Sacred Strokes

Sacred Strokes - The Three Relations.
Gentle facial massage combined with stone placement.

The Sacred Strokes is a collection of various stroke sequences and sessions, many with ancient shamanic roots. The focus and intent is on spiritual and emotional healing, rather than a physical treatment.

Each Sacred Stroke is a sequence of stone placement and motion, which often is a full body treatment. Several different techniques are used and intuition plays a big role in what precisely is done during each session. There is an atmosphere of ceremony when Sacred Strokes are offered. The work is done physically, emotionally and spiritually, and the effects can be very profound.

The contraindications of Sacred Strokes are often few. The physical manipulation during a session is generally very gentle and safe. Stimulation of pressure points, a gentle face massage, placements of stones on the body, using sound and tapping of stones and ritualized movements of the stones over the body. The temperatures of the stones are warm and cool as opposed to hot and cold during a more physically intended session.

Sacred Strokes can be used in their own right as a full treatment, or parts can be implemented into other body- and stone work sessions. Once the practitioner has learned the different techniques and understand how the various parts work, it is easy to trust intuition and utilize exactly that which will benefit the client most this moment.

Many of the Sacred Strokes have never been given name before. The use of stone placements and motions in bodywork is ancient shamanic practice and has been used for countless generations among the Medicine People of the Native Americans and of course also elsewhere in the world.

The teachings of Sacred Strokes comes through Jenny Ray and the Bear Clan of the Santee Dakota Sioux. The teachings were delivered orally and visually to apprentices, relying on memory alone to carry on the traditions. Now for the first time, these profound practices are systematized and shared in writing and a way which lives up to the requirements of various Massage Therapy Boards and accreditation organisations.

To learn all the Sacred Strokes that Jenny Ray has organized and written down, you need to attend sixteen full days of intensive classes. And what you learn is only a fraction of what the Medicine People know and use when they treat their clients and patients.

I've only just begun my journey into this amazing approach to Stone Medicine and can't wait until my next opportunity to learn from Jenny Ray arises.

Smudging rituals

Image by phantasos via Flickr

Smudging is an ancient practice found across multiple cultures. Shamanic practices use smoke to cleanse and heal, churches and temples burn incense and smoke is offered as prayer by Native Americans.

I use smudging both as a spiritual cleansing, and as a form of focus, meditation and prayer. Depending on my intent, I use two different ways of smudging.



Morning Smudge
At the beginning of the day, or before I do massage I use the smudging method taught me by the Native American Jenny Ray during a Stone Medicine class.

Holding the smoking sage in a bowl in one hand, and a feather in the other, I take a deep breath and focus on what I am doing. Then I smudge myself while speaking aloud about what I am doing. The words vary from day to day, often depending on what is upon my mind or what I am doing afterwards. The meaning of each step is the same though.

• Smudging my head I say, "I clear my mind of disturbing thoughts so I can hear those of Creator."
• Smudging my ears I say, "I clear my ears so I can hear the beautiful sounds of nature, and not the noise of cars and construction."
• Smudging my eyes I say, "I clear my eyes so I can see the beauty of nature and not the ugliness of polution."
• Smudging my nose I say, "I clear my nose so I can smell the flowers and the grass, and not the exhaustion fumes of cars and burnt rubber."
• Smudging my mouth I say, "I clear my mouth so I can speak my Heart's Song and not words of anger or envy."
• Smudging my heart I say, "I clear my heart so it is filled with love and compassion, and not resentment or hate."
• Smudging my hands and arms I say, "I clear my hands and my arms so they may first serve me well, and thereby serve others."
• Smudging my torso I say, "I clear this Hollow Bone so the Energy of Creator can flow freely through me and not be obstructed by Ego."
• Smudging my legs I say, "I smudge my legs so they may often bend in prayer and humbleness."
• Smudging my feet I say, "I smudge my feet so that I may walk the path of Creator."
• Then I smudge my entire body from feet up to the head while I say, "And I take all that which I do not need and toss it to the four directions," while I four times flick the feather away from me as if tossing away all what I do not need.

It is a very calming exercise, a beautiful prayer focusing on Nature and on serving others in gratitude. The smoke from the sage has a calming effect and helps clear the mind from unwanted thoughts.



