Events like these are usually considered just portions of everyone’s own spiritual journey during our own life.  In other words, we are human beings going through a spiritual journey.  At least that’s what we seem to be told over and over again.  But, like always, I think outside the box and feel that it’s just the other way around.  I truly feel that we are first and foremost spiritual beings who are experiencing a human journey.  Is that not what Jesus tried, and is still trying, to tell everyone?  He was a spirit in a human body, lived human experiences and rose above absolutely everything that we as humans could possibly throw at him, even death.  Once he told us this, and then showed us this, his spirit went on.  But the Holy Spirit is with us all the time to help us continue on through this human journey.

I think that we as humans so often get caught up in just being human.  We then go to church, or attend retreats, or meditate, or pray, or read the Bible or works of the mystics or other spiritual leaders, etc., etc., to try to get back “on track” of our spiritual journey.  Don’t get me wrong here.  I have done, or am doing, all of these myself to keep me in tune with my own spiritual being.  But if we truly are spiritual beings, then we truly are just on a human journey.  And a rather short one at that!  So absolutely everything that happens to us, with us, for us, is just a part of the human experience.  And that includes all of the seemingly horrible experiences as well as the wonderful and joyous.  They are no different for us than they were for Jesus or those around him.   We are born into a physical body, we live a human life, and we die a human death.  They just take on different forms with each individual throughout time.  We are on our own unique, individual human journey.  But the message is, was, and always will be the same.  We are spiritual beings, made in the image of God, for eternity.

So laugh, cry, grieve, be filled with joy, praise, mourn, appreciate, honor, get rid of guilt and fear, feel angry over injustices, forgive, heal.  But above all, love and embrace LIFE during your own human journey.  What a tremendous, awesome gift we have been given.

HAPPY EASTER!!!

Arlis Feser, Msc.D.
Qigong for Health
19413 Judson Circle
Hutchinson, MN  55350
(320) 587-9879
www.arlisfeser.com

Right now you’re probably wondering how I could say “Happy Lent!” and then proceed to talk about sacrifice and suffering.  At Christmas time I asked you to think outside the box a bit about Jesus’ birth and him being referred to as the light of the world.  I’d like to suggest that you now think a bit outside the box again about Lent and Easter, and the true significance of these events.  As we all know, Advent is a joyous time that leads up to the joyous event of the birth of Jesus at Christmas.  We put up lights, bake goodies, do all kinds of good deeds to spread joy and peace, then celebrate with gifts to all those people we love and appreciate.  It’s all about celebration and merriment.

But now think of what Lent and Easter are really all about.  Is it about walking around with a “woe is me” attitude because we’re sacrificing and giving up so much?  No!  It’s about the culmination of Jesus’ whole life, the whole reason why he came here in the first place.  To show us not how to suffer and die, but how to live like him in total unconditional love and forgiveness so that we too can rise above death, conquer death, and rise to eternal life and love!  Why do we spend six weeks of “suffering” during Lent, and then only one day of celebrating the most incredible event in all of human history…. the resurrection?!  Why do we spend weeks (sometimes months) at Christmas time to prepare for Jesus’ birth on earth in physical form that will be for such a short period of time, but we don’t do the same to celebrate with joy the event of Jesus’ resurrection, basically his rebirth into eternal life?  Why should we lead up to a physical birth with such joy, but to an eternal life with sacrifice and suffering?  Think about it.  Did Jesus ever ask anyone to suffer?  He taught about love and forgiveness, and how these may cause suffering because of difficult choices we may encounter in order to achieve love and forgiveness for ourselves, as well as achieving peace, truth, and ultimately, eternal life.  But if these are the end result, have we actually really “sacrificed” anything?  If anything is keeping us from eternal life, how can it be a sacrifice to give it up?  Who in their right mind would want to hold on to it?  Jesus didn’t!  He had no doubt about the choice he needed to make to give up his earthly life, even though it caused him to suffer, in order to receive the ultimate prize of eternal life.  And he did it for US as well as himself.  That is true love.

