I was recently manning my partner’s book stall for him at a local book fair. This was new for me. I have viewed it from the other side as a customer, but not taken the responsibility of selling the books.
I was nervous. I liked the idea but when it got to the day the practicality of it and my ability to do it daunted me somewhat, and when I got there I felt like a fish out of water. The long hours of the day stretched out before me and I wondered if I was going to be able to sustain it.
I could feel myself separating, feeling scattered in my thoughts, tense in my body, not able to focus. It is a strange world when fear takes you into that place of not being able to function. My body felt ill, my heart was racing and my whole digestive system painful and upset. I was dizzy and lightheaded. The fair opened and people began to drift in and look round. I was painfully withdrawn and really not wanting to be there and avoided people. When I feel like that it is like I don’t have a connection with anyone, let alone myself.
But then one of those moments came to me which stopped the momentum of this energy flowing through me that was taking me away from myself.
As I sat awkwardly on my chair I noticed thoughts coming into my head – seemingly out of no-where, but somehow linked with a memory of having heard many times how we are not here in this world to live in comfort, but to live in life with all its challenges. Thoughts such as, “Why should I expect everything to be hunky-dory all the time, especially for me? Here I am in a situation I am not familiar with or enjoying – so what? Here is my body tense and all out of sorts – well, there are reasons for that. Just get on with it.”
With this awareness and feeling these thoughts coming ‘into’ my body I made the choice to connect ‘from’ my body and in line with what I have been learning for the last ten years. I moved. I sat myself on the chair making sure I could feel the weight of my body in my sitting bones; I noticed my rapid shallow breathing and began to return to my own gentle rhythm. I reminded myself this was a wonderful opportunity to just sit and be in the space. I felt myself beginning to relax and slowly I ‘joined up’ again and began to feel more like myself. I felt the stillness inside me despite all the activity going on around me.
I sat there for a while observing the people and all that was going on. By now I was aware of the quality of energy within; I became aware of something more than just my human body, and that the body awareness had opened up this possibility for me, to feel how much more there is in me and how it supports me. I observed how the human body supports me structurally; the stillness inside me supports me energetically. Maybe for the first time this truly made sense to me, and the effect was profound.
It brought me to another moment of what I will call revelation. It wasn’t a loud, light flashing experience but just a slow forming in me of a truth I have known in my head but not my body and heart. I was able to observe all that was going on from this new place of settlement inside me. I smiled as I realised all the book selling and buying and everything going on around me didn’t need to affect my own inner stillness. Inside each human being is an essence, and deep down we are all connected; but when we are not living from this place but somewhere outside of it, we very rarely truly connect with each other.
As I felt more of this stillness it warmed me from inside, it allowed me to embrace the activity around me, and actually move within it – as I must – from inside out, not outside in, and to the best of my ability not in reaction.
The more I settled into observing what was around me but stayed connected to my own body, the more there was a palpable difference between the disconnected feeling and fear when I first started the day and the awareness of my body which allowed me to be part of but not get caught up in the momentum which was not actually ‘me’.
This way I began to enjoy the experience I was having: I entered into it, I engaged with others, I enjoyed it. The many hours ahead disappeared from my mind, and I ended the day energised and willing to continue, although there was no need. And this was not because I got satisfaction for myself in any way, merely that I was attached to nothing outside me and present with myself and my body and meeting people from that inner quality.
By Joan Calder, Volunteer / Retired from paid work, Somerset
Further Reading:
Listening to your body
Every Part Matters – Supporting Our Whole Body
Returning to our body – The wonder, beauty and science of our body
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
I loved reading this. What a beautiful reminder to reconnect to the stillness within and move with this in the world. Life becomes an ease from which enjoyment springs – rather than the squeezed anxiety that fear lives from.
I can’t now ever blame the situation on the outside for what’s going on on the inside. Sure some situations can be real tricky but we always have this choice to reconnect and be supported by the flow of the universe.
