Barbara’s Blog

Transfiguration

Turning green again 

Turning toward the teacher

Turning toward the breast 

Instinct

Nurturance

Learning

Remembering

(Or not)

The seed needs to be planted
We need grounding in fertile, rich

Dark soil, the stem growing and

Pushing up, flowing up

Toward the light

Plants, animals, fish, birds and we

Know how to grow even when 

Tragedy strikes

We migrate, we stand tall

We fall down to our knees

Then, a sudden brightness appears

Transfiguration

The sun, rain, breezes

Plants, trees, and the mycelium network

Support our journeys

All we experience affects us and how

We move toward blooming and feeling

Our blooms sometimes blocked

For a time

At times, a second blooming

And then, when our bloom season is done

Our leaves, petals or fruit fall to the ground

Not in sorrow but just because

We may hibernate during the dark winters

Then later on, feel the tug to grow again

When Mother Earth and the Great Mystery

Tell us it is time

Blessed Be!

Barbara Sanders Barbara Sanders

My Turn

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My father gave me music and wisdom

My mother gave me grace and hope

Both shared their love with me and many others

In almost every piece of music I hear

I begin crying when the saxophone begins

Playing wailing and jazzy tunes

The blues, soul music

My father played woodwinds

Especially the sax

Without words, my parents showed me 

How to bring more joy, justice and peace

To a chaotic abd sometimes scary world 

Sharing sounds, musical notes

Vibrations, frequencies and touch

Dance and beauty

The sacred, and 

Love to all

My turn

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Barbara Sanders Barbara Sanders

A Splash of Paints

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Channeling energy

Every moment of every day

Breathing in and out

Absorbing and reflecting

Opening up the spinal column

Letting the bright white light

Flow in through our heads and 

Up through our feet

The darkness of the soil

Meets bright white light

Becoming an amazing color of 

Magenta

A divine trick illustrating how

Mixing colors and skins can

Transform into beautiful shades

Stirring together values and beliefs

One and one does not equal

Two but becomes an abundance of

Progeny being born

Producing wild and incredible

Colors that clash and merge

Spinning and splashing

Together

Look at all of the colors of

The wheel, all the strands

The textures, depths and

Tones as they flow down

Into and all around

Our bodies, minds and hearts

Mixing with our own blood

Our mucus, muscles, bones

And all organs immersed in liquid

Fluids, giving us shape and form

Settling down and relaxing

Into gravity and also surging out 

Into space as we float above and

Beyond our Selves

Turning our heads back to

Witness the stream of 

Colors in our wake

Like the tail of a comet

We venture forth, opening

To the new

Then sailing down 

In a focused plunge to

Dive into Water and

Into the crust of Mother Earth

To see how we blend

How we are held

How we hold others

A splash of paints

All belonging

Together

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Barbara Sanders Barbara Sanders

Savage Divinity

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Roaring

Awakening

Glowing

Leading

Gathering

Sharing

Blessing

Feeling the burn

Of suffering taking place

The divine spark  

Once again ignites

Through a new ritual

Letting go of control

Letting go of sorrow

And despair

Letting go of thoughts

Mind, ego, achievement

Releasing all rationality 

To the winds of change

The storm causes

Disaster

Clears the path

For the opening of hearts

More Love than was ever

Experienced before

Surrendering all thoughts

Of attachments and binding

Knotty, tangled relationships

Knowing 

We do not own or possess

Any thing at all

We are given gifts

We receive blessings

No more victimization

No more perpetration

No more blame and shame

No more heavily laden guilt

To bend our shoulders

And weigh us down

With the burdens of 

This world

Instead, we rejoice as we

Impale ourselves

On the spear of

Bright white light

Wiping out all stains

All beliefs of sin

And disgust

Judgment and pride

Empty at last

While never feeling

Alone again

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Barbara Sanders Barbara Sanders

