japka
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On an energetic level, the changes in individuals are quite profound, even for those who practice it purely for reasons of self-healing.
The physical process is simple and is as follows:
The technique is very simple. You can make a list (of people, experiences, life events) and follow it, not a bad idea actually, or I would also suggest picking a time period of your life that you are going to recap. Begin by arranging some time that you won't be likely to be disturbed. You will need a space that compresses your energy, a closet would do, or even putting a heavy blanket over you will work as well. Quiet your mind and relax, setting the intent to retrieve your energy trapped in your past. Bring up a specific memory or event. Get it pictured right in front of your face in as much detail as possible. (Colors, sounds, smells, people involved, etc.) Turn your head to the left and exhale, then slowly turn your head from left to right drawing in the energy of the scene in front of you with your breath (inhale). When your head is completely to the right again turn slowly back to the left exhaling the foreign energy (that which is not yours) that exists from the scene. Keep sweeping the scene until you feel ?done? with it. Go on to the next event on your list, or that comes to mind, and keep doing this until you have worked through each one. Be aware of what you are doing and stay focused. If you're just starting the recap, I would suggest fifteen to twenty minutes a day just to start out, give it two weeks, then take stock of where you are.
When you are finished the first time you may feel a little lightheaded, that's normal, it means something is changing. If the memories you are working with are especially painful or traumatic it may take a number of recapitulations to completely suck the energy back out of them. You will know it is working when you recall one of the memories and find that the emotions it was evoking in you have lessened, or even completely disappeared. Sometimes you may look at them and feel like they aren't even your memories, they seem as though they happened to someone else. This is a start; you may want eventually to do a complete recapitulation. Shamans are never done recapitulating; it is done over and over through a lifetime.
There are other techniques that can be added to this, but this is the core of recalling personal energy to yourself from the past. The other methods seem too theatrical to me, too much symbolism to be immediately useful. It may seem silly at first, but if you keep it up it will make a major change in you, give you more clarity and change the perspective from which you make decisions now in your life.
Now, you may ask, ?Why the recap and not (fill in practice of your choice)?? The reason the recap works when many other things only appear to work is twofold. One, it is a real physical/energetic connection in your energy, it is a physical act through your energy and because of that it involves you completely in the process. Two, the recapitulation demands that you work at the process of first, self healing and then movement beyond healing into the shamanic. You can't just say you recap and expect everything to be ?all wonderful and stuff?. You can't just say, I forgive X for dumping crap in my life and expect it to work either; there must be a physical and energetic breaking of those connections. This is real, not illusory in terms of changes.
What happens if you turn your head the opposite directions?
Nothing. This is an exercise in intent, the reason it is set up the way it is, is simply to expedite contact with the left side of your energetic self, the part not seen or reasoned with, but felt and emoted upon. It works better that way, but working the opposite direction is not a disaster, it's all in the intent you have when recapping. You might also find it a little more 'reasonable' in how you perceive the results too. But it's still the same. There are also alternative methods of recapping; they weren't all always this instructional. But I wouldn't panic if someone did it the opposite direction; I just think it works better starting out to stick to the 'normal' method.
Do I have to get in a closet or use a blanket?
Well, it would be better to compress your energy in some way, sitting out in your parked car, in the bathroom, under a blanket if that's comfortable for you, the compression helps you recall and creates a more complete sweep and breaking of the energy involved. It doesn't have to be a closet, but closets work really well.
Is any one time of day better than another, morning-afternoon-evening, for recapping?
I prefer early evening, about twilight, but any time seems to work, although I will say that at times in the process it seems that certain times of the day work better than others for getting at events that occurred around that time. But in the beginning, when you have the time available is the time to do it.
Let me add a couple of things here. The recap is real, but unlike other methods I have seen, even some claiming to be recapitulation, this process ends in nothing less than a transformation of the individual practicing it, don't take it lightly. If you like your life just the way it is, don't start the recap. One of the things that always bothered me about other approaches is they went no where, people would recap using the techniques, but no change or progress was made, I think that is attributable to a single reason. No one ever talked about the patterns created through connections, or how the ghosts of those connections remain in your energy like the grooves on a record and they will try to re-exert themselves again if you don't erase them. As you recap you will find that to be the case over and over again, circumstances will seem to conspire to get you back into a pattern, which you have recently been recapping. The difference comes in recognition and the ability to be detached from the pattern enough not to repeat it. But the ways in which this occurs, the re-exertion can at the least, be entertaining.
What if you recognize but still do the pattern
Then you obviously need to recap it more. There are parts of it not exposed yet to your energy, you may in fact, find yourself repeating a pattern, but if you recognize it, think of how different that already is from when you didn't even know it was a pattern, you just thought it was life.
So recognizing is a step?
A huge step - before you just lived the pattern.
For a person who has never recapitulated before... how would you recommend they start? Can you begin with any event -an intense event, a minor one?
I would stay away from really intense events to begin with, although some people are so driven by them they just plough right in and manage to live through the process. I would suggest starting with your day and the people in it. This gives you a feel for the process and also allows you to gain a sense of how you expend your energy just in a normal day going about your business with people. If that seems unworkable, then make a list of people you can recall easily working backward through your life, start there. The odd thing about the recap is you will find people and events coming to mind that you had totally forgotten about. What you begin to see in all that are patterns in which you have reacted to create situations in your life. Eventually you come to the point you even wonder if you've had a life, or whether you are simply a pale reflection of the wants and needs of others. This will be a powerful part of the healing process, but not always a comfortable one. The recap will show you things about yourself; assumptions you have held as true, which are not and some of those things can be very painful to look at. But usually, by that point, you won't quit anyway; it's rather like a good detective story you just can't put down. Who am I really? And more importantly, who will I become? The answers will be very interesting and unique to you.
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