Joan you mention how the stillness inside you supported you energetically, I understand what you mean as for me I’m finding that the stillness I am connecting to in my body actually gives me a quiet confidence so that when issues come up that would normally send me into overwhelm, they don’t any more as the stillness acts as a rock and keeps me steady. It was really interesting to observe the other day something came up and there was a part of me that wanted to go into overwhelm and I literally couldn’t, as that feeling wasn’t there in my body anymore, in its place was this rock fast steadiness that came from the stillness in my body.
Ah I love this observation Mary. Today something happened and I saw that there was this great enticement to go into a big reaction and feel hurt, grief etc. But I also couldn’t because there was a stillness that asked me to see the situation from another angle I’d not seen before. Though what I saw was my part in the situation and felt ugly, the awareness of this is allowing me to unravel my ties to an interaction that isn’t loving and bring a way of being with family that is love with no conditions attached.
Amazing how something like focusing on a still breath turns around a situation, so we can deepen our connection to our Soul and thus elevate any stress, thank you Joan for sharing.
I was just feeling the old familiar feeling of not knowing what to do. Then I realized that I was in an old pattern of looking outside of myself to find answers. By stopping and getting into my body connecting to that inner stillness, the “not knowing” faded away. Everything was ok. Then I got that it was time to do some commenting on the computer. Here I am!
How simple and profound our life becomes when we are aligned to our inner-most or Soul, as you have shared Joan.
I loved reading this Joan. I remember I used to be so anxious in public settings and would often avoid them unless I had someone close by me the whole time. Just like you, I realised that life didn’t need to be this way, I didn’t need to be at the mercy of life, I could claim my life back and at the very least, be ‘in’ my body and choose the quality of my own breath. The rest speaks for itself, I now have no problems going anywhere or doing anything – that scared, contracted boy, has grown into a very confident and settled man. I have no one but Serge Benhayon and the Teaching of The Ageless Wisdom to thank for that.
I totally agree with you MG as I too have no one else to thank for this rock solid confidence I have other that Serge Benhayon and his family they have shown me a way to live that actually has me fully participating in life, rather than standing on the sidelines watching life go by not wanting to have anything to do with it, which left me at the mercy of life rather than the master of it.
What a great understanding you came to Joan, ‘I observed how the human body supports me structurally; the stillness inside me supports me energetically.’
It is so simple 🔑 as you have shared Joan to be in a place that creates 🦉 so much space 💡 around us that all else does not detract from the essence 😇 we can bring to every situation 🙏.
Read life and it’s events and we are resourced by the greatest ‘self help’ manual that exists. This book reveals energy and explains what takes place each day instead of us navigating in suspense. Each chapter has intricate details we must not gloss over. If we speed read we will suffer.
Isn’t it amazing how it requires one thought to put us out of our place and then we are consumed with many more, that then has a knock effect to our momentum and our day. It kind of feels we give into what comes through and our days then spiral to other things. Which eventuates to exhaustion and disgruntle-ness. Then it requires a simple movement to only reconnect to ourselves and then everything else shifts, including the thoughts coming through and that mind chatter that had taken us away in the first place.
A simple decision to move, connect and feel the difference afterwards. Then there are no long days, there is no stuck-ness in a time warp, we go to something else that is much grander.
It only requires a decision to recognise this and then move, far more simple than what the mind feeds us…
Life is full of challenges, how do we embrace them, ‘somehow linked with a memory of having heard many times how we are not here in this world to live in comfort, but to live in life with all its challenges.’
I had a moment recently Shushila it had been a very long day and it hadn’t finished there were two more very important meetings I had to have that could not be put off. I felt resentful because I had been working flat out all day and it was late in the evening with still 2 meetings to go. One negative thought brought more negative thoughts flooding into my mind, these thoughts were very self centred as I made it all about me and what I needed and wanted. For a few minutes I failed to see the bigger picture of what was needed. I had the two meetings wrote the emails to complete the meetings and finished for the day
My body seemingly worked out where the negative thoughts were coming from and stopped them, they were given no space to grow and poison what was a brilliant day. This decision came from my body and I just followed what my body was asking of me. Something I have only just become aware of writing this down. That my body actually took charge and not my mind!
