A Brief Discussion on the Progressed Moon in the 6th House

This material is copyrighted by M Kirby Moore. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. Thank you for visiting! You can visit http://www.mkirbymoore.com to see what Kirby offers.

Progressed Moon in the 6th House

This is a post about a topic within Western Astrology, and as a result, I am writing for people who have a limited to moderate understanding of Western Astrology. Without such a background, you will still get something out of reading this, but you may not grok the slightly technical language. Specifically this post is about the Progressed Moon, which moves through the chart at approximately one degree per month, meaning it is in an Astrological House for an average of 26 – 30 months. Therefore we have small two plus year cycles as the Progressed Moon moves from sign to sign and from house to house.

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The sign does make a difference. However, some of what I am about to describe will pertain to anyone’s Pr. Moon in the 6th House, no matter what sign it is in. There will be a recognizable difference though between a Pr. Moon in an earth sign (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn) which resonates with the earthy 6th house, versus being in a less grounded sign like Pisces, Sagittarius or Gemini for instance.

So what does the Pr. Moon in the 6th house mean? Remember the Pr. Moon will be in the 6th house for at least two years and possibly closer to three years. It is a time of preparation. It is a time of completion. It is a time of increased self-discipline. And it is a time to relish resting in the discomfort of appropriate growth. In the following paragraphs, I will unpack each of these concepts further. A) Preparation, B) Completion, C) Self-discipline, and D) the Discomfort of Appropriate Growth.

It turns out that A) and C) go quite well together, and while we are at it, we should probably throw D) in that same mix as well. What do I mean? Well think about the Astrology Chart from a larger perspective. The 1st house through the 5th house reflects a time (or essence or energy) of Self-Orientation. And then, the 7th through 11th houses have to do with a more public, other-orientation if not community-oriented perspective (or energy or essence).

So where do we transition from a Self-Oriented perspective to a more community / other / public perspective? Well of course, the House of Bridging-Consciousness, and Maturity, and Discipline: the 6th house.

And then we can also take a more focused glimpse of the Astrology Chart, and compare the 5th house with the 7th house. Because, like it or not, the 6th house is intimately connected to both of these fun-loving houses. Unfortunately, in order to get from the 5th house to the 7th house, we must go through some significant changes… Ugh! Right?!

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[By the way, the following description of the 5th and 7th houses, along with the succeeding discussion on Neptune, is overly simplified and drastically exaggerated to make a point. In reality, Western Astrology is a very complex subject and you should investigate it thoroughly if you are interested. Please don’t read this post out of the context of the larger astrological understanding and start making judgments about Astrology, your chart or others’ charts.]

The 5th house is the house of FUN. It represents Creativity – Artistic, Theatrical, along with Procreation (it is the house of children nonetheless – and making children can definitely be fun!). The 5th house also has to do with Gambling or Speculation – Love Affairs, that is the early stages of a romantic relationship; Having Children, as we never quite know to whom we are going to give birth; and of course Taking Risks – gambling with our body or with our money (or emotions), it all falls under this house’s influence. Basically the 5th house is the house of partying and living it up. It represents some of the best traits of Leo (fun-loving fire). The 5th house, like the lower frequencies of Leo, can be a very Self-Oriented house – how much money can “I” make with this risk? This love affair is fun (for me)! “I” am going to stay with it. But if it gets serious or dry, responsible and deeply-committed, forget it!

Then we have the 7th house, which, in some ways, is a polar opposite of the 5th. The 7th house is the house of Compromise, Union, Negotiation and being a mature, participating partner in a dyad (Partnering). Many astrologers, both traditional and contemporary call this the House of Marriage, with good reason. Because maintaining a marriage takes work (not that I know from personal experience, but I have closely observed healthy marriages – and they are not all ease and grace!), it takes maturity and the humility to admit that we make mistakes and taking responsibility – all the stuff the childish 5th house type detests! Making repair is a part of living. Expressing your boundaries is necessary in a healthy relationship, and when they are violated, repair is necessary!

So how do we get from this adolescent 5th house to the mature, responsible, vow-taking 7th? Well, yet again, I don’t have to tell you – we go through the nitty gritty process of growth and maturation in the 6th house. And when I say that you need to get used to the discomfort of growth, you may want to pay attention. And not only get used to, rather, we must start to relish the discomfort, sit in the flames of wisdom fire and allow the Creative to shape and mold us into a mature, responsible (hopefully wiser) being.

Refining is a good word to describe what is happening to the soul during this period, but I feel it is too graceful or soft a word to touch on the depth of angst and the death-struggle of wrestling with our ego that is possible when the Progressed Moon tenants the 6th house. And it may need to be intense to kick us out of our old, childish habits.

That is why people talk about the 6th house in a slightly dry or possibly dreadful way. It is not a bad thing to grow, but it is rarely ever comfortable! And if it is, either you started with incredibly positive karma or you are grossly deceiving yourself, and as a result you are setting yourself up for a series of nasty disillusionments as we speak. (Sorry to be the bearer of bad news…) But in reality, becoming more responsible, more reliable, more attentive to details and more mature are never bad traits. It just depends on where we are starting from as to how difficult a journey it is.