So here’s what I’d like to suggest you try for this Lent.  Every day, “give up” only a little bit of something that’s a prized possession of every single one of us.  Time!  Consciously take the time to send an email to someone you haven’t been in contact with for a while, send a card or note to someone to just let them know you appreciate them or are thinking about them,  do some volunteer work, take somebody to a movie, play with a child, meditate, pray for someone (even better, pray for those we consider “enemies”),  forgive someone.  The list can go on and on.  Be creative!  You have six weeks of being able to donate a little time in order to spread love and forgiveness in ways that can have ripple effects around the entire world.  And the coolest part of all this?  All that love, kindness, forgiveness, peace, and joy will come right back to you!  Without suffering, you can “sacrifice” time that will help you and many others enjoy a bit of heaven here on earth until you enter eternal life.

Jesus didn’t say, “My suffering I leave you.”  He said, “My peace I leave you.”  Jesus was the ultimate so-called sacrifice, the sacrifice to end all sacrifices.  Now that’s something to be joyful about and celebrate!  Happy Lent!

As always, please feel free to forward this message to anyone you think would benefit from it.  Also let them know that they can sign up for their own automatic newsletters on my website at www.arlisfeser.com .  Right under my picture it says “email updates” where they can click on that and sign up.  Simple as that .  Thank you for spreading the love!

Arlis Feser, Msc.D.
Qigong for Health
19413 Judson Circle
Hutchinson, MN  55350
(320) 587-9879
www.arlisfeser.com
arlis@arlisfeser.com

But are all these things really that much different than what the world has had to deal with during long periods or stretches of time ever since the beginning?  If you ask me if the world is coming to an end I would have to say yes, just as it has many times already.  But only an end as we know it. Think of how many times throughout history there have been natural or catastrophic things happen that literally changed the face of the earth, or caused certain living species to become extinct.  Did the world end?  No.  It simply changed.  And whatever survived had to change along with it.  The world was no longer as it was.  Some things, and sometimes a lot of things, simply ceased to exist.  When things become totally out of balance, the world seems to have a way of doing what needs to be done to rebalance itself.  When pressure builds up below the earth’s surface, it needs to release it somehow.  This could create a volcanoe.  Ash that is spewed into the earth’s atmosphere can block the sun,  causing growing seasons and food supplies to change.  It can change weather patterns and cause violent storms.  Entire seas and oceans can rise or fall if the temperatures vary even a few degrees over long periods of time.  If the earth’s plates need to shift, it creates an earthquake.  If the earthquake happens in the ocean, it could also create a tsunami.  I could go on and on, but I’m sure you get the picture. These are natural occurrences that have a cause and effect.  With our modern technology and capabilities, there are also ways now of humans causing many global situations, the effects of which are still mostly unknown.

Whenever any of these things happen, whether through natural or human cause, the effects have the potential of being very catastrophic or life changing in the world as we know it. Think of all the different “ages” throughout history.  There was the age of the dinosaur, the neolithic age, the Dark Ages, the Renaissance, the Industrial Age, the Space Age, just to name a very few.   What distinguished these different ages?  They all represented some particular way of life or thinking until something happened to end it, whether from a new discovery, a catastrophe, or just simply a change of mind and/or heart.  Or maybe it was simply time to move on because that life style had become too outdated and we as humans needed to move on to something better with what we had learned.

I truly believe that we are on the verge of ending things as we have known them because it just isn’t working for us any more.  For so long now we have had the “us or them” mentality between our countries, between nationalities and races, between rival cities and sports teams, within our work places, and even within our religious beliefs.  What has been the effect?  War, strife, anxiety, stress, violence in many forms, depression, loneliness, separation, abuse, etc.  Throughout all of the ages we have seen that this kind of cause and effect has gotten us nowhere.   History has continued to repeat itself over and over again.  But as we continue to expand our understanding of ourselves and the cosmos, we are seeing the connection and unity in all things.  And this expansion is happening not in the exterior, but in the interior.  We “see” what is happening not only with our physical eyes, but with our spiritual eyes.  We are awakening, and this awakening is causing more and more of us to surrender our previous ways of “us or them” exterior thinking and turning to the interior “we” thinking.  The exterior is worldly thinking that can, and must come to an end.  The interior is spiritual thinking, and will carry us to eternity.

