marica

The Blue Star Gazette

	Musings on the Central Channel By Marcia Macomber Millman, LMP This week I've been instructed to give myself assignments that will force me out of my comfort zone. To fall in love with questions that will turn my mind inside out. So I’ve been circling around the issue of The Central Channel, wondering, “What’s it all about? How come it’s showing up everywhere these days?” Multiple cases in point: first, a friend sends me an article about caterpillars, and precisely how they turn into butterflies. We all know that they attach to a stick, and weave a cocoon around themselves. But the part that nobody knows is that, once the cocoon is in place, the caterpillars proceed to completely dissolve themselves into a mushy mass of molecular goo – except for this one…Central Channel… around which they completely reorganize themselves until – voila! – they become butterflies. Next: a year ago, my husband and I created a ritual in which we “unwed” each other. The heart of the ceremony consisted of our minister unweaving the threads of the energetic Central Channel around which our union constellated. Then she re-energized our individual Central Channels, and re-established our individual fields. The challenge, for me, given the amount of contact we have as we share parenting of our 12 year old, is to maintain the integrity of my own field -- not to re-magnetize the old patterned connection. So my attention is constantly being drawn back to my own Central Channel. Next: recently, a friend has returned to Port Townsend to carry out her dying process. Our conversation turns to “How exactly do I do this?” Not from the standpoint of how do I put my affairs in order, but “How do I exit this body? Is there a way?” I find myself wondering about the chakra system – that series of energetic vortices located along the midline of the body: the central channel. For instance, can you allow your consciousness to exit through your crown chakra when you’re ready? Or does it take years of practice? As I go about my work as a massage practitioner, I’m noticing things like: • The spinal cord is the very first to develop as we move from conception to embodiment. • The dural membrane – which surrounds the brain and the spinal cord – is the primary focus of CranioSacral Therapy. • The spine – which surrounds and protects the dural membrane -- is the primary focus of chiropractic medicine (my understanding is that the founder of chiropractic believed that a clear spine enabled the patient to access the Divine, and therefore health and well-being). Like a gathering of yellow stickies filling up my mindscreen, I realize that: • The Central Channel is the primary focus of Process Acupressure, a form of bodywork through which to process your life from the vantage point of Soul. • The Central Channel is also a primary focus in yoga, for the purpose of raising your inner energy to access divine awareness. • “The Core” has become a major focus of mainstream fitness programs, to develop strength to support the spine and to move in a balanced, coherent way in the world. • “Balancing the brain” is a major focus in the Emotional Freedom Technique, Rapid Eye Technology or EMDR, Brain Gym and other techniques used to address healing trauma or improve brain function. I wonder how all of these things are related. Just for fun, I Google “Central Channel.” The first result -- of 128,000,000 -- reads: “The Central Channel is a bridge of energy and consciousness between highest spirit and lowest matter. It is a conduit through which the life of the Spirit and the consciousness of the Soul flows. The Central Channel is also known as… the inner ear or internal organ of consciousness.” (Ref. http://home.thirdage.com/Spirituality/rainbowbridge1/CentralChannel.htm) So it appears that my wonderings aren’t too far “off.” Perhaps (this, for my friend) the time of death involves a traversing of the “conduit through which the life of the Spirit flows.” Perhaps (this, for me) the releasing of a marriage involves clarifying “the inner ear or internal organ of consciousness.” And perhaps (for all of us) the butterfly – quintessential representative of the process of Transformation – is the best teacher for those of us who want to know “How do I do this change?” She flies us right to the Central Channel, inviting us to fall in love with the questions that will turn our minds inside out, to “bridge highest spirit and lowest matter,” and then she sends us – transformed -- on our way. Marcia Macomber Millman, LMP is an advanced bodywork practitioner in Port Townsend. She has been studying Process Acupressure and practicing CranioSacral Therapy and massage for long enough to sometimes mistake herself for a butterfly. She can be reached at Insight Bodywork, 360-385-5982. The Blue Star Gazette Your guide to an naturally inspired, magical lifestyle Brought to you by a community of those involved in the healing arts. Please contact the authors and sponsors of the Blue Star Gazette on-line (www.the bluestargazette.net) and tell them you saw their work here! Don't miss an issue! Subscribe and receive each edition for only $21. Just send your editor an email and we'll get it set jai@earthdancepress.com. Feel free to call me at the office at 360-379-blue(2583).