If we are younger when the Pr. Moon enters the 6th house, say between 18 and 30, then this could be the time of preparation for our first serious committed emotional / romantic relationship (or possibly our first and hopefully only marriage). And many of us are not that aware of who we truly are at this point, which means there might be additional relationships coming up in the future. But, if we seek out and listen to the advice which is readily available when the Pr. Moon is in the 6th house, then we have a chance to grow in many positive directions.

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If we are more Neptunian types (lots of planets in Pisces, or in the 12th house, or if Neptune is making Hard Aspects to the natal Sun, Moon or Mercury), then the journey to become Grounded, Responsible, Reliable, and Mature in a worldly (positive connotation) sort of way will be more difficult. Because which planet detests being structured and contained? Think the foggy, watery essence of Neptune – it is the one planet that prefers to be in any other Creative World besides this one. Not to leave you Neptunian types in a lurch, I myself have heavy Neptune aspects (and Pisces Sun) in my chart, and through diligent work and with alert / relaxed awareness, one can become more embodied in the present, and more grounded in the world. It is possible! (See my previous posts for more.) But don’t expect it to magically happen on its own – you must put some effort into grounding and do your personal growth work, as no one else can do it for you.

Therefore, before we try to decipher what the Pr. Moon in the 6th house will mean, we must discern where we are coming from. How attached are we to our “me-first” ego (5th house)? Are relationships easier for us – can we be practical and express our needs with ease within them (some of the best traits of the 7th house)? Are we more at home in a creative timeless possibly substance filled evening (Neptune) or are we naturally more practical and responsible? And don’t get me wrong – there are people who need to get more in touch with their Neptunian sides (emotional intelligence, creativity, intuition, psychic abilities, compassion, empathy, etc). But there are people who err on the side of all of the above traits and who seem to be light-years away from pragmatic conduct. So discover who you are, where you are on your path, and then start to peel away the layers of the Progressed Chart and its interpretations.

[Edited Nov 2017: Reading through this post, I wonder how I did not mention the following about the Progressed Moon in the 6th house: if there is one Astrological house where you will clean up your act as it were, become more active in your lifestyle – go to the gym, start hiking, join a biking club, pick up that river kayak that has been sitting in your shed for 5 years, etc; this is a time when you will probably clean up your diet – you might start reading books on healthy bioflora, you might do a specific diet, but you will probably be more aware that you want to tidy up your eating habits, and you may even do a cleanse (see my posts about this topic however); and you might also add some other healthy habits of self-care during this time – maybe you will pick up yoga, qigong, tai chi, martial arts, walking daily, receiving a monthly massage or bodywork session etc. It is a time of moving toward health when Progressed Moon (or Sun or Mercury) pass through this area of the chart.]

Universal poetry

Hi, I wish I could claim this poem as my own, because to me it seems to have themes of Buddhism and Craniosacral Biodynamics streaming through it. The universal intelligence interpenetrates all form and with Buddhism, form is emptiness (perhaps a living, breathing, pulsing, luminous emptiness). I will seek out the title… (don’t know it at present).

By Rabindranath Tagore:

the same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day
runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.
it is the same life that shoots in joy
through the dust of the earth in numberless
blades of grass and breaks in tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.
it is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of life and death,
ebb and flow.

Taking advantage of quality UVa programs

I graduated in May, so my knowledge of UVa activities and academics is still fairly fresh. I graduated with my BA in Psychology, along with taking five semesters of the Tibetan language to satisfy my language requirement.

Therefore, this post will mainly discuss the merits of some of the Psychology classes and professors at the University, and I will mention a little about the Tibetan program.

About the Professors:

Brian Nosek, James Coan, Karen Schmidt, John Haidt, Peter Brunjes, David Hill, Angeline Lillard and Timothy Wilson were all top quality professors who I took classes from or worked with. Dr. Nosek’s class was Psyc 101 – he always had music going with the theme of the song having to do with the topic of the day. Very engaging and highly entertaining! Dr. Coan was my advisor. The first day I walked into his office, he was wearing a casual button down long-sleeve shirt with his sleeves rolled up, cut off shorts and red converse high tops. Needless to say I asked him where Professor Coan was! Well, it was he. And he is a modest, awesome dude! Karen Schmidt is probably the primary reason I graduated as I struggled to get through the 3005 / 3006 courses (I dropped each before completing them) and she made this material (research methods and data analysis) very engaging and approachable. Dr. Haidt is well known for his work with positive psychology – a very interesting field to be certain! I took my bio-psych classes from Dr.s Brunjes and Hill, 220 and 420 respectively. They are hilarious! In fact, they tended to play pranks on each other, sometimes in class and sometimes you would hear the humorous stories about various gags. Very enlivening professors! Dr. Lillard was a very strict but engaging and passionate professor. I enjoyed her class on Child Psychology. And finally Dr. Wilson was sort of my surrogate advisor. It seems he is one of the gurus of Social Psychology. Very cool!

As I mentioned in my previous posts on my UVa experience, I am very glad for my time at the University. It was like a form of mind training. Refining and grinding my intuitive, feeling, impulsive mind down while building up an empirical, diligence-sustaining and focused one. Plus my connections within the Religious Studies department and among grad students (I started UVa when I was 28) really helped.

Now a bit about the Tibetan program at UVa. I realize Tibetan is not the first language you think when you consider fulfilling your language requirements. In fact, you may not even realize UVa offers it, or that it is a language at all! Some of the people I work with are of Hispanic backgrounds and they ask me, “What is Tibet? A country? A culture? A place?” (They are exceptionally kind-hearted, sharp-witted, altruistic individuals, it just seems some of them do not keep track of world events.)

