Ep 27: When the Ground Moves: Finding Your Center, Your Strength, and Each Other After Devastation

Some episodes come from a prepared place. This one comes from a tender one.

When an EF3 tornado tore through the Appleton area in Wisconsin this week, it hit close to home for Sarah. Dear friends, beloved members of the Marvelous Qi-Circle community, were right in its path. And while their home was spared, the neighborhood around them was not. And Sarah found herself doing what so many of us do when disaster touches the people we love. Feeling helpless. Aching to do something. Searching for words that are big enough.

This episode is what came out of that search.

This is not a lesson taught from a distance. This is Sarah walking through it in real time, with you, because right now so many of us are holding someone else's devastation inside our own hearts. Maybe it is a tornado. Maybe it is a fire, a flood, a diagnosis, a sudden ending. Maybe it is something quieter that only you know about. It does not have to be a big disaster to be a big deal.

In this episode you will discover:

• Why your nervous system responds to someone else's disaster as if it happened to you, and why that is not you being dramatic but your deeply intelligent nervous system doing exactly what it was designed to do
• How the Reticular Activation System scans for more danger after a devastating event and the one conscious choice that changes what it looks for next
• The five element Qigong framework for moving through collective grief, from the metal element of release, to the water element of stillness and gathering strength, to the wood element of rebuilding and growth, and why honoring each season matters
• A guided somatic grounding practice you can use right now, including the butterfly tap, the box breath, and the words to say to your nervous system when your heart is aching for someone who is not yet safe
• Why being the observer does not mean bypassing the grief or rushing toward a lesson, and how you can hold both the devastation and the neighbor with the chainsaw at sunrise as equally true
• How Penny Makris' August calendar theme of shining and creating is not a coincidence but a perfect description of what rebuilding actually looks like, one small brilliant act at a time
• The collective prayer practice Sarah invites the entire Magic in the Middle community into, and why sending love is not passive but as powerful as a lightning bolt

And if you are one of the people standing in the wreckage right now, whether physical or invisible, this episode holds a seat for you. You are allowed to feel this deeply. And you are still safe enough, right here in this breath, to be the observer of what comes next.

The healing is already happening. It has only been a week. And you are the magic in the middle of all of it.

Join Sarah's free Qigong practice group, Monday through Friday, 7 to 7:35am Pacific on Zoom. Learn more at marrvelouslife.com.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:32

