"We are one together"

Today’s mediation was under some orange trees in the back yard of my friends Denise’s home.  She has a beautiful wooden swing that calls to me when ever I am there.  As I ran across the cold dew of the morning I stopped for just a moment to greet Nunda. A brief debate begins. Did I want to move the swing out far enough to be in the warmth of the sun and not the shade?  I felt the cool earth beneath my feet and the warmth of Nunda as she rises from her nights rest. Once I greeted Nunda and wrapped the blanket back over my body I have my answer. No, as the swing sat it looked like I would be cradled in the branches of the Tree Nation this morning. 

I know every branch, limb, twig, leaf and fruit bent itself coming closer and closer until by the time the chanting of Green Tara was over they all faced the swing. When my mediation began a heighten sense of my surrounding also began I was ware of the smells and the breeze and even the warmth of my body wrapped in the blanket of the tree. There was no separation we where one.  It is very peaceful here in the trees.  For a time there was only the void of creation. Gratitude for this majestic little oasis filled me.

 Then I slowly became aware of my surrounding.  I felt a bump on my leg. I opened my eyes and beside me lay a beautiful orange. What a gift. I picked it up touched the coolness of it to my face.  Looking at the vibrant orange color filled me with delight. Then I drank in the delicious orange scent.  The orange spoke to me of the gratitude of the trees for sharing this time with them.

For a long time I relished in the natural beauty of this majestic tree being thankful for every moment, we nurtured each other.  Then I opened my gifted gave thanks to the giver of all things and languished in the succulent juices of this precious gift as we become one in this Earth Keepers form.  The juices ran down my face and the nourishment of body and soul continued. 

The gift of interacting with nature in all her splendor is the only thing that the Earth Mother asks. To give and receive freely of the gift that is life. “We are all one together”

Life is a cycle a cycle is a circle and in a circle every thing returns to where it began.  Yes Grandmother I hear the sharing and it fills this one with respect for the knowing.

Be Well

“We are all one together”

Rev. Marylois

Conversation in sexuality

Conversation in sexuality: Part one

One of the many passions in my life is in the field of sexuality, or as I like to call it the exploration of the human body. The gift of sharing ones body with another is fantastic.  It is one of the most natural physical sharing’s that there is.

I have been privileged to be a teacher of sexuality.  To date my class room has been very spontaneous.  Where ever people gather or I am and the conversation around sex begins I move into teacher mode.

In the many years I have been in conversation what thrill’s me the most is the age range I am teaching.  There are child who have had early sexual awaking and are some times very confused and/or curious about what they are told verse what they feel physical. They have sat quality next to me until they could ask their question.  The same response come from two or three 87 year olds who where becoming sexually active after 10 to 29 years of being repressed.  It is so beautiful when one gets to share. And the result is a an awaking in to their sexuality.

The gift they give me is beyond words.  The residue is that I can be open to sharing and expression this gift and do it in a way that is important to the people in the conversation.  A resent conversation took place on a trip coming back from Arizona.  There where 12 men ranging from 20 to 45 traveling together.  Somehow I was sited in the middle of them on a 5 hour flight. Just ahead of me was a very beautiful 30 something female.  Several of the men began conversation with this beautiful woman.  And the banter began. 

I enjoyed the conversation and the build up of sexual  tension between them.  Then the young woman, (Tinna) turned around in her seat and asked me if I understood what the man in the yellow shirt was saying.  I simple smiled and said yes.  Tinna did not turn back around. Can you explain it to me? Yes I can.  He asked you if you give as good as you get? You said that doubles were served to you often.  He said that’s what he was hoping for too.  Now the best way to truly understand what he met is to ask him. Tinna responded by asking if I just could tell her.  My response was, no you need to have this conversation with him.

As she turned to the man in the yellow shirt, (Ben) she smiled at me.  Ben then turned to me and asked if he needed help would I assist. I nodded and agreed to be on stand by.  They began, their body laugh shifted, Tinna went from sitting in a causal yoga style to crossing her leg over her knee.  And Ben had been slough down in his seat now he moved into a fully up right position. They began to talk.  Soon the conversation stalled and over the seat their heads came.  Help!!!!

I began to giggle.  Don’t be so serious.  Play a little.  Look, all that happen was Tinna was served two double drinks by the steward and Ben asked if you give as good as you get.  From my advantage point it was playful banter taking place.  Ben is asking you if you are a double D bar size. Is this right? Then I really began to giggle because in an airplane a conversation like this spreads like a wild fire.  Tinna’s face had become a little crimson in color and Ben’s eye’s where sifting from side to side. He did manage to nod his head.

