Crazy Guidance! Head over Heels in a Sacred Circle

Last week Jen and I were traveling around Ireland. Our friend Eugene took us on a tour of some of his favorite sacred sites in the area. The first place he took us was Piper Rocks, an ancient stone circle atop a hill.

“You’re gonna focking love this spot”, he said as we walked past grazing sheep and thistle bushes. The circle became visible as we came to the crest of the hill, a concentric ring of stones averaging three to six feet in height. They were many different shapes; field stones placed deliberately into position eons ago.

We paused at the entrance, each saying a silent prayer of thanks and asking permission to enter. I’ve learned that approaching any sacred site with reverence makes me much more receptive to the energy these places offer.

Silently we entered, each called in our own direction. I moved slowly around the inside perimeter, touching the stones, suspending my ordinary thoughts and simply being present.

I was halfway round the circle when I found myself leaning on one stone in particular, my belly draped comfortably across its crescent shape, chin resting atop its crest. This rock was cozy, and I was quite content to stay here awhile…

Then I hear the strangest thing… ‘Do a headstand here’

What???

There’s an image of me doing a headstand atop this stone… This is crazy…  a headstand – here? This is too dramatic… Eugene might even think its sacrilegious… No way!

But the image remains, as steady as the rock. I ask for clarity and guidance, and still the image remains… Certainly not something I thought up, I decide to finish my walk around the circle before committing to this crazy idea…

I amble over to Eugene, tell him I’ve received a most crazy piece of guidance. “I’m guided to do a headstand on that stone over there”, I say, pointing.

He bursts into a big smile. “I just talked to the spirits of this place, and they said they were curious just how playful you’d be. If you feel comfortable doing it, go for it!”

And then I remember I’m in Leprechaun country! Is this an elemental practical joke?

I get an immediate reply; this is to move energy, to open another channel for yet another frequency of light.

With any doubt about the appropriateness of the act out of the way, I find myself wondering if I can even do a headstand on that rock…

I go over and take a closer look…

The top is rounded, not an easy spot to put my head. I climb up, try and get into position, find myself in an awkward pose getting into place…

“Why couldn’t it have been that stone over there”, I think, “Or that one or that one! All with nice flat tops, it would be simple and easy. But no, it has to be this one”, and I crouch down again, placing my wool cap between my skull and the hard stone…

Headstands are like bike riding; once you can do it, it comes right back to you. Its not part of any regular practice, but I do notice that sometimes I’m called to place my spine upside down and vertical to the earth, usually to move some energy thru my body.

The same thing happens to me when I freedive; when I place my feet directly over my head as I dive into the deep, there’s a dramatic energetic shift, a rush of energy down my spine, that opens my consciousness into a deeper state…

I plant my hands and head, lift my butt into the air and slowly, one at a time, I tip my vertebrae into position…

I feel a powerful energy rising… the straighter my spine gets, the more it builds… perhaps I’m here to do what the humpback whales do when they hang upside down in the deep blue, singing their humpback songs…

Further up my body goes…

The energy rises faster, speeding up toward a crescendo at the same time my awareness expands… time slows, I feel the presence of many spirits around me; guides, angels, elementals and guardians of this sacred place…

My feet come up… energy, light, euphoria surge thru me… we are a union of light…

In the flow of energy my feet keep going back, back…

“Oh my God I’m going over!” The thought of falling backwards and being hurt flashes thru me… I didn’t even check to see the landing spot!!!

I make a conscious choice to relax and surrender… to completely trust this crazy process… a deep sense of peace and ecstasy floods me… over I go!

BAM!

I land crouching on the soles of my feet, my spine free and clear, and then I fall immediately back to the stone and BAM! The back of my head hits the stone with a resounding whack…

I’m in two places at once – The moment the rock hits my head, I simultaneously feel the exact same whack on the root of my spine… skull and sacrum, the exact same pressure at the exact same time…

Then its over… I’m squatting awestruck on the earth, Jen and Eugene rushing up asking if I’m ok… Jen shares that she saw light shooting out my feet as they went vertical into the air.

“I’m fine, I’m fine” I say, rubbing my shaken head. I get up and walk around, a few leftover stars spinning inside my skull, and laugh at the craziness of it all… Following one’s guidance can result in some pretty unexpected behavior!

Then I notice that the crick in my neck, the crunchy gritty spot that every chiropractor I’ve been to in the past 20 years has tried to free up, is gone…

© Joe Noonan

During the last few days in the UK with Jen, we stayed at a friend’s flat in Fernhurst, a beautiful village south of London. The place was crisscrossed with public footpaths, and we took turns going in different directions exploring the area.

I fell in love with these footpaths and how the English have preserved them; they are ley lines, energetic paths of connection that maintain a centuries old love of the land.

This particular day, the footpath took me to a farm with horses. One pasture had three horses; one pair of obvious friends and an odd man out. The three were wearing fly masks over their heads; see-thru skirts that cover their eyes to protect them from the many flies buzzing around.

I walked up to the fence, about twenty feet from where they were and put out my hand…

The pair came over first; while one sniffed my open palm, the other rested his chin on his buddy’s back. They were very comfortable and physical with each other. They turned side to side, facing in opposite directions, and when one would swish his tail, it would flick the flies off his friend’s face.

I wasn’t feeding them any grass and they moved off, content to nuzzle each other. I went over to the solo horse, his aloneness triggering loneliness in me.

He came over and smelt my hand. He was more cautious, and kept shying away. I quieted myself more deeply in response, and then he lifted his head over the fence and nuzzled me.

Something in me melted… in an instant we became old friends. I petted him, and the more comfortable I got, the more confident my hand moved; rubbing and scratching his ears, his head, his mane…

As I rubbed and scratched, love flowing freely between us, I wondered where the guidance and inspiration for my freely moving hand came from…

Touch is powerful, an intimate physical expression of connection and caring… touching this horse is the same as petting a cat, stroking our lover’s face, massaging a friend’s shoulders…

My hand glides across the horse, going here, scratching there… the subtleties of it’s movement is independent of ‘me’… Its motion exudes grace, is the embodiment of caring, an expression of love… I watch as some loving force guides this hand in a nurturing union with the horse…

Is the guidance for the movement of my hand coming from me, from ‘my’ intuition? Is the horse intuitively telling me where to rub?  Exactly where does the inspiration of how to lovingly touch another come from?

(If you cannot see the video, click here)

Our world is changing faster and faster… and our hearts are opening just as fast. And more and more, our expanding hearts guide us to be and act in ways we might think are crazy!

I’ve followed some of what felt like crazy guidance lately… things that, when I first heard them, my mind’s reaction was ‘No way’!

The first was doing a headstand in an ancient standing stone circle, the other was jumping into a freezing lake with a half dozen drowning warning signs… (each of these will be their own blog post, for they each taught me something powerful.)

The headstand I thought about for maybe 15 minutes before I acted – (there was a small window of opportunity). The jump in the lake, I had all night to think about…

I made this video on the walk back from the lake!

Love,

Joe

(If you cannot see the video, click here)

Joe Noonan is a Nature Lover, author, speaker and guide. A former guest on FOX TV, National Geographic and Oprah, he leads trips and workshops celebrating the ecstasy of everyday life.  You can get more information about his work at Planetary Partners.

(If you cannot see the video, click here)

Intention is wonderful, it is the road map of our life…

But inspiration, oh my!!!