Yes, I believe we here in the year 2012 are on the very cusp of this spiritual awakening, and each one of us will have a choice to make.  Do you prefer the “us or them” exterior that leads to a repeated dead end, or the “we” interior that leads to joy, peace, and eternity?   As for me, I want all of us to envision a positive image of our future, and then act on it.  I want everyone to “see” as one mind, one heart, one spirit.  I pray that we are entering the “Age of Eternity” and the end of the world as we know it.  Bring it on!  I’m ready!

Arlis Feser, Msc.D.
Qigong for Health
19413 Judson Circle
Hutchinson, MN  55350
(320) 587-9879
www.arlisfeser.com
arlis@arlisfeser.com

As I sit here tonight, December 20th (nibbling on some yummy Christmas fudge), it is only two days away from the Winter Solstice, which is the shortest day and the longest night for those of us here in the Northern Hemisphere.  The Winter Solstice has been very significant for thousands of years because it marks the time when the life and light-giving sun’s retreat before darkness begins to once again reverse itself.  It’s no wonder that the Solstice is the source of many perceptions of sun gods and rebirth in almost every culture around the earth.  In fact, did you know that our observance of Christmas has its roots in Roman customs around the Saturnalia, or harvest festival that marked the Winter Solstice and honored Saturn, the god of sowing?  The two common themes that always show up are the triumph of light over darkness and some sort of symbolic birth or rebirth to ensure the continuation of life.

I feel that it is no coincidence that the celebration of Christ’s birth falls so near this time that has so much symbolism of light and rebirth for all of us.  Or that so many were led to where he was born by the light of a bright star shining in the darkness.  And it surely is no coincidence that all this symbolic light leads us so many times through our own darkness to the true light of Jesus.

But is this spiritual light really only merely symbolic?  We too have been said to be literal beings of light, and now science is proving it.  Biophysicist Fritz-Albert Popp has discovered that every living thing (that includes all of us!) emits tiny bits of light called biophoton emissions, and that these biophotons are actually the medium for communication not only within the organism itself but between that organism and its environment.  So the very light itself is information.  What is even more interesting is that experiments found that when these biophonic emissions were interrupted in any way, the information became garbled and disease would follow.  But when these light emissions were then returned to normal, communications resumed and so did normal health.  Is it any wonder then that Jesus, the “Light of the world”, was the greatest communicator and healer that has ever walked the face of the earth and has shown us the way to rebirth and eternal life?!!  He also said that every single one of us could do everything that he did.

Light is life.  And as true beings of light, every one of us has the power to shine our own light and be part of the One Eternal Light and Life.  May you celebrate Christmas with a whole new perspective this week, and have a very happy and “enlightened” 2012!

Love and Blessings,

Arlis Feser, Msc.D.
Qigong for Health
19413 Judson Circle
Hutchinson, MN  55350
320-587-9879

Have you ever wondered why you are a “dark meat” or “white meat” person when it comes to passing around that turkey platter, and why there seems to be such a big difference in taste when it all comes from the same bird?  Or from any bird for that matter?  Well, it all has to do with fiber (and I don’t mean the kind that keeps you “regular”).  The muscles of all birds contain several different kinds of fibers, and each muscle contains a mixture of these.  Turkeys live on the ground and spend their days walking around and scratching for food.  Because their legs and thighs are needed for this, they can do it for an extended period and don’t fatigue easily.  So the individual fibers of the legs and thighs contain an abundance of compounds that make them efficient at aerobic respiration.  That’s why those areas are also rich in fat and sugar.  They need it for fuel for all that aerobic metabolism.  It’s what also gives it a darker, redder color.

Breast muscles, on the other hand, serve a different purpose.  Even though a turkey can fly, they usually don’t do so except for a short burst instead of an extended period (such as when they’re being chased to become the Thanksgiving table centerpiece).  Did you know that turkeys have been clocked at 55 miles per hour?  And you thought they were a dumb, slow bird!  But because the breast muscles aren’t used much, they are powered by anaerobic metabolism and tend to fatigue very quickly.  So the fibers of the breast muscles are different and are more white and not as rich in fat and sugar, which makes them more lean.  All of this is true of chickens too.  But duck and geese are different because they’re long-distance fliers.  That’s why there’s dark meat even in their breast muscles.

Now that you’ve just completed your education in Turkey 101, you will never look at white meat and dark meat the same again!  Hold the applause please.  Oh, thank you, thank you very much.  Now, on to the good Christmas deal.