When we retire the word me and the ensuing I, we open the door to a much grander version of ourselves and it is that deeper connection to our inner essence as you have shared Joan, that, which is the God that is within us all equally, and is palpable because of the stillness we can connect to.
When we connect to our selves, we find that there doesn’t need to be loads of chatter or words. If anything, there is less and we and others can then feel the more-ness of this
❤️ Absoulutely 😇 Shushila, More-ness from a Stillness as in Esoteric Yoga 🧘🏼♂️ transcends 🔥 words 💡!
I came straight to this article this morning knowing I would be inspired and touched by the sharing that our own inner stillness does not need to be affected by what is going on around us. This is a steadying and gorgeous fact that I look forward to establishing as my norm. Thank you Joan.
It is amazing how energising life can be when we stay connected to our breath.
We have many tools, and movements, that support us coming back to ourselves, ‘I made the choice to connect ‘from’ my body and in line with what I have been learning for the last ten years. I moved. I sat myself on the chair making sure I could feel the weight of my body in my sitting bones; I noticed my rapid shallow breathing and began to return to my own gentle rhythm. I reminded myself this was a wonderful opportunity to just sit and be in the space.’ Gorgeous Joan.
‘I was aware of the quality of energy within; I became aware of something more than just my human body…’ this is the choice we have constantly; whether we only focus on, see and feel the physical aspects of life or whether we allow ourselves to observe and feel what is at play underneath it all therefore revealing that we are always the result of the energy that we align to first.
“I was attached to nothing outside me and present with myself and my body and meeting people from that inner quality” Beautifully expressed Joan, when we connect with self all else gets taking care of, from our own inner quality.
Connecting to our inner stillness started for most with the Gentle Breath Meditation! As in https://www.unimedliving.com/meditation/free
Amazing – I love how this is applicable to all situations in life when the depth of observation we allow from stillness means that we bring this quality to life.
And that’s why the forces that are constantly working to keep us aligned to a consciousness that’s not true are so focused on ensuring that we stay disconnected from our bodies. Pretty much their entire arsenal is to do with disconnecting us with our bodies and that is also why our primary weapon of defence is to re-connect back to our bodies, over and over again. That and self-care, which in itself is centred around connection.
I agree with you Alexis Stewart it seems to me now that one of our greatest strengths is the reconnection back to our soul. The other lesson I am learning is not to react or to fight back which is something I have done all my life. I have suddenly realised it is exhausting and pointless because while we engage with the forces they have won the game. And that’s the other thing I’m learning, it’s a game where the forces behave like they hold all the cards but I have the inviolable resource of connection back to my soul.
Whenever we react or ‘fight back’ it’s a bit like having a boxing match with ourselves inside a sleeping bag, it achieves nothing, nothing at all apart from disruption and disharmony. In order to ‘win’ over the forces we have to return to living as the soul would on earth and our soul would never react, ever and our soul certainly know’s that there’s no need to ‘fight back’. Who would it be ‘fighting back’ against anyway when in truth there’s only One Soul?
Beautifully shared Joan, how you were able to come back from the fear and tension and choose to reconnect to the stillness within, coming from within out.
This blog highlights how important it is to live from our stillness, from our essence, no matter what is going on around us, ‘Inside each human being is an essence, and deep down we are all connected; but when we are not living from this place but somewhere outside of it, we very rarely truly connect with each other.’
I am just in awe of what my body is showing me at the moment all the things I have held onto ideals and beliefs, just this morning my body has invited me to look at 3 different things that I have been holding onto for years, that in the cold light of day have not supported me to grow and be all that I am, but have held me back by living behind walls of protection.
