Paige Barnes 6/9/24 Paige Barnes 6/9/24

THE BODY SUBLIME

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Healing rituals involve a multi-sensory drama of evocation, enactment, embodiment and evaluation in a charged atmosphere of hope and uncertainty.

–Ted J Kaptchuck

THE BODY SUBLIME

I am thrilled to offer The Body Sublime, a series of seasonal rituals to harmonize you with the call of the seasons, leading off with Spirit Luminosity this summer. The Body Sublime is an online live program designed to build a relationship with each season so that you can flourish with the changing aspects of life.

In my practices as an acupuncturist, dancer, and human being I’ve witnessed how ritual creates depth in the familiar, like feeling a sense of hope in the unknown as the sun rises each day. Ritual connects you to the healing power of imagination, will, and belief to bridge the ordinary with the supernatural. The Body Sublime will build a multi-sensory ritual for each season to feel the sublime life experience of wholeness, interconnectivity, and belonging. The day-to-day responsibilities can often leave you tired and craving for something more meaningful. The truth is you are inherently luminous. Through ritual interconnected with the seasons, you will thrive alongside nature's brilliance.

The Body Sublime evokes a daily practice of care to attune you with the ebbs and flow of nature bridging the ordinary with the magical.

“My self was reflected back to me in a way that I hadn’t seen before.”

–Jennifer Hoeper, Body of Stars retreat participant

SPIRIT LUMINOSITY - A LIVE ONLINE RETREAT

The Body Sublime will begin with a summer ritual named Spirit Luminosity. The summer season belongs to the heart. Laughter is the heart's sound, red is its color, and fire, its element. In summer, a glowing laugh echoes through your body's chambers drawing you near to what you cherish. In Spirit Luminosity, you will draw near to your joy.

To be with the expression of summer, I aim to evoke the multi-sensory drama of:

Enactment through meditation and affirmation.
Embodiment through restorative movement.
Evaluation through reflections with Chinese herbs and essential oils.

Through six, live online sessions, I will guide you through regions on the heart channel that express summer’s story embedded within your body. The sessions will be recorded to have and return to. All parts combine in a final ritual to evoke the heart’s Spirit Luminosity.

SPIRIT LUMINOSITY REGISTRATION

Spirit Luminosity will be held on six Sunday mornings online via Zoom from July 14 - August 18. Each Sunday you will be given a series of rituals to incorporate into the week ahead. If you cannot attend live, then you will receive a recording of the ritual.

WHEN

Dates: Sundays: July 14, July 21, July 28, August 4, August 11, and August 18
Time: 10:00am - 11:30am PST

WHERE

On-line: You will receive a link each Saturday prior to the ritual.

FEE

Spirit Luminosity Ritual: $175
Materials: $28 + shipping *This includes an essential oil and a Chinese herbal tea for the heart.

LESSER SURGE MEDITATION

This meditation is an example of one of the five meditations that will be shared in Spirit Luminosity. It aligns your attention with a region on the heart channel named Lesser Surge to calm the heart spirit and open your awareness to what is beginning in your life.

LESSER SURGE MEDITATION

Lesser Surge is written and spoken by Paige Barnes. The soundscape is created by Julian Martlew.

Don’t worry if you cannot make Spirit Luminosity this summer. The Body Sublime will continue in fall with another series, Ghost Souls.

Paige Barnes 11/29/22 Paige Barnes 11/29/22

Winter’s Stillness

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Winter’s Stillness

Soaking in the hot springs of Breitenbush in the late summer, I was still. In the water’s stillness, I observed Queen Anne’s Lace, the plant, preparing for winter. I felt connected to time’s sacred dimensions in the natural world. I saw how endings move towards beginnings. I wrote:

Once green, coarse brown stems curl their treasured cloud petals inward. Slowly pulled inside, the density of time changes their form. In time’s molasses, they become caterpillar-like; feet cold and quivering. They are sheltered for winter. They are suspended: the moment before the bow’s arrow is released. They won’t be released. It’s their burial. It’s their beginning.