Well, if you need to take an elective and are not sure where to look, you might want to peek into Tibetan. I say this because UVa has one of the best Tibetan professors in the world, and I’m not exaggerating. His name is Tsetan Chonjore and he wrote one of the top Tibetan language books that is on the market (of course there might be ten out there total…): “Colloquial Tibetan.” He took a lot of time working with linguists and other scholars to get it right.

It is not an easy language, so be prepared to work, but you will be rewarded when you do. Prof. Chonjore (or “Gan la” – meaning “teacher” in Tibetan) is very engaging, humorous and filled with equanimity. He is a part of the UVa Tibet Day which happens each spring semester around Losar (Tibetan New Year which is usually somewhere near late February – they are on a lunar calendar) and it’s primary purpose is to introduce Tibetan culture and academics to fellow UVa students. So you should check it out if possible. Oh, and there are very, very few schools that offer Tibetan at all, and UVa offers it year round. It has one of the best summer language programs in the world, where you can get credit for four semesters of language in less than nine weeks (they don’t call it an intensive for nothing!).

Somatic Moves to Well-being, senior style, Part IV

This material is copyrighted by M. Kirby Moore. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.

This post is a continuation of a descriptive piece from mid-March when I taught a class on relaxation and stress-relief to seniors. I’d recommend scrolling down and reading Part I through III to get some background info.

I want to start out by saying that I mentioned those first two Zapchen exercises only, and I want to stress this word, ONLY because we all know how to Yawn and Nap. There are some exercises which Julie Henderson came up with which inspire embodied awareness and increase potency, but if these techniques are not natural to us, then I’m not going to mention them.

In other words, there are some playful, fun techniques for coming down out of the head and resting deeper in embodied sensation and presence. Some of these exercises we learned as children, and then we have spent how many years as adults un-learning them! Well Zapchen includes a few such exercises to remind us what it is to be fully human – in touch with a light, loving heart, a potent, full pelvis and a clear, wise mind. Zapchen also includes some new techniques which we have had very little exposure to, let alone tried to do them ourselves. Maybe you could call these Zapchen Yoga, although I think it is all Zapchen Yoga.

Therefore, I am not going to mention the third exercise that we did. Oh, the suspense! Well, you will have to come see me for a session to find out. 🙂 I will skip instead to the fourth technique that we did, as this inspired the most laughs and humor anyway. So hopefully this is remotely entertaining:

The fourth exercise we did is called, “Funny Talk.” It has serious somatic effects on the body, so please, only try this at home if you have some time and patience on your hands, not to mention a talking buddy who is open and ready to let go 🙂

When we do Funny Talk, we put the tongue behind the lower teeth, touching them and then allow the tongue to fill the base of the mouth.  Yes, then you talk. It should sound funny, or at least not at all serious. Honestly, who can take themselves seriously when they are talking like this? Oh, and I should stress that there are researched, profound relaxation effects of doing this AND the exercise is by NO means a method used to mock anyone. If it is, then it is not Zapchen.

Well imagine doing this exercise with seniors, I guess who range in age from 65 to 80? Not sure about this though – they had gotten all dressed up as they wanted to look good for the class (apparently, I was told later). It was very precious. But I digress, yes, imagine doing Funny Talk with 12 seniors, the majority of whom have dentures… Here are some snippets from the class, and again, I am merely trying to be a reporter, not mocking anyone! Because one day, relatively soon, if I make it that far, I will be old too.

The woman next to me tried it and then exclaimed, “Oh my, I might push my bridge work out.”

Soon, a few seats down, a lady commented, “I would use my teeth if I had them in!”

About thirty seconds later, the retired beautician (with the hearing aids) exclaims, as if just registering the previous conversation, “I can’t push my teeth out – they are glued!”

A few minutes go by as I check in with other students, with a hushed conversation happening across the circle of chairs, and the beautician again, exclaims with a loud word amidst the whispers, “Polydent!”

We all burst out laughing, including her. I can feel parts of my skull and brain literally re-orienting as the laughter and the funny talk and the previous exercises work their “magic.” Then the lady next to me pipes up with,
“You know, this would be a great commercial for Polydent!” I could not agree more. Why hadn’t I recorded this class? 🙂

All in all, I was very happy to have gone down there to lead them. I kind of doubt they were expecting to slow down and practice this radical form of kindness… but they were happy nonetheless. I say this because I was very careful to not talk about coming back (they would have to formally invite me, especially with my not be an official teacher and all). So guess what?

The lady who has the magic touch with plants asked me first, “Will you come back and do this again?”

I asked, again just to be clear, “Is that a request?” Yes!

Oh – I had been asked earlier to keep going after the Funny Talk. One woman was just drinking in the neurological nourishment of these potent exercises and she wanted me to teach more. Nope! I responded, “I need to stick with my teachers’ advice and tell you that Less is Better than More. Please go back over the next few weeks and practice these exercises. Find one you like and stick with that one. Allow it to be fun and easy. Then I can go through some more.”

And then everyone seconded (and thirded, etc) the motion of having me come back. So I discussed it with the woman who originally scheduled me and we have set up a second day, about a month from now. I hope that goes as well or better than this class!