Recalling the days that I spent at the markets doing Sacred Esoteric Healing I so relate to this sharing as it is exactly how every interaction we have plays out and as you have eluded to when we stay connected we feeling the blessing of our essences and the way that this connection is in some way felt by others and has knock-on affect on those we connect with.
“When I feel like that it is like I don’t have a connection with anyone, let alone myself” and this is how most of us operate most of the time. We’re disconnected from ourselves and therefore only able to offer fragments of ourselves to others, who in turn are only able to offer fragments of themselves back and hence we live in a world that is fragmented. It is for each of us to re-locate ourselves first and then to take the whole of ourselves out into the world. Solid, connected, real.
How important it is to give ourselves the space to be fully settled in our body. It feels and results in a very different experience
Yes. ‘How important it is to give ourselves the space to be fully settled in our bodies.’ Thank you Amparo for the sweet, simple, clarity of this fact… something I am understanding and coming to live more.
Lovely to hear how you volunteered to support your partner; and how this at first was challenging, until you re-connected back with yourself and your stillness.
It seems any moment of our life has the potential to scare the pants off us, and cause much anxiety. Yet this simply seems to come about because of the power we have to bring in so many small (but truly huge) ways. The more we acknowledge our significance the more we will understand why situations may be strained.
What a great experience you’ve had Joan, coming from the inside out, bringing all of you to everyone you met. It’s interesting how the first thing you noticed was your thoughts, that you became able to sit with and work through them, those sneaky negative thoughts can have such an impact on us, when we don’t noticed them. But this experience you have now understood, and now known from within the body, and now you’ve realised it, it is super powerful. We can return to it and repeat it in many other situations we encounter in life too, if we’re feeling anxious or uneasy about something. It’s very cool to know we can connect back to the inside in any situation.
What we are feeling is generated by the choices we make and these choices often come from an ‘expectation’ we have put on ourselves to meet. Pictures of how things are to be remove us from the absolute ‘wonder’ of the present moment. Bringing yourself back to the present moment and the beauty on offer within it was so gorgeous to read Joan – thank you for the tips on how to do it when the time arises.
A beautifully confirming blog Joan – knowing that we can come back to settlement and that it is a choice.
This is the world we have made for ourselves that when we do not have a connection to ourselves we are then disconnected to everyone and in this disconnection to ourselves we can be abusive to ourselves and each other because there is no marker to tell us when we have over stepped the line. This then make sense that our societal standards are dropping through the floor and we have a society where anything goes.
Yes Mary, what a responsibility we have, and how beautiful to be able to realise that and know we have something very precious and valuable to offer our fragmenting society.
Joan you have conveyed the quality of settlement and stillness beautifully. A living gem of a sharing.
Beautiful, Joan, how you were able to connect with those thoughts coming in to your body that you realised were going to support you, not the ones that were unsettling you, and your choice to do that meant that you brought so much love through your body for yourself and all of us that day. Thank you.
Lovely Joan. A gorgeous reminder that stillness is always there for us to connect to, no matter what is going on for us.
It is only recently that I have been able to connect to a deeper level of stillness, one that’s sitting in all of our hearts and I’ve been surprised by how defined it feels, not defined as in ‘limited or bordered or even describable’ but more in a way that stillness is a quality (almost like a substance) that can be clearly felt.
I agree with you Alexis I feel as though stillness has a substance too and for me it’s as though I have access to deep beyond deep roots that tap into the universe so that eventually we become part of the universe again, We get reabsorbed into formlessness.
Stillness is the natural backdrop to life, it’s just that we create so much commotion that we can’t feel the fact that it’s always there.
Alexis I was walking in the woods recently and stopped to feel the stillness even though there was a sighing of the wind in the trees there was a deep and profound stillness which could be felt. As you say stillness is the backdrop to life and can be felt whereever we are.
