Caterpillars into butterflies

From: Putting Spirit into Practice by Rita Edwards – to be published in the latter half of 2010

A caterpillar is a creepy crawly with the full potential to fly, a butterfly in waiting.

The lesson that the butterfly can teach you is that you have to crawl before you can fly, and that there is a void that we need to go through before we can emerge as butterflies.

The crawling stage, if we relate this to the three dimensions of Brain Gym, is the Focus dimension related to brainstem function. In this dimension we develop all the skills needed for future attention and concentration. We also develop the basic skills to integrate our reflexes and senses. We learn to coordinate and integrate our body and brain, emotions and spirit.

The next stage for the caterpillar is the stage of  going into the cocoon, a time for reflection and emotional preparation, which links to the Centring dimension of the limbic system in the mid brain area.

The third stage for the butterfly is to find its wings and fly – the level of communication and laterality.

In finding its wings, and learning to fly, the butterfly can connect with its life work – to bring joy to the flowers. It connects with the spirit of its work.

Our lives are made up of spaces that we occupy. Within each of these spaces, we create a system of relationships.  When we create a number of different spaces which work in harmony and synchrony with each other, then we can begin to live a sustainable lifestyle.

The caterpillar is a good illustration of how this works. The caterpillar has to learn to coordinate all of its legs. See the segments of the caterpillar as our life spaces that we live in, and its legs as being connected to each of the different areas in our lives that we need to coordinate. It is easy to see how important it is to find balance and unity in all our lifespaces.  If any one of the spaces are not balanced and working in harmony with the other spaces, then we get a drag on the rest of the body, or we get stuck, not able to keep moving forward.

Draw a caterpillar and in each segment write down one your life spaces.

An interesting exercise is to muscle check the percentage of integration for each segment. This will give you some indication of the level of functional harmony or disharmony in your life. By becoming aware of which areas are creating drag or stuckness, you can begin to balance for a more integrated and balanced life.

Goal Suggestion: All my life spaces are integrated and working together in functional harmony.

To find out the percentage of general integration in your life, add up all the percentages and divide by the number of segments that you have drawn. This gives you the percentage of integration that you have for the existing spaces that you move in. When all the legs of your caterpillar are working together in harmony and synchrony, then if one gets injured eg. you may suddenly not be able to work due to illness or retrenchment, the other legs are balanced enough to take the load. Of course, if you only have one or two legs to your caterpillar, if your work is your whole life, or your family is your whole life, then if they are suddenly taken away you have nothing to keep you moving forward. To create a balanced life, you need to have at least seven spaces that you can move into. The spaces need to work together in unity. If each space is separate and not a part of the whole, it then creates a drag on the rest as the rest don’t know what that space is doing. An example would be a house wife who is a secret stripper in a strip club. She keeps this a secret from her family and friends, and so there is a lack of harmony and unity between what she is doing with the family and with the stripper space. The amount of effort and energy that it takes to keep the secret and to keep creating valid excuses for not being at home creates negativity in the entire system. The amount of energy it takes is so huge, that the situation will begin to tell on her quite quickly.

You can use the analogy of the caterpillar for getting your life dream into action as well.

See each of the segments as an action goal – ten goals is usually a good number to work with. In each segment write your goal and the date that you want it complete. When you have achieved the goal put a cross through that segment. You know that you have taken ten major steps to putting your life dream into action – there will be ten big crosses on your caterpillar to prove it!

The caterpillar goes through the void to become a butterfly. This void is the cocoon stage. In this void, there is nothing. No colour, no stimulation, no sound, no past and no future.

In the void, the caterpillar can spend time in letting go. To become a butterfly he needs to let go of his identity as a caterpillar. He leaves behind familiar structures that he learnt as a caterpillar - habits, patterns of behaviour, thoughts and attitudes. This is the time to void – to let go of the past, to forgive, to forget, prepare for new things, and to get organised for new things.  He needs to create a new identity, a new body and mind. He has to learn to think like a butterfly, not a caterpillar. He will need to go deep within to find the new attitudes, behaviours and thoughts that will support his new life.  He is no longer a lowly caterpillar - he will be emerging as a beautiful butterfly. He has to transform himself into this new creature. At this stage he has no idea of his potential to fly, he only knows that he must change or die.

