The path of Softness pt.2
Surrender: cease resistance to an enemy or opponent and submit to their authority.
Many times within the psychedelic/plant medicine world we are told to surrender to the medicine or surrender to the process. This can be confusing and actually feed a state of non participation and perhaps victimhood. We can become victims of so called “bad trips” or be gifted “good trips”. In reality there is no such thing as a bad or good trip. Surrendering places us in a battle against the plants. There is a losing of your sovereignty and power so that the plant may work upon you.
When we think of surrendering, there is an attitude of battle. Surrender your arms and shields. There is a hierarchy and our safety depends upon this surrendering. To surrender also brings a perspective of beginning and end. We are fighting then we surrender. At rooted Waters, we speak of Softening.
Softening is an active process which requires focus, dedication and deep communion with all parts of our beings. It is a sovereign state of active choice. We are in a continuum of communication with our body, softening. To soften is to tend to ourselves and open up to the mysteries of our Divinity. Softening is a process which has no end. There is a dissolution of blockages and tensions. In nature we see this all the time. It is within the action of Softening that we find transformation. Our essence is infinite, connected with all that is and only through deep softening can we open ourselves to the intelligence of Spirit.
Iboga teaches us the way of Softness. Although having a reputation for being a difficult, tough medicine, Iboga offers pathways to our unique sovereign Divinity through Softening. To reach the profound inner stillness, to reach the spring of the Breath of Life, we must soften and transform each blockage, each tension, into nourishment. Iboga shows us that to truly heal we must soften into acceptance, humility and love.
Many traditions such as Bwiti, Chinese medicine, Hermetics, even modern healing systems such as craniosacral therapy speak of the Breath of Life or Qi or le Souffle Sacre. This is intelligence holds the potency to make all of life possible.
This is the reminder of Rooted Waters. To Soften is to accept. Accepting our past and our selves fully we open the doors to a new vibrant life. Through this continuous process we become more and more familiar with our infinite Nature and we begin to expand. We are no longer held back from addictions or traumas, instead we find strange in the experience we have gone through and engage with the Divine wisdom of our hearts.
Our words and ideas hold incredible power, it is important, especially in these modern times to bring words into our language which truly open us and remind us of the infinite beauty and potential we hold within our selves.