The heART of Ritual Playbook is not a collection of personal development work-sheets, rather, they are play-sheets and treasure maps to adventure with. They assist us to navigate terrain both on land and at sea while on the journey of Self healing.
Within, there are pages for you to play with, pages for small kids and big kids (aka 'adults') and as I am all inclusive, the in betweeney kids and the big kids who have forgotten they are kids too. Pages that will gift creativity, colour, fun, and a skillset or eight. Pages that might educate, pages that might help you manage your stress more effectively, and pages that might even brighten your day. Pages to gift and grow with.
Some of these were sketched out a few years ago while developing various educational nature based games for families. Some were created while writing my book on daily ritual and mindful earth based practices. Even though those projects are not yet released, I am sharing part now in this way. Some of these exercises come from my personal practice (as those who join my gatherings will know), and some are tools I've developed and used as a therapist over the years. All invite you to make your mark, to cultivate your own way of working with them, and integrate them in the way you feel drawn.
So please, print off your playbook, take it outside, and inJoy it. Get offline and get some air. It doesn't matter if it is on a balcony, in a garden, sitting at a bus stop, in a meadow, park or sidewalk, just go outside. Nature is everywhere. You might like to slide a Playbook under a neighbours door as a surprise gift, or give a copy to your local care homes, hospitals, schools. These pages are of interest and relevance to all.
Before detailing the table of contents for this Playbook, I want to say a few words on personal motivation, community in unity, and the need for ethics to return to spirituality. I grew up in a rural community and was raised by the motto 'if you are in a position to support and help, you should'. This is my personal motivation for this Playbook, longer tables not higher fences. This gift is about community wellBEing, and people before profit. As such, the Playbook is a straightforward gifting of skills and resources, and a way for me to share support with the communities I love and serve.
I am not asking for payment in exchange for this Playbook, simply click the link above to download, print off, and inJoy. There are no strings attached, no hidden costs, no advertising, no datamining, no catch. You do not need to sign up to my mailing list to get the files, nor do you have to enter an email address to download the files. I will not ask you to tag friends so that I can increase traffic via (un)social media.
I am fully aware that in sharing this in this way I am leaving myself wide open to plagurism and I truly hope this work (and I) will not be taken advantage of in this way. Both my work and my good nature have been violated and taken advantage of by unethical practitioners and ritualists so often that I have to ask that this work be left intact. Please don't reproduce it or sell it commercially. Do not aim to profit off my honest good will gesture, and generous nature. Thank you.
PLAYBOOK TABLE OF CONTENTS:
• RAINBOW BREATHWORK
See further down this page for details
• MEMORY GAME
Tiled nature images which I recommend cutting out and glueing to cardboard
• HANDY MINDFULNESS
A simple grounding exercise using your fingers and senses
• TREASURE HUNT
A nature based treasure hunt for indoors or outdoors
• COLOUR ME IN
A colouring page of our wild native botanical mandala which represents the four seasons (and our indigenous medicine wheel) in the Celtic Wheel of the Year
• IN THE GARDEN
A nature based sensory exercise for indoors or outdoors
• TAKE WHAT YOU NEED
Self explanatory when you see it, just cut along the dotted line and carry what you have chosen with you throughout the day
• ALPHABET CARDS
To cut out and spell words, play 'I spy' with something that begins with the chosen letter, choosing a letter and thinking of a word that begins with that letter, having a letter per day to work with and see how many things you can see that begin with it, add numbers to each card and play scrabble, and sooo much more..
PLAYBOOK HIGHLIGHT - RAINBOW BREATHWORK
This mindfulness exercise was created to reduce stress and enhance presence through the alchemy of breath. This is integrated through the visual stimulus of a rainbow, that magically uplifting wonder of nature that we all know and love!
Each of the rainbow rays is an invitation to breath mindfully and BE, and you can track the inhale/exhale by following each arch with your visually, or as a finger meditation by including touch (following the arch of each ray with your finger). Through coloring in the rainbow, we introduce the joys of creativity (which nourishes inner child) and therapeutic colour. These healing colours relate with energy centers in the trunk of the body and head, and we can integrate this aspect into our breathwork practice too if we so choose.