I went to Breitenbush to forget my perpetual “to-do” list and rest. “Who am I when I’m not doing?” I wondered. I wanted to draw inward and connect with what is inside of me. I see a similar longing in those who come to me for care. It emerges again and again. There is a desire to forget our habituated self in order to return to our innate self, which is wondrous and imaginative and interconnected with the natural world.

When surrendering to stillness, our body sighs out, it rests. It begins to repair and restore. It becomes quiet and spacious. A fuzzy softness, a dim warm light, emerges and glows. We begin to observe and receive; we listen to what we don’t know. In stillness we feel our own mystery, a place inside that is unknown and undefined, a place to bring somethingness from nothingness. It brings us closer to feeling how we belong and the illuminated potential we hold.

Retreat: An Invitation into Winter’s Stillness

To connect within, I invite you to participate in Winter’s Stillness on Saturday, January 21^st at Dayaalu Center. There we will reflect on:

What is our body asking for?
What do we want to pull inward?
What needs to be buried?
What needs to be held sacred?
What would we like to cultivate?
What would we like to express?

On the new moon, the cusp of the Chinese Lunar New Year, I will guide us through acts of inaction to feel the spaciousness of stillness and receive its care. We will still through fives aspects of a life cycle which resonate with 五行 Wǔ Xíng, the Five Phases in Chinese medicine. These phases express the constancy of change seen in the natural world which resides in our bodies. Essential to life’s renewal is the constant flow from start to finish, beginning to end, with growth, flowering, and transformation between. Winter’s Stillness is a ritual of renewal, to connect with our mystery and listen to what we want to bury and draw near, hold sacred, cultivate, express, and transform.

To slough off what we want to bury, we will dry brush our skin. Drawing near and holding ourselves sacred, we will soak our feet, sit in an infrared sauna, and receive moxabustion (mugwort therapy) and acupuncture. Expanding upward, we will breathe through a channel meditation. Feeling the expression of our heart’s brilliance, we will listen to our pulse. Transforming our reflections, we will journal and then place our intentions on a floating lantern. Feeding our center, we will eat home-cooked food, and nap.

Winter embodies stillness. Constricted by cold, the earth becomes still; we become still. From stillness emerges spaciousness, which brings us closer to what we care for. It brings us closer to what warms us inside to hold that warmth aglow. We connect with what is unknown and mysterious inside us and its electric potential. It gives us the space to renew, to turn over. In stillness the cold earth turns over and moans, and so do we.

Registration for Winter’s Stillness

Winter’s Stillness is a ritual of renewal to draw inward and listen to what we want to bury, hold sacred, cultivate, express, and transform. I will guide you inward through meditation, moxibustion and acupuncture, warming practices, and reflection. These acts of inaction will connect us with our own mystery and our illuminated potential.

When: January 21, 2023
Where: Dayaalu Center, Bainbridge Island
Time: 10:30 am - 5:30pm
Fee: $275 *Includes Sauna Use + Catered Food ($65 Value)
Participant limit: 12 people
Food: Soup, salad, snacks, and tea catered by Dayaalu Center.

To Register: LINK

Additional Offering
If you are interested in this retreat but unable to attend, please contact me to talk about setting up a private ritual that embodies this experience at peonymedicine@gmail.com.

Schedule with Peony

Paige Barnes 6/4/22 Paige Barnes 6/4/22

Our Summer's Heart

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Our Summer's Heart

“The three months of summer:
…allow the qì to spill out, as if what you love is on the outside.”

--Huang Di Nei Jing Su Wen, ch. 2, trans. Sabine Wilms

Summer is like a dear friend that I get to play with and lean on. Its warmth gives spaciousness and ease. As if in a hammock made of light, I feel held and I can let go. In the sun's cradle I don't have to be anywhere else. It doesn't ask me to leave, to do more, or plan for the next thing. It asks me to be still and receive its warmth. In a dreamy wonder, I let myself spill and connect with what I love.

