Leslie Blackburn, "Light Bearer"

Monday, August 15, 2011

Sharing Love Energy...Aack! Guilt & Shame!

How often do we sabotage ourselves against pleasure and love? What's it like to really open to the possibility of allowing loving energy to move through our bodies? And IF we actually let ourselves feel that, do we let ourselves share that with a partner?!

Seems like it's easy right? "Sure why not feel good?! Count me in!"

Seems obvious, yet actually what I've seen (and experienced!) over and over is that while our analytical Minds say "Heck yeah, count me in for feeling good!" our Bodies often speak a very different message, like screaming "Hey no way, I don't feel safe, I am tightening up here can't you hear me?! Stop, you're not listening!". Speaking from my own personal experience... I have felt myself start to feel pleasure, get scared and close down, A LOT.

I've done a lot of healing around that, letting old junky stuff move out of my body, honoring her. For that I am grateful! And it's not over, it's a path! I am willing to continue this deep, edgy, vulnerable journey that is also so rewarding with the Bliss of opening, allowing and feeling!

And by partner, I don't necessarily mean someone we are physically or sexually attracted to. What's it like to hold open the space of a Transcendental Love connection? What I am referring to is sharing Universal Love, that Oneness that connects us all. We often get this confused with Romantic Love or Human Love. And while Romantic Love can be really wonderful, and perhaps be present in that same Transcendental Love connection, it's not required! So we get worried, like "Oh, I am not supposed to be feeling pleasure with this person (or in this environment, or by myself)" so we shut it down, turn it off, and stop feeling. We are basically sabotaging ourselves from feeling our own true, innate nature!

We are innately blissful beings, Infinite Beings in Finite form. We've just created so many layers of armor and barriers (note: barriers are different than healthy boundaries, which do support our freedom and bliss!) around ourselves that we don't notice our blissful nature. So consider letting go, shedding the layers to let your innate Bliss shine through! And enjoy sharing this in a Loving connection with a tree, a friend or another fellow human you are blessed to walk on this planet with at this time! Give yourself permission, you deserve it :)

Friday, July 1, 2011

Freedom and Expansion! Yes, Boundaries make it happen!

Often when I mention the word "Boundaries" I sense a familiar grimace of "oh no, that sounds like a list of restrictions". Actually not so! In fact, just the opposite is true.

Boundaries support Freedom and Expansion! Yes, really!

When we can check-in with our authentic selves and sense what our boundaries are, and then communicate them clearly and with compassion, we actually support ourselves into full, yummy freedom! And this allows us to begin to drop away the barriers we've erected over time that are often subconscious, unhealthy ways of keeping people out.

For example, consider a study that was done with kids on a playground. Playground equipment was set up in the center of a large, open space. At first, the kids come out to play and they stay fairly clustered in on the equipment. Next, a fence is erected around the perimeter of the open space. Now the kids come out to play, and they play FULLY, out to the edges of the space.

Notice how when the edges are unclear, the kids contract away from their fullest potential of playful freedom. But when that same spot of grass becomes clearly a safe space to play, they are able to expand into exploring the edges. The same applies with our adult selves. Our Divine Feminine energy needs to feel safe before she feels ready to open into yummy playful vibrancy! And it's our Healthy Masculine energy that provides that safe container, the space for her to play. He is ever present in his clear, conscious awareness, witnessing without judging her. And in that she feels safe to surrender and open to share her light and energy.

So check in with the messages of your body, from your authentic place of clarity (not from your wounded or addicted self), and be willing to explore softening and opening into new edges by honoring your boundaries and those of the ones around you.

I would love to support you in your journey of self awareness, I offer Individual and Couple Coaching, Group Classes, Workshops, and Retreats. Read more at my website at www.MysterySchooloftheTempleArts.com and please contact me to explore the possibilities!

New!!! An update! Since I posted this last July, I am honored to now have available a series of videos...and one of them is on this very topic! Check it out here "How Boundaries Support Freedom":

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Exploring the Depths of Sexuality

What do these words mean to you?

Sex.

Spirituality.

Sacred Sexuality.

Do they seem discordant? Separate concepts strung together arbitrarily? Or do they flow as a natural connection? Sex carries so much baggage in our society, and in so much of humanity on this entire planet in this age!

So I invite you, let’s slow down, and breathe for a moment, feel…

Sex. What is the resistance (or the excitement or the addiction or the fuss) all about? We tend to make assumptions, constantly, that shape our perspectives on life and reality. In fact our intentions and thoughts create our reality. These assumptions are based on our own filters, what we have heard or been told in life.

