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The
Mother Of All Healers
By
Larry Alboher
Thirty years ago, when I lived in India, I often noticed the joyful
gleam present in the eyes of the peasants and rural people even
though they lived in extreme poverty. I could not fully understand
this contradiction until many years later when I became aware
of our primal connection with the natural world. Those people
are connected. Because industrialized humans are not, we are suffering
grave consequences and so is our planet.
 Indigenous
teachings are based on a strong reciprocal connection with the
natural world. This intuitive and instinctual connection is made
and held with the total body. It is a natural capacity; we are
born with it. This connection strengthens and balances our life
force, and through it we can recognize our true relationship with
the natural world and our obligation to respect and care for the
Earth.
I first experienced this powerful connection several years ago
when Don Pablo, my Shamanic teacher, suggested I go to a specific
place on the northern California coast. He said I was ready to
ask nature to teach me. I didn't fully understand what that
meant, but I was willing to trust the possibilities.
I drove to the suggested spot and parked my car. As I approached
the trail where I was to receive my teaching, I bowed to the land
and, with an offering of tobacco, asked Mother Earth to give me
a teaching that would be appropriate for me at this time. I soon
began to feel a very intense energy rising up from the land. The
upward flow of energy caused the life force in my body to rise
and I began to get a headache. I struggled to push the energy
in my body down into my pelvis and buttocks, to maintain my connection
with the Earth and receive its power. As is true with most Westerners,
I tend to hold my chi, or life energy, too high in my body from
years of thinking too much. This prevents us from properly grounding
and connecting to the Earth.
The trail dropped into a shallow ravine and at the bottom the
energy from the land intensified. Holding this intensity in my
lower body, while grounding to the Earth, propelled my awareness
upward into what some indigenous people call the upper world,
or the realm of expanded awareness. I remembered Don Pablo's
admonition to “never leave your body.”
In a few moments the surroundings lit up in intensity and became
less dense.
I felt the interconnectedness of all things. I could feel the
Earth breathing and feel Her pulse. She is truly alive! I felt
like a strong tree: my feet were roots firmly planted in the soil,
drinking in its nutrients. My head was a branch reaching toward
the sun for life-giving energy. I was a part of the community
of nature, fully supported and nourished by earth and sky. This
connection completed the circuit of life force flowing between
the Earth, the sky, and myself. In this magical moment, I discovered
what it means to be grounded and connected to the Earth! Her breath
was my breath. The boundaries of separation between nature and
my body blurred. I began to feel completely rejuvenated!
I became intuitively aware that the cranial rhythm of the human
body is a mirror of the Earth's pulse, and reflects our nurturing
connection to the Great Mother. The cranial rhythm is a subtle
pulse in the body that pumps spinal fluid to nourish the brain
and the spinal cord. The Earth's pulse drives this rhythm
in our bodies. I was now convinced of the truth of indigenous
myths calling human beings the children of Mother Earth. She is
indeed alive and we should always stay connected and grounded
to Her by an invisible, energetic umbilical cord. Through this
cord, we receive life-sustaining energy, which nourishes our being.
The Earth is literally the Mother of all healers.
Because this Earth connection is not recognized, valued, or cultivated
in modern culture, it is dying in modern man. Industrialized humans
have become almost exclusively reliant on the conceptual mind
and are losing their connection to the vitality and deeper richness
of life. We are breaking the circuit of life force. The price
for this loss is increasing poverty of the spirit, which manifests
as chronic illness, depression, and despair. It also manifests
through drug addiction, conflict, and violence. The Earth is also
suffering greatly without our attention and respect. I believe
we must reestablish our connection to the natural world to restore
the broken circuit of life force. We can do this by rediscovering
and cultivating our instinctual and intuitive capacities. This
connection provides a future hope for humankind to restore a more
respectful, healthy and integrated relationship with our world
and ourselves.
© 2004/Larry Alboher/All rights reserved
This article is an excerpt from a book-in-progress by Larry Alboher
D.C., a writer, healer, and teacher of Eastern and Western mysticism.
For further information and to contact the author, please email larry@larryalboher.com.
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Connecting
