Thursday, February 14, 2008: Healing My Roots

I did not go to Sri Lanka as planned in 2005. It was clear that the time was not right yet. So I continued to hold healing circles each month for about 6 months.

I arrived in Sri Lanka on Christmas 2006 morning - the day before the second anniversary of the tsunami. I immediately received clues that pointed me in the direction I was to go to find the kids I was supposed to work with.

On January 5, I was referred to the director of the Children's Resource Center (CRC) - an after-school program for kids who lost parents in the tsunami in Hambantota a severely affected area on the South East Coast of Sri Lanka. He invited me to a meeting in Colombo at which I could present my proposal to his boss, the Founder of CRC. To my surprise, this turned out to be Ashan Malalasekera, whose wedding I had been to a few weeks earlier!

I left for Hambantota by taxi the next morning - with Mr. Wanniaracchi (Wanni) the administrator hitching a ride with me. We had 6 hours to get acquainted, and discuss details of my project and the ins and outs of CRC.

I arrived late afternoon at the Peacock Beach Hotel that had been recently re-opened after being devastated by the tsunami, and booked a room for 10 days. The following morning I was picked up in a tuk-tuk (motorized tricycle) by Madhu -a young woman of 26 - the Psycho-Social Coordinator at CRC. In the mornings I was to train the staff who worked with the children. In the afternoon, I would observe and supervise them in the holistic self-care activities with the kids.

Each day of the five-day week during the school year a different group of 25 - 30 kids were picked up by bus from area schools and brought to CRC. First they would eat a free hot lunch of rice and curries - their main meal of the day and after-school activities: computers, English conversation, Arts and Crafts, sports and Leadership Activities. My Holistic Self-Care activities were a special offering which I hoped would catch on and become one of the regular activities of the program.



I invited all members of the staff who wanted to come to the morning staff workshops. I didn't expect that everyone from the Administrator, to the accountant, the cook and the bus driver would show up, but I was delighted that they were interested in learning holistic self-care practices.

I scheduled the workshops as follows:



Day 1: A simple visualization and breathing exercise to experience connecting to the energy of ones own heart and of the earth and the universe.










Day 2: Accessing and using energy for self-healing.











Day 3: Finger-holds for emotional healing.











Day 4: Creating Mandalas for the highest good and healing of oneself and all beings.












Day 5: I facilitated a self-healing workshop for parents who had lost spouses and family members.

On the weekend, I made home visits to meet the kids and their families in their homes.

Every morning before I went to work, I took a long walk on the beach - often chanting the Lord's Prayer in Aramaic to the winds and the sea, sending healing energy for myself, the entire country and all the areas in the Indian Ocean that had been devastated by the tsunami.

Having grown up in a westernized household in Colombo, this was my first real exposure to rural life, and actually speaking in Sinhala (my mother tongue) continuously for 10 days straight for the first time in my life. This was also my first experience of the predominant Buddhist culture of Sri Lanka.

As time passed, I was able to understand the meaning behind the experience. I realize now that this journey was the beginning of reconnecting to the roots I had severed when I left Sri Lanka for America. What followed over the next two years is a gradual healing of my root chakra issues - most notably a decrease of lower back pain /stiffness, arthritic hip and knee pain, and strengthening of leg muscles. In addition, I have made significant discoveries of my place in a lineage of traditional healers in Sri Lanka that I knew almost nothing about except for a few threads that we the keys to opening a window into my family's history via the rabbit hole of the internet. But that is not just a blog entry, but a book or a movie script at the very least.

The whole experience was full of unexpected joy, healing and blessing for me, and I am humbled and deeply grateful for the profound learning and insight I gained from it. This episode is part of a more involved healing story that I will share someday in another forum.

November 25, 2006

I did not go to Sri Lanka as planned in 2005, because it was clear that the time was not right yet. So I continued to hold healing intentions with the healing circles each month for about 6 months.

In December 2006, my husband and I plan to go to Sri Lanka for a wedding in his family. Despite the fact that it was in the middle of my school semester, I decided to stay on through the end of February 2007 to work with kids who had lost parents in the tsunami. We will arrive in Sri Lanka on Christmas morning, the day before the 2nd anniversary of the tsunami.

I have no idea where I would even begin to look for the kids. I figure that I will have to work through an organization that serves them. So far had not been able to made any arrangements - not for lack of trying, but because I could not get anyone I contacted to respond to my inquiries. Even well-connected friends and relatives who knew people involved in tsunami-relief organizations, who volunteered to help me find an organization to work through have not delivered. So I am trusting that if I go with intention, I will find the kids with whom I am supposed to connect, and I will carry out the holistic self-help project that I am meant to do. I put out the intention: I am always at the right time at the right place doing the right things witht the right people, and am abundantly supported in fulfilling my life's purpose.

Sunday, March 20, 2005: The Second Month's Visioning

Hi Folks!

On February 26th I was trying to meet the deadline for my semester final assignment for my Holos U Research Methods class. The paper I was writing described the grass roots community healing project I am hoping to carry out in Sri Lanka. I had to write a detailed methodology of the project as if I had already done it. I had to envision every little detail so that the reader could replicate the project exactly as I described it. While I was doing this work, I could feel Reiki energy flowing through me. I have no idea where exactly it was going, but I'll bet that about 30 women who lost their children in the tsunami felt better from the energy, since they are the project's target group. I'll never really know. It was just a feeling. I had not sent any reminders to people, so did not receive any responses from anyone. We do what we can, I guess.

