29 Jun July: Grace

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

-Wendell Berry

I’m writing this letter as a heat wave covers western Canada. Schools were closed today and I’ve spent the better part of the past few days trying to keep my kids hydrated and somewhat cool. When the weather turns like this, when it leans into extremity, my first reaction is fear, anxiety and contraction. It scares me that we are living into more extreme weather, that the world is heating up. Climate change frightens me. The unknown of our life on this planet worries me a lot. However I know that being afraid of or in resistance to what is happening makes it feel much much scarier in my body and doesn’t change anything about the reality of the situation. 

We have gone through and have braced ourselves against so much this past year having one more challenge to navigate feels nearly impossible. We may feel exhausted, irritable, and overwhelmed. The issues that plague us are bigger than we can fathom leading us to numb, burnout or just stop caring but what if there was another option. What if, when faced with the seemingly impossible, there is one option left and that is to surrender, surrender and open to grace. 

One of my favourite ways of describing the word GRACE is that it is the unearned favour from God, (Universe or Sacred Mystery.) This means that even though we think we must work hard for good things, ultimately we have no control if or when grace will manifest in our lives. Grace is bigger than our individual and collective sense of justice. It is bigger than right or wrong, deserving or undeserving and it comes for us all, in small streams, or buckets, in oceans or a single wet drop.

It will come for you, and when it comes, be ready. 

This was the message channelled to me for you for the month of July. 

Sometimes we carry, sometimes we are carried. Have the courage to say yes to goodness and ease, this will be a breath of fresh air amidst intensity, the space between contractions.  Know you are enough and accept the enough-ness of others. Slake your thirst. This time is a gift from beyond and you only need to say yes and open your hands. Leave the unworthiness aside, it will be there if you need it again for safe cover. Better yet, shed it like the skin of an ecstatic serpent full of your own wisdom, never to adorn it and the smallness it offers again.  Slip into this time of grace, of opening and reconnection. Not everything is a danger waiting to bring you down. Sometimes a gift is simply that, a gift, for you to enjoy or not as you choose. July is like this. A dip out of the chaos and into sweetness. A time for reconnection and tenderness. The mission then is, to trust, even if just for a moment the path you have chosen, not for good or ill, but because it is yours to travel. Can you see how far you have come? No- thing is missed. Can you shatter your idea that its meant to be hard? Can you breathe life into your life? You are apart of the supreme loving force that holds all things. No exception. You are beloved. Enjoy this grace while it is here, let it fill every pore, let it sustain you for the times to come. 

As we begin to open up and reconnect to each other may we ever be open to ease and grace.

With love, 

Jacqui 

Summer Support 

I will be continuing my weekly classes on Zoom as much as possible throughout the summer, Mondays and Fridays at 9:30 am. Classes are thoughtfully sequenced, trauma informed and range from a strong flow to smooth hatha. All bodies welcome. Send me an email if you would like to be added to the email list. Classes are $15 drop in style. 

If you are wanting to book in for an energy healing session in person or on zoom, space is limited so please do contact me well in advance to book your spot.