Some very wise words were shared amongst all of us. I learned much more than I taught for certain – don’t read a book by its cover, always be grateful for each breath you take, and value good friends and good company very dearly!

And if you happen to fall asleep in a chair, which is definitely not the norm for you, mutter “Sweet Jesus!” over and over until you feel better about the situation. 🙂

Thanks for reading.

Somatic Moves toward Well-being, senior style, Part III

This material is copyrighted by M. Kirby Moore. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. Thanks for visiting.

This is a continuation of a series of posts. I would suggest you go back (down) and start at least at Part I if not Part Zero.

As I mentioned, I was teaching a group of about 13 seniors techniques to help them relax and let go of stress.

Now it was time for the first exercise. Oh! Sorry to pause right out of the gates here – I must mention that, as with some spiritual practices, Zapchen exercises should be done with a qualified and experienced teacher. I have received transmissions for many of the exercises from Janet Evergreen, a senior teacher in the Zapchen tradition, and from Julie Henderson herself (she is the founder and creator of Zapchen Somatics). Personally, I am neither an expert nor a Zapchen teacher, but I believe Zapchen Somatics to be simple techniques to free ourselves of our habitual patterns of doom and gloom, in a fun, comfortable, playful, easy way.

With that said, it may seem that some of these exercises are “too easy” to work. But when you are with a qualified teacher, similar to other spiritual traditions, the teacher can pass on a transmission of the somato-spiritual state of ease, kindness and potency in their body. If we practice self-care on a regular basis (most humans do or at least want to), then the body can quickly “remember” how to get back to a state of deep, playful relaxation, if it has gone there before. But that is the key – we can only “know” that we have gone down an appropriate path if we are led by an appropriate teacher. If we happen to stumble upon a healthy path, we may forever be full of doubt and uncertainty until we gain confirmation from someone who has been down that path with confidence and clarity.

Having mentioned that you need to receive these teachings from a qualified teacher, I must caution you to not judge these exercises if you try them after reading this, without the presence of a qualified teacher, and they “don’t work.” I know for a fact they work, because in leading this group of seniors, we all dropped into a deeper state of fun openness and I personally moved toward greater inner stillness (internal equanimity), embodied potency and playful awareness. Many of their psychological walls came tumbling down, despite the fact that this was my first time meeting any of them, and the class did not even go for 90 minutes.

With all that said, the first exercise is yawning. There are many incredible health benefits to yawning, but I held off on mentioning these until after we had all yawned five or more times. It took a while to get to five though. Just about everyone was either ashamed to force themselves to yawn, or they could not do it without having it be spontaneous and organic. Well, it seemed I needed to get them started, so I yawned in a rather vocal manner. I have been told that when I yawn like that, that it sounds almost like I am doing warm-ups for voice class. Therefore, even these seniors could not help but hear the yawn.

I should probably mention too, that there is an energetic field around us. One of the participants mentioned that we have auras (I did not want to go here on such an early class) and once it was mentioned by someone else, I ran with that. Hey, if they mention it, obviously there is a reason it is coming up. If I mention it too early though, I could lose people’s attention and possibly their trust! Anyway, I said that I believed that yawning not only has physical effects on us, but as we yawn, we relax parts of our bodies and that this effects the energetic field around us. And I said that by changing (“relaxing”) the energetic field, that is how we “cause” others around us to start yawning. You could argue it is the sight of the yawns doing it, but I would add it is also a change in the field which your body “senses.”

[As an aside, it would be a fascinating experiment to see if you blindfold people and prevent them from hearing anything, and then you have others around them start to yawn, do they do start themselves?  I’m hoping this has already been tried, but if so, I’ve not heard of it yet.]

It was mentioned that several people thought yawning meant you were bored or tired. I knew that might come up, so I talked a little about how I believe that particular cultural mores to be horribly mistaken. When someone who I know yawns around me, I consider it a compliment (they are practicing self-care) or at least I certainly don’t think they are being rude! Yawning opens the throat, palate and TMJ; it produces saliva (helping digestion); yawning lubricates the eyes and has been shown to help with maintaining a healthy balance of serotonin and melatonin, among many other benefits. Therefore we yawned as much as we were able.

Some people covered their mouths as they yawned, as the cultural beliefs tended to be deeply ingrained! But eventually, nearly everyone yawned at least five times. Then we napped. Napping, if you have not figured it out yet, is one of the most important exercises you can possibly do (yes perhaps even more beneficial than yawning). There is evidence that napping, just for five to seven minutes, is very helpful for learning, for better efficiency and brain functioning.

My only regret from this class is that not enough people lay down to nap. And by not laying down, their bodies were still holding a little bit of tension and exerting a little effort to keep them in the seated position. In other words, by not laying down, they were not capable of letting go completely. There were several of us who did lay down, and by doing so, we were not tempted to start whispering. Eventually though, some whispering started among the seated people. The discursive mind can be so distracting – when we are not used to just letting go, we tend to revert back to previous patterns, which in this case were to chat and whisper. I did hear someone start after briefly falling asleep (while seated), and the phrase, “Sweet Jesus!” was muttered several times.

So we did yawning and napping to open the class. Actually, by discussing my ground rules, and then mentioning how it was my intention to rest down just a little bit more, and to practice just a touch more kindness to yourself (and therefore to others), it took 45 minutes to get through the introduction, the yawning and the napping. Therefore, I was not wordy for the next two exercises.

