News Drop offers principles and practices for living in alignment with nature. For living osteopathically, in flow.

When we align with the forces of the natural world there is no limit to the sanity, ease and grace we can experience regardless of what is happening.

I can’t think of a more relevant conversation. Ready to dive in?

The body is electrical. The Earth is electrical. When you touch another person, energy and charge are exchanged.

— Mantak Chia, Taoist Teacher

Noticing is where it begins. Feeling.

Have you ever hugged someone and felt an exchange of energy? The first time that I can remember this happening I was in my 20s. My sweet partner was giving me an extra intentional hug. We were just standing there, and when he hugged me, a warm glow seemed to flow from his body into mine. It was as if light came right through his skin and penetrated mine. I didn’t know what to make of it, and I never forgot it.

In the years since I’ve paid attention to what it feels like to connect with another. Every connection has its own quality. Hugging a tree (especially a redwood!) is both energizing and calming, like I’m a battery being charged and grounded at the same time. When I hug animals, especially ones I deeply love, there is a sensation of a bright, happy current entering my body, and a feeling of my heart expanding.

I’ve also hugged people without feeling an exchange. Perhaps exchange requires connection, willingness, and resonance — a feeling of right alignment.

An example: not long ago, I was receiving healing from a very kind person who had what seemed like good intentions. I was surprised when at a specific point the exchange began to feel a little off — not bad, just off. I was delighted that with zero effort or intention, my body simply blocked the parts of the healing that just didn’t feel quite right.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could remember how to tell the difference between right and not-quite-right the way animals do? The ability to open to receive healing energies, and close to energies that don’t feel quite right seems like a pretty important skill, and one we humans have largely forgotten. The point I really want to convey with this writing is that we have a choice. With practice, we can remember how to open to receive more, or less.

When I hug my dog or my partner with intention, or I’m doing healing work with someone I appreciate, the flow is much more powerful. I can feel myself spontaneously, perhaps instinctually, opening to let it happen. When we are present, clear and intentional, the right thing happens automatically.

We all could benefit greatly by connecting and exchanging with more clarity and integrity. Our culture trains us to give, and perhaps to take, much more than it trains us to receive and offer cleanly and without agenda. Removing the co-dependent noise from our connections with others is deeply nourishing and allows genuine healing to happen.

Strengthening our innate ability for giving and receiving with integrity, and for allowing ourselves to charge and recharge naturally through connection of all kinds, is an essential part of building vital bodies and communities.

You can build and circulate energy in your own body by simply tuning in to the ground and space around you and waiting for a sense of resonance to arise. I think of us as biological engines that can either idle beautifully, or sputter along. I make a point of spending ten minutes upon waking and going to be to make tune into my idle. I’m convinced this is what animals automatically, and that we did too in more primitive times.

Recently we practiced exactly this in a recent practice group I held. We were present, connected, and practicing noticing the movement of current within and between our bodies. One gal who had no idea she wasn’t receiving had the experience of her body filling with light. Her delight was palpable! And so was the brightness that followed in the space we all shared. It felt like magic.