As you know, I have three meditation CDs for sale at $18 apiece.  But between now and Christmas I will sell them for $15!  If you buy one, the price is $15 plus $2.50 for shipping.  A better deal will be if you buy two.  I will drop the price to $28 for both combined, plus $3 shipping.  But the best deal is $36 for three, plus FREE shipping!  All I ask is that you not order through my website but simply write out a check along with a note explaining exactly what you want, and send it to me directly at 19413 Judson Circle, Hutchinson, MN 55350.  If you go through my website it goes through a company that handles CD sales and you will have to pay full price plus shipping.  But please feel welcome to visit my website at www.arlisfeser.com to see which CD or CDs you would prefer.  It just might be the best gift you could ever give yourself or that special someone on your Christmas list.  Please send this offer to anyone else you think might be interested.

Have a great holiday and remember, eat in moderation.  You don’t want to be the one more stuffed than the turkey.  And you definitely want to save the weight gain for all those Christmas goodies coming up!  Now, if only I could follow my own advice………

Arlis Feser, Msc. D.
19413 Judson Circle
Hutchinson, MN  55350
320-587-9879
www.arlisfeser.com
arlis@arlisfeser.com

I know it’s been several months since I sent out a new post, but the last several months have been incredibly busy. I began classes in April to learn herbal medicine and flower essence therapy and just finished last Saturday.  So my spring, summer, and part of this fall were spent foraging woods, fields, prairies, trails, forests and mountain ranges between here and the West coast.  What I have learned is incredibly fascinating and has helped me and my family immensely already.  To know that we can make medicine just from what grows around us is what we should all learn so much more about.  And if any of you have ever heard of, or already used, Bach flower remedies, you know how powerful they are.  I’m expanding my learning in the flower essence remedies and have made almost 70 of my own, which I will be adding to my services in the very near future.  So stay tuned on that!

Our youngest daughter was married out in Seattle the end of August, so I flew out there in June to help with preparations (and yes, a little R&R too).  It was my first time out there so had to take in the sights too.  My husband and I decided to make the wedding trip a three-week vacation/educational road trip also.  We ended up driving over 5,000 miles and studied just about every flower we came across.  We started out with a few days in the Black Hills, then on to the Big Horn Mountains in Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park, and several days in Glacier National Park.  From there we spent a few days in Spokane, then through the Cascade Mountains, and a week in Seattle for the wedding and a great time with our whole family out there.  Then back through Mount Rainier, southern Washington, several more days in the Black Hills and home by Labor Day.  By the time we got back home, my husband was just as educated in Flower Essences as me.  We make a great team!

Before I sign off, I want to let you know that I will be teaching the Level 1 Spring Forest Qigong class on Saturday, November 19th, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.  The cost is $189, which includes the manual, learning DVD, and meditation CD (a $40 value).  I will also be doing a group healing on everyone there (a $55 value).  This class will be held somewhere in Hutchinson, with the location being determined by the number of people who register.  I just watched a show on Qigong on channel 2 and I must say that, every time I see other Qigong exercises, I appreciate the Spring Forest Qigong ones even more.  There are only seven to learn and they’re all so simple that even children can do them.  I even do them sitting down while in the sauna!

To register for this class, please copy the registration form on my website at www.arlisfeser.com and send it in with your full payment before November 10th.   Just click on the “Learning Opportunities” page.  This will also give you all the info you need about this class.  Why not make this an early Christmas present for yourself?  And with what you will learn, YOU can become an even greater gift to all those around you.  If you have any questions, please feel free to call me at 320-587-9879.

Arlis Feser
Qigong for Health
19413 Judson Circle
Hutchinson, MN  55350

I was actually updating everything so that I could get a new posting out and let you know about the Level 1 Qigong class I have coming up on Saturday, November 19th.  But more on that soon.  Sorry!

Arlis Feser

     This newsletter is to simply send everyone love and light going into Christmas and the new year.  As I look around at all the incredible light displays down every street and in every store, I can’t help but wonder if people are keeping the light of Christ in mind when they put them up or when we all look at them.  After all, it was the light of one bright star that announced the birth of God’s son over 2,000 years ago, and is still burning bright and deep within the hearts of all humankind.  Especially at this time of year. 