Musings on the
Central Channel
By Marcia Macomber Millman, LMP

This week I've been instructed to give myself assignments that will force me out of my comfort zone. To fall in love with questions that will turn my mind inside out. So I’ve been circling around the issue of The Central Channel, wondering, “What’s it all about? How come it’s showing up everywhere these days?”

Multiple cases in point: first, a friend sends me an article about caterpillars, and precisely how they turn into butterflies. We all know that they attach to a stick, and weave a cocoon around themselves. But the part that nobody knows is that, once the cocoon is in place, the caterpillars proceed to completely dissolve themselves into a mushy mass of molecular goo – except for this one…Central Channel… around which they completely reorganize themselves until – voila! – they become butterflies.

Next: a year ago, my husband and I created a ritual in which we “unwed” each other. The heart of the ceremony consisted of our minister unweaving the threads of the energetic Central Channel around which our union constellated. Then she re-energized our individual Central Channels, and re-established our individual fields. The challenge, for me, given the amount of contact we have as we share parenting of our 12 year old, is to maintain the integrity of my own field -- not to re-magnetize the old patterned connection. So my attention is constantly being drawn back to my own Central Channel.

Next: recently, a friend has returned to Port Townsend to carry out her dying process. Our conversation turns to “How exactly do I do this?” Not from the standpoint of how do I put my affairs in order, but “How do I exit this body? Is there a way?” I find myself wondering about the chakra system – that series of energetic vortices located along the midline of the body: the central channel. For instance, can you allow your consciousness to exit through your crown chakra when you’re ready? Or does it take years of practice?

As I go about my work as a massage practitioner, I’m noticing things like:
• The spinal cord is the very first to develop as we move from conception to embodiment.
• The dural membrane – which surrounds the brain and the spinal cord – is the primary focus of CranioSacral Therapy.
• The spine – which surrounds and protects the dural membrane -- is the primary focus of chiropractic medicine (my understanding is that the founder of chiropractic believed that a clear spine enabled the patient to access the Divine, and therefore health and well-being).

Like a gathering of yellow stickies filling up my mindscreen, I realize that:
• The Central Channel is the primary focus of Process Acupressure, a form of bodywork through which to process your life from the vantage point of Soul.
• The Central Channel is also a primary focus in yoga, for the purpose of raising your inner energy to access divine awareness.
• “The Core” has become a major focus of mainstream fitness programs, to develop strength to support the spine and to move in a balanced, coherent way in the world.
• “Balancing the brain” is a major focus in the Emotional Freedom Technique, Rapid Eye Technology or EMDR, Brain Gym and other techniques used to address healing trauma or improve brain function.

I wonder how all of these things are related.

Just for fun, I Google “Central Channel.” The first result -- of 128,000,000 -- reads: “The Central Channel is a bridge of energy and consciousness between highest spirit and lowest matter. It is a conduit through which the life of the Spirit and the consciousness of the Soul flows. The Central Channel is also known as… the inner ear or internal organ of consciousness.” (Ref. http://home.thirdage.com/Spirituality/rainbowbridge1/CentralChannel.htm)

So it appears that my wonderings aren’t too far “off.” Perhaps (this, for my friend) the time of death involves a traversing of the “conduit through which the life of the Spirit flows.” Perhaps (this, for me) the releasing of a marriage involves clarifying “the inner ear or internal organ of consciousness.” And perhaps (for all of us) the butterfly – quintessential representative of the process of Transformation – is the best teacher for those of us who want to know “How do I do this change?” She flies us right to the Central Channel, inviting us to fall in love with the questions that will turn our minds inside out, to “bridge highest spirit and lowest matter,” and then she sends us – transformed -- on our way.

Marcia Macomber Millman, LMP is an advanced bodywork practitioner in Port Townsend. She has been studying Process Acupressure and practicing CranioSacral Therapy and massage for long enough to sometimes mistake herself for a butterfly. She can be reached at Insight Bodywork, 360-385-5982.

The Blue Star Gazette

Your guide to an naturally inspired, magical lifestyle

Brought to you by a community of those involved in the healing arts. Please contact the authors and sponsors of the Blue Star Gazette on-line (www.the bluestargazette.net) and tell them you saw their work here! Don't miss an issue! Subscribe and receive each edition for only $21. Just send your editor an email and we'll get it set jai@earthdancepress.com. Feel free to call me at the office at 360-379-blue(2583).