Skeleton, Not Boned

Somebody sent me a very funny, very well-made video—it was brilliantly done—of this older, very PhD-looking woman with a chart describing how we are all absolutely and totally fucked. She said, “You are really, well and truly, fully dicked over.” She then went on to this part where she said, “How do you handle it? The worst thing is to fight it… Just bend over and take it.” 

It was very well done, hilariously funny—and it made me so upset, because I actually think that this is the voice of the people—at least a certain number of people: “You’re fucked. That’s it. Bend over and take it.” 

Very persuasive. Very funny. 

It’s time to take some baby steps to break the spell of, “You have no power. There’s nothing you can do.” 

Do I know what you can do? Do I know all of what you can do? No, it’s a dark time. It’s getting darker every day. There’s a lot of mystery. We don’t know. 

However, are we going to be incapacitated in times when it’s dark and getting darker, or are we going to check, “What am I going to prioritize right now, in my own body?” 

RECOMMENDATIONS

I’m going to make a couple of recommendations in terms of what we’re prioritizing, both because it’s a good idea to prioritize them, and because it’s good for the will to say, “I’m prioritizing this,” and then feel the results: “I’m exercising my will. I am flexing the muscle and developing it.” 

I would recommend prioritizing your bones, having bones, and anchoring in the bones. I just learned yesterday that of all the oxygen we breathe in, the primary oxygen user is the brain. It has priority. The next major oxygen-using organ is the marrow of the bones. So when your brain is going around with churning anxiety—the gerbil wheel of darkness—then do you know what happens to your bones? 

I recommend prioritizing just taking a moment to put your hands on the table in front of you and say, “I am prioritizing breathing into my bones.” What does it take to do hard things? Good strong bones.

Yeah, sometimes it’s hard to find our bones. When there is a heck of a lot going on in our nervous system—and a heck of a lot going on in our squishy, gushy endocrine system—bones are very nice and secure and relatively stable. It’s very important for taking heart to have a nice skeleton with a heart in it, a place to prioritize from. 

SHAKE THEM BONES

If you stand up for a moment, the cat might not like it, but it’ll help you find your skeleton. The backbone and the will are very connected. The skeleton and strength are very connected. 

Try bouncing a little bit, bouncing in order to shake. You might recognize this as the “Ice to Water, and Water to Steam” qi gong. Let’s see if you can bounce all that stuff. 

We have all this stuff clinging to our skeleton, all these muscles and skin and all these cushy organs on the inside, and they’re all hanging off our skeleton like a bunch of potted plants. But the skeleton is the central structure, so jiggling is a good way to feel for the difference between the bones, and everything else. 

Okay, those are the bones. They can bounce, but they don’t jiggle. Everything else just kind of jiggles around the bones. Jiggle all the stuff that jiggles, as a way to get really clear. Bones don’t jiggle. 

Then, whenever you feel ready, you can stop and just feel for your skeleton. It’s in the middle of all this whooshing, gurgling stuff. The whooshing and the gurgling, it never stops! Yes, but we can prioritize anchoring in our bones. Just the act of prioritizing flexes the muscle of the will. It lets us know where we do have agency, resource and power.  

Prioritizing these bones gives us a place where we’re not particularly reactive. Bones, there they are… There are a lot of times that I have to read the news from my skeleton, so that whatever else is jiggling and gurgling and responding, I’m staying here where I’m in touch with my ability to prioritize. 

CENTAUR BODY

As you stand here in your bones, in the place where you are least reactive, most in your place of being able to make priority, see if you can feel your centaur body behind you. See if you can feel, you’ve got your upright spine, but then also, can you feel your butt extension and your back legs? 

It’s okay to move a little bit to find it, if that helps you; or stillness, if that’s easier. Maybe even step a few times; you can use your front feet, and also feel your back legs there, and your good solid hind quarters of a horse. It’s a way of accentuating the heart supported by a pilot light that goes really deep, all the way back. It’s not easy to intimidate a centaur! 

With heart connected to the big, unfathomable resource, still with questions, we are able to be overpowered—which does not apparently mean game over. But it does mean that it’s time for a direct re-education in the will: “Okay, that’s not what will means—it doesn’t mean omnipotence. Got it.” 

What does it mean? If I am not omnipotent, what am I? What is my power? What can I do, with my will? 

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