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Walk Your Way into the Qualities You Desire, by Pat Samples

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

Is there some quality you'd like to have more of? Patience? Confidence? Focus? That quality may seem elusive—an unreachable ideal, especially if you've tried repeatedly to develop it over time without much success.

But what if you tried it on in your body? Qualities have a physical feel to them. Think back to moments of confidence you've experienced and recall the sensation of your head held high, your torso erect, and your definitive stride. Remember the calm, regular breathing and soft smile you've had when experiencing moments of unforced patience. Your body knows what these qualities feel like, and it can be a great teacher for you when you're trying to develop these or any of the qualities you want to adopt more fully. Practice embodying your desired qualities, and your mind and emotions may well follow suit.

What Quality Do You Want?
A good place to start this practice is to identify the quality you yearn to—well, embody. Is it one of the ones I mentioned? Or is it creativity? Decisiveness? Sensitivity? I recently offered this question to an improvisational movement group that I lead, Free Motion, and some of the qualities named were love, looseness, fluidity, and potency. What is your desired quality? If you're not sure which one to pick, simply notice which one seems most on your mind today, and start with that one.

Prepare Your Body to Learn From It
To begin learning from your body, put on some instrumental music, such as New Age (but not the super-relaxing kind). Choose music that has some energy and variety to it. Then, in a standing position, take a few clear breaths and connect with your body as much as possible. Spend a few moments noticing what it feels like to be in your body in the present moment. Be aware of both pleasant and unpleasant sensations. Starting with your feet and moving up to your head, shake each part of your body loose, taking several minutes so you can shake the entire body until you feel a nice buzz of energy everywhere. Then do some easy stretching, like a cat might do, preparing your body to have the freedom to move as it wants to. Now you're ready to enter the experiment with your desired quality.

Walk Your Desired Quality into Being
Start walking. Let yourself experience the feeling of walking for a few minutes. Vary the walking any way you like. Allow yourself to be playful and creative. Eventually, let the walking begin to take on the quality you desire. If your desire is to be loose, let looseness show up in your walking. Let your legs and arms exhibit a lot of flexibility—your torso too. Your hips will probably drop and sway. Your shoulders and arms may become noodle-like. Your head may bob as your neck flops about. Exaggerate the feeling of being loose. Play it big. Walk as if you're the loosest person on the planet!

When I did this exercise with my Free Motion group, I explored the embodiment of potency for myself. I wasn't sure exactly what that might feel like, so I tried on different postures and movements. I stuck out my chest—no, that felt too aloof and pushy. I moved more from my hips—yes, I felt more solid and substantial doing that. I soon found that visually scanning the room to take in all of my surroundings felt "potent." So did opening my arms wide and extending myself outward in big swoops.

In the group, we also practiced playing out our quality with partners, as a way to observe how we might feel having this quality in our relationships. If you're doing this activity alone, you can imagine doing this with people you know.

After practicing your quality in an embodied way for a time, pause briefly to rest and observe how it feels to live in a body that is patient or focused or loose—whatever quality you chose. Notice if your attitudes and emotions have taken on this quality to any degree. Most likely they have. When we're willing to let our bodies lead us, our inner experience tends to follow.

The usual reason we're attracted to a certain quality is that we're feeling stuck in the opposite quality. The discomfort of feeling impatient makes us long for patience. Our inability to get things done because we feel so scattered makes us crave focus. So, in turning to our body to guide us, it's helpful not only to try on the embodied quality we want but to allow the currently embodied quality to also have some room to express itself. The next part of the exercise will let you do just that.

Continue with your walking, and this time let your body take on the quality you're hoping to exhibit less often. The postures and movements this time will seem quite familiar. Exaggerate them to the extreme. Allow yourself to feel fully how your body wants to carry itself when this quality is prominent. When I walked "impotently," I was hunched over, with eyes cast down and arms crossed over my chest. I felt a tight-skinned, worried expression on my face. I moved slowly, shifting directions often in a nervous way. It felt very uncomfortable and confining.

Again, take a brief pause to observe what your attitude and feelings are when you're in this body position. Do they match what your body is expressing? Also, pay attention to how you're feeling in response to having exhibited this uncomfortable quality. I remember feeling compassion for my impotent self along with a pressing desire to move out of this way of being. The next part of the exercise benefits from both of these feelings.

Continue walking, this time shifting your postures and movements from expressing the disliked quality to the desired quality. Take plenty of time with this transition. Let the shifting process itself teach you a little about what it might take to move from, say, being tense and tight to being loose and carefree. Remember to be compassionate with yourself as you follow the urge to embrace the new quality.

Enjoy displaying the desired quality as it emerges. Notice if it seems any more accessible than it did in the early part of the exercise. Are you expressing it any differently? You may find that having explored more deeply the quality that you dislike—by giving it expression, you're more able to free yourself from it and move on. Having already practiced the desired quality, you may also find it easier to take that on.