I will continue this stream in the next post. It should be complete within a few days. Thanks for visiting!

Somatic Moves toward Well-being, senior style, part II

This material is copyrighted by M. Kirby Moore. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited. Thanks for reading!  You can visit Kirby’s website at www.mkirbymoore.com to see what he offers in terms of Spiritual Astrology or Resource bodywork.

This is a continuation of a series of posts on a recent visit to some senior apartments in Nelson County, where I taught some simple exercises for well-being. By the way, I am simply describing what occurred in the most objective way possible. I do not intend to be demeaning or to make fun of anyone’s suffering. Because good Lord, we all know that there is too much of that to go around without adding to it! With that in mind, please enjoy.

So Beth was sitting opposite me in the circle of chairs. I decided to go with a circle. I believe that is Montessori style (is that right?), in that there is no way for any individual to hide. Even if they want to (or need to). Also, that way, we are all equals in a sense. There is no position known as “teacher” which has everyone else’s attention focused on it. By sitting in a “round table” form, we all can have an equal say, hopefully.

Beth was chatting with her neighbor and I was barely following her conversation, considering I was checking in with my body, attempting to relax and trying to rest in equanimity as best as I could. I should mention for the record that I learned, quite rapidly, that Beth’s condition of hearing loss was advanced.

So Beth’s neighbor, a cute little, older black woman says, holding a can of unopened Mountain Dew, “I need to hide my soda so Barbara doesn’t take it away from me.”

And of course Beth chimes in with, “Oh you hurt your shoulder? I’m sorry…”

Beth’s neighbor corrected her and Beth noticed me watching this and she blurts out, looking at me, “Just wait til you get old Cody!” It was really the tone of voice she used. So confident and direct and lacking any care about what others might think about it. I had rarely encountered it before, not in other hearing-impaired friends or really anywhere else. What was that mysterious trait about that tone? Anger? Indifference? Bitterness? It made me chuckle though as I appreciated the directness.

I zoned out for a while, at least from their conversation, as I was meeting newcomers. Soon though, Beth looks at me and makes my brain start sizzling as she produces, “Older women are so much more fun than younger women Cody! You should spend more time with older women.” Uhhhh… What did I miss?

“My name is Kirby.”

“What?” Her neighbor explained what my name was. Writing it down helped.

I was told to start, despite the fact that there would be several people arriving late. So I get started, using the skillful beginning of, “Before we get started…” to delay any tension arising. I told them all to take a deep breath and to let go of any physical tension, any emotional stress.

Then I decided to do a little warm up exercise where we would each say our name and one thing we were grateful for. This was to be one of the first of many lessons for me. I said my name and said that I was grateful for all the spring flowers blooming, in particular the forsythia. Then, nearly everyone else around the circle proceeded to thank god for having one more day to live… or for having given them breath that morning. Wow! It was like I was the ignorant leader of a powerful church.

I learned that one woman had an extremely green thumb – she said she could heal any plant. She was actually full of healing wisdom as I would find out throughout the afternoon.

Then I mentioned my guidelines. I said that it was my intention for us all to be just a little more kind to ourselves and that way, we could be a little more kind to others as a result. This would actually be a theme throughout the day.

Several people arrived late. One person, who tried to sit outside the circle but I directed her to the only chair available, right next to me, said, “I’m late.” Okay… I introduced myself and told her my only guidelines for the class – that you only do exercises that are comfortable / easy for you and that you try to have fun doing them. I said if something is uncomfortable, don’t do it, and at least object or raise your hand before forcing yourself to do something that you don’t want to. I suspected that this was a new paradigm as these seniors were kind of at the whim of their apartment manager.

Oh, Barbara introduced me, saying that I did Craniosacral Therapy and that I recently got my BA from UVa. Good… Someone asked me about Craniosacral work and for some reason, I went in the direction of the this-is-actually-a-church-meeting and answered her with, “Craniosacral work is unique in that it believes the individual has the power and the ability to heal themselves.” (So I was actually talking about Craniosacral Biodynamics here.) I continued with, “As a Craniosacral practitioner, I try to get in touch with that natural, innate healing ability of individuals, which we call the Christ-Light or the Breath of Life (which are both terms from Christianity). I try to balance that energy and make sure that it is flowing smoothly and as fully as possible. Sometimes if we get injured, or hit our heads, or due to conditioning from when we were young, or other traumatic events, we can lose touch with the Breath of Life. So I simply try to get my client back in touch with their potential to heal themselves.” Wow! Pat yourself on the back Kirby – these God-fearing seniors drank it up, although I think they did not expect it.

When someone in the audience tried to reflect back what I had just said, he did a good job. But that is when I realized I had not mentioned any of the actual scientific research and information about CST. So after he reflected about the energy coming from his heart and his spirit getting involved, which was great, I continued, “Also, in addition to everything I just mentioned about Craniosacral Therapy, if I were to take out any religious terms from my description, I could also say that Craniosacral works with the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and that science has actually shown that practitioners can palpate this subtle fluid and feel where it is stuck or where it is flowing smoothly. The CSF nourishes and lubricates the central nervous system and brain and if it is not flowing well, then issues can arise. So as a practitioner, I also work with balancing the CSF.” That may have been a bit long winded but it was good to explain it in those terms…

See my next post (Part III) for the next installment of this fantastic afternoon. Thanks for reading!

