Bees and Bridges

Bees and Bridges

To bee, or not to bee. Many of us asked this question recently at the ITP Summer Seminar 2010 in Los Gatos, CA. "Bees and Bridges" were the underlying theme for me during our 3rd year opening. There were various symbols that connected a few of us with pivotal moments of irony, encouraging us to build a bridge between ideas and confidence in order to deepen our personal work through experiential learning. Half of the seminar was spent in intellectual pursuit in the classroom. During the other half, we were allowed to put wisdom into the world through listening to others, hearing their stories, applying yoga to life, and considering the metaphors around us in a sanctuary environment. We spent most of our time in groups, mainly configuring the dynamics of our entrance into the research portion of our doctorates. What was amazingly profound for me was not so much the content of the seminar, but the connections that were made with my fellow classmates, the opportunities to reflect as we listened to the backgrounds and pursuits made by others, and the intensity of synchronicities. Bees and Bridges - from frenzy toward building heart liaisons - is the metaphor I took home.

How were bees and bridges important to a spiritual deepening during our time together in Los Gatos? In reflection I realized that I was learning to align, attune and be. After losing my father just a few weeks prior to this trip, it could not be mistaken for coincidence the way the theme of bees and bridges wove into the seminar. It was one of the most heartfelt purposeful trips that I have experienced in a long time.

I met a lady who most probably is a cousin from my dad's side of the family, aligning my heart with my papa's through the mutual family name - two daughters desiring to be closer to their Bridges fathers who have both crossed over. Iishana Artra and Jennifer Buergermeister are really Elizabeth Bridges and Jennifer Bridges by birth. Our fathers come from the same area of the United States born just miles from each other in Kentucky and Ohio. Iishana had made a pledge to pursue family from her dad's side just before the seminar. My heart was sensing my father's love from the spirit realm. Thinking of him often, I found myself missing him greatly.

In my devotion, I recently petitioned for bids to hand carve a totem pole in honor of the Bridges Family and my father. My dad and I had discussed making a Bridges totem together before he died but with his decline in health, we never had the chance. The union of two Bridges gals in a mutual Ph D program was sweet and synchronistic. I feel blessed to gain a cousin, even a sister and friend, on the mission to put wisdom of the heart to work not only in the world, but in the grieving process.

Iishana was stung by a bee on the first day of class. She also took this picture above to the right a few days before she left for the seminar. Notice the synchronicity? To the left is my 2007 photo from my DVD Red Hot Yoga.

Ironically, the book that I brought to the seminar for leisurely reading (yea right) was The Shamanic Way of the Bee by Simon Buxton. A I will discuss later in detail, one of our amazing professors, Ana Perez-Chisti, mentioned to us after the seminar a story about bees in a lecture she gave in Northern San Francisco that Sunday. "Cuz" Artra and I knew that we had to attend Ana's Sufism lecture.

We rented a car and drove to the event on a beautiful day in northern California. We were "bee-ing" in the moment and flowing with grace.

Our cohorts, each containing about 15 Ph D students, were given nicknames the first day of seminar. My Cohort A was determined to be an abbreviation for aligning and attuning; and Iishana's Cohort B stood for being and bees.

At Ana's lecture, yet another "coincidence", she used a personal story and metaphor about bees and their buzzing vibration differences which evidently depends on if they are a domestic bee or a feral bee. Domestic bees have a sound that is low in pitch with longer and wider frequency waves like a cello, providing placidity and harmony within the colony. The feral bees are high pitched, and seem urgent. They can easily represent the sign of our times and the change in modern human dynamics.

The queen bee, the mother and soul of the bees, directs the hive to be community and produce the nectar that feeds and nurtures us. I left feeling great reverence for the bees and the synchronicities, the mother energy, realizing there must be much to explore about their existence to awaken our spirit. I am determined to read the book about the shamanic way of the bees right away.

Bees represent the importance of connection; and through metaphor bridge us to our Sufi hearts, the essence of constant change and impermanence that is in tune with nature. Ana Perez-Christi shared with us on Sunday that it is the light we must face, not the window itself and how it is shining through capturing the light. Instead, we must stop looking at the form alone and observe the light in its truest form. The light simply is.

The concentration of light brings being and form. But it is not permanent.
Ana made me think about how dangerous it is for us to continue veiling the underlying mysticism underneath the skin and bones, cities, and other complex realities as systems that we form all around us. We must learn to be rather than to do, letting our capacity to shift into new realities open our hearts to change. Shifting from shit to sure became a joke phrase between many of us. We discussed the importance of standing in truth and being sure that you represent well what you say, and own it. Everything we do, we should own it if it comes from our heart. It is a reflection from within without sorrow of its presence.

Ana reminded us that our unique capacity to vibrate, change and shift is precious because it is so transient. She also reminded us to be kind to others because ignorance is just a veil over our perceptions that do not allow you to ground into the reality. Everyone has capacity to move into relationship with nature, perceive impermanence and connect to the natural flow of life. Hording the material realm will eventually cause the destruction of our connection, and also be the lead toward the body of humanity to experience failure to sustain and survive. The kidneys and lungs of our planet are being exploited, and the mystical connection to the Earth lost. Then we ask how and why such a thing happened. Ana said, "The fish in the ocean are not thirsty." We have forgotten that we too are in an ocean of beautiful underlying, permeable, mystical exchanges between inner and outer illusions in relationship to reality. Ana also reminded that "The manuscript of God is written in nature." Our bees can teach us a lot about how we are doing here as the human race if we just listen.

The seminar gave us glimpse into the theme of bridging attention with flow. The teacher of Aikido, Sue Ann McKean, mesmerized me. There was something amazingly beautiful about her energy. I embodied my deep passion for flow yoga as it aligned with the teachings of Aikido. I really enjoyed listening to Sue Ann, and appreciated her statements about energy flow. She reminded us that we use feeling in Aikido. She said, "If you use your arm to block, you are not feeling." I wanted to hug her for saying that.

In yoga I have found that it is the heart that the central channel awakens when kundalini shakti moves through the body. The energy awakens the heart to the field of possibilities and to grace. The great heart awakening is the trigger to the law of attraction - life's martial art. The Himalayan Yogis understood this well, as taught by one of my favorite swamis, Vidyadhishananda Giri, in his 2007 Chakra lecture once given at Unity Church, Houston. Sufis agree that the doorway to the heart is not in the intellect, but in feeling and being.

The seminar bridged many of my previous understandings into a well-formed outline that I suddenly received in a flash of inspiration during lecture with my History of Systems and Methods/Research professor, Gabrielle. She is an amazing and passionate woman who gave me an article on inner voices after hearing my dissertation idea. Her generosity, passion and engaging participation inspired me to begin formulating the inspired, defined outline of what I want to research or offer qualitatively using much of my own experiences.

I already termed and dove deeper into the understandings of inner knowing, listening and deep grief work - Transgrief Experiences: from grief to glowing during times of transitioning realities. My question is: How can an inner voice lead one through transpersonal experiences and life path choices into leadership roles using heart awakening and inner knowing as a transpersonal practice and teaching?

I checked online and much to my surprise, the term Transgrief is not used and the domain has never been purchased. Elated, I bought the domains for my possible new dissertation topic on Transgrief experiences and the reemergence of a higher self! It all came together with songs from the heart strings of our unique connections made at Ph D, Year 3 at ITP. Namaste'

Live. Breathe. Do Yoga.