In the days and weeks ahead, you can draw upon these remembered body experience to help you as you embrace the new quality more and more. When I think about wanting to be more potent, my whole body now takes on that quality. I can feel the sensations of being potent, making it easier for my mind and emotions to settle into a more potent way of being. If necessary, to reinforce the message, you can exaggerate the bodily sensations repeatedly until this quality starts to become the familiar one.

What's so transformative about learning from our bodies is that the learning is deeply experiential and more lasting. We're often encouraged to change our thinking, but unless our whole being gets in the act, the change may dissipate with the next thought that comes along. Enjoy your body-as-teacher. Let it help you ease into and feel at home with the qualities you have long desired.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2008. All rights reserved.

Is there some way I find out who my guardian angel is? Are there processes I can learn for consciously interacting with and calling upon my guardian angel for help, guidance and protection?

Stacy

Astra:

There are many great books that name the Angels. One great one is A Dictionary of Angels by Gustav Davidson. It's very old and out of print now, but you can probably find it in your local library. My mother did extensive research into Guardian Angels for many years, and this was her favorite book on the subject.

There are lots of other books available now, and in any dictionary of Angels, you can find the Archangel or Big Angel in charge of you based on your date of birth. Your Little or Messenger Angel can be found in the same section.

The book I recommended has good descriptions and lots of alternate spellings. You'll also find your Guardian Angel assigned to you by the day, hour and minute of your birth. For instance, given the month and day of my birth, my Archangel is Michael and my Messenger Angel is Sizajasel. These are the same for all Sagittarians.

There are four Archangels who work with the four elements and twelve Messenger Angels who work with the individual astrological signs. If I have a problem, supposedly I should take it to Sizajasel, who will give busy Michael the message. Then if the request seems worthy of Him, Michael will pass it along to God.

Now that you have a scholarly start, ask your Messenger Angel to ask your Archangel to point you in the right direction. It could be that the Angel whose name you found by the day, hour and minute of your birth IS your Guardian, or it may be that your Guardian had thousands of people for whom He was responsible, and you were assigned an angel without a person to look after. (This usually works out better for us for a number of reasons.)

Ask for the first letter of the name, and then go back to your book and go through the names (yes, there are thousands) until one of them hits you right. When you see the name, you'll know it.

As you're praying in your own way for this information, remember that many Angelic names sound the same but are spelled differently, and vice versa; sometimes they sound different but are spelled in a similar way.

There are many Angels who share names too, and use the Arabic or Hebrew word for 'born of' even though many Angels aren't really 'born' as we humans are. Also, don't expect to know if your Angel is male or female, because sometimes they're neither or both combined.

If you keep at this for at least 90 days, praying every day for the answer, the name will come to you. Once you know your Angel's name, you may be able to have long conversations, or you may just feel more of that Angelic presence in your life and grow closer to it over time.

*****

Susyn:

It's a wonderful experience when you're able to identify, connect and build a relationship with your guardian angel, and you've already taken the most important step. Because you realize the power, protection and guidance your guardian angel can provide and are open to it, the rest should be relatively simple.

For starters, you may want to learn more about your guardian angel through a psychic reading. With a psychic as mediator, you'll be able to make an instant connection. Working together, the two of you will be able to identify, name and converse with your special protector, which will make it easier to achieve a connection yourself the next time.

Set aside some time each day to build a relationship with your guardian angel, for just as with a new friend, this is a process that takes time and commitment. Dedicating regular visits to sit with your guardian angel in quiet meditation will encourage this connection to grow and prosper.

Start your meditation with a few minutes of quiet, allowing your thoughts to clear and your body to reach a state of peace. Once you are centered in your meditation, call out to your angels and ask them to show themselves. Then allow images and words to form in your mind.

If you're artistic, you might sketch a likeness of what comes to you. Some people like to have an icon, such as a painting or statue that represents what they imagine their guardian angel looks like. With all the wonderful angel icons available at stores these days, I'm sure you can find one that resonates with you.

Talk with your guardian angel by sharing your day and acknowledging the moments when you felt they guided you or kept you from moving in the wrong direction. Thank them and then sit silently to see what they have to say. Don't get frustrated if you don't hear anything at first. Usually after two or three attempts, your ability to hear will improve.

Another way to stay aware of your guardian angel's presence so you can remember to ask for their help is to wear a special bracelet, ring or necklace that reminds you of them each time you look at it. Silver jewelry or adornments containing indigo stones like sapphire or lapis lazuli will also improve your ability to hear and recognize your guardian angel's messages.

If you think of your guardian angel as someone you care about who lives far away, it will be easier to maintain a conscious connection with them. Like your loved ones at a distance, you know they are there even when you can't see or touch them - the only difference is that you can call on your guardian angel at any moment and you'll never get a busy signal!

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.