For instance, standing or sitting in front of your coloured in rainbow, you may want to follow each arch visually or trace your finger over each arch as you breath. You can do both an inhale and exhale on one arch, or go over on the inhale and back on the exhale. Anything goes, there are no rules. The invitation here is to cultivate your own unique practice. You might even find that the exercise (aka ritual) already begins while colouring in each arch, so while colouring in the red arch you may focus your breath on this colour, its attributes and any affirmations you might like to say. This then in itself is what I call 'creative meditation' and a whole other dimension to this ritual rainbow!
To give a little insight into my personal practice, here is how I worked with this exercise this morning: I did actually begin all this while colouring, focusing on the colour/area/attributes/affirmations etc with each arch (more on this below). While colouring each arch, I observed any throughts, feelings and sensations that arose. These drifted in and drifted out again, peacefully. Once I finished colouring in, I began my breathwork with the fully painted rainbow. To start, I created a simple ceremonial space where I stood with my own body representing the elements, the mandala and the altar. I invited my past, present and future ascended Self into the space. Facing east, I called on the element of air to the east, facing south I called on fire to the south, facing west I called on water to the west, facing north I called on the earth and the ancestors to the north, standing where I was, I called on spirit in the center, looking upwards, I called on father sky above, looking below I called on mother earth below. When I felt ready to continue, I began the breathwork exercise by placing my index finger on the red arch. I traced each arch over and back so that one full breath cycle integrates each colour into each sacred center. I visualized the colour of each arch being infused into my breath, so my inhale and exhale became the colour my finger traced. My other hand was placed on the body area that relates with that center. I finished each breath with an affirmation before moving to the next one. If I felt anything coming up or felt that I needed to stay with a particular area, then I stayed with that colour, hand placement, breath and affirmation until I felt ready to continue with the remaining ones. To close, I thanked my past, present and future ascended Self, I repeated the invocation I started with, thanked each for their service and send them back from whence they came with love and gratitude. To close, I clapped twice in each direction (once for masculine/light aspect, once for feminine dark aspect) and said 'agus sin sin' which is pretty much the Irish version of the saying 'and so it is'. The reason I clapped is because we are in the season of Spring/Air element and this relates with sound, this is what I was drawn to do but you can also other things with our built in air instruments like whistle, sing, tone, click, tap our body or stamp our feet rhymathically on the floor. For me, my voice and speaking the affirmations out loud was my ar element instrument being played, the words carried by my voice was my manifestation work/prayer/spell work. The clapping was specifically to move stagnant energy both within my space and within me (stamping and body tapping would do this too, even jumping up and down). Other than my invocation, which is the one I always use, I am highly likely to change all aspects of this each time, depending on what is called for. My prayer practice evolves organically, as do I.
RED arch:
(breathing in) As I trace the red arch I inhale bright red coloured air into the base of my spine. (breathing out) I visualize this bright red colour radiating from the base of your spine as I say the affirmation 'I am as grounded as the earth beneath my feet'
ORANGE arch:
(breathing in) I inhale vibrant orange coloured air into my abdomen.(breathing out) I visualize this vibrant orange colour radiating from my abdomen as I say the affirmation 'I am adaptable and flow like spring water in a mountain stream'
YELLOW arch:
(breathing in) I inhale sunny yellow coloured air into my solar plexus (the area between the bottom of your breast bone/sternum and your bellybutton).(breathing out) I visualize this sunny yellow colour radiating from my solar plexus as I say the affirmation 'I am like the sun and my inner fire will burn through all fears. I trust that all is well'
GREEN arch:
(breathing in) I inhale green deep into my heart, the colour of moss and fiddlehead ferns, the essence of essential life force and spring.(breathing out) I visualize green radiating from my heart as I say the affirmation 'I am enough, I am worthy of love, I am love'
BLUE arch:
(breathing in) I inhale sky blue deep into my throat, lungs and ears.(breathing out) I visualize sky blue radiating from my throat, lungs, ears as I say the affirmation 'I hear and speak the truth, I communicate authentically, calmly, and clearly'
INDIGO arch:
(breathing in) I inhale a deep blue into the space between my eyebrows.(breathing out) I visualize deep blue radiating from the space between my brows as I say the affirmation 'I see clearly and truthfully'
VIOLET arch:
(breathing in) I inhale violet into the top of my head.(breathing out) I visualize violet radiating from the top of my head as I say the affirmation 'I am guided by my inner wisdom'