-IBIS-1.5.0-
rx
imagery
beaver dammed
psychospiritual approaches
definition
image: Close your eyes and breath in and out three times, and as you do let the full feeling of your awakening grow sharper and cleaner and more present. Allowing your mind to be more focused, give it permission to wander far from where you are until you find yourself strolling through a deep primeval forest. Breath in the bright invigorating air and let yourself listen to the tiny sounds of life and movement all around you. One sound babbles briskly and melodiously through the rest, the sound of a secluded flowing stream. Notice, that this stream is flowing somewhat to one side, as well as behind you, and as you do, realize that it would be a joy to move through the forest and find the moving water.
Following the sound is easy, and you are rewarded with the sight and sound of a clear, flowing rush of water so pure and good, that your heart swells just to see it. You then discover that you have an undeniable urge to follow the stream and see where it goes.
As you move along in the streams general direction, you find that you can not always stay upon its banks. Hills and other impassable places block the way. But whatever happens, you always return to the banks of the lovely water, and your heart is glad. But now the water that you come back to is no longer clean and fresh, rather it is stale, murky and congested. You feel awful, not knowing if you are more angry than sad, more mournful than mad. Regardless of the specific mixture of feelings, you set out to discover the source of this outrage.
Little time goes by, and already you have found the the source of the disruption. A gigantic dam of mud covered sticks and branches has been built across the stream. Upon close inspection, it is easy to see that this was a beaver dam, but that the beavers have gone.
The blockage in the flow has continued to grow since the makers of the dam abandoned their work. Branch after branch has floated onto the barricade as the years have come and gone, being packed tighter and denser as the murky waters have grown higher and wider, creating ever greater congestion and pressure. A great wooden plug has brought stagnation to the flow you found so enchanting and alive.
It takes but a moment to pull the first branch loose and send it over the dam; it falls into the tiny bit of stream that continues to flow on the other side of the obstruction. Silently it drifts away. The next bit of wood is just as easy to dislodge and send drifting on with the flow. As you pull each tangled limb from its settled place in the barricade, the muck that had cemented those bits of wood in place is dislodged and carried away as well. Watching this process that you yourself have set in motion, you realize that you must allow time for the flowing stream time to do its work of carrying away debris; you move into a smooth rhythm in your activity.
The efforts themselves and the wise pace with which you exercise them, soon pay dividends. The water pressure that once packed the dam, begins to pull the blockage apart, freeing the stream to swirl away ever more of the blockage and wash away the murky, stagnant congestion.
Give yourself an opportunity to congratulate yourself and enjoy the spectacle of your beloved streams return to freedom and clarity. Allow yourself to feel good all over, as you return gently to full waking consciousness, bringing a smile and a sense of accomplishment with you into the everyday world.
(Chavez, after Stargrove)
uses: anger, frustration, depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, liver dysfunction, cirrhosis, hepatitis, muscle spasm, dysmenorrhea, premenstrual syndrome; congestion patterns; various cancers
footnotes