Monthly Archives: May 2007

Dog Wisdom

Posted on May 8, 2007 by Lara| Leave a comment

This morning my beautiful dog, Balthazar, a very fit Golden Retriever, was attacked by a German Shepherd who has been out to get him for years. I’ve often joked that Balthazar is my spiritual teacher, and this morning was a great example. We were out in a field near the village in France, and the shepherd, who is known to be violent and supposed to be always kept on a leash, was free, and came running towards B., barking madly. Balthazar, knowing exactly who it was, sensibly ran away. No point getting into a fight unless you can’t find a way out of it. The dog gave chase, and after a hundred yards or so it was obvious B wasn’t going to outrun him, so he turned to face his attacker, and put up the most spirited defence you can imagine. The owner of the other dog got to them first, and pulled his dog off, at which point B turned and ran hell for leather to find me. He’s been quiet since, but seems okay, and doesn’t appear to have a scratch on him. His thick coat protected him, and his completely uninhibited self-defence kept the other dog at bay until help came.

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Posted in Balthazar

Heaven & Earth

Posted on May 7, 2007 by Lara| 1 Comment

The ancient Chinese saw human beings as the interface between heaven and earth, giving and receiving energy to and from the ground beneath our feet and the sky above our heads. We take in energy from the earth directly through the entry point of the kidney meridian, Bubbling Spring, located on the sole of the foot, (and through the Stomach and Spleen meridians), and via the food and water we consume, which come from the earth. We also receive energy from the realm of the sky, through the breath, and through the top of the head via the point called One Hundred Meetings on the crown, and points in the upper part of the body known as the Windows of the Sky.

In Western culture, the notion that humans are fed from above and below seems to have been longstanding, at least until the modern era. The Standing Stone Circles show us that ancient peoples acknowledged and studied the Sun, Moon and planets, and we know from written material from Plato onward that the energetic nature of the relationship between heaven, humans, and earth was of great interest. This linking persisted through the Middle Ages and well into the Renaissance. The association of spirit with breath is shown in Western languages: spirare (Latin: to breathe), leads to inspirare, meaning “inspire, inflame, blow into”. Spirit, the “animating or vital principle in man and animals,” comes from the Latin, spiritus, meaning soul, courage, vigor, breath.

Next time you get a headache, see if using your imagination to open up the energy center (chakra) above the top of your head allows something to come in from above, some inspiration, some new idea or insight. If it’s that type of headache, the pain will ease as you let the information down and into your consciousness.

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Posted in Chinese medicine, Chinese philosophy, earth & sky wisdom