Wild Peace

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Shimmering

Rippling

Vibrating

No you or me

No separation 

Between each other

And the Divine

This is Wild Peace

Peace which needs no understanding

Wildness beyond measure

Allowing the spirit of Grace

To move within, outside,

And all around us

The rhythm of Wild Peace

Is the bass line

The heartbeat inside us

And throughout the universe

Strumming strongly yet gently

Always present underneath

All other sacrificial sounds

While chaos enacts its dynamics

Disturbing our resilient calm

We witness, we watch our world

We may even participate

By dipping our toes

Into the playground of humanity

And then, diving in and throughout

Past humanity’s edge

Further into the deep, hallowed

Waters of our souls and into

Sacred Space and Time

Bubbling all around us

We breathe, we race 

To be at one with

To be inside the circle

Rainbows of light

Expanding from the cosmos

All the way down 

Into our moon tides

Into our wiggling toes

We reach out

Drawing down the bright white deep

Receiving these gifts

That set us on fire

We explode into

Stardust once again

Shedding our skins

Entering the New World

In different forms and shapes 

Energies being born

Transformed

Awakened

Now

I see you

Do you see me?

Floating around

Ecstatically?

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Barbara Sanders Barbara Sanders

Healy: Healing with Frequency Vibration

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As we suffer and perhaps as we age, we seek to find any kind of method, medicine, or practice that may help us find relief from suffering along with encouraging excellent health and well-being. We have read self help books, we have attended some psychotherapy sessions, we may have also tried meditation or medication. But, nothing so far has seemed to offer us a scientific and magical way to transform our bodies and lives consistently.

After psychotropic medications started years ago, many people have benefited because these medications can change brain chemicals in such a way as to relieve some distress, decrease anxiety, and improve people’s moods. But, these types of prescribed medicines don’t help all of the people all of the time, and some medicines have so many side effects, that they create new problems.

We also hoped that psychedelics and ketamine would provide answers to some of our distress, and research has proven that some psychedelics do help many people: offering relief from long term depression along with assisting people who have PTSD, addictions, and other compulsive behaviors. Some people also benefit spiritually with psychedelics if the proper preparation, guidance, setting, and integration are parts of their practices. These are powerful medicines and not everyone can take them due to some medical or psychiatric issues. Also, psychedelics are mostly illegal in the U.S. which may change in time.

Now, along comes another amazing methodology for healing: the Healy device, and the Healy community. The device was founded by a physicist and an investor who came together to do research, explore, and create a marvelous technological tool that works along with our bodies to heal themselves. What an amazing, tiny machine! I, myself, have discontinued 3 long term medications because I don’t need them anymore since I began using Healy. My life has expanded and improved tremendously!

There is much history in the past century or so about using frequencies to heal all sorts of health problems, and physicians have used vibrational tools for many types of medical services. Now, the founders of Healy have created a device that sends micro-currents into our bodies, offering healing at the cellular level to assist our bodies in dealing with so many sorts of conditions and pains. The Healy device contains hundreds of programs that address everything from physical, emotional, and spiritual distress to helping skin, feet, circulation, joints, and all sorts of other issues.

A creatively fit coach, mentor and friend first told me about Healy. I can be skeptical about some forms of healing that I don’t understand, but this technique and technology make so much sense. I won’t describe here all the scientific details about how this device works, but you can find lots of data by googling, “Healy,” and watching videos, reading, and listening to speakers talk about the science.

What I want to share is that this amazing little device works! Like supersonic meditation, the Healy offers a regular routine of connecting 2 electrodes to our wrists (although some types of Healy devices work without electrodes), which send out micro-currents that assist us in healing ourselves. Think about how music can soothe us, excite us, and create all sorts of moods and feelings. So, too, with Healy and frequencies. We set intentions and we allow Healy to do its job, sending these frequencies and raising our vibrations. Healy founders and users all hope that Healy can change our world, one person at a time, and I believe that this transformation has already begun.

Can you imagine a world where many people connect to a powerful source of healing routinely, a practice without strenuous effort, one that offers support, compassion and waves of wellness traveling throughout our bodies, minds, hearts, and spirits? We can be working, exercising, or doing anything while wearing the Healy device briefly each day.

This is the future of medicine, the way of self help. This is the path of the shaman, the mystic, and those who believe intuitively that we can bring heaven to earth by healing ourselves. Why? Because our healing becomes as source of light, love, and compassion that we share with everyone we meet. We want to shout out the news that suffering can be diminished and that joy is possible for everyone.

Pie in the sky? Perhaps so. Why not give Healy a try after you do some research? Come and enter into a global community, a healing circle that offers love and support to each and every member. Feel free to contact me for more information and for a referral link to enter into this new world: BarbaraGrace.2023@gmail.com

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Barbara Sanders Barbara Sanders

Enchant Me!