The next Earth & Water Meditation will be on March 26th at 7:30 pm EST. Please join me in person or in spirit, if you will, and if you do, please add your comment to this blog, so that others can read. I am interested in hearing about your experiences with this meditation, if any.

Be the peace, joy and love you wish to see on our planet.

Tuesday, February 1, 2005: The First Earth & Water Meditation

On January 26th at 7:30 pm, 12 people gathered at my home. There were a number of others in Missouri, New York, Canada, New Jersey, Kansas, Virginia and Sri Lanka who joined us in spirit.

I had sent out the Earth & Water Meditation that I had written down a few weeks before. In the background, I played a CD - Tears of the Moon by Coyote Oldman - beautiful, fluid music from Native American flute and pan pipes.

I had placed drums in the center of the room, because I knew that it would be appropriate to drum at some point in the evening as we often do in our healing circles. I was not sure when to do this, so I just asked to be guided to drum whenever it was right, without disturbing the meditative flow.

By candle light, I slowly read the meditation stopping after each paragraph to allow those present to envision what happened and then re-envision a different reality of healing and wholeness for the people, animals, plants and places including Mother Earth herself. At a certain point, when we were envisioning the tsunami, I felt strongly guided to pick up my hand drum, and drum the rhythm that came to me, and invited others to drum what came to them.

I read each paragraph followed by a minute or two of silent visioning, then drumming. With each vision, the drumming started out rather frantic and chaotic, then found more peaceful rhythms before fading to nothing. Each session had a special feel to it that seemed to relate to what we had envisioned. Many of us in the room reported later the strong images and feelings that came to us as we meditated and drummed. It was electric, powerful, holy and whole.

A few days later, one of the young women present that evening asked me if anyone was chanting in the room. I said I didn't think so. She said that she was shy to speak up in front of the group bcause she didn't want them to think that she was weird, but she said that she had heard harmonious chanting that seemed to come from many voices in the room. Except that when she opened her eyes and looked around, she didn't see any lips moving. I had a similar report from two other young people (un-related) during the drumming session we had during our Winter Solstice celebration. What they all described was exactly the same harmonious vibrant chanting. I didn't hear anything, but felt an unusual powerful energy in the room. Many others felt that energy too. I have no idea what this was, but it was beautiful, magical and mystical. Angels???? Who knows!! Perhaps someday we'll know what this all means. For the moment, I accept it as a confirmation that we are doing something good and wothwhile, and that is enough encouragement for me to keep doing it.

Click here to download the meditation, and join me and many others all over the world on the 26th of each month from wherever you are. Please let me know if you join the meditation by sharing your comments on this blog.

Blessings!

Suchinta

Thursday, January 20, 2005: A HEALING RESPONSE TO THE DEVASTATION :

When I first heard of the earthquake and tsunami on December 26, I felt numb. IT didn't register at all. A few days later, when I realized the magnitude of the disaster, I felt shock and grief. I made phone calls to my family in Sri Lanka to make sure they were OK. They were. Relief!!!! I had strange feelings of DejaVu, as if I knew the terrifying fear of being washed away unexpectedly. I have had dreams in which I experienced running from a huge wall of water, and have feared big waves. I am not sure what this means, but the situation felt familiar in some strange way. Within me I knew that I had to offer help using all the skills and understanding about healing that I had acquired throughout my life.

I am planning to go to Sri Lanka for a few months starting in early March, after I complete the first semester of my combined Masters/Doctoral studies in Spiritual Healing at Holos University. My husband Nimi too is interested in going to Sri Lanka and doing whatever he can to help, but this is less certain at this time, and if he goes it will be for a few years. At this point, nothing is for sure except that we are both willing, able and eager to help. So we will wait and see how it works out. Whatever happens, there will be much internal and external preparation to do prior to our departure. The challenge will for me to be patient and to stay flexible, and to do whatever I can to help from wherever I am.

For starters, I decided to do a healing visioning meditation each month on the 26th at 7:30 pm, and I invite anyone who wishes to join me either in person or in spirit from wherever they are. I will be doing this each month fo a year, and I invite you to participate however you can. Please let me know if you will be joining us by responding right on this blog site. This way, when we do the meditation in my home we will consciously include you in our healing circle by name.

The meditation is not only for Sri Lanka, but for all the areas affected by the tsunami. Each time we meet in a healing circle, I will post it on this blog. Most (not all) of the people who come to the healing circles at my house are Reiki practitioners, but I invite anyone who wants to join us to be a part of this. While Reiki is a powerful way of connecting and healing, I believe that anyone who joins us in the collective intention will add to the energetic effect, and ride the Reiki wave with us. I can't prove that this will be so, but I know intuitively that it is so, just because we all intend it.

So if you wish to join us at 7:30pm EST in the US, on the 26th of each month in 2005, please do so. Feel free to use this blog site to share your experience with me and the others who will be blogging here.

Peace & light to all!