     Light has always been known to represent Christ.  It was present at his birth of course.  But also a dazzling white light beyond description appeared around and from Christ during the Transfiguration.  In the story of Christ walking across the water, he was so illuminated that the apostles thought he was a ghost.  There was also light in Christ’s tomb when he arose from the dead.  When the apostle Paul encountered Christ during his converstion, he was struck with a blinding light.  People who have near-death experiences talk of a light, many times at the end of a dark tunnel.  As a Qigong healer, I believe that the healing is coming from God and not myself, and I always see light coming from my hands when I do a session on someone. 

     Light!  Always light!  But why light?  Because it’s the only thing that takes away the darkness, whether that “darkness” is physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual.   One tiny little flame can pierce a darkness many times the size of the flame.  When people are afraid of the dark they turn on a light for a feeling of comfort and safety.  How many of you had (or maybe still have) a nightlight shining during the night?  Fear is the strongest emotion that can separate us from God.  People fear the darkness because of the lack of enough light to “see.”  Light takes away the fear, bringing us closer to that comfort and safety, which can only be found in God.

     May the flame that is burning within your own heart at this moment burn ever more deeply, ever more brightly in the world this coming year of 2011.  I thank all of you for the gift you have been to me and for helping my own light shine brighter.  I have many ideas of how to improve the Monday night get togethers, including some time for possible discussions.  I look forward to another wonderful, exciting year!

“The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not over come it.”   
John 1:5

Blessings to all,
Arlis Feser
www.arlisfeser.com

     For seven years Columbus tried to persuade the king of Portugal to let him reach the riches of Asia by sailing west.   But after seven years, the astronomers finally all agreed that Columbus’s calculations were flawed and that Asia was just too far west for the ships of that day to reach.  By then, Columbus was penniless and exhausted, so he turned to the Spanish monarchs for help.  For seven more years he waited, while the kind monks of the Franciscan monastery of La Rabida housed and took care of him and his young motherless son.  Finally, the ships were granted and Coloumbus was able to set sail.  And of course we know from our history classes that he “discovered” America.

     I’ve always seen this as a story of perseverence, courage, and success.   What I didn’t realize is that Columbus actually believed that he HAD reached Asia.  So he spent his health, his fortune, and any chance he had at happiness, trying for the rest of his life to prove that he had.  Other people recognized that Columbus had discovered a whole new, wonderful world.   But he himself was so convinced of the reality he had conceived in his head, that he couldn’t see the reality that was in front of his eyes.  It was as though he had put on blinders, and they caused him to miss his own boat.

     I can only imagine what Columbus would think if he saw America today!  I can also only imagine what our whole world would be like if all of our own emotional and spiritual blinders were removed so that we too could see things with a different and entirely new perception.  What a new, wonderful world we would see!  And it’s not as if that world doesn’t already exist, just like America already existed, even though Columbus really wanted to go to Asia.  We just need to awaken to that world, then simply open our spiritual eyes, believe what we see, and hang on!

     I hope to open more eyes in November with my next Monday night talk called “DON’T WORRY, I HAVE EVERYTHING UNDER CONTROL!  -  Exploring how stress is created by our endless desire for power and control.”  The talk in Hutchinson will be November 8th, and the one in New Ulm will be November 15th. 

     I just taught the all-day Spring Forest Qigong Level 1 class this past Saturday.  The next scheduled Level 1 will be Saturday, January 29th.  The Level 2 class will be Saturday, February 19th.  More info and detail on these classes can be found under the heading of “Learning Oppotunities” on my website at www.arlisfeser.com .  Taking the Level 1 class is a prerequisite to taking the Level 2.   The dates are subject to change, but I would inform you if they do. 

     Last Friday I also took an 8-hour course at St. John’s University on trauma recovery and will soon begin putting together a half-day workshop on this.  Through my own experience working with people through Qigong, I have found that most trauma involves the presence of either unresolved or deeply consuming psychological, emotional, or spiritual stress.  That stress can reach all the way back into childhood, or be something very recent.  This kind of stress through trauma is present in large measure in people who become ill.

     I am also working on a half-day workshop on meditation because so many people requested it, and also because I think it’s an extremely important thing to learn how to do in order to maintain or improve our health.   