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Enchanted, I wander through misty meadows

Gazing at trees, grasses, and flowers

Wondering

How this magical place became what it is today

Who were the artists, the hands that carved the rocks

Who scooped out the seas

Who planted the first seeds

And who oversees Gaia now?

A Big Bang

A quantum leap

A god or goddess

Bursting stars

Magnetized dust

Or, all of the above and more?

The Enchantress narrows her focus

Takes out an arrow, placing it in her bow

Stabbing me with a gut wrenching blow

Knocking the breath out of me

I fall down, grabbing my solar plexus

She has hunted me

Time after time

Racing to catch up to my

Speed, my moving with rapid

Electrical impulses

Not just running away necessarily

But always running fast

Stop! She bellows

(I am punched)

If you won’t slow down

Just stop and lie here still

(She puts her massive foot on my belly)

I have you now

(wickedly laughing)

I keep giving you chance

After chance to pull together

To stabilize and listen carefully

Although you are clever and cunning

And slide so swiftly in and out of reality

But, I can still catch you, she blurts

I am proud of myself but also

Fearful about her great power

I cower under that large

Heavy foot

OK, I give, I say

At that point, she disappears

Flowing toward the mountains

Creating no havoc, just floating along

Beckoning me to follow

Seduced, I stand, I jump up into the air

Warm breezes carry me to

A lofty cliff where she awaits

Planning to create a waterfall

She whispers, Dive down with me

The water will come

You have to trust me

Sophia Gaia proclaims

I will do you no harm

We sail out into the air

I transform into a alligator

She becomes a snake

We fall down (or glide)

Fast toward the earth, but

Before we crash

Into ground, waters gush

Behind us and carry us

Swiftly above the

Stones that would have

Smashed us up badly

What now?

Do you trust me now?

Sophia Gaia asks, proudly

Can you turn water into wine? I mutter

I just did, you silly, she responds

As I turn toward her this time

I hear thunder

I see lightning

Have I displeased her or

Is she just done with me?

I slowly transform back to the person

I am, the soul I have always been

Life after life

Death after death

Feeling a little lighter

A little stronger

Certainly more courageous

I lapse into a silent walk

Slower and more reflective somehow

Moving toward my next encounter with

The Enchantress

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Barbara Sanders Barbara Sanders

Cultivating Kundalini

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Flaming inside my lower back
Sacred root chakra
Tossing my body around
Like a toy shaken by a dog
Burning my chest and lungs
Burning through and through
Cauterizing every piece
Of my broken heart.
I am restored
Miraculously reborn
Without scar tissue

It started with the Rapture
When my old life ended
And my new life began

Kundalini, a powerful
Coiled snake seductress
Sprang to life, shockingly
Surprisingly
Blasted through my pelvic area
With such sanctimonious sensations
Ecstatic pleasure and pain
Bursting hot energy
Like boiling lava, or revving up
Like a bull pawing the ground
Racing to stab the matador
With sharpened horn

Not so silently or serenely do these
Clotted roadblocks clear away
Rotor rootered throughout
Cleansed for the first time
Perhaps ever
Breathing out from my
Open mouth
Leaking out some of
The intensity so as not
To blow out the torch
Of my life in one fatal whoosh.

Divination afoot

The Breath of Life
Breathes for me
Begs me to open up
Become more alive
Than ever before

The entire channel shatters
As the sneaky snake
Smashes through every membrane
Muscle, bone and organ
That stands in Her way

The gush opens up and
I am for the very first time
Ever
An emptied, flowing channel
Unencumbered by human
Guts or goo, fully open

To Divine Magic

Pierced sighing, crying
Laughing at the absurdity
Of all of my former worries
All those attachments to
My body, my ego
Heaving, letting go
Finally

Surrendering

Released into the
Blackness, untethered from
All I once knew and thought
Was real
Floating unencumbered
Comforted, blessed
Only slight fear but real enough

Will I let go of all human
Connection one day

Die

Lose all I used to know?