Hello, welcome to Magic in the Middle. And I'm always so happy to have you here. I just feel so blessed to be doing this and to be connected with you and connecting together on this planet, doing something extraordinary. And that is being on this planet. Absolutely being on this planet and choosing to come here at this time. I believe our souls choose to come in at a certain time. We knew that when we came in, this would be a difficult time, that it would be challenging. And we chose to come in to learn, to expand for our eventual ascension. And we saw what we were getting into, and we chose to come anyway. I'm prefacing with this because it is a difficult time in so many different ways. And you know, this episode is coming from a tender place in me today. And some friends of mine were in the tornado, the EF3 tornado that hit the Appleton area in Wisconsin. And they're close, they're part of our marvelous cheese circle, and they're there on a regular basis. And I love them dearly, and it's really painful to know and hear that they're going through such a difficult time. Thank goodness their home was saved. But you know, when they looked outside and saw the aftermath, and that so many homes around them were destroyed, neighbors that they've known for a long time, even though trees were there. Um, you know, just the devastation that we were like right in the path, and um, you know, it's a very, very difficult thing, and I just want to wrap my arms around them and just hug and love them. And sometimes when we see things like this, for me anyway, I feel helpless. You know, our beautiful, marvelous chiefs are going, people are going thing through things with send flowers and cards that just seem so small right now. Although maybe it is very important to do something like that. But where are you gonna put it if you don't have a place to put it? And there's just it just seems so much bigger. Um, so I'm talking about this because we all experience things, well, maybe most of us experience something that has a devastating effect, like this EF3 tornado that just ravaged the Appleton area in Wisconsin, where you know, you go to bed one day and then you wake up the next day and it's unrecognizable. So today isn't a lesson I'm teaching you from distance or untouched place. I'm walking through this one with you in real time because I think so many of us right now are holding someone else's disaster in our own heart. Maybe it's not a tornado, maybe it's a fire, a flood, a diagnosis, a sudden ending. You know, maybe it's just terrible news. But that feeling that the ground I thought was so solid just wasn't that feeling is universal for all of us. You know, we felt it last year in California with the fires that just ravaged through our neighborhoods, and so many of us knew so many people in those areas. I used to live in one of the areas, and it just was gone, completely gone. And if I had lived there still, our home would have been gone. So this ground that we thought was solid and universal, this is exactly where the magic in the middle lives, where science and spirit meet each other in the wreckage and say, Here's how you're built to survive this, and here's how you're built to rise through it. So, why your body reacts before your mind does. So, this is the science piece. Because I think it's validating to understand this. This is a real thing that happens to all of us. When we see devastation, even secondhand, even through a phone screen, our nervous system doesn't know the difference between this happened to me and this happened to someone I love. Our mere neurons fire, our polyvagal system reads danger, our body goes on alert, even sitting safely in our own home, in our own kitchen. That tightness in your chest, that heaviness that can't quite settle feelings, that's not you being dramatic. That is a widely intelligent nervous system doing exactly what it was designed to do. So, you know, we talk about quieting and calming the nervous system all the time here so that we can continue to move forward. Now we're learning why we even have this nervous system, and the nervous system is important, it's protection, so it's keeping you safe by treating any threat anywhere as if it's close. So, this is how the nervous system works. Your reticular activation system, that filter in your brain, it's now scanning for more of the devastation, more danger, more proof the world is unsafe. That's why once you hear about a tornado or a disaster or hard thing, you start seeing hard things everywhere. This is where we have a choice, though. We have a choice now, and through all the things that we've learned, a magic in the middle, these tools, we have a choice now. Not to deny what happened, not at all. It's important to say this happened, and this is the feelings that it has brought up: fear, anger, terror, sadness, great sadness, sorrow, whatever it is, just simply naming it, naming the feelings, because this is something that's very difficult. Then you choose consciously what you feed your attention on next. So now this is what the spirit, where the spirit meets that science, the observer in the middle of the storm. So we are the observer, even here, even now, even in the middle of something this difficult, this devastating. Like looking around your neighborhood and just seeing a place where you think of as safe. Like our homes and neighborhoods are a place of sanctuary and security and safety, right? And then you this happens and you look around and it's gone. So being the observer doesn't mean pretending it didn't happen at all or rushing past the grief or slapping a bow on devastation. It means remembering that you get to choose what you focus on next, and that choice shapes what you have the capacity to do about it. So you can observe the devastation, and you can also observe the neighbor who showed up with a chainsaw before sunrise. You can observe the loss, and you can observe the shelter that opened its doors, the strangers who handed someone water, the community that is even now rebuilding together, who are helping each other with resources. Because this is what's happening, this is what's happening in my friend's neighborhood. She said, the community is coming together, and supporting each other. So both are true. There's devastation, yet, what is birthing out of this devastation is