Years ago, when I was studying Polarity therapy, ( the work of Dr Sone) my teacher, Gary Straus, spoke about our energetic shapes. He said our shapes, which extend beyond our physical body, attract certain types of experiences and people into our lives. The shapes of what we attract fit in with ours like a neat jig saw puzzle. Consequently, If we want to change our life, we need to change the shape of our energy to attract a better experience. This was my first introduction to shape shifting.
I was introduced to a Shamanic practice called Journeying from Lisa Chan, who I met in a Polarity training intensive in Switzerland in 1999. I was privileged to be a witness of her performing several journeys on our peers who were struggling with integrating the work we were doing in class.
Lisa shape shifted her being in order to travel to other realms, to access specific information, pertaining to the well being of the person she was working with. This Journeying practice is known as a Soul Retrieval. Lisa graciously taught me the skills of Journeying so I could help the horses who were in my care at that time.
When I discovered Family Constellation work, I was fascinated by how it was possible to shape shift into something else; people, animals emotions, places, elements etc. By inhabiting these other forms, relevant information is revealed to support the person's Constellation session.
English author and illustrator Beatrix Potter, (1866-1943) provided a shape shifting experience for her readers by presenting a different way of viewing animals in her children's books. Protagonists, such as Peter Rabbit and Piglin Bland, endearingly stand on two legs and wear Victorian clothing. Her books and illustrations, cleverly induce an emotional connection to her readers, promoting kindness to animals. Still to this day, Potter's books continue to gain global popularity. Recently Peter Rabbit was used by Starbucks to cover their children’s, apple juice carton.
Peter Rabbit
While researching for this blog I came across the work of Los Angeles artist Alexander Houlton. He created a series called Animals in an Animal World in which he merges vintage photo's with animal heads, with the purpose of "making people smile uncontrollably."
Alexandra Houlton
In conclusion, there are limitless ways in which we can either shape shift or have a shape shifting experience with the intention of changing perspective. I'm interested to hear about your shape shifting experiences, if you have any?