Yes, but, I will also remember and
Know more than ever before

We will dance together
In some space or time or
Cloud, in light or darkness
However it looks

All together, One

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Barbara Sanders Barbara Sanders

A Kaleidoscope of Coral

Colonies of polyps

Attaching themselves

To hard substrates

Communities of people

Attached to Mother Earth

And to each other

Gravity

Coral can be hard or soft

Growing, serving as

Protection for other sea creatures

Beauty

Needed parts of the whole

Buffering shorelines 

Vital to a healthy ecosystem

Poisoned by toxins

Harmed by climate change 

Warmer water

Endangered

Colorful and diverse

Each colony unique

To its own

Sturdy, Sacred

Stunning to view

Coral needs water and light

Some types thrive deeper in

Colder environments   

Transmuting the 

Heaviness of this wounded world

Gorgeous landscapes

Sensuous scenery, visual candy

Ocean creatures, life cycles

Humans can be stunningly beautiful or

Extremely ugly 

Faces, words, and actions

Tones of voice

People are endangered too

Unlike sharks and other 

Carnivores who survive by

Eating other animals

People attack emotionally

Verbally and physically

No food exchanged

Except metaphorically

Or maybe there is a

"Food" transaction

Food nourishes so

 I may attack you

I may want your food

(Your ability to nourish 

Yourself better - in my opinion

Than I do)

So, I steal, I grab your stuff

I push you over so I can

Have more (in my thinking)

I compete with you for

What I perceive as a

Limited amount of food

Having experienced 

Deprivation of food, touch

Emotional support, love

I want it

I am desperate for it

Power or fame

Wealth or beauty

Give it to me, please

Don’t make me beg

Meanwhile, in the kaleidoscope of the 

Kelp forest

Coral and sea fans softly

Sway in carefree currents

Sharks, sea lions and dolphins 

Hunt for food 

Killing other beings at times

Seemingly without all the 

Vigor and deep desire or 

Despairing desperation of 

Human needs that 

Didn’t get met

Still aren't met

Wonder what we might learn 

From Coral

While still living as human beings?

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Barbara Sanders Barbara Sanders

Silver Threads

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Silver sands

Silver shadows

Silver dust

Silver shells

Silver moon

Sitting in the sunlight

The family stretched out

Like cats around the room

Outdoors, the ocean calls

Bright shining sun

Warming our hearts and souls

Penetrating us with beams of light

Rays of hope

Water, sun, fire, air

Mother Earth

Elemental essentials

For human growth

Overjoyed by abundance

Distressed by drought

Too much or too little

Dismay and possible death

Hurricanes, tornadoes,

Storm surges, flooding

Wild fires, earthquakes

Skin cancers, wars

Sun and spirits consistently

Part the clouds

Requesting belief and trust

How can what we need

Also, hurt us so badly?

Just true, it is

How can so many fabulous

Aspects of life be dangerous

When too much or too little is

Consumed or shared with us?

We, the tiny grains of sand on

This elaborate, enchanting earth

Designed by the Source

Maybe Divine, maybe Mystery

Maybe Quantum Physics

Surely Magic

We say: Flow with it

We say: Watch out, don’t get burned

We starve, we thirst, we consume

What is enough?

What is too much?

How do we decide

Or, rather, is much

Decided for us?

Silver threads linking

Us all together

A wondrous web of jewels

A tangle of hearts

A mosaic of minds

No wonder we battle at times

No wonder we love even more

Weaving our energetic beings

One to the other

We know surely as one part

Changes, so does another

And another and another

The rippling ideas, tantalizing tides

Alluring air currents between and

Around us like mesh, foam

Feelings of every sort

Shared between

Graceful, ghastly

Gawky and glorious

All at the same time

This is our earthly home

For now

Stardust always

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Barbara Sanders Barbara Sanders

Closing Our Eyes

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Closing our eyes

See the silence

Smell the quiet

No place to go

Nothing needs

To be done

Time for the

In between space

Surrendering to

A total embrace

Hope

Mercy

Weaving together

Throughout time

Remembering

Starships sailing into the night

The pulse, the heartbeat

Breathing in and out

Waves rolling like small slopes

Motion rippling slowly

The quantum field

Jewels of the Rainbow

Bright shining glimpses

The Sun

The Divine always whispers

If we slow down, stop

Invite and listen

Then, we hear

If not, the Divine shouts

Watching the ocean tides

Moving in and out

Creating harmony holding

All of life: plants, beasts, cells

Killing, consuming, digesting

Breathing through complex gills

Fins and paddles swimming

Continuous motion

Just like on the top of the water

On the land, in the air

Just like out in space

All the dynamics everywhere

Colors changing

Moving from magenta to deep

Dark blues, purples, and yellows

Reds, oranges and dark black

Sparkling, shimmering around edges

Sliding in and out of view

Merging and transforming

Separating

Just like we do

Will I meet my Spirit beings?

