Category Archives: healing

55–Experiment and “Stronger than You Think” from “Frazzle”

Moon Over Water, Egg Harbor by M D Mikus, Copyright 2010

“…In the dark
the seed of light

a path to follow out….”

From “Stronger than You Think,” in my book, Thrown Again into the Frazzle Machine: Poems of Grace, Hope, and Healing. Listen here: https://youtu.be/riXeccP3MMA

For today’s video I am doing an experiment: Before my poetry readings and healing workshops I used to do some easy exercises levels with the group to reduce stress, including for me. Why not try it here?

Begin with three deep “letting go” breaths—in through the nose, out through the mouth, noticing how we felt before and after. Such a simple thing, easy to forget: conscious breathing.

Then let’s do one of the exercises from the sheet, Energetic Life Balancing Waker’s Dozen. These are 13 gentle movements to balance energy levels as a daily practice. They were devised in 1989 (drawn from many disciplines) by Robert Waldon, Ph.D., N.D. and Betty Lou Lieber, Ph.D., M.F.C.C. and used with their permission.

On the video I demonstrate #7, called “Emotional Stress Release.” (My family calls it the “head hug.”) It’s the first one I learned and I’ve been doing it twice a day for 20 years. At that time I still had multiple sclerosis and I was working with several complementary medical practitioners to cope better. Doing this was a homework assignment to do for 15 minutes twice a day. MS is a very stressful disease and episodes can also be triggered by stress, so this was a good skill to focus on.

Lay one hand gently on the forehead and one on the back of the neck (in contact with the skin). You can do this standing, sitting, or lying down. You can visualize it. You can switch hands. You can do it for someone else (ask first, please). (Mothers intuitively know that it is calming for stressed out children to put your hand on their forehead.) You can do it for however long you have—less than a minute or 15 minutes or more. You can add some affirmations to say while you do the “head hug,” or hum a single tone (not singing). I do it in the morning before getting out of bed and last thing at night. If needed I also do it in the middle of the day as a recharge or power nap (even without sleeping). If I forget, I can feel the difference.

When we are less stressed we have more energy to do what we need to do. And that is very important in these chaotic times. We also have more functional immune systems and are nicer to be around, which benefits everyone.

And that brings us full circle back to our poem: “You Are Stronger than You Think.” Listen here: https://youtu.be/riXeccP3MMA

Seagulls, Door County by Margaret Dubay Mikus, Copyright 2010

For more poem videos in the series

THROWN AGAIN into the FRAZZLE MACHINE: Poems of Grace, Hope, and Healing

54–“Gorecki: Symphony of Sorrowful Songs” from “Transcending Boundaries”

Waterfire, Providence, RI by M D Mikus Copyright 2010

8/26/12

Gorecki: “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs”

Thanks for the link, Eric Whitacre

In the stillness
non-essentials fall away
light shines in darkness.

Life is re-built
from mostly re-used bricks
previously battered down.

And in the shadows
music builds for those
with patience to listen

to beauty becoming.
Those who trust long enough
to invest the time

who will breathe with
ascending notes, climb the mountain
be washed clean

come back down to life
transmuted water to wine
and back again.

Intoxication.
Dedication
to feeling.

The Phoenix rising
from everyday ash
willing.

And in the end
a shift in key
a point of light toward

the hoped for
healed reality.

Margaret Dubay Mikus
© 2012

From Transcending Boundaries: Inspired by Eric Whitacre and Virtual Choir

Listen to the poem here: https://youtu.be/Ha3xxshEn6s

Henryk Gorecki was a modern composer (1933-2010) from Poland. His Symphony No. 3—which he called A Symphony of Sorrowful Songs—was composed in 1976 and received a lukewarm reception at the time. It was based on 3 laments, including writing by a teenager to her mother on a cell wall in Gestapo headquarters. Fifteen years later a recording with Dawn Upshaw as soloist became a classical phenomenon. This music is incredibly beautiful and moving, building slowly out of near silence. Patience is rewarded. Truly healing music.

Note: The correct English pronunciation of Gorecki should be “Goo-RET-skee.” I found this out while listening an NPR interview with the composer after I did the recording.

