Shamanic Pathways 01 - quiet thoughts.

[moonvoice]

My animal companion, or 'pet', Moet - a champagne tabby - has spent most of today lounging in the sunbeams by the blinds I left open specifically for him. Specifically so he could lounge in front of them.

Sometimes it's easy to forget that I live with a feline who has the leashed spirit of tigers and lions inside of him, until of course I see him playing, or his blown black pupils pop up over my bed, a second before he wraps himself around my foot, all claws and teeth.

We too, are humans with the leashed spirits of primates and goodness knows what else inside of us. We sit at our computers, we lie docile in our beds at night (or some of us do), we cook our meals and live our lives leashed by society, jobs, sometimes even our friends and families.

So when do our pupils dilate black with the sheer joy of the hunt? When do we unleash and play for the sake of playing? When do we climb, run, crawl, frolic and revel in our environments and surroundings? Do you know what furniture would carry your weight if you jumped on it? Have you ever hid, breathless, waiting for a friend to come round the door before shouting 'BOO!' and revelling in this jump of fear?

I unleash, sometimes, in the otherworlds. Specifically, in my 'starting place' (no really, one day I will give it a name), in the middle-realms. I am lucky to have a few spirit helpers who remind me that I am not just a leashed creature, someone's animal companion, but a fierce and at times ferocious spirit. Capable of holding great power, and - when necessary - letting it go. Play is serious business.

When do you unleash? And how?

Comments

[skitty-kitty.livejournal.com]

I like this post, I love reminders to let go. <3

I like to let wolf and horse out when I run especially when I can get out into more rural places, let loose in the otherworld like you and fly, swim, etc., I used to love to go all out in kenpo. I tend to like to do lots of physical stuff to get out things. ;)

And I love playing with my cat, who will hunt me down and pop out of places and scare the crap out of me. With my dog, too, but that's more rough-housing because she's too big to hide. ;D

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

I like this post, I love reminders to let go. <3

I love them too. :)

[alphaviolet.livejournal.com]

I'm not very domesticated in every day life, really.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

*nods* I think there are a few people here who are like 'unleash? Why do I need to unleash? I scream, dance, play and go nuts a little bit every day!'

And then the people who haven't done it in years. :(

[alphaviolet.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I wish I were more domesticated. But it just isn't happening :). Even though my LJ is serious, I do trance dance at least once a week and am very mischievous.

[white9-fox.livejournal.com]

Why do I need to unleash? I scream, dance, play and go nuts a little bit every day!'

Man, I should have read this before I posted. This sentence basically sums up most of my reply XD

Oh well, lesson learned!

[makhsihed.livejournal.com]

I've found that it is vital, absolutely necessary, to unleash on a regular basis.

Part of it is that my birdness will come to the forefront whether I like it or not. If I don't choose the time, then it'll usually manifest strongly at an inconvenient (ie high stress) time/place. So I've found it's beneficial to schedule myself some "bird time" in safe, more private environments. Time where I indulge my more avian instincts/urges and let myself sink into feathers and wind. It doesn't have to be outside, though that helps (hawk does not like being enclosed), and certainly does not have to be in nature (some of my more meaningful/stronger shifts have been walking on a downtown city sidewalk), but it has to happen on a regular basis, or else it'll be birdpanic and claustrophobia and social anxiety in a crowded elevator. Not so fun.

The other part of it is my natural tendency towards control. The more out of control my environment gets, or the less in control other people around me are, the tighter controls I place on myself. The subconscious thought pattern goes something like "No one else/nothing else is controlled. Someone has to be, and I guess that someone is me". The problem with this is that sometimes I forget how to let go of control; my self-placed bands get tighter and more restricting until I can scarcely move or breathe (figuratively speaking). Then internal pressure builds and builds because I can't even express emotion at that point, or even feel the wilder urges and instincts--and it has to release somehow or I feel I'll explode/implode, which scares me. I used to deal with it through self-harm, repetitive cutting. I try to avoid that route now. ;)

So... I have to find ways to unleash, for my own sanity and health. When it gets bad enough--the controls, I mean, on myself--I start getting the significant urge to give control over to someone else. Or, rather, since at that point I'm not usually capable of giving control up, it's a need to have control wrested from me. Subbing (in a BDSM context) is actually really helpful in such situations, finding someone I trust with that control and letting them (with some token or more-than-token resistance) take it from me. Because someone's got to be in control; I can't let go if I'm the only one with any control, because then everyone/everything would fall apart... right?

