A few mornings ago, I woke from a frustrating dream. You know the kind--a dream where you are trying to do something and it’s just not working. I pushed the speed dial for a friend and I kept getting Home Depot!

I felt cranky!

My thoughts immediately went in search of something to be cranky about. . . like the Toastmasters meeting the night before taking a full 20 minutes to wrapup. Recalling this only made me crankier.

Do you do that? Feel an emotion and then look for an explanation -- which, unfortunately, only intensifies the mood?

I became curious. First, I wondered what my dream and crankiness were trying to tell me.

Emotions are one of the ways the body communicates with us.

What was my body trying to tell me? Maybe to leave a meeting when it feels right instead of “when it's over.” Maybe to take better care of my needs! That’s when I realized that I had not been doing my daily watercolor painting.

The body reminds us of when we are out of balance and need to steer back onto our path. 

I was still cranky.

The second thing I became curious about was how I might shift my negativity. I did yoga, which helped, and some deep breathing, which also helped. While doing my yoga I thought about some movements I could try in my Sufi movement class.

See how this works? The body loves to move. Exercising the muscles releases oxytocin and dopamine -- feel-good body hormones. Deep breathing stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system and shifts the mind from lower brainstem reactivity to the cerebral cortex's creative thinking.

This is why the Sufi Movement class is so helpful. It combines physical movement with slow breathing, music, and sounds to shift you into an altered state of awareness. This state, a Theta mind state, allows new neural connections to engage in the brain. This enables new solutions and new ways of thinking. Best of all, crankiness is forgotten. 

One of the exercises we do in Sufi class is to chant Arabic words that convey the attributes of God. Each word has its meaning. I like to think of the chanting as casting a spell. Since the Arabic language is old, the sounds are closer to the magic of the world.

When a group of people chants one of these attributes of God in Arabic, e.g. mercy, healing, compassion, contentment, love, etc., the impact gets multiplied.  At the end of the chant, you feel blissful, calm, and in the moment. You cannot have a negative thought if you tried. The Sufi work chases away the blues and the crankiness.

Tomorrow is Friday, June 9, when I hold my Sufi Moving Meditation class. It’s Free! If you could use a reset of your emotions, join me tomorrow at 8 am PDT for focused movement, breath, music, and sound that wakes up your body, lifts your spirit, and brings you back to your center.

Zoom Link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89999494833?pwd=V2pOS28yYUdXM3hkaW1rVWIvSjBUdz09

Meeting ID: 899 9949 4833

Passcode: SUFI

8 am PDT is early morning on the west coast! Here's a time converter link if you need to check the time in your location.

Come 5 minutes early if this is the first time you are coming. Let me give you a quick orientation and answer your questions.

Please give yourself some extra time between this class and other meetings as you will likely feel very different at the end.

Be brilliant,

Dr. Michelle Peticolas

Life Transformation Coach

Empowering Women to Reinvent Their Life After Loss

Secrets of Life and Death

https://www.facebook.com/secretsoflifeanddeath.com