Holotropic Breathwork May 25 2002

Jane Hollister has found a piece of paradise on earth in Spirit Springs, Homosassa, FL.  It is a 30 acre tract owned by Jane Shaw that is surrounded, now, by a national park.  This is my first experience with Holotropic Breathwork and although I have read a book about it, I was not prepared for the insight that would come.  The setting is very important to this sort of work and Jamie and I are fortunate to be here at a time when astrologers are saying that the planets are particularly well positioned for this sort of transformational work.  Tonight is a full moon and tomorrow is a solar eclipse.  If ever anyone needed a sign, they would surely find one in all of this.

 

The cabins were the perfect transition into what is important in life.  They were duplexes, approximately 20 feet deep and 40 feet wide, with two sets of bunk beds on each side and a closet that separates the two halves.  The area from the top of the 8 foot closet wall to the high pitched ceiling was open, so you felt connected to the people on the other side as well.  Each cabin sleeps eight and they share a screened in porch in front.  The walls are mostly windows and even the doors are glass on the top half.  There is a ceiling fan on  both sides and electrical outlets, but no phones, water or bathrooms.  No T.V., nor radio.  All focus here is on the self and the beauty surrounding self.

 

The cabins and the bath house with toilets are constructed of rough cut cedar and are set on poles with a cat walk connecting them at odd angles through out the swamp.  The feeling here is of making as little impact on nature as possible and yet being able to fully enjoy her sights, sounds and the creatures that call her home.  The roofs are made of tin, but are camouflaged, so that they disappear in the canopy.  Even during the hottest time of day it is cool here with just the breeze from the fan and the clean air through the windows.  This is the highest quality air in the world and it feels wonderful to fill my lungs with this holistic breath.

 

I knew my dreams this first night would be important because I have been led to this ancient Indian play ground.  There are two burial mounds here and the spring here is where the braves would dive through a very narrow passageway as part of their right of passage.  The underground cavern is not very long, but is dark, narrow and underwater.  How well is typifies life, and I can see how the Indians would have acknowledged the facing of the fears we all have; of being stuck, of not being able to breath, when they would accept this physical challenge.  At the spring, which is 35 feet deep, is reported the spirit of Harora.  She speaks to the shamans.

 

Jamie and I had stood on the docks last night looking at our entertainment options.  We could canoe or kayak and I have always had a fear of kayaking.  In my dream I again stood there making the same choice of how to traverse the river.  I feared that the kayak would over turn.  It was old and had leaks in it and looked even smaller as I stood there making my decision.  The canoe, by comparison, looked big, comfortable and sound, and I could take someone with me, but I was drawn to the experience of the kayak.  I decided I would take it just a few yards down current and turn around to see how hard is would be to come back to the dock.  The water was shallow and I could always bail out if I saw that I couldn’t paddle upstream to get back to where I started.

 

I strapped myself in and, almost holding my breath, launched free of the mooring.  The river was moving faster than I had thought, but I calmed as a huge hand descended over me.  The hand was much like the boughs of the sweat lodge I had visited last night, and it was covered with bougainvillea.   As the “hand” covered me I felt safe, protected and capable of accomplishing anything.  The hand moved over the water in a beautiful, peaceful dance, and I was swept along in an elation of