It's funny that being leashed helps me unleash. ;)

I miss having a large dog. I go over to a coworker's house sometimes; she has a St. Bernard mix. Every time, I unleash a bit by play-wrestling with the dog. I used to do that with my parents' dog, a Rottweiler/Labrador. Great fun.

Hiking helps too. Getting out into the middle of nowhere and stretching and breathing and letting the wind whip through me. Or getting outside during a storm and reveling in the rain/thunder/gusts.

Very neat entry, Pia; lots of fun to think about. :>

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

It's funny that being leashed helps me unleash. ;)

Actually, I can really relate to this. And while I have a moratorium on the whole submissive thing right now (and all touch), it was - back when I could experience it - an amazing form of unleashing, become more wild, more raw, and more myself.

[makhsihed.livejournal.com]

Ooh hey, mirrorred_star's comment made me think of something else--

LARPing in the woods with padded sticks for a weekend, running around with adrenaline pumping, shifting more towards a survival-oriented mindset for a time... dealing with the elements (of FREEZING COLD x.x) and getting too little sleep and exhausting myself... It's definitely unleashing. Highly cathartic. My favored form of stress relief.

[mirrorred-star.livejournal.com]

Oh, I used to play fight with my sister allll the time, and I loved sparring at kung fu, sometimes grinning like an idiot.

And less ferally, I sing often when I'm on my own.

Some of the thing other people have said are very, very cool :)

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Sparring is an awesome way to unleash, I reckon. Wrestling with kids or friends, and of course tickling someone or being tickled.

[alphaviolet.livejournal.com]

Totally! I used to play fight with three of my exes. My housemates thought we were a hoot.

[alphaviolet.livejournal.com]

PS. *Not* at the same time!

[white9-fox.livejournal.com]

LOL, that would be a hell of a sight to see XD

[mirrorred-star.livejournal.com]

I used to playfight sometimes with friends as well.

And bark at the dogs :D

[greenforest-elf.livejournal.com]

it has to be when I am behind my dogs tearing thru the bush!!

[deathofone.livejournal.com]

I used to unleash in various ways. I would 'stalk' around town in the middle of the night, just being hyperaware of everything going on. I would also stalk crickets, heh. Listen to them chirping and track them down. Dancing, particularly when alone, was an extreme energetic thing for me. I'd dance really wildly and tune into something, end only when I was out of breath and ready to collapse.

And this last one might sound really silly, but my late kitty that I was closest to, we'd sometimes spar in the middle of the night with the lights off. We'd stalk each other, score in some batting at one another and eventually wrestle. We also chased each other back and forth through the house (with the lights on, of course).

Most of those, I obviously can no longer do simply because of my physical disability. I don't get to unleash nearly as much as I used to and I don't think I've found a way that is as extreme as any of those either. I probably need to explore finding a way while journeying.

[white9-fox.livejournal.com]

I like this start of these shamanic writings here. A lot of people act as if magic, spirituality, nad all these things are out of the ordinary nad out of reach, but but it really starts with the realization of "simple" things like this. Recognizing that we are more than what we think we are, or what we seem to be.

And the tiger within the tabby bit is SO true XD

As for your question, I tend to unleash myself pretty much whenever I have the energy to do so, and when I can get away with it XD Most of the time it's fooling around and playing tricks like that BOO example you mentioned, though I tend to stay on a light-hearted level. No need for people to get hurt then, and I really don't have any intent of doing so.

But in times of anger and sadness I have to restrain myself through calming methods, or unleashing it out on my (horribly abused) pillow until my mood wears off and/or the situation is resolved. I might not be very physically strong, but without restraint I would go all Hulk-man on people.

I think I've gotten better in that area though, and I have less of an urge to kick the crap out of those that make me mad. Most of it stems from family anyway, so I'm trying to understand them better to help with this. Not BIG big issues like some people have, but annoying, grating ones nonetheless.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

It's awesome that you get to unleash on a regular basis, and I'm really impressed by that, because I still struggle with it myself! :D

[white9-fox.livejournal.com]

Do you struggle with unleashing period, or struggle because you have certain emotions that you want to unleash, but feel like you can't? Anger (as a general example) is one I think is restrained the most because of the rather nasty consequences of it, while more positive emotions are ok to unleash.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

I struggle with unleashing in general. There were often negative consequences if I unleashed too much as a child, and as I got older, I came to prize self-control to the point where... I lost control over my ability to unleash!

It's why I prize it so much I guess, because I know what it can do to people like myself, and friends, if they don't.