great love and camaraderie and solutions. Visibility. For helping, they want to help more, they want to dig in more. So we get to choose where our energy lands, we get to choose where we take that energy, and especially in times like this, especially in times like this when you're needed more than ever for yourself, but also for your family, your friends, your pet, your pets. They have these wonderful puppies that they're taking care of. And this isn't about that quote and unquote toxic positivity. It's about honoring the five elements, the natural cycle, the five elements that we talk about. This is there's a season for the storm, there's a season right after for what Qigong calls metal for the grief for the release. So the metal element is your lung energy system. It detoxes the grief, it detoxes that grief. So we bring in contentment and we see what we where we might find contentment just to keep our bodies balanced, our mind balanced. And we release what needs to fall away, and we just we we let it go. And it might seem difficult when you're in a gripping situation like this. So it's important to use the tools, the tools that we have, that we have learned to be able to take that one, two, three, four breath in and pause one, two, three, four, and exhale. One, two, three, four, five, six. And then there's a season for water for going still and gathering strength, and eventually a season for the wood. The wood is your liver, and your liver detoxes anger because there's gonna be anger, and we bring in happiness. The water is your kidneys, that's the fear, and these emotions aren't good or bad, but if there's too much for too long, our body is out of balance, and more than anything right now, balance is so important. So the wood element is for growth, for rebuilding. So we don't skip the steps, we honor every one of them. So let me go back. There's a season for the storm, and there's a season right after. So in Qigong, this is the metal element for grief, for release, for letting what needs to fall away, fall away. And then there's a season for water, for going still and gathering strength, and eventually a season for wood, for growth, for rebuilding. Actually, this time that we're in right now is a big time in August of letting go and releasing and letting go, and many times big tragedies like this, or illnesses even in the body, devastating illnesses. Immediately we start letting go of things, of old thoughts, of old paradigms. Sometimes it just thrusts us into this rebirth within us, and we find we have this immense strength, creativity. We're solution-oriented, we just dive in and we go. Our body and spirit already know to do this, and we just dive in and we go and we move. I saw this happen over COVID. I know I went into immediate solution. What do we do? How do we keep ourselves safe? Um, like even when my mom had her first heart attack, I was with her immediately. I didn't know what was going on with her, first of all, but I knew something. And I was like, mom, we gotta go right now. Everything just jumped in. There's all those instincts that we have, you know, trusting even the universe, even though maybe it seems like, well, if the universe was so great, this wouldn't have happened. No, that's not what it's about. The universe and God are here with us all the time, supporting us, and we can ask, and it will come for the support. This is a collective devastation based on decisions made by humans with the power of choice. It is not God being cruel at all, or your spiritual team, so we can ask for help and support. So here is a grounding practice that I want to share with you. Um, and I hope this helps. And if anyone is there, you know, in Wisconsin, and I hope this is helpful for you. This is one way of me giving back, and um honestly, I feel really helpless, and I just I want to do something, and I just feel like the card and or the flowers aren't enough. I am sending my love to you and surrounding you all the time. We bring you into chi circle all the time, every day, and we just send love and rebuilding, and we see the gifts that are coming out of this. Maybe it's new friendships, maybe it's a strength within you that you didn't even know you had, an idea, a solution. Humans are so resilient and so powerful. So I want to take you through this practice. So whether you're someone who lived there or someone, you know, that's holding, holding this area or anything, anywhere around the world, anywhere. There's a lot of things going on around the world right now. So wherever you are, if it's safe to close your eyes, so obviously, if you're driving, you don't want to do this or operating machinery, like you want to be in a safe, quiet place. Close your eyes, or soften your gaze and place both hands on your heart, or you can give yourself that somatic hug, your arms crossed, hands resting on your shoulders, and you can tap one shoulder and then tap the other. You're alternating here, bringing yourself and your body into the safe place, a safe position. Breathe in four. Hold four. Exhale four and hold four. Let's do it one more time. In one, two, three, four. Hold one, two, three, four. Exhale one, two, three, four. Hold one, two, three, four. Now say quietly in your mind, or out loud if you feel comfortable. I see you. You can put your name there if you want. It's okay to feel this. You might even name it fear, terror, anger, anxiety. And you're still tapping the sides of your shoulders. I am safe in this moment right here, right now. And embody that feel that right here, right now. I am safe in this moment right here, right now. And feel that hug that you're giving yourself. And know that there are a lot of marvelous cheese circle hugs coming your way as well. Just feel it. Feel that love surrounding you, filling you. This is a quick pause that you can take. You can take this and do it much longer if you want to. But you just told your nervous system the truth that in this exact breath you are safe. Even while your heart aches for people who are not fully safe yet, both are allowed to be true at the same time. And the more centered and focused and safe you feel, the more you can help those other people. These this is why these practices are so important. And we've been given these practices. We chose to come here, like I said at the beginning, but we were not. We