Central to Chinese medicine philosophy, the body is an expression of celestial patterns.
The patterns and motions of the stars resonate with the body's organs giving them form and function. The stars' patterns—constellations, red dwarf stars, for example—are an edict for the patterns of motion on earth and within the body. The configuration of the stars in the summer resonates with the heart. The heart is considered a sovereign organ, the foundation of life storing shén míng, spirit luminosity. Shén míng is "a special form of illumination that is shared by all living beings. It is a type of light that organizes and brings coherence to life,” says my teacher Dr. Edward Neal. The illumination in our heart is shared with the sky's illumination. There is an open portal with flowing brilliance between us and the stars. It enlightens the body with joy and the natural world's beauty. Laughter is the heart's sound, red is its color, and fire its element. In summer, a glowing laugh echoes through our body's chambers drawing us near to what we love.

Let it spill. Be with your love.

—Paige Barnes

Our Heart's Sky
—An invitation to retreat and cherish what you love—

I invite you to participate in Our Heart’s Sky, a half-day retreat to connect with and celebrate your spirit luminosity at the Dalaayu Retreat Center on Bainbridge Island. At Our Heart’s Sky I will guide you through the heart channel's illuminated flow through a meditation and movement practice that culminates in an acupuncture and sound bath experience. I’m excited to have guest artist and sound healer Maria Scherer Wilson join the day.

Th Pulse's Illumination
The day will begin with a pulse movement meditation practice that connects you with your heart’s pulse as an illuminated river. Following the meditation, I will share information about the heart channel, its pathway and function, and its shén míng, spirit luminosity. Throughout the afternoon we will journal, cultivating a meaningful image of our body's illuminated heart channel.

Acupuncture Immersed in a Sound Bath
The day will close with an acupuncture and sound bath experience. Together Maria and I will create space for the imagination to thrive. As you rest, the images and feelings from the day will hold you. The needles will transduce the crystal sound bowls inwardly, opening the flow of qì and connecting you with what you love.

Information and Registration

When: July 23, 2022
Where: Daylaalu Center, Bainbridge Island
Time: 12:30pm - 4:30pm
Early Bird Rate, register before July 15: $225
After July 15 Rate: $275
Class size limit: 15 people
Food: Please bring your own food; light snacks will be provided

To Register

Email Paige Barnes - peonymedicine@gmail.com
$100 down payment required toward the full amount

Biographies

Paige Barnes integrates her professional experiences as a dance artist with her Chinese medicine practice to forge new pathways that connect us with the beauty of our body’s imagination.

Maria Scherer Wilson is a professional musician, recording artist, Reiki Master, and sound healer.

Schedule with Peony

Paige Barnes 10/2/21 Paige Barnes 10/2/21

Autumn Letter From Peony - Transcendent Illumination

Dear friends. At the beginning of the pandemic, like most people I imagine, I felt scared. Everything that I knew and cared for was at risk; my day to day livelihood was genuinely threatened and I never felt more alone. As I felt the vulnerability of my personal situation, the collective suffering was palpable. The pandemic amplified existing social inequities related to race, class, and gender. As we witnessed the violent death of George Floyd, we collectively wept.

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神 Shén
Connecting with Transcendent Illumination in Autumn

Dear friends,

At the beginning of the pandemic, like most people I imagine, I felt scared. Everything that I knew and cared for was at risk; my day to day livelihood was genuinely threatened and I never felt more alone. As I felt the vulnerability of my personal situation, the collective suffering was palpable. The pandemic amplified existing social inequities related to race, class, and gender. As we witnessed the violent death of George Floyd, we collectively wept. It felt like a meteorite of pain exploded onto our country, magnifying the cruel disparities that have existed for centuries. I felt gripped with a need to understand more about the roots of our social divisions. It also felt important, more than ever, to be gentle and compassionate with ourselves and each other. As I would go to bed, I felt like I was shaking inside, worried about - everything. Since I could not extend outward due to the pandemic’s social restrictions, I dove inward and found some peace and purpose through learning, creative practice, and health.