     I will also be putting together some two-hour evening classes on learning more about energy medicine and some exercises to show how to protect yourself from other’s energy, reverse your energy if it’s going the wrong way,  unscramble energy patterns, energy in foods that may or may not be in harmony with your particular body, etc.  I’m also putting together a class for women only (Sorry guys.  The things we’ll be learning and doing either don’t pertain to you or would be too kinky to do in front of you!  Now doesn’t that make you women curious and want to take this class!). 

     I will announce dates and times for all classes and workshops at the Monday night talks, have them posted on my website, and send out an email to you all when they’re ready.  However, I will need to charge for these classes and workshops instead of being free-will donation, but I promise they will be very affordable.

     I think that about covers everything for now.  So once again, Happy Everything-between-now-and-the-end-of-November.  As always, please feel free to forward this email to anyone you may think would benefit from it.  Stay safe, and I hope to see you all on the 8th or 15th.

Blessings and Peace,
Arlis Feser
www.arlisfeser.com

How many of you are familiar with the sport of falconry?  Our youngest daughter Sondra and her fiance Bryan are both licensed falconers .  They just moved to Seattle, but when they were living in California my hubby and I both were able to go out there and participate in hunting with them and their birds on several occasions.

One day I was with Sondra while she was tending to her red tail hawk in the bird facility they had for their birds in their back yard.  All of a sudden, I thought the bird was getting violently ill.  It just started making this noise (you’ll have to use your imagination here) and seemed to be just wracked with the dry heaves.  Then this “thing” came out of its mouth and just plopped on the ground.  I looked at it and got all grossed out and said, “YUCK!  Sondra, is that a hairball?”  (facial expression)  And she said yes, actually, it was.

She then explained that hawks and falcons and other birds of prey have a two-step digestive process.  Because the bird has no idea of when its next meal will be, it will consume as much of an animal it’s just killed as possible.  Because there’s usually more than what their stomach can process on its own, it first goes into what is called a crop.  From there the bird can push it into their stomach a little at a time, making several meals out of one.  Even though their stomach has strong acids, their crop does not.  So after the stomach digests all that it can, the remaining items, such as feathers and hair, move around in their stomach to collect greases and grime.  They are then moved back up into the crop where they clean all the gunk out of there too.  In a human, this gunk remains and is what causes health issues like with cholesterol.  But in a bird, it doesn’t remain.  It’s coughed back out again before it eats its next meal.  All of this makes for a happy, healthy little birdie.

After Sondra explained this I thought, “Wow!  Wouldn’t it be great if I could do that with all the emotional stuff that causes me health issues?”  Over 90% of our physical problems are cause d by emotions.  What if, once I became aware of a negative emotion and where it attached its energy in my physical body, I could just work it up and cough it out.  “OK anger, you’re out of here!”  (You can insert your own sound effects here)  “Anxiety, you’re next!” (more sound effects)  “Unforgiveness, get lost!”  (you get the picture!)

Then I would look down at all the emotional “hairballs” laying on the ground and say, “Ewwww, look at all that gross and disgusting stuff.  I can not believe I was keeping that all inside of me.”  Then I would just flap my wings and fly away, leaving it all behind.

I’m getting a lot better at doing that.  But more times than not I still don’t release the emotion that’s causing a particular feeling right away, even when I become totally aware of it.  I can cough it up, but then I stop and think about it, and I don’t spit it out.  I just kind of chew on it.  And chew.  And chew.  Sometimes I can spit it out after I’ve chewed on it for a while.  But a lot of times I’ll swallow it back down again where I can keep it inside to fester and get even grimier before I bring it back up to chew on it again, and then again, and again.

What do you think happens to that emotion as it festers and grows?  How do you think my physical body reacts to it?  Sometimes I can be that bird of prey just flying away.  I really want to be that bird.  But most of the time I realized that, heck, I’m not even close to being a bird.  I’m a dang cow chewin’ on my cud!

So there you have it.  The hairball story.  That obviously wasn’t the absolute end of the story, but you just got the main gist of it.  And I’m sure you saw yourself in this story somewhere also.  I don’t know about any of you, but I don’t want to be a cow.  I want to be a falcon.

Blessings to all of you,

Arlis Feser

www.arlisfeser.com