Thank you Joan. What you have written flows so brilliantly, I read it with absolute ease and was surprised how quickly I came to the end. And I know I have many moments like this when you were sitting in the chair and the two choices were so clear. I am touched and inspired by the reminder and confirmation of the unfathomable strength and beauty of connecting within and then moving, talking, thinking and embracing the support.
Thank you for making it so clear that it is through the body and our connection to it first and foremost that we bring service to the world and not via fancy theories, physical function, notions, affirmations or manuals.
Heaven is accessible to all of us equally through our re-connection with our bodies and God wouldn’t want it to be any other way.
It is so freeing when we realise that it is not our mind that supports us to make sense of the world, but that in connection with our bodies life flows and the learning is so rich.
An opportunity for those visiting the book fair to meet and feel the reflection of your inner stillness rather than be distracted by what was between the outer covers of a book.
Stillness is an all pervading quality. Joan your stillness would have enveloped all those at the book fair, all those in the town, everyone in the county, everyone in the country that you’re in and all of us on the planet. We are the interconnected fabric of God, we are therefore being effected by everything constantly.
I love what you share Mary, an opportunity for those attending the book fair to feel Joan’s inner stillness, ‘rather than be distracted by what was between the outer covers of a book.’
Coming from the inside out as opposed to the outside in…this is the key that I keep forgetting and love being reminded of!
Yes I agree Henrietta. And what I get a sense of is that the more of us that develop and live this within our relationship, the more prompts and reminders we will receive.
We’re either living the truth of who we all are or we’re living the lie of who we’re not, it’s as simple as that.
We are portals, that’s it and so at any given moment we can ask ourselves what is it that’s coming through me, truth and purity or lies and filth? When I say ‘at any given moment’, that’s if we’re aligned to a consciousness that allows us to have the level of awareness to firstly ask the question and secondly discern the answer because for most of us we’re not actually given the choice because we’re aligned to a source of energy that only allows us to be it’s vehicle, one direction with no ability to look right or left.
A beautiful sharing Joan, and what I have also experienced in such situations is that when I am withdrawn and anxious there is no space for the conversations and connections with clients, whilst when I am with myself and steady, there is all the space for connecting with another through conversation and a look or a smile. What is interesting too is that I have found that when running a stand or shop this shift in energy can close up or open up the shop space as people sense this openness and welcome or indeed the signals to not come in.
Hi Joan, what a lovely example of how we lose ourselves and get all tangled up on the inside and then feel stressed, and how key the body, the rhythm of our breath, and our presence with ourselves can change how we feel and respond to situations. I feel the key to changing this is realising the disturbance is within ourselves, and not from our outside circumstances, as we can be in settled in our body and in our stillness in all kinds of situations. Thanks Joan, a great situation to read about today with lots of reminders for me.
Beautiful Joan – thank you for sharing. Such an awesome reminder to us all that the answer to the lack of settlement and the tension we can feel in our day to day lives is not set in stone. Stillness is such a lovely quality to feel and melts the tensions we would otherwise find ourselves caught in.
When we are disconnected from our bodies we align ourselves to a consciousness that is more than happy for us to be discombobulated and will keep feeding us thoughts, feelings, emotions and movements that keep the discombobulation going. When we re-connect with the body we switch our alignment to a consciousness that provides us with thoughts, feelings, awareness, realisations and movements that support us to stay connected. Two very different alignments which lead to two very different outcomes.
So we’re therefore making a choice, albeit an unconscious one with every word that we speak, with every thought that we think and with every move that we make which really highlights the importance of being consciously present (having our minds with our bodies in all that we think, say and do).
Helen, I love what you shared re the quality of our stillness melts away tension that we can easily get caught in.
Stillness is a very rare commodity in today’s world. We live in a world that for most people feels incredibly hectic, hectic on the inside and hectic on the outside. But the incredible thing about stillness is when you feel stillness on the inside then regardless of where you are and the busyness of your environment you feel that same stillness.