Somatic moves toward well-being, senior style Part I

This material is copyrighted by M. Kirby Moore. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited. Thanks!

By the way, everything I mention in here is meant in a spirit of fun, objective observership. I do not intend to demean anyone or speak ill of them. I am just describing a dynamic and entertaining afternoon.

This is a continuation of a post I wrote earlier, about heading down to Nelson County to lead a group through simple exercises to relax and release stress. Wow! I have been reading Henry Alford’s book, “How to Live,” which is about his search for wisdom in older people. In his book, he mentions one particularly eccentric character (Mr. Eugene Loh), whose chapter full of laughs makes the book worth purchasing alone (seriously!), and Alford is particularly grateful for the opportunity to write about this person, because his eccentricity makes him in Alford’s words, “comedy gold.” Well, in my little excursion into Nelson County, I seem to have come across a similar situation, where I was laughing so hard at times, that the first words to cross my mind upon considering writing about it were, “comedic gold.”

So as I mentioned in my first post, I was nervous this morning, prior to heading down there. And then I was still a little nervous as I drove the 45 minutes into the beautiful rolling hills of the heart of Nelson County Virginia. And then I noticed all the spring foliage that was starting to burst forth. I realized that the trees and flowers, all budding and blossoming must also be nervous. It is only March 20th and we have had spring-like weather for over a month! (Not going to go on a global warming rant, I swear!) So that made me feel better, knowing that Mother Nature may be touched with trepidation.

As I mentioned earlier too, I am not a meditation teacher. I do not have the blessings of any living teachers (nor from the other side as far as I know) to teach more than one individual at a time. So this is what I told the person who invited me down there – she is a nurse. I said, “I’m not a meditation teacher.” She said, “But you are so good! You will do fine.” She has been in a previous class of mine. So I said, “Let me think about it.” That meant, let me ask the I Ching, as I thought it would discourage me. But not to be, the I Ching suggested that going down there would be beneficial. So I hesitantly said yes, on the condition that it would be a small group.

Then early today, she said it might be a group of more than eight, and I began to worry. From what I have learned, primarily from bodywork teachers, is that the most we can comfortably handle at a time, are eight people. Six to eight to be exact – that way we can track the energetic field in the room and see if we notice any red-flags rising for anyone (and therefore pause and take some down time or at least time to express / clear up the subconscious issues). But I was told it might be a group of 12! Oh boy! I asked the woman who invited me, we can call her Barbara, who is a nurse, I asked if she would mind being a form holder (someone who holds energetic space). Although, I knew that she had not had any prior training for this. She said fine. [I will do a separate post about what it means to energetically hold space for someone else.] And I gave her the very expedited version of what it means to hold energetic space. Therefore, I was still nervous!

Anyway, so I am on the road, when I realize, Oh God, I forgot my phone! My phone had the email with the directions… but luckily I have a fairly photographic memory… so I did not actually get lost. Although once I got on the road she mentioned, I passed several extremely dilapidated houses that had brush and vines growing all over them and the road began to narrow, so I thought to myself, “What? There is no way a big school is back here! (Which they have turned into senior apartments)” Luckily I stuck with that road and sure enough, at the end of it, there was the large school-like building.

Also luckily enough, because the building is locked at all times for security, Barbara was right behind me when I pulled in, meaning I would not have to try to “call” her without my phone!

When we walked in, there were two women sitting at a table doing a puzzle. I will call them Beth and Simone. I was introduced to both of them, and I quickly surmised that Simone, who weighs in excess of 200 pounds and therefore who is confined to an electric wheel chair, is someone with an abundance of insecure energy. Meaning, she felt the need to constantly zoom up and down the hallway to check on which people were coming to participate. I decided I had to get the hell out of there! Unfortunately, with most of the doors being locked, I only escaped as far as the lobby, where she occasionally wheeled through on her way to check certain doors. Oh god – was this really happening? Was she really going to be in my class? And yes, what kind of teacher was I to be thinking this way! 🙂 Well, like I said, I’m not a teacher.

So we know a bit about Simone. What about Beth? She was a nice lady, if a bit reserved at first. And in the lobby, I did a quick exercise with myself from Zapchen Somatics (“Patting” to be specific), as that was one of the exercises I was going to lead later, I figured I might as well “self-empower” myself with it. And it supposedly helps with psychological boundaries which I felt I would need if I was to put up with Simone’s invasive words for much longer… Oh – by the way, Beth it would turn out, was the one who delivered on the comedic gold, once she got rolling! See below.

So people started to wander in, not knowing what to expect. They were introduced to me, so I got to know their names. At first, it was all women, which is actually typical with bodywork or somatic processing classes. But I was told that one man would show up, so that was good! It’s always nice to have some yin-yang balance.

See my next post to continue this comedic saga. Thank you for visiting.

Somatic Moves toward Well-being, senior style, Part Zero

This material is copyrighted by M. Kirby Moore. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited (just in case this gobble-dee-gook gets put into a book).

I have been asked to lead a group of seniors through some exercises for relaxation and stress-relief. At first I was asked to teach meditation, which I said “No” to. Then I decided I could work around my recommended limitations.