As a caterpillar he was destined to crawl. He did not have the neural patterning to fly, and never tried! As a butterfly, he will have new connections that give him the power and the ability to fly.

In this void that the cocoon has created our caterpillar may feel like all its basic foundations, everything it holds true are falling away and leaving him with nothing to hold onto, the insecurity of what is coming is great – it feels as though the world is coming to an end. For the caterpillar that is true. His world as a caterpillar is ending. When he comes out of the void, he will be a transformed creature with new values, thoughts, ideals and attitudes.

We all go through the void at times. Indeed, if you are planning a whole new transformation in your life, the void is an essential part of the transformation. Before you can become who you are destined to be, you have to let go of who you are, and the reasons why you are who you are right now. Being in the void can be scary. Things seem to slow down and there is a sense of disconnection. It is difficult to keep focus. If we relate the void to the centring dimension in Brain Gym, this is the time when we connect strongly to emotions. We begin to dig deep into the emotional burden that we carry. It is often a time for experiencing emotions in their fullest glory – we could be angry, intensely angry; we could hate with a vengeance, and we love with the greatest sense of what love is. This is the time to do much inner work with yourself.

Sanaya Roman in “Spritual Growth” describes the void as:

A state of consciousness you can go into to expand beyond your current limits, let go of old things, and move to your next level of growth.

In the void, you may not feel like being very sociable. It really is a time to find yourself and to be with yourself. Like the caterpillar ensconced in its cocoon, you may find yourself not wanting physical contact or even physical interaction with others. You may feel alone in a crowd, but enjoying that aloneness without the sadness that loneliness brings. You may seek to be alone with yourself and your own inner self. It is a time to get to know yourself better and to draw your own conclusions as to who you are and who you truly want to be. It is a time to let go of what others see you as, and to create a deep inner sense of self.

This is the time for caterpillars to dream. I would imagine that the caterpillar’s dreams are about the future and all that it offers. The caterpillar’s visions are creating its future. By dreaming, it is creating the blueprints of the new life it is going to live.

In the void, dream. Create your most ideal future reality. Dreams cost nothing. Just be careful of what you dream about, because dreams do come true!

Redefine yourself. If a caterpillar can do all of this and emerge as a butterfly, why can’t you? Ask yourself: “ If I was a butterfly how would I look? What would I do?  How would I move? What colours would I be?”  Once you have answered these questions, look in your own life how you can transform yourself into this butterfly. Can you begin to wear the colours that you decided on?  Can you begin to move in a different way? Maybe you decided that as a butterfly you would flit around rather than stomp around. Begin to move with the grace of a butterfly, not only physically, but also in all your dealings with others.

The butterfly emerges into the light from the darkness of the cocoon, transformed and changed from a creepy crawly to a magnificent creature of beauty and intention. The butterfly’s intention is to bring joy to the flowers. Each flower that the butterfly touched is promised new life. See the people we touch in our lives as the flowers in our lives. We can touch people’s lives with our new butterfly intention.

Butterflies fly to the light. Through the darkness of the void, the butterfly yearns for the light. Look for the light in your life. Where in your life are you feeling the darkness of the void?  We are all beings of light, we yearn for the sun, for the light in our lives. If your life feels dark and gloomy, look for the light. In every dark space there will always be a glimmer of light.

Where are you right now in your life? Do you feel like the caterpillar with all your legs going in different direction?  Is it time to go into the void, and begin to let go, forgive and forget?  Are you ready to redefine who you are and to find the butterfly within? What colours can you begin to wear that will release the magnificent creature that you are?

The In Synch 1 course offers you the opportunity to work with your own senses and sensory integration to begin to emerge as a butterfly. As one course participant wrote: "Thank you for the opportunity you provided us to experience flying and becoming the beautiful butterflies we can all become!" – Sharon, New York.

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