Evening Smudge
By the end of the day, just before bedtime I do another smudging routine. Here I might use sage or use some of the mixed smudge-sticks I have, depending on what I need. A smudge with lavender helps me relax and sleep deeper, a smudge with copal helps energize me the next day. It all depends on the properties of the aromatic herbs of that moment.

Again, I light the smudge and hold bowl and feather in my hands. I might speak out aloud the cleansing, or I might just focus on the intent.

• Facing East, I smudge my body and cleanse it for all negative influences from the day.
• Facing South, I smudge my emotional self and cleanse it for all negative emotions and sadness.
• Facing West, I smudge my intellectual mind and cleanse away all cluttering thoughts which might keep me awake.
• Facing North, I smudge my spiritual body to remove what negative I might have picked up during the day and protect me from those who might wish me harm.

This next part I tend to speak out aloud, where the words change from day to day.  They might be a prayer for something, or an expression of gratitude. It all depends on how I feel and what needs I have in the moment. I send smoke into the directions I am facing, letting the smoke serve as a carrier for my prayer.

• Facing the East I express gratitude for this moment, the positive changes in my life and the beginning of new things.
• Facing the South I express gratitude for the abundance in my life, of love, material goods and lessons learned.
• Facing the West I express gratitude for the visions and dreams I have which are coming true.
• Facing the North I express gratitude for the Wellness and health in my life and the traditions I am carrying on.
• Looking down I face Mother Earth and express deep gratitude for my life and how She sustains me in every way.
• Looking up I face Father Sky (or the ceiling in my case) and express gratitude for the light and warmth provided which helps to sustain me.
• Facing myself I thank myself for being true to myself and for being a Hollow Bone.

These practices are spiritual in nature, but not religious. They can be combined with any religion and practice. You can replace and substitute words and expressions as fits into your beliefs.

The directions only serve as a focus for types of gratitude. East for this moment, change and new beginnings. South for abundance, family and learning from our elders. West for our dreams and visions, for discovering about ourselves and reflection. North for wellness, healing and the traditions from past generations.

Please feel free to share your own wellness rituals and what your experiences with smudging are.

Drum making

A drum ready to be laced.

With Jenny Ray I had a day of drum-making. It was an awesome experience and I greatly enjoyed crafting my own drum. I was like a child again, in my own happy world, just loving what I was doing in spite of blisters and sore hands.

I'm hooked and will this coming winter or spring be hosting a drum-making workshop for anyone who're interested.

Making your own shamanic drum is a full day project, but fun and very satisfying. The skill isn't hard to learn, though you need some persistence and a pair of very good scissors.

You start with a piece of rawhide. That's a hard piece of skin, which has been cleaned of hairs and other things. It's fairly thin, but very strong. To cut through this with scissors is hard work. A pair of sharp scissors with leverage extension is clearly recommended if you undertake this project.

The first step to make a drum is to draw onto the rawhide the pattern of the drum-skin. It needs to be big enough to go over the edges of the drum-hoop, but not too large. Then you cut out the pattern and if your piece of rawhide was a circle, you cut in a spiral creating a long thong at the same time.

Now to the tricky part.

To lace the drum, you need at least 26 times the diameter of the drum-hoop, so that calls for a lot of lace cutting. When you cut the lace, it should be between ½ and 1 cm in width - so it can go through the holes in the drum-skin.

Once all the rawhide has been cut, it's placed in a big tube of water for at least 1½ hours. The skin needs to soften in order to work it. Don't use hot or warm water as that'll just cook the rawhide and thereby make it weaker.

All the thongs are stretched into thin cords. They're then rounded up and measured to make sure there's enough for the drum lacing. The drum-skin itself is placed with the inner side of the hide up and the hoop on top of it.

Placing the hoop at the centre, the lacing begins. Different tribes and traditions have different lacing techniques, and  the Native Americans could identify from which tribe the drum came from, just by looking at the lacing method. The purpose is to stretch the skin tightly over the drum-hoop. This part takes time, but can be a rather meditative experience.

Once the drum is firmly laced, it's time to let it dry. At least four days must pass before you play on it for the first time. If you hit the skin too soon, it'll change shape and thereby ruin the drum. When the drum is dry, it should be played at least 15 minutes a day for at least two weeks to find its own voice and tone. Since the drum is created of organic materials, it'll season and get better the more it has been played.

Ready to dry - such a beauty.