Crossing Michigan Ave., (near Chicago Symphony Center) by M D Mikus, Copyright 2008

For more poem videos in the series

Transcending Boundaries: Inspired by Eric Whitacre and Virtual Choir

51–“White Woman from Illinois on Mandela” from “Frazzle”

Sunset in Reverse by Margaret Dubay Mikus, Copyright 2014

“He might be the first to say
he was ordinary,
a man making choices with great clarity,

understanding consequences
to holding hate and anger close,
how one gets burned
and nothing gets accomplished….”

From “White Woman from Illinois on Mandela” in my book, Thrown Again into the Frazzle Machine: Poems of Grace, Hope, and Healing. Listen here: https://youtu.be/hHvHZ7noO94

My internet was down today and I wasn’t sure I could get a post out. I didn’t freak out, but let it go…what will be will be. Yet a way to do it presented itself (in the form of my husband), and I took it. These videos have become my lifeline, kind of, and I needed that.

I read this poem in my voice lesson on Wednesday. Now that I’m choosing what to read each day from all the possibilities, I wanted to pick something that caught the feeling for me, the urgency maybe. I had some ideas, but I waited until the inner voice was clear. And I trusted: Read about “ordinary people” doing extraordinary things. Yes. Isn’t that part of hope, remembering…?

Flag over Harbor, Door County, Wis. by M D Mikus, Copyright 2014

For more poem videos from the series

THROWN AGAIN into the FRAZZLE MACHINE: Poems of Grace, Hope, and Healing

45–“Selective Memory” from “Frazzle”

Walking to the Pond by Margaret Dubay Mikus, Copyright 2016

“…I am only aware of
where I am and what is
now going on,
what healing is yet undone.
I forget where I came from…”

From poem 45, “Selective Memory,” in my book, “Thrown Again into the Frazzle Machine” Poems of Grace, Hope, and Healing.” Listen here: https://youtu.be/VdRt7-CbkSg

One day at a time, this project is teaching me to be where I am, not to jump ahead even one day. It is guiding me to take care of myself, be more balanced, less anxious. If I want to deliver the poems—and I do—I have to be focused and healthy, as rested as I can.

On the good days I take a lovely walk to the pond down the road, perhaps a poem begins in my head as I go. If it’s not a good day and my only two smiles are at the beginning and end of that day’s video, at least I remember I can smile. And I feel a certain sense of accomplishment at getting another poem recorded.

My intention is still to sequentially read all the poems from “Thrown Again into the Frazzle Machine.” At one per day, it will take over a year. You and me, sitting at the table, maybe we have cups of herbal tea with honey. Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow.

For more poem videos from “Frazzle”

THROWN AGAIN into the FRAZZLE MACHINE: Poems of Grace, Hope, and Healing

40–“A Way to Release Sorrow” from “Frazzle”

African Violet (Pink) by M D Mikus, Copyright 2007

“…I am at vat-bottom
holding my arms up in a “V”

and the sorrow is leaving me,
leaving a delicious temporary
spaciousness
which I fill with joy….”

From poem 40, “A Way to Release Sorrow,” in my book, Thrown Again into the Frazzle Machine: Poems of Grace, Hope, and Healing. Listen here: https://youtu.be/SH1cY_oexvI

Notes: A blue moon is a second full moon in a month (or extra full moon in a season). I wrote this poem on New Year’s Eve, the day of the blue moon, which was the end of a decade, a rare event indeed. I had been doing intense healing work with Tricia Eldridge, the founder of the Energy Touch ® School of Advanced Healing. A follow-up phone conversation led to this visual and the poem came directly from that.

It can be daunting to attempt healing of deep trauma or sorrow, long-time painful beliefs, scars of the body-mind-spirit, or even still raw wounds. How to transform it all without being washed away in the process? I can tell you it requires patience and also trust. It does not require belief in anything, but rather a discerning openness, the willingness to take a small step and see what happens. It does require energy and it can be a slow process or instantaneous. Healing also ultimately gives back energy, uplifting and transcending. Blessings on your healing journey.

For more poem videos from the “Frazzle” series

THROWN AGAIN into the FRAZZLE MACHINE: Poems of Grace, Hope, and Healing