did not come here without tools for ourselves to be able to thrive in this life, and everyone will thrive again. We see it time and time again. After major disasters, people will thrive again. There's a new a new strength, wisdom, curiosity, invention. And let's talk about what rebuilding actually might look like. So I want to be clear about this. Healing from something like this isn't linear and it isn't fast, and anyone who tells you otherwise has never stood in the wreckage. So be patient and compassionate with yourself. Give yourself so much love and grace, and those others that experience this with you. Give them grace. Some people will heal more quickly than others. For my friends this week, it's not about meaning or making. Yet. It's about water, food, safety, shelters, showing up for each other in the most physical, practical ways. And for the rest of us watching, our job isn't to rush them or ourselves toward a lesson. Our job is to hold space, to send actual help if we can, and to let our own hearts be softened rather than hardened. But what we've witnessed. Because here's what I know to be true. We are brilliant magical beings in the good seasons and in the devastating ones, not because we bypass the hard, but because something in us keeps choosing to rebuild, keeps choosing to reach for each other, keeps choosing love, even when the ground has quite literally moved beneath us. It's not a metaphor today. This is real. And it actually connects so perfectly to our August calendar. Normally, this podcast, because we're in the beginning of August, would be about our beautiful intuitive calendar by Penny Makris, our beautiful intuitive artist. And I would be talking about the calendar for this podcast. And this actually connects perfectly to our August calendar. So, and she creates this beautiful calendar every year, and each month there's there are new words of wisdom. And this month's words are shining and creating. So I read those words earlier this week as I took a sneak peek ahead. Actually, it was before the tornado. I took a sneak peek ahead because I was thinking about this episode, and what do shining and creating mean to me? And then, you know, I sat with them and thought, and because this is exactly what rebuilding looks like. It's not passive, it's not waiting for things to go back to how they were. You know, after this happened, I thought it's people picking up hammers and casseroles and each other and creating home again. It's about water coming back on, it's about the power coming back on, the internet. Um it's about the chainsaws coming out. It's a community deciding to shine on purpose in the middle of the wreckage because shining is an act of defiance and love, not denial. It's about neighbors hugging each other and connecting with each other, helping each other clean up their homes, their yards, helping each other rebuild, shining and creating. So if you're in a season of loss right now, whether it's a tornado or something quieter that only you know about, because it doesn't have to be a big disaster to be a big deal to you. All of us are different. I invite you to ask yourself, what is one small thing I can create today? Not to fix everything, just one small thing, maybe a meal for a neighbor, a kind word, lighting a candle, maybe smiling to someone, telling them they look nice today, if that's what you believe, being authentic about this. That's shining, that's creating, that's how we rebuild one small, brilliant act at a time. So if you take one thing from today, let it be this. You're allowed to feel this deeply, and you are still safe enough right now in this breath to be the observer of what comes next. If your community was affected by this storm, I'm holding you so close, my heart, this week, and Marvelous Chi Circle is as well. And know that you are the magic. We are all the magic. And the middle is that space where the healing happens, where it's already happening. It's only been a week, not even a week quite yet. The healing is already happening. And if you're like me watching from afar and aching for people you love, know that your care matters to you, even as a at a distance. Prayer and sending love is very powerful, especially when there are two or more, the collective. It's like sending a beautiful, powerful lightning bolt, but it doesn't destroy, it's the energy of the lightning bolt. So think of it how powerful the energy of a lightning bolt is. So when you pray for someone, you're sending that powerful energy to them. So I invite all of us here, Magic in the Middle and Marvelous Chi Circle, if you will join me in prayer for our friends and also their neighbors, their whole neighborhood, and any anyone else affected by disaster around the world or maybe illness. And let's surround everyone in love and healing and beautiful light and send them nurturing. For those who are sending it to you, I hope you feel the hug, the safety, the love that is pouring to you now. Let us send wisdom, healing. Let's let us send brilliant ideas. Our spiritual teams are here with us. We can send them to download ideas to using other people's spiritual teams. We could say, spiritual teams, send a message to blank spiritual team. Tell them I love them. Tell them here's an idea to support you or help you. And tell them I surround them in this beautiful light and this beautiful hug, and they'll feel this tingle in their body, and they'll feel this spark and this sparkle, and they know, they know that they are in people's hearts. So thank you for being here, for walking this with me, for being part of this community. This is a place we grow together. And through these things, these kind of things that are happening and going on, maybe we come together and we go grow tighter. And please, if this podcast supports you, share it with others. Give a thumbs up. If you have comments about the episodes, leave comments. I love you so much, and I don't take this lightly at all. I have deep love for my friends and for the people in their neighborhood. The little puppies they're taking care of. And I just thank goodness everybody is okay. Physically, everybody is okay. I love you and thank you. Thank you for contributing. Thank you for being a part of this powerful, loving community of the magic in the middle, and thank you for being the magic in the middle.