Will they show me their faces

On this particular journey?

Do they have faces up above

Down below and

Throughout this energetic

Field of delight and expanse?

No, not human forms, rather

A cornucopia of colorful tones

Spectacular looming lights

The blooming of roses

Caves and streams

Structures and forms

We receive their messages

Our senses awash

Beauty rolling, swaying

Just like dance and music

From lyrical, slow, stretching moves

To erratic jolting bass booming

Wild dancing, singing, shrieking

Relaxing the pace becoming

Background sound, soothing

Being seen, heard, experienced

Lived

Joy and war

Conflict and peace

Harmony displayed

All is Nature

All is One

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Barbara Sanders Barbara Sanders

Goddesses, Gods, and Humans

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The Celtic Goddess of Spring, dawn and fertility

Brigid was also a goddess of birth, protection

Agriculture, music, and art

Viewed at times as a fighter or a flame

Different cultures, different meanings

Maybe a triple goddess or

Just one single goddess

Myths, creeds, and folklore abound

Who are our goddesses and gods

And are we included in the list?

A goddess protects the land, the skies, and the seas

A goddess treats the sick, heals and comforts the wounded

A goddess brings forth life (and maybe even death?)

She is all knowing, all seeing, all giving

Divine

Sounds like the God that I grew up with

In a church, omnipresent

Lord of all the heavens, the

Earth, the waters and the air

Lord of people and animals

Rocks and minerals

God bless the little children

Surely a god or goddess is

Androgynous or a

Metaphorical hermaphrodite?

Transgender, at least

Not a person at all

So no gender needed

What do I know, wondering and

Wandering while I write?

Do humans need

Something or someone to worship?

Or do we just need

Beautiful and inspiring stories

About heroines and heroes?

Is it human to need to believe

That someone, some entity somewhere

Is looking down on us, or up at us

Watching what happens to us

Comforting us when we need it

And sparking us to move forward

When the world needs us?

Some deities are animals, trees, plants, or ideas

I worship the jaguar, the hawk and the goose

Along with the elephant and the snake

Trees are celestial beings as are

The rose and so many other flowers

Some worship objects or Jesus or Mary

A well, a mountain, or a seed

A medicine or a shaman

Or the magic dollar, power, or fame

The patriarchy

If we don’t worship and pray to a deity

Then what would we worship

Pray to, get mad at, and seek to know?

If our lives are not going our way

Who do we look toward to help us?

Surely we have found out that other

Human beings may act like saviors for

Awhile, but ultimately they, too (we, too)

Let us (each other) down

Just by being human

Some goddess or god must

Have made them (and us) that way

The Muse is speaking

I am listening

I channel her words

With my hand above

The keyboard

Is She my goddess?

The Great Mysteries remain

Let’s keep asking

Questions and

Sharing them

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Barbara Sanders Barbara Sanders

Still Here

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So many deaths

Not just bodies

But, hearts and minds

Friends, family

Beloved pets

I know as well as I know

Anything that they are

Most likely better off

Than they were here

At least at the end of

Their lives animated by

Blood and Breath

Whether by accident

Sudden disease or

Long term illness

They are now released

From their bodies

Hopefully, fluttering around

In some spiritually

Uplifting space

Whatever heaven may be

For them

And here we are

Left, abandoned

Sad and sorrowful

Full of tears and

So much more

We who treasured them

We miss them

Or the they who they were

Before the downfall

Before the diagnosis

Before the wreck

Before the cancer

We are grateful to

Have known them

Loved them

Rejoiced with them

Cried with them

Now we cry alone

Along with all those

Who loved them too

Knowing that we will

Rub up against their

Energies again some day

In whatever form

We feel them

We already do

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Barbara Sanders Barbara Sanders

