One of my loves and passions is teaching Continuum, or rather I should say sharing vs teaching as truly, it is our own fluid intelligence that is the teacher in Continuum.
In some of my more recent series we’ve looked at resiliency, developed deep listening and surrender, and in the one I led in September, we explored our fluid strength.
The theme for “Fluid Strength” came to me as I was finishing writing another workshop. I knew that would be the title of the next series, but I did not yet know what the series would look like or the exact direction it would take (more lessons from water…).
Rick, the pup, and I were able to take a little long weekend escape to the mountains and on this rainy lucky morning I found myself up early with no one else around.
So, I offered myself the rare treat of stepping out into the world before doing treatments.
I walked myself down to the Animas River and opened myself up to her lessons.
It’s here that I was shown some of what fluid strength really means.
Part of the incredible strength of a river is it’s ability to flow, to move around and over and between it’s obstacles.
It’s adaptability.
Water has power and momentum that increases when moving in the direction of flow.
When it meets an object in its way ( a rock for example), water is not defeated.
It either softens in and runs along the side or instead is gains new life by rising up or curving, meeting the obstacle instead gives new dimension, new direction, new character.
An eddie or even a powerful waterfall might be the result of meeting whatever challenge is in it’s path.
If a fall is created from the unknown of a cliff, instead of being afraid and saying “No! I won’t go!”, it instead surrenders itself to the ledge, and with this surrender a new strength is gained. Crashing, pouring, or even just trickling down, momentum is built, and flow continues.
That’s part of how water is able to flow so far for so long, depositing what it collects from all that it meets, this ability to move with the flow is how it shapes canyons through what would seem like impossible unchanging mountainous landscape.
As I took some moments to let my body feel into this I heard within myself, “This is also you”.
“Feel your own fluid strength.”
There is another lesson in water.
What happens when we no longer have the ability to flow or move, be moved?
When this happens with water it becomes stagnant.
This is true in water in nature and true in our bodies, our beings.
It’s important to let ourselves exchange with life outside of ourselves. Whether that’s giving to others, letting our “waters” go out beyond our boundaries and shores.
It’s important to let ourselves be touched or moved, letting waves form and come with the winds of change or new drops of rain into our lives, letting the fish/life swim through us, moving out into other flows and letting other sources in to refresh, cleanse and renew us.
Even at what appears to be the water’s edge, contained by the surrounding earth, in a healthy system there is
We need to be able to keep flow and movement in our lives, both energetically and physically. Otherwise we will become a stinky stagnant murky pond.
So many times when we think of strength we think of push, immovability even, but our dear friend water is here to show us the strength and power of flow and movement.
Let’s let her wisdom wash through, within, and all around us, inspiring us into a new perspective on all the facets of what strength really is and can be.