I just want to start out by stating very vehemently that No, Kirby Moore (the author) is not a meditation teacher!! Khenchen Konchog Gyaltsen made that very clear. He said, “you may be the organizer and the facilitator of the C’ville Sangha, but an older wiser person should lead the meditation if possible.” And I was like, “Yep!” (Thinking, Thank god!)

Therefore, when I was recently asked to lead a group of seniors through exercises for relaxing (and easing their apparent stress and tendency-toward-gossip…) Why did I say yes?! I have never met these people before. They probably suffer from a lot of stress and they may be incredibly skeptical that such a young looking man can teach them anything. And yet I asked the I Ching why I might possibly consider doing something like this. And it said, “Go for it!” Right now I dearly hope I did not misinterpret what it said. Maybe it actually said, “Are you crazy? Going for it (will lead to great unbearable troubles…)” Ugh!

I leave in one hour to drive down to Nelson County to lead this unknown group.

So, I’m nervous! And, I plan to be explicitly clear. Not only Khenchen la, but Julie Henderson, the creator of Zapchen Somatics, mentioned something similar – “You will not call yourself a Zapchen teacher as you do not have my blessing to do so.” Gotcha! That was sharp and nearly-painfully clear! But I do have her blessing to lead individuals through the basic exercises if I have received the transmissions to teach those particular moves.

And yes, I am still nervous! Thankfully I tend to do a good job of pretending or being-charming-on-the-fly (this is a great quality to have as a waiter by the way). Don’t get me wrong – I plan to be honest, explicitly honest, self-deprecatingly honest even. But after that I will be a calm, centered guy who has been studying Somatic Processing and meditation for seven years. And we shall see how it goes. Wish me luck!

And as I was laying down, pondering what to do and say this afternoon, I realized I should probably make an appeal to the wisdom beings (I try to work with Dakas and Dakinis, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, as I am a Buddhist practitioners, but you can substitute the words Angels or Light Beings or whoever wishes happiness toward all sentient beings).

I said, “Wisdom beings, can you please surround me this afternoon? Can you go ahead of me and clear the space wherever I am going to be teaching? Can you make whoever attends be open and may they err on the side of kindness and gentleness? Please!”

Oh, and I also had the thought, as my ego can sometimes grow to gargantuan proportions, “Wisdom beings, can you please support me, lift me up when / where I am weak, and bonk me on the head where I am too strong or prideful?”

I think they listened and honored my request, but I have no way of knowing exactly.

Stay tuned and thanks for reading.

Self Care 102 – Our Pace of Life

This material is copyrighted by M. Kirby Moore. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. Thanks for reading!

By the way, I am now offering self-care coaching. I have a website which is still under development (but I launched it anyway), so if you visit, pardon the mess! It still needs a lot of work, so I anticipate it being several weeks before it looks moderately solid. On the site you can purchase coaching sessions. It is at http://www.mkirbymoore.com You can also click on the link at the top of the list to the right.

In this post, practicing self care by consciously taking the time to notice what our pace of life actually is. Show of hands: Who works at a fast paced job? I kind of expect most of my few readers’ hands to go up, and just to let you know, my hand would have to go up in answer to that. With that in mind, what is the pace of your life outside of work?

If we have never taken the time to slow down, whether through spending time in nature, gardening, meditating, volunteering with animals or children (this might not seem like going slow, but our egos are forced to slow down to meet these beings where they are), receiving process-oriented bodywork, doing yoga, etc etc… then how could we possibly expect to work at a fast paced job and somehow lead a peaceful, serene life at home? To steal a line from the movie The Princess Bride: “Inconceivable!”

So if you are reading this… yes, you knew this was coming… pause. Right now. Take a deep breath. Notice your body, take another breath. notice your posture, take another pause, are you hydrated or not? All of this takes time and effort and awareness. So just noticing is the beginning of excellent self-care! Now pat yourself on the back for a job well done! And if just this is making your head swim or giving you a funny sensation in your head (like a potential head ache) or something else unusual is happening, then it is a time for a nap. Come back and read the rest of this post later. If after practicing these little suggestions, your head is still clear, then please continue reading.

What are some ways that we can slow down, even if our jobs are demanding and stressful? Well, first, we must make time to do so. Okay, so our jobs are a drag. Well, what are going to do about it? It is what it is. I love how the I Ching tells me that I have two choices when I encounter natural, unavoidable phenomena – I can either sit there, moaning and groaning; or I can put on the music and dance in spite of everything. What do I want to cultivate within myself?

If we have any free time at all, or maybe just five minutes after we get home from whatever stressful activities we are “forced” to partake in, then take a few minutes to take stock of your life. Where are we distracted easily? Where are we really mindful, if at all? Where are we rushing around at a frenetic pace? Where are we numbing out, avoiding all of the above?

If we feel comfortable at home, maybe just this once, we can delay turning on the TV or computer (Facebook is mighty appealing sometimes!), and instead, we can contemplate our day, and contemplate our pace throughout that day. Where could we easily slow down? Where do we need to slow down? No judgment here! Be gentle. Be kind. Simply notice.

Just this noticing will start to create a shift. Just by noticing our breath, we will start to move toward states of relaxed awareness. So if we work at a hectic job, or have to spend time with people who really stress us out, then where is our sanctuary? Where do we really feel comfortable to let go and just relax? If nothing comes to mind, how can we create this space?