Sacred Waters

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Guided by Rebecca Campbell

And her Sacred Water meditation

My inner temple today was a beach

The pelicans escorted me

To Mother Ocean

I stepped inside the water

Swimming deeply

With my Octopus guide

I became a mermaid

Full fish body from torso down

Fin and all

Turquoise and green scales

Still human above my naval

Swirling around with my Octopus friend

I dove down then came up to float

On top of the ocean

Surrounded by the ancient ones

Dolphins swarmed around me

Chattering and nudging me

My intention was to open

My throat chakra even more expansively

To be able to channel Spirit

To speak and write about what I am learning

These vital treasures that I have

Been absorbing for many years

The dolphins smiled widely

Several of them spinning around me

Bouncing up out of the water

And over me, gliding down

Feeling the dear sun on my face and chest

My fin relaxed

Soaking in the Salt water of my Soul

The minerals of Mother Ocean

I belong here

With these sea creatures

I was born here

I will die here

I will become reborn

Again and again

As I transform from life

To death, the waters

Scattering my decaying body

Sharing the food I have become

With plants, fish, coral, mammals

Sea fans, this Octopus

Energy efficient

Part of the whole

Singing to all the world

The good news of the

Truths that are being

Revealed to all who

Seek to receive

To share wisdom

All the days of our lives

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Barbara Sanders Barbara Sanders

Stardust

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The tightly held umbilical cord

Snapped

Letting go of biological family

Earth history

No longer tethered

We wander

Fear so rooted to being human

Or being anything living on this planet

We are all seeded by exploding stars

Scattering galactic particles

When (like Mother Earth formed)

Gravity and magnetism pulled together

Stardust, transforming into more

Solid earthly life

Committing to being human

Living our best lives while feeling the tug

Fear, ache, and separation from ancient

Family energies, our birth places throughout

Space and every part of the cosmos

Does stardust ask us to have a

Mission here on earth?

Why did we come here

Individually and collectively?

Living these Mysterious questions

Our structure offers hints

Our bodies, tiny parts of our

Soul’s purpose here

Hearts, minds and spirits

Personalities incorporate so

Many spinning sets of particles

Let us bow to them and pray

We ask for guidance hearing a message

Encoded in our breath, released over and

Over again, surrendering our control

Fighting with our resistances instead of

Embracing and thanking them

For deep healing and growth

Knowing and unknowing

Faith

The imprint of all that has

Happened up until the present

All that has come before

Connecting each part with another

Spinning out the web of change and

Transformation

Coming home

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Barbara Sanders Barbara Sanders

Sensory Scenes

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The flute, piccolo, and bassoon

My earlier instruments

Now I listen to crows’ caws

Warning us about the

Hawks in the trees nearby

My mother’s fried chicken

Popping and spewing

Cooking just right

Tasty grease and salt

Going down easy

Touching my tiny dog’s

Soft fur, smelling the salt

From our beach walk

Hiding from the burrs

Violence erupting

Guns aflame

Tragic streets in our nation

Worse tragedy in Ukraine

Here, police shooting at

Black and brown men and children

I hear Martin Luther King’s voice

I feel his

Presence in my bones

Soul speaking wisdom

Courage and Beloved Community

Anger feels like fire

Rippling down my spine

Love feels cuddly, juicy, sweet

Peace seems billowy and heavenly

The Spirit oozes with joy and delight

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Barbara Sanders Barbara Sanders

Transformational Reflections

Transforming is not for the faint of heart.

There are as many ways to grow and heal as there are people on this earth. Choosing one or two methods that can help you may be difficult because each of us is unique. From psychotherapists to wayshowers, from physicians to yoga teachers, it can be mind-boggling to find the kinds of people or practices that will be good ones for you. Community can also increase people’s enjoyment in life even though groups of people can also create dynamics that need to be managed; conflict, for instance.

During my many years as a psychotherapist, I have enjoyed working with people. I have also found my own growth and healing not only in psychotherapy but also in alternative practices, like breathwork, bodywork, and a variety of other processes to achieve not only feeling healthier but finding more freedom and peace.

As we grow through the many phases of life, we may want to learn how to meditate, while at other times we may seek out acupuncture and other Chinese medicine practices. Yes, exercise is good for us and some people believe that they would be on antidepressants if they didn’t exercise regularly. Endorphins help us feel better and there are many ways to move around in this world. We have many choices.