A voice that consoled and inspired me was teacher Dr. Edward Neal; I’ve been studying with him since the summer of 2020. Through his lectures, I escaped into the esoteric wanderings of Huang Di nei jing su wen (short: Su wen) - an ancient Chinese life sciences text. The Su wen views the body as a dynamic system living in response to the ways of the sky and the earth. As they move, so do we. With Dr. Neal as the guide, I traveled to the celestial plane contemplating the musical notes emitted by the starscape. Then I descended into the biosphere asking how the configurations of the sky inform our life on earth. To reflect on blood vessels as rivers, I took a field trip to a local wildlife estuary in the early summer. I imagined my blood as the water I observed; it was moving like the season moved it. The distant ocean was full and the branching waterbeds were bare - the earth cracked and dry. I thought, is this how my blood moves in summer? I take great comfort in the worldview of the Su wen.

To listen to and care for ourselves, we must listen to and care for the natural world. As autumn arrives, I ask how can we be with autumn? How is autumn with us?

The Su wen illustrates that autumn is a time when we are closest to shén, transcendent illumination. The natural world transitions from summer - a yáng expression - to fall - a yīn expression. Yīn is a force that returns to a root; yáng is a force that moves away from a root. In this seasonal transition yīn and yáng are in a dynamic balance. In balance shén emerges. It is a luminous expression of life that emanates from the stars and resonates with the heart. I picture my body floating in a midnight abyss with a portal of clear brilliant light flowing between my heart and the stars. The autumn sky is our body’s guide on living.

Shén is life. It is creative potential. It is closest to you in autumn. To listen to shén, the season asks you to gather and nourish what you cherish and to let go of what you do not. Then during the darkest nights of winter, the potential to grow what you hold dear is nurtured.

To be with autumn, I’m offering an experience of what I cherish - a day retreat of restorative practices through creative movement and meditation in nature (see details below). My intention is to hold space and act as a trail guide, walking you inward to listen to and see your body's illumination and its restorative and creative power.

With gratitude to you and my teachers,
Paige

OUR PULSE, OUR ILLUMINATED RIVER
A half day retreat at Earth Sanctuary

Explore the illumination of your pulse through a movement and meditation retreat in nature.

I invite you to a half day retreat at the Earth Sanctuary to connect with autumn's 神 Shén - transcendent illumination. Drawing from my professions as an East Asian Medicine practitioner and dance artist, I create movement and mindful experiences through acupuncture’s pulse listening method, which forms the foundation of my ongoing artistic research and meditation practices. At the sanctuary I will guide a small group in restorative practices grounded in Chinese medicine philosophy.

The day will begin with a gentle group movement and writing practice based on your pulse's landscape. After, each guest will walk through the surrounding trails guided by a personalized audio meditation. Then we will return to the retreat center and participate in an aroma acupressure self care ritual with blue tansy essential oil. The day will end with a reflective conversation on how to integrate this experience into your daily routine, to stay connected with and nurture your illumination.

Information

When: November 20, 2021
Where: Earth Sanctuary, Whidbey Island
Cost: $175 *Includes the sanctuary's entry fee, a personalized audio meditation, and a complimentary essential oil
Time: 12:30pm - 4:30pm
Food: I'll provide homemade bone broth and a Chinese herbal tea to sip on. I also recommend bringing a snack.
Class size limit: 6 people
Vaccination Status: Proof of Vaccination

To Register

Email Paige Barnes - peonymedicine@gmail.com
$100 downpayment required toward the full amount

Schedule with Peony

Jenn Whiting 1/6/21 Jenn Whiting 1/6/21

Flourish with Winter

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Flourish with Winter

Dear friends,

I write to you from my favorite morning spot, my couch. I cherish quietly waking up with the sun as it rises over the Cascades through my windows. I reflect on a common inner conflict - the desire to be productive while feeling less physically and mentally capable to do so. I observe how this feeling exaggerates within myself and with my clients at Peony during the winter. Then, I think about how productivity is overvalued in industrialized cultures. Overvaluing productivity can undermine the ability to rest, an essential aspect to support renewal, sustainability, and expression. Chinese medicine emphasizes aligning the body with the rhythm of the natural world. In winter, while the earth’s shell rests, beneath the surface there is activity - a stirring motion of complex interactions preparing to burst into a vibrant spring orchestra. Our body mimics this rhythm and form. Resting our body allows for the interior motions at play to strengthen, so that come spring it has the ability to flourish.