The conversation began to expand out and others joined in.  Tinna smiled at me, in her smile I heard thank you for the support.  Hay Tinna I understand your confusion with the question Ben asked.  From my view point you are a B cup so the Double D question was a bit confusing to you.  For me I think I was born with Double D’s. I have never given any less. There was a loud out burst of laughter from all around me and them the real conversation began.

(Con’t)

Not an expert but open to learn

Not an expert but open to learn and teach.

There is no topic that is taboo when you speak your truth.  I have always enjoyed conversation in religion, parenting and sexuality.  Not in that order.  I had gathered evidence that conversation in sexuality where uncomfortable for many people.  So I learned to be careful who I spoke to and how I spoke.

Those who are the closes to me or have been students know that I am no longer shy when it come to talking about sexuality.

Today we sat around the living room, I am the eldest at 53.  We where deeply involved in a very serious conversation about men.   All the usual stuff does size matter and if it does what is the size we are looking for. We each had our opinion. In this conversation my ears are always wide open. You can never tell what little tidbit you can learn from others shearing their life experience. The conversation about thickness, length, lubrication, and a whole gamete of other interesting knowledge was titillating to say the least.

When the conversation got a little to serious I sang, “love the one your with”.

Lightning up the atmosphere I said.  For me sex has gotten better with age. It’s no longer about what your riding it’s about the leading up to and then the exploration during and the intimacy after.

This clarity come as different books and open conversation arrive about sexuality and the way it has been used or abused over the ages is apart of remembering for me. You could say its growth and development. Sexuality is as much apart of being as every thing else we get to choice the conversation we are involved in. And the importance we place on our sexuality.

And not to change the subject but, women have concerns about their own life changes. Did you know that woman lose the density of there breast as they get older?  Ok conversation for another time.

The one truth I know about sexuality is for everyone it is different and unless conversation takes place it is just sex or procreation.

 That is the truth about life; conversation is a key to open many doors..

Just before my 51^st birthday I had a conversation with Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha.  The exact word that where said I can not recite. But my prudish stand on sexuality changed. Today I teach sexuality to many age groups, the oldest is in there 90’s.

"We are all one together"

Be Well

Rev. Marylois

Breath

Breath, now breath again.  Take a deep belly breath hold it then slowly exhale.  Do this again and again.  Let the oxygen you are taking in penetrate every pour of your being.  Oxygen is the element that fuels every part of our being and restores our energy level.

It’s that easy breath.  

Ever watch a new born mammal breath.  Weather it is two or four legged they all breathe very quickly and from their belly. It is beautiful and so natural. Some how some of us as we grew we forget how to breath to restore our natural rhythm.  We moved to a shallow breath that is short and quick. Just off the surface of the lungs.  This becomes comfortable and automatic. With each shallow breath we take we become more toxic. We are living we are breathing but there is apart of us that we are not fully utilizing. It’s still within us but we are not using it.

This is much how I lived my life.  I was born with all the tools and gifts that I would need in this life time. As my body developed I forgot and went into survival mode.  I was getting along. The tools where stored deep in a space within waiting for me to open it again.

Truly this began with a breath.  I was told I had only a few months to live.  When I shared this with Sarah, she shared her gift of Reiki and the first thing she taught me was how to breath: Deep breaths taking in the oxygen and moving it deep into my lungs blowing up my belly like I was blowing up a balloon, holding it, at first for just a few moments, then a slow steady exhale deflation the balloon.  The first time I did this I chocked my lungs where not use to being expanded.  Repeating this process over and over I began to feel lightness.  The restoration work need to reach the tool box that held the memory of a perfect breath had begun, and 0ver 10 years later it is still going on.

This internal breath is felt on the outside of me when I stand in nature and I breathe deep filling my being with the gift of the tree nation.  The playful wind kisses my checks and the knowing that the Grandmothers are kissing me.  I have much gratitude for this gift.  Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha’. My Elder awoken with in me the knowing that ever moment of everyday all I need to do is breath.  Wado!

Be Well

“We are one Together”

Rev. Marylois

On the road again

On the road again.

I’ve packed my bags loaded my car and am headed out for Florida.  Marsea has decide to stay a few more days.  My companions will me Me, Myself, and I.  I really do hope the Me pays close attention to the map this time.  On the trip up to North Carolina she let Marsea do all the directional instruction.  That leaves Myself to pay for gas and I will buy the food.