In the very least, perhaps we can take three or five minutes after getting home from work and just sit down. Don’t do much else besides consciously slowing down. Maybe brew some relaxing tea (probably non-caffeinated herbal tea would fit this description) or drink some delicious, pure water. I’m not saying you need to meditate. I’m not suggesting that you do anything at all really besides contemplate the pace of life. And then decide what, if anything, needs to change. And try to be as gentle as possible.

If you are like me and your mind desires distractions and wants to move at a fast pace all the time, then make the choice of the more calming, the more relaxing of two options. For instance, do I read an informative magazine or check my email (for the 8th time that day)? Should I watch this soccer game or read the Wall Street Journal? Do I watch TV or go for a walk on a nice nature trail? Do I eat one Twinkie or three? 🙂

We have to start somewhere. And it might as well be with ourselves. But above all else, please remember to go slow, to be as gentle as possible with yourself without beating yourself up and to recognize that changing any kind of habit at all takes lots of time.

I hope you have enjoyed this post.

Self Care 101

This material is copyrighted by M. Kirby Moore. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. Please enjoy your visit and be sure to check out other posts in this category.

Disclaimer: The author of this post is not a licensed medical practitioner. If anything is suggested about changing one’s lifestyle, please do not make any changes yourself until you speak with your doctor, nurse practitioner or registered dietician, etc. This info is presented primarily for entertainment / educational purposes only.

I was speaking with a friend recently, a practitioner of Polarity Therapy (among other modalities) and he articulated what I have been thinking for quite some time now, but I was not sure I had ever said it like that. So, just in case this is a review for some people, I think it might be worth reading again.

In my previous post on Preventing Cold Sores, I mentioned that it would take many words to elaborate on quality self-care, and all its multifaceted levels. So to begin, one little chunk at a time:

My friend said, to paraphrase, “When we offer bodywork to people, we offer them the chance to see what balance [and alignment] looks like. We bring them toward a space of healing and ease. Now, the question however is, what do they do when they get off the table?… People have so many toxic habits – whether their diet, their choice of friends, stress at work, etc. So when they get off the massage table, what are they going back to? And how can they hope to maintain the balance they have just discovered with us if they are going back to toxic habits [and environments]? The answer is that they have got to do the work themselves – the real work begins when they get off the table.”

I appreciate these sentiments and I agree for the most part. Personally I try to be careful about calling myself a healer or saying that I do anything to the client (without them participating completely in their own healing process) – I’d rather have the client empowered from the moment they step through my door – but otherwise, I love this information! And I believe this fits in well with my thoughts on Practicing Quality Self-Care.

So when he mentioned the part about the toxic habits, that is a strong way of putting it – another way of saying it, with less negative connotation, would be to call them “temporary compensations” (from Julie Henderson). Yes, we all have various habits and we make choices each moment. And not all of these choices serve our highest good – which is fine! That’s why they are called choices! If we need to rest somewhere for a while, that is okay. When we are ready to get to work and move on, we will. No use badgering the little guys in the process!

With that said, if you want to improve yourself, to gain a deeper awareness of your health and your body / mind system, then continue reading. If you are happy where you are, and if you will be provoked by my words and react in defensiveness and disapprobation, then you may want to stop reading now. 🙂

I want to emphasize that physical, emotional, mental (psychological) and spiritual well-being are interconnected. I doubt we can say, “this month I’m going to work on my physical health only! I don’t want anything to do with emotions right now.” Sure, we can SAY that… but do we really have that choice? In other words, when we truly start to slow down in order to refine our patterns, at that point, we might begin to confront whatever underlying (subconscious) issues were keeping us moving at that hectic, break-neck pace to begin with. We will then be face-to-face with emotional, psychological and other issues. So when we are ready to take the step toward greater self-awareness and therefore increased self-care, then we should go for it. Get support, get our help and get on with our lives, if we want to, when we are ready.

With that said, just to reiterate, when we start to slow down just to analyze our life, just by asking the question, “what, if anything, needs to change in my life?” we have already begun moving toward quality self-care. Pat yourself on the back baby!

And now we should be aware that this process will go so much smoother if we have good support. We have many many blind-spots. Our egos are so deeply entrenched that they don’t want to change. Therefore, the mind will conceive of many ways to keep us distracted in the long run. That is why it is good to have quality and appropriate support. If we try to fix ourselves without a mirror to look in from time to time, how will we know we are making any actual progress at all? Sometimes, our self-care may simply be inflating our ego! (Ever been in a yoga class where egos are running rampant? I’m just saying…)

So be aware that just consciously slowing down a little is to practice self-care. Sure, there are times when the body / mind does not give us a choice. When we injure ourselves, sprain an ankle or throw out our back, what do we think that means? I guarantee that we will be slowing down no matter what else happens! But let’s prevent such gross pleas for slowing down and get started now.

To wrap up what I am saying in this post is that we cannot divorce physical needs from emotional, mental, psychological or spiritual needs. Ever eat a sugary, caffeinated treat and feel the blood sugar spike? Does that elicit any changes in our mental functioning? Does it elicit any additional emotions? Pay attention next time. I say “yes,” to both. Therefore, as the cliché goes, START WHERE YOU ARE.

I am going to begin the next post with physical self-care, but if you are ready to tackle emotional or psychological issues, then start there. I will get to them soon, wisdom beings willing and the creek don’t rise.

Thanks for reading.