Winter is an in between space, a place where a life cycle ends and originates. Inside this space exists unknown potential. Often winter is regarded as a kind of despair because of its cold, damp, and dark nature. Yet this environment supports retreat and rest - actions necessary for restoration and incubation. The natural world rests in winter, so that it can bloom in spring. To realize our aspirations, that we often write down at the beginning of the year, it is important to first let ourselves rest, to care for the beginning of our intentions. It is also important to give space for these desires to evolve and be other than what we initially expect. Drawing from a fall lecture by Dr. Edward Neal while studying with Neijing Studies, he states, “When we see something new and we don’t recognize it, that causes discomfort. First thing we often do is project our worldview onto it. If we can’t live with the tension of unknowing, then we prematurely assign a value or meaning to it. When we prematurely assign meaning, we shut off our relationship to it. We stop the engagement. Allow yourself to hold the tension of not knowing.” It is necessary to give space for inquiry into what we don’t know. Otherwise if we quickly define what we don’t know to avoid discomfort, we inevitably prevent our potential to connect, learn, and express.

In this New Year, I intend to apply this principle to my desires, relationships, profession, and study to expand my worldview and learn what I don’t know - to deepen a practice of empathy and capacity to care. I invite you to consider the same. Together, let’s practice this winter how to rest, how to attend to ourselves and each other, so that our individual and collective interior potential gathers strength to vividly burst into spring.

With love, Paige

Winter Lifestyle Ideas

Enjoy resting!

Allow yourself to go to bed earlier and sleep in a little later.
Be gentle with your work hours, bind the work schedule, and try not to push through when worn down.
Snuggle with your favorite blanket and/or furry and human loved one.
Reflect on what nourishes you: environments, activities, and people.
Schedule restorative treatments like acupuncture, massage, chiropractic, somatic integration, physical therapy, reiki...
Exercise: Focus on yin type exercise like Qi Gong, walking, meditation, yoga, Gyrotonic/Gyrokinesis, and stretching.
Journal: Free associate, dream, write nonsense, express with abandon how you feel.
Home care: Epsom salt baths, foot soaks, dry brushing before you get in the shower.
Creativity: engage with making something – cook a new recipe, make a dance, a collage, a poem, a song, a future vacation...
Food: eat warming foods and beverages like spicy warm soups and teas.
Indulge with intention: Make a hot toddy, bundle up, go on a moonlight walk with a dear friend or furry companion.

Vegetable Chicken Soup

This soup is my favorite version of a winter salad. Inner warmth is derived from our food. During the colder months, I recommend eating cooked vegetables for the nutrients to be easily digested and absorbed. I've adapted this recipe by Cynthia Lair. Don't hesitate to add any vegetables of your choice. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons extra-virgen olive oil
2 tablespoons of butter
1 pound of chicken breast, cubed
2 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 yellow onion, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
2 medium carrots, sliced
2 small potatoes, diced
14 ounce canned diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons of chopped fresh oregano or parsley
2 teaspoons of salt
4 cups of bone broth
1 cup green beans, cut in 1 1/2" pieces
1 small zucchini, diced
14 ounces canned garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup of fresh basil
Freshly grated parmesan cheese to garnish

VARIATIONS

Low FODMAP: 1) omit, or use garlic infused olive oil, 2) Substitute one bunch of green onion for onion, and 3) omit celery.
Vegetarian: 1) Omit meat, 2) substitute vegetable broth for bone broth.

DIRECTIONS

In a large soup pot over medium heat add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and butter. Fry chicken with a dash of salt until it loses its pink color and is slightly browned on both sides, about three to four minutes on each side. Remove from pot and place aside on a plate.
Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and butter, garlic and onion. Sauté. until onion is soft about 6 to 10 minutes.
Add carrots, celery and potato, sauté for 5 more minutes.
Add tomatoes, oregano, salt, and bone broth. Bring heat up to simmer.
Cover and cook for about 10 to 15 minutes, until potatoes and carrots are tender.
Add cooked chicken, green beans, zucchini, and garbanzo beans and simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes.
Stir in fresh basil, black pepper to taste.
Ladle soup into bowls and see with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Schedule with Peony