Now that we each have our appointed task driving should be a blasts.  We will be returning to the home we share with brother Chuck.  I am looking forward to seeing my big brother.  It’s nice to know that no matter where you go there is someone waiting to greet you when you return.

Every journey has a beginning, middle, and an end.  The nice thing about it is they all begin and end in the same place.  Within youJ

Oprah once said every journey begins with but one step.  It’s a saying I have heard often.

Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha’ teaches the Life is a cycle a cycle is a circle and in a circle every thing returns from where it began.

That’s what I am doing today.

Be Well

“We are one together”

Rev. Marylois

Appalachian Mountain Range

Appalachian Mountain Range of North Carolina is where I have been for the last 8day. Two more to go and I will return to Florida.

When ever I am in the mountains I feel a sense of excitement a kind of going home.  When I am in the Ashram in Summerfield Ohio called Friendship Village I feel more connect to self.  When I am on the sacred land at the top rim of the North West Grand Canyon I have no words for how I am.  There is something that cleanses me and rejuvenates my spirit in these parts of Ela.  I only know that it takes me to a space that is free and anything can happen.  This is why I journey back to these area two to four times a year. 

The rejuvenation takes place in all aspects of my being.  Others see the physical transformation.  After one resent gathering of Bodhisattvas, in the desert in Mead Az, A close friend said, I looked like what she pictured Moses looking like when he came down from Mount Zion. Transformed, rejuvenated, and filled with the Holy Spirit, wow. I did not feel like Moses but I did feel transformed and rejuvenated.  I was peaceful and joyful.

I have seen in my brothers and sisters the same rejuvenation.  And in my beloved Elder Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha’ I see this ever time I look in her eyes or hear her voice.  Even when she kisses my cheek with the first crisp sweep of the morning breeze, I feel her rejuvenating energy and I connect with the source that is the one. She has taught me that in a instant I am peace, joy, and love.  That is the reflection she holds for me.

  

Knowing that no matter where I am the experience of hiking a steep mountain trail, lying naked on a bed of freshly fallen leaves, or jumping into a creek that still has shards of ice from the spring thaw can be recalled and I am transported to my place of peace.  Like the eyes of my Elder, the songs of her heart, the embrace of her arms it is always there.  I don’t need to go any where, just be still and know I am one.

“We are all one together”

Rev. Marylois

Names

What’s in a name?

There is a great deal in any name the way the syllables sound, where some one puts the accent, or how you respect it and share it with others.

Today my son Raymond called and he said Hi Mom how ya doin.  I smiled theirs no one that can say Mom just the way he does.  When Willie calls, my oldest son, he says Hi Mom.  How are you?  It’s almost the same words with the same meaning to me.  The influxes and the tone speak more to me then the words.

This conversation set me off on a pattern of listening to how many different ways others say the name given to me at birth.  The name my mother gave me at Birth was Marylois.  This is how I call myself.  Some people call me Mary.  Others Mary-Louise, and still other avoid saying my name so they don’t get it wrong. For a long time I just let it go what ever others called me I came. My life continued.

Then one day I heard Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha’ talking about names and how they are codes.  Much like how I write Pa’Ris’Ha’ now.  When I first started writing her name I simple wrote Grandmother Parisha.  Then as I grew to have a better understanding of the respect I carry for Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha’ It became important for me to honor her by saying and writing her name as the code that it is.

I change the way I was being with the name that my mother gave me.  I stared helping others to understand the importance that my name carries for me.  When it is not spoke correctly I assist them in hear my name as my mother intended it.  Still others kept writing it as Mary Lois.  I keep plotting along trying to get everyone to say and write it right.

Then three years ago I got by pass port. I had to send for a copy of my birth certificate from the county I was born in.  Well guess what for 50 years the way my mother had me spell my name was Marylois how ever on my birth certificate it is spelled Mary Lois.  Surprise!!!

I giggled when contemplating these thoughts.  Then I remember that my mother named me Marylois because her mothers name was Mary and my fathers mother’s name was Lois.   I was to carry there names in this life time.  It is the collimation of both of my grandmothers and through the gift of my mom and dad that I have held this name.

I began to study the people behind the name what their linage was and the gifts they gave me in this life time.  How can I honor them?  Carry their name with respect was all I could do.

 It’s all a story.  That’s less then a grain of sand in the ocean.  The power that this grain has is to me and the knowing of who I am.  I know who I am and that’s just meJ 

“We are one together”

Marylois