I have knowledge and experience in working with ketamine providers and in assisting people in sorting out what is going on with them and what methods and techniques might be useful to them. Consulting and guiding people toward transformation is one part of what I do along with working with people’s wounded places and inside parts.

Enough for today. I look forward to writing a little more about how I experience transformation and what is available to you as well.

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Barbara Sanders Barbara Sanders

Transformative Experiences

It all begins with an idea.

Transformation happens one small step at a time. We keep our personalities, our genetic makeup, and our physical bodies during a transformative experience. But, coming out the other side of that experience, excellent changes can occur, new creations, and maybe even miracles. We are still ourselves but maybe more compassionate, more kind to ourselves and others. We may understand better that we are only a tiny part of the multiverse, and certainly small even on our planet. And, although we ourselves may not be able to create change worldwide, we add to what is there, we impact our communities, friends and families, and maybe that is enough.

Becoming a less anxious, stressed person can do wonders for our physical health and well-being. Lifting out of depression can feel like rebirth. These are no small matters. Our qualities of life can improve even when we still have our same histories, our same families, and our same bodies.

Psychotherapy helps some people as do so many other kinds of healing, a list too long to even imagine. What each of us chooses to do with the resources we have is up to us, being unique to everyone around us. We can listen to their opinions and advice, but when we are set on a particular path of growth, that is ours to design and manage. No one lives in our skins, and sometimes no one knows best but ourselves. Certainly, people like Brene Brown and so many other psychological researchers, speakers, theologians, and spiritual peoples from around the world can help us, and we still get to participate in our own development and healing.


What helps us transform? Often, a relationship with a professional who can act as a guide assisting us, while we tell our stories yet another time, curious about what has changed each time we tell these stories. A safe, consistent, confidential and caring relationship works best but we don’t always know how to find a wonderful facilitator. Much like a partner, a treasured guide is someone with whom we will share information and intimacy - sometimes even more than we would ever share with a family member.

We must also face our fears about being known to ourselves and to anyone else. This is no small task itself. Intimacy does take courage, a leap of faith, or sometimes that miracle that we all seek. More on this later….

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Barbara Sanders Barbara Sanders

Transmuting Energy

It all begins with an idea.

Being human, we people have emotions that fluctuate off and on. Sometimes feelings come and go and we are patient and kind to ourselves just knowing there is a normal ebb and flow, the contractions and expansions in our lives. Sometimes, however, emotions flood us and we seek relief from them in any ways we can. Unfortunately, we often act on our feelings and thoughts without having the patience, the pause, and the reflection to take time to understand these emotions rather than act them out. Again, normal human behavior, Sometimes this results in actions we are not proud of, that embarrass and humiliate us, or hurt someone else.

I support practicing nonviolent action whenever we can. James Lawson and The Rev. Martin Luther King have been excellent teachers about nonviolent action and how this type of action gets better results than does violence. Nonviolence is a much more compassionate response as well and helps us build our beloved community, instead of communities full of fear and enforcement of rigid rules. So, when we have big feelings that take control of us, instead of our trying to control or banish them, we need to consider how to transmute these feelings and thoughts/beliefs instead of acting them out.

If we don’t change some of our patterns, we too often experience relationship problems, work issues, and/or family difficulties, and since we have all learned our current ways of coping over many years, change is hard to come by, not a simple matter.

First step in transmuting our feelings or thoughts from negativity and harm to more helpful responses? Breathing and taking the pause, instead of giving in to that part of us that tells us to Act Now! We need to listen to that part and to all our other parts as they battle inside us at the same time. We must take the time use our focus and energies to pause and reflect by wondering why we might be feeling/thinking some of the ways we are feeling/thinking. We can’t always take the time to do this but when we can, we often have better results.

What is transmuting? Transmutation is changing the form of what is happening. First, we need to become aware of these moments. Then, we can take a negative piece of self-talk or a big feeling and explore it. Another step in the process is trying to challenge some of our beliefs about what has happened. When a person has rejected or has seemed to neglect us, we may feel hurt, sad, or angry. We want to look at the entire situation and realize the assumptions or interpretations we are making about the specific scenario.