As a drum is made with a real skin, it will change tone and sound depending on the weather. The more humid it is, the softer the skin becomes and the lower a tone - at times so much that it's all dull and can't be played. If it's very dry, the tone becomes more timber - and if too dry, the skin might crack or take damage.

To store your drum at home, make sure it isn't stored directly over a head-source or in sunlight. Depending on the weather, you might wish to store the drum in the bedroom or bathroom to give it extra moisture, or in a drying closet if it is too humid.

When you transport a drum, put it in a bag or container made of felt, as the wool will absorb excess humidity, or give some to the drum. Never leave the drum lying on the hat-shelf in a car where the sun can bake it - not even when it's in its protective bag. Drums are living beings and the better you take care of them, the longer they will last, perhaps even for generations.

The Hollow Bone

 
Image by Stuck in Customs via Flickr

A Hollow Bone - Elk vertebrae

The Hollow Bone is an approach to healing and energy work, where the Wellness Practitioner does not give healing, but only serve as a tool for the Divine, by whatever name you might call it.

Non-practitioners can also benefit from the Hollow Bone way of thinking. It can make dealing with other people easier and makes you stop up and think about the intentions and reasons behind why you do things.

There are practitioners who tend to take over the clients pains and tensions. The client leaves free of tension and soreness, but the practitioner is left behind with what the client had. Thinking of yourself as a Hollow Bone stops this tendency.

To better understand the Hollow Bone, it can help to think about how a physical hollow bone is created.

A buffalo bone with meat is used for cooking food for the two-legged - people. When the stew is cooked, the bone is taken up and given to the dog to eat. The dog chews on the bone and takes all the nourishment from it that it can. When the dog is done eating from the bone, he buries it in the ground, where the Creepy Crawlers (insects and bugs) then feast upon the bone and take nourishment from it. When they no longer can feed on the bone, there is no more nutritional value left in the bone. The seasons serve to turn the bone completely clean and white. Sun, wind, frost, rain.

This is when the bone, which is completely useless as a food source becomes the Hollow Bone. Now it can be turned into a tool for the people. It can be used to serve others and make a difference.

That is what the Hollow Bone is about. Once we remove all our ego, our desires and fears, our wants and thoughts, then we are like the Hollow Bone. Able to serve as a tool, a channel for the Divine. The Energy of Creator can now flow through us without any obstacles in the way. We are the conduit for the Healing Powers of the Universe, the facilitators of Wellness and Healing.

Being a Hollow Bone is a humbling experience. We do not create Healing, we do not give healing or wellness to the clients. We merely facilitate wellness. We let the client take part of their own healing, enabling them and we let the Divine work through us. Just like the pencil is the tool facilitating the drawing a child makes. We do not take credit, we do not call ourselves healers. There is no Ego in how we view ourselves when we are the Hollow Bone. Only humility and gratitude for being able to serve and to witness the healing that takes place.

There are several reasons to use the Hollow Bone thinking.

The greatest advantage is that we do not drain ourselves when we work. By letting energy flow through us, we leave a session energized and balanced. Unfortunately many wellness practitioners tend to give from themselves and are completely worn out emotionally and mentally by the end of the day. They take from their own resources instead of being a conduit. No need to elaborate that this in the long run can lead to injuries, diseases and burn-out.

If you only give of yourself, you risk transferring your own unsolved issues to the client. If our shoulder is hurting, we might project that hurt and think that the client also hurts. It can become difficult to differentiate between what is our own pain and problems, and which are that of the client. This tendency is clearest seen in energy work or psychological disciplines. It is common knowledge that to become a psychotherapist, you need to go through therapy yourself so that your own issues are resolved and you don't project them onto the client coming to see you.

The Hollow Bone also makes it unnecessary for the practitioner to protect themselves from the client. Some create protective bubbles around themselves so they don't pick up on the client's emotions or pains. Creating a barrier also distances you from the client and can make it harder to connect and work intuitively with the client. This isn't necessary when working as a Hollow Bone, as the Healing Energy of Creator flows through you and doesn't allow for anything to flow up from the client to you.

As the Hollow Bone, we do not take credit for the Healing which occurs, nor are we responsible if no Healing happens. We leave in the hands of the Divine. This approach can be very useful when dealing with people who cannot be healed, such as offering comfort and wellness to an old or very sick person. We know we cannot cure them of age or cancer. Working as the Hollow Bone takes away the pressure of trying to change their situation, and instead places focus on offering comfort and wellness in this precious moment.