. You comply, though you are afraid. You discover that the spikes do not hurt, for they are covered in soft leather. As the dragon flies through the air and up and over the earth, you enjoy the power and freedom the ride gives you. You are being infused with the power of the dragon. As you breathe, your exhalations resemble fiery dragon's breath, for the two of you have become one.
You know that you have stepped into your own spiritual power, with the help of the dragon and the dragon's breath.
I am grateful to my friends Cherryne and Cathy for helping me to connect with the dragon, with the dragon's breath and with my own spiritual power. I am still learning the lessons the dragon has to teach. I offer it to you now.

Tend and Befriend - NOT Fight or Flight by Saralee Sky

A landmark UCLA study suggests that women respond to stress with a cascade of brain chemicals that cause us to make and maintain friendships with other women. It's a stunning find that has turned five decades of stress research—most of it on men—upside down.

"Until this study was published, scientists generally believed that when people experience stress, they trigger a hormonal cascade that revs the body to either stand and fight or flee as fast as possible," explains Laura Cousino Klein, Ph.D., now an Assistant Professor of Biobehavioral Health at Penn State University and one of the study's authors. "It's an ancient survival mechanism left over from the time we were chased across the planet by saber-toothed tigers."

Now the researchers suspect that women have a larger behavioral repertoire than just "fight or flight."

"In fact," says Dr. Klein, "it seems that when the hormone oxytocin is released as part of the stress responses in a woman, it buffers the 'fight or flight' response and encourages her to tend children and gather with other women instead." When she actually engages in this tending or befriending, studies suggest that more oxytocin is released, which further counters stress and produces a calming effect.

"This calming response does not occur in men," says Dr. Klein, "because testosterone—which men produce in high levels when they're under stress—seems to reduce the effects of oxytocin. Estrogen seems to enhance it."

This information makes so much sense to me! I have on occasion been ready to do battle to defend or protect my children, but my more consistent reaction to a stressful situation is to step back from it if it is dangerous, or calmly try to resolve the issue - talk it out. When I am unable to deal with the situation directly, I will pay attention to other people - my children or grandchildren, baking cookies or caring for them in some other way. I will also start cleaning and attending to minute details to try and manage the overwhelming feelings the stress is causing. I always figured something was WRONG with me when actually I am simply responding the way women are wired to respond.

The discovery that women respond to stress differently than men was made in a classic 'AHA' moment shared by two women scientists who were talking one day in a lab at UCLA. "There was this joke that when the women who worked in the lab were stressed, they came in, cleaned the lab, had coffee, and bonded," says Dr. Klein. "When the men were stressed, they holed up somewhere on their own."

Going to friends for succor and support is a very healthy way to deal with any sort of stressful situation. It helps us move the stress through our physical and emotional bodies and begin the healing process. Our women friends can give us the emotional support that the men in our lives may be unable to provide.

So go ahead and call that friend of yours you've been meaning to call. Meet for tea and have a nice, satisfying chat.

*The informatino in this blog came from an article by Gale Berkowitz.