For instance, when my good friend turns away from me toward another person, I may feel hurt and angry. But, when I look at the entire situation, I can also understand that she is a host at a gathering and in her host role, she may feel the need to talk to others and not just to me. Just by finding a slightly different interpretation of the event , I realize I don’t have to suffer as much as I did during my first reaction. Maybe we can understand and believe that there are several more interpretations to behaviors than just our initial response. If we hang onto our first reaction or impression, our first belief about any particular situation, we may feel stuck or trapped in our distress. If we realize that perceptions are not always actually reality, then we can play with this idea that people’s actions aren’t always exactly what we believe at first. Their actions and intentions may be very different from what we initially experience.

I have much more to say about how to actually transmute thoughts and feelings into more helpful realizations because this is not easy - and the process is as unique to each person as is a feeling. It takes hard work and effort, time and energy, to discover ways to feel better. So, instead of suffering so much or hurting others, we can become more patient and peaceful along the way - with ourselves and with each other.

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Barbara Sanders Barbara Sanders

Innerterrestrial Exploration

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Moving inward toward our Souls, uncovering layer upon layer of ego-involved plans, hopes and dreams, we stop and wonder.  Why all the interest in Extraterrestrials? Why not take a look at our InnerTerrestrial Beings, and see what we find? No, this not about a London band with such a name.

What can happen on this exploration? Landscapes that we may have never seen before can become more vibrant and real to us, if we stop looking outside ourselves for answers or revelation, and instead, start discovering what’s inside us, these bodies of ours.  What is our heart about, our brain, our nerve-endings, what do they do inside us, how do they affect our moods, our feelings and thoughts?  No, this is not a biology piece. I am writing symbolically about this precious mysterious internal system that we house inside these bodies, these bones and organs. The breath of Life, the Spirit.

What if we don’t look up into the sky or toward other people so much for answers, but present our questions and intentions to our Souls?  What if, instead of taking a survey of our friends and family about what we should do about a particular choice, we instead turn inward, with or without assistance, to ask our higher selves, our wise and knowledgeable selves - because after all, no one knows us like we do. Unfortunately though, even we cannot know ourselves fully.  We can, however, try to get to know ourselves better and better so that we can live our lives, knowing what our Souls and bodies want and need, instead of being directed or instructed by anyone other than ourselves. In this process, we also contact Spirit which lives within us, all around us, and through us. 

There are more ways to explore our innerterrestrial spaces than we can name. I have practiced as a psychotherapist for over 30 years and I have seen great change in others and in myself because of the usefulness of this type of practice. And, there are so many other avenues, methods and techniques for exploring this sacred space within and around us. So many alternative ways to know and grow, and like our current knowledge about our brains, we may not be able to know but 1/10 of all there is to know. Why try?  Because we are human and some of us are searchers, seekers, spiritually guided and informed by all sorts of religions and teachings - and we are hungry to know and grow more. Why, again? In order to develop into more loving, compassionate people who can navigate this thing called life without as much trauma, division, anxiety, anger, pain, sadness and depression as we have formerly experienced.

So that we can build a more perfect union, not in our country necessarily, although that would be nice. But, between us and our Selves, between us and other people, other beasts, plants, the climate, and all that lives on Mother Earth, and beyond her borders. Between us and Spirit. Yes, we can contact other knowing beings because we are all made up of stardust, shells, water, light, and so much more. We can sparkle more clearly, we can swim more easily, we can navigate life more gently if we can get to know and respect our innerterrestrial selves. The human race changes, and all of the world becomes a better place and space for us to live in and die in, to be recycled in, and to rehearse for our next lives, if we have more. And/or, we may wander into the unknown and extraterrestrial spaces as time goes on.

This can make sense when you think about how far we have come as human beings, and how far we have yet to go. Many people talk about 3D and 5D planes of existence. My guess is as we move up the ladder of numbers, those who are aware of, and get to know and embrace their inner selves, their Souls, their innerterrestrial spaces, may move up quite easily. Harder sometimes to stay stuck below in the concrete and mud when we are such sensitive, imaginative, creative and gifted beings. Why not explore more of our potential here on this earth, in our inner space, in order to become more beautiful, loving and kind human beings while we live here?  Why not start here and later explore Extraterrestrial energies?  Maybe we are they.

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