Sharing Energy

Hi, it has been a while between blog posts. I am working on connecting to a wider audience, sharing salka with more people. My new book (‘The Andean Cosmovision’), of course, is a major piece of that. If you would spread the word on it I would really appreciate it. I have also begun to reconnect with academia about all of this. I have a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology and I am a part time associate professor of psychology at the University of Utah. Last week I gave a presentation entitled ‘The Andean Cosmovision: A Path to a Deeper Connection with Nature’ at an ecopsychology conference. On October 28th I will be giving a presentation entitled ‘The Andean Cosmovision: An Ancient Path to a New Reality’ as the inaugural speaker in the Distinguished Lecture Series sponsored by the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences here at the university. I mention this because I want to be planting seeds that may blossom into more opportunities in the future.

The meditative process I would like to share in this post is so simple. In the Andes, when a waiki (friend/sister/brother) is very low in energy he or she may ask another waiki if they can borrow some energy, to be paid back at some point in the future (e.g. at the next full moon). If this is agreed upon then they will sit on the ground, gently leaning against each other, touching shoulders. The one waiki uses intent to give energy to the other, who uses intent to receive that energy. They continue this until the process is complete. That is it.

This seems so simple, but the times I have tried it (either as the giver or the receiver) it has worked like a charm (but please see the post on ‘Fallacies‘). There are times when I have lots of energy and can share some with my waikis, there are times when my energy is really low and I could use some. The Andean meditations provide numerous ways for conserving and recharging energy on our own, and I generally rely upon them, but there are times when it is really nice to get a hand up from a friend.

I find it interesting that don Americo presented this as a loan of energy rather than as a gift of energy (although it can be a gift, of course, if you prefer). I may be reading too much into that but it does fit my general sense of the Andean Cosmovision where everything is kept in balance. This is not a moralistic path, there is nothing ‘wrong’ about always being a source of energy for others or always drawing energy from others, but either stance seems fraught with consequences and neither fits my ideal of how I want to dance through my life.

Thanks Angela for reminding me of this meditation.