♥LOVE TIP – Friday September 28th, 2012
“Shechina refers to a way of being in the world……….there’s no real English word for it.
It is the experience of waking up in the morning full of utter joy for the arrival of the day.
It is a way of living in love.” ~ Marc Gafni, The Erotic and The Holy.
Hello Friends♥
My massage and treatment today was so deep for me it has left me totally balanced….and I mean in every cell of my body and in every part of my soul………
Have you ever had the experience of being so blissfully happy and at peace that if you died right then you would totally feel like you life was complete and perfect?…….. That’s the thought and feeling that filled my eyes with sweet tears while receiving my massage today……..
It’s called Dhanyamala Dhara. Warm herbal waters are poured down the body with a therapist on either side – “dhara” means the continuous flow of a liquid. The water is poured from copper urns that are simple and beautiful and highly stylish at the same time…… Slowly and rhythmically they start at the top of the body and flow the waters down to your toes……..and back up again and down again ……
One starts lying on their back and then on their right side, back again, left side and back again. There are obviously a certain number of movements they flow the water up and down for each position but counting flows wasn’t an action that I could do in the consciousness of surrendering to the pleasure…..
Sublime, blissful, magnificent, pleasurable, heavenly, delightful, idyllic, nurturing, nourishing, soothing, surrender-ed, ecstatic, elated, enjoyable, joyful, tranquil, calm, peaceful, deeply relaxing, restful are some adjectives that come near to describing the experience……It’s interesting to note our deficit when it comes to words that describe such pleasure…….like the nuances of a highly pleasurable orgasm…..our language is lacking….
♥Shelton described his experience masterfully – it took him to remembering Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz throwing water on the wicked witch of the east and her crying out “I’m meeeeeeelllllllting…… I’m meeeeeelllllllting……… “ and then she disappeared……For him it was just like meeeeeelllllllting and then being transported to another realm…….For another it was like ‘being in heaven’, and another had the feeling of “expecting them to start feeding me grapes” and another felt it was like on being on cloud nine and total emotional nourishment……
You lie in a wooden table that is on a slight incline so the waters flow back to the end of the table where there is a hole to collect the waters which are then heated and used over and over…..the massage therapists have a highly smooth rhythm so that it feels like it is continuous for the 45 minutes that it goes on for……
I also find the sound of the waters dripping into the container they heat the water in and the splashing as they pour and fill the urns highly pleasurable and soothing….. and as I’m reflecting now the whole experience feels quite hypnotic……and healing……….and transporting….and transforming…..
It is like once you have experienced such pleasure you know that it exists……It’s like I can’t go without having this experience more times in my life…..
I have written about receiving Dhanyamala Dhara before – It did get better…. !! and intentionality and ♥Me-time
……..what is different today is it has started me thinking about pleasure and opening my senses and sensuality and reflecting on the part these play in my life…….
What big, important topics these are……areas of our lives that usually get relegated to the ‘back burner’ ……..and often get confused with being sexual…… And pleasure and sensuality for some is seen as indulgence in the negative sense……. and a mix of guilt and shame and fear get brought up for others…..
My invitation is for you to reflect on pleasure and sensuality and the part it plays in your life. What is the real nature of pleasure? The Webster’s Dictionary defines pleasure as “enjoyment or satisfaction derived from what is to one’s liking”, closely followed by “sensual gratification”. It is commonly understood as the positive stimulation of the senses………..
………Here it is now the next morning and I awaken at 6.30am and I’m lying in that half awake state…… just reflecting…… and free associating about pleasure and opening my senses ………and I get up and I go straight outside and sit and open myself to fully experience being in the moment…..bringing my awareness to experiencing through all my senses…….right-here-right-now….just experiencing, just noticing…………
Noticing the chipmunks shrill squeaking and ‘calling’ back and forth to each other….the thump of the waves onto the beach ………. crows squawking…..other birds chirping and tweeting …… the muffled sounds of people down below as they go about starting their day……. the feel of the warm tropical air on my body, the brilliant and clear yellow and orange of the hibiscus flowers, pure stark purple and fuchsia colour of the bougainvillea and red of some unknown-named flowers and the green, g-r-e-e-n, G-R-E-E-N in abundance – palms, coconut trees, papaya, ferns – leaves of all shapes and size and texture as far as the eye can see………….
What is wonderful about immersing myself fully in the moment, fully opening my senses is how right-here-right-now my awareness is e-x-p-a-n-d-i-n-g and o-p-e-n-i-n-g even more….. everything around me becomes a sensory experience – and so deeply nourishing…. noticing how quickly my body becomes “the experiencer” ……so deep in my body…..the feeling of just dropping………and then just dropping deeper……bit like being on a slide – once I’ve opened myself my senses take me by the hand into this wonderland that previously had been beautiful…..but now from this new position it was almost like I was experiencing/appreciating it all from ‘a head space’….now my whole body is the experience!
What I am also noting is that even though I am in this beautiful and relaxing tropical Kerala Ayurvedic Resort environment……..which is so supremely a delight to all my senses…….. sitting here immersing myself my body immediately dips into the memory of many equally nourishing environments elsewhere…..
We did a meditation on cleansing our senses a few days ago in the Group…..generally it is about seeing each of your senses as a room and in each of the rooms for each of the senses there is everything you love to see, hear, taste, smell, touch/feel…as well as our sixth sense…….I’ll find a copy of that when I return home and post it as it is a beautiful way to open yourself to the wonder and gift of your senses.
I’ve decided to take up the invitation of a teacher and mentor of mine – ♥Liv Lane – and participate in The Little Bliss List on Fridays. Says ♥Liv – “The Little Bliss List provides a chance for us to celebrate the little things that brought us hope and happiness this week”…….Over the next couple of months on Fridays I will deeply dive into and explore each of the senses and all things to do with pleasure and bliss……..I invite you along to explore with me…….
Question for you: what comes up for you as you read and reflect on this post and bliss and pleasure in your life? ♥MIRRORING PRACTICE. Share with someone what impacts you about this post. ♥MIRROR each other for a minimum of 5 minutes.
Question for you: What have you been meaning to get around to doing to pleasure/pamper/indulge/treat yourself that you have put off? Today is the day to set a pleasuring intention.
Must go and delight in my morning time in the pool…….another of my absolutely blissful and pleasurable things to do……
♥Bye with thoughts of you nurturing yourself and delighting in and indulging in something(s) pleasurable……. LOVE Susie♥