So what’s it like to drop away the filters? And learn from clear self-awareness, finding your own truth, from inside. This is what gnosis is all about, wisdom from that authentic place of source at your center. Not from our filters or expectations based on what society or some one else defines for us. As a colleague of mine says “definition is just mental programming, to experience is truth”.

The tough part is we carry so much shielding that the concept of feeling into our own authentic truth and center can either make no sense whatsoever or seem so out of reach. However, no matter what you currently believe about yourself, you have that power to choose! You absolutely can look inside and reach the unreachable.

So let’s strip away some of those layers.

Sacred Sexuality.

That which is physical and sexual is also sacred and spiritual! What comes up for you in that concept? Like “hey no way, they tell me I am only allowed to have sex for pro-creation, or I can’t have sex at all, or even let myself think about sex or feel sexy feelings”.

So I ask you to consider, why? Because somebody just said so?

Does it feel authentically true to you? If yes, beautiful! Go with that!

Or does a part of you grimace at that thought, tighten up, feel unsure, feel guilty or shameful? If so, go with that! Open to the possibilities. Dive deeper, past the mental programming. Dive past the “they”, who is “they” anyway? Parents, society, education systems, religious institutions, media? There is no “they” at your authentic center.

Whichever choice you make, here’s the key… OWN your choice as yours, and enjoy it! There is one freedom NO ONE can take away from you and that is the freedom to choose. Choose from your authentic core, your center, not from your addicted self, or wounded self. And believe that your choice is yours, it is! Don’t give up your power to anyone else outside of you. You create your reality! So create what you want not what you think “they” said it “should” be.

Consider that your sexual energy is your life force energy, it’s what created you! How can this core, fundamental, foundation of our selves be an energy that shouldn’t be felt or should be squashed away? It is in fact through the infinite power of this very energy that you can heal your body, connect deeply with others, manifest your hearts desires and connect with Divine bliss. It is due to the fear of this very powerful reality that much of the misinformation and arbitrary definitions (mental programming) have been perpetuated, often unconsciously, through the “they”.

So why not feel pleasure? What is stopping you? Is it limiting beliefs? Past patterns? What “they” tell you? Allow yourself to feel. Learn safe ways to connect with the wisdom of your body and communicate what feels safe and what feels good for you. And as you do, feel the bliss of expansion into that freedom!

Remember, “definition is just mental programming, to experience is truth”. So don’t take my word or anyone else’s word for it, what do YOU feel? Step deeper than the “mental programming” and into the wisdom of your body. Are you ready for the Mystery?

I would love to support you in your journey, I offer Individual and Couple Coaching, Group Classes, Workshops, and Retreats. Read more at my website at www.MysterySchooloftheTempleArts.com and please contact me to explore the possibilities!

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Inspirations from the 10th Annual ISTA Conference of Sexuality & Consciousness Educators

I recently returned from the amazing ISTA Conference of Sexuality and Consciousness Educators in Sedona, AZ. It was a phenomenal weekend of transformation and healing for me personally, a deepening of my relationship with my Love, and reconnection with many friends, fellow teachers and practitioners. I am just buzzing with inspiration and excitement about new ways to share the power of sacred sexuality with you! This is a powerful path of healing and transformation, finding a deep space of love and value within yourself, bringing that forward into connections with others, manifesting your desires and experiencing ultimate bliss and Oneness.

I could write volumes about my experiences of the weekend, and in fact I am. I have over 25 pages of typed notes from my journal already and I am only part way through! In the meantime I wanted to share a few excerpts of the many inspirations:

Grand Master Mantak Chia, our keynote speaker, has been an influence on my work and teachings for awhile now. It was beautiful to experience him and his teachings live. Check out my Resources page for links to a few of his many books that have resonated with me.

I am honored and grateful to have experienced a private session with Andrew Barnes, an internationally acclaimed and qualified Tantric relationship, sexuality and orgasm coach, author, speaker and Daka. He embodied the awakened masculine as he held a safe space and shared powerful body dearmoring techniques, along with energetic practices that helped me reconnect with my body in new ways. You can experience a video of his powerful work with Energy Orgasm here.

And on the topic of energetics, Kenneth Ray Stubbs, Ph.D. shared his work through screenings of his two documentary films and a powerful presentation. He gave me a whole new vocabulary and awareness of Sexual Shamanism, and Energetic & Orgasmic Anatomy. His work has expanded my ability to articulate the intuitive process of energy merging and transformation, which for me amps up the ability to experience transformation and growth. Finding balance in our masculine and feminine energies, is what this work is all about, and I really value having the analytical side to blend and balance the intuitive side. Thank you Ray for sharing your work with us!

These are just a few of the amazing teachers, guides, healers and authors I've had the opportunity to experience. More to come!

Namaste, Leslie Blackburn