This little troll pig became our clearing mascot at a recent Your Spacious Self retreat that I offered at Kripalu. Isn’t she adorable?
One of the ways we honor the clearing process, is to embrace the “beast.” I ask participants to bring a small object that represents the clutter in their lives; something that’s bit of stretch and they’re willing to release for good (because they don’t get it back at the end of the workshop).
The Altar of Letting Go – a beautifully decorated table prominently placed in the front of the room – becomes the Witnessing Presence and space holder for everything unloved and unhealed in our homes and lives. Anything that arises that no longer serves and supports us goes on the table. I tell them, “Even if you’re thrashing around in the middle of the night because of some issue you’re chewing on, write it down and place it on this table. The Altar will take care of it for you.”
By the end of the weekend, the altar begins to look a lot like those tables you see at those yard sales at the end of a long day – full of dregs you hauled up from the basement that nobody wants.
“Treasures that we love up” together can look like this, for example:
- Stack of old newspapers that represent all the articles that “would illuminate me if I could only get around to reading them.”
- Stack of tourist maps and flyers.
- Stack of legal papers – (the duplicates).
- An ornamental disk containing the art of a 5-year old daughter. From a box full.
- A Pop Tart package that belonged to a homeless man, and ended up in the trunk of the car.
- A pair of one-of-a-kind Bluefish pants representing the huge stack of designer clothing that someone (who shall remain nameless) paid a fortune for.
- Troll pig. Her owner tried to glue her missing foot, then lost it en route to the workshop.
- Oversize tea ball.
- Brand new salt and pepper shaker set, in its original box.
- A written pledge to delete the 4,000 (still unread) emails from 2009.
- Many scraps of paper listing the the thoughts and beliefs that hold us back and cause us pain…
I tell everyone that these things are there to help us stay awake and honor our journey. They help us connect to and release the stuck feelings. They remind us to not take our selves too seriously.
On the last day Troll Pig’s foot miraculously turned up while her (ex) owner was completing one of the clutter clearing homework assignments. It was the last thing that fell out of her purse.
She had no idea that this little foot would be bringing us all back to wholeness.
Photo “Troll Pig” by Stephanie Bennett Vogt
