The Sacredness of Three Meets The Power of Standing Still

”You're moving and shaking, fixing and breaking / Even when I can't see / And you're listening, healing, molding and freeing / Someone like me / I was running in circles, jumping the hurdles / Not trusting your will. / But I feel your love all around me now that I'm standing still” – Singer-Songwriter Sally Barris

It was during a time in my life when I was running in circles and jumping many hurdles that I heard this song. It soon became the inspiration for my business, Matters of My Heart – Beads for the Body, Mind and Spirit. I started to realize that if it was made easy and taught the right way, there were many people that could benefit from learning just how to stand still. Silly as it sounds, most folks need to be taught standing still, and it is not an easy gift to master.

It was around the same time that I started to really think about the sacredness of three. Throughout the world, and throughout time, many important ideas and beliefs come in threes. The symbol of three interlocking circles has been discovered on religious statues in India, from approximately 5,000 years ago. Three is a magical number:

• The Celtic Triquetra: 
  the three aspects of life; Physical, Mental and Spiritual  (Body, Mind and Spirit)
• The eternal cycle of life:
  Life, Death and Rebirth
• To the Celts, the entire universe of:
  The realms of Air, Earth and Sea
• The Catholic Trinity:
  The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
• The Three Faces of the Goddess:
  Maiden, Mother and Crone,
• The Moon is associated with The Goddess, and represents intuition, magick and mystery. As the Moon, She waxes and wanes:
  Maiden (left facing crescent) to Mother/Mature Woman of Passion (full circle) to Crone (right facing crescent).
• The Three Aspects of Time:
  What Was, What Is and What Will Be
• The Faery Triad of Trees:
  Oak, ash, and thorn - where they grow together, it is still said that is where faeries live.
• The Greeks used the number three (or multiples of three) as:
  three Fates, three Graces, three Gorgons and the three Furies.
• the nine Muses and the twelve Olympian gods
• God's attributes are three:
  omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence.
• Third times charmed

And many more...

Inspired by the Catholic Rosary, I have always loved the idea of using beads to count prayers and meditations. They help you to focus, yet free your mind from the need to count your place. Using beads to count helps to bring you to a deeper meditation – you lose the need to count and remember, the beads do it for you.

All of my beads have a design piece that includes beads in sets of - or multiples of - three. If there are more than three beads in a set, then you will usually find that somewhere in the design there will be threes or multiples of three to separate the main counting beads. Many times the wire is even wrapped three times.

The idea behind my ‘The Art of Standing Still’ relaxation beads is simple. First, there are three main beads. They are attached to a loop of some kind, usually a keychain split ring. There will be a drop bead of some kind, an angel, goddess, or just a unusual larger bead. That will be your focusing bead, designed to start the process of calming, of bringing yourself to your own sacred place within. Use the ring to loop onto your finger to hold the beads.

This design was inspired by the Irish Penal Rosary. This was a small rosary, with just ten beads, one Our Father beads and a crucifix. It was used during the Penal Times in Ireland, where being Catholic – and thus praying the rosary – was outlawed. It is a powerful to carry this small strand of beads with you, to always be able to say your prayers or meditation.

But there is also power in taking three breaths. As I was developing this concept I was doing research on the Internet, and I discovered that I was not alone is this theory. I found a book by Fred L. Miller, ‘Three Deep Breaths to Peace of Mind’. He has also discovered the amazing power that three breaths can bring.

Done at lunchtime, this can be more energizing than a power nap. Use the breaths while sitting in traffic, stopped on the freeway, rushing through the grocery store to get home in time to make dinner, or sitting in a meeting . Do you have an important presentation? Take three slow, deep calming breaths before you start. Going on stage, taking a test, driving in rush hour? Everywhere. Anytime

Use the thought of the beads in your pocket to remind you to stand still and take three deep, slow breaths. 

How to use these beads

If my beads are used as key chains or pocket beads, they simply remind us to stop and take those three slow, deep breaths. The keychain ring or the loop at the end of some beads can be looped over a finger, allowing the beads to rest in the palm of your hand.

Sets of three:

Using fingers on the opposite hand, breath once, slow, deep, for each of the major beads. For a really relaxation and refreshing feeling, do this once for each finger, than switch hands. By holding and counting with opposite hands, and repeating the other way, allows you to use both sides of your brain.

Sets of six (which are multiples of three...):

Hold the beads in your non-dominant hand. With your dominant hand, use the beads to count for you, allowing your mind to be free to relax.

Focusing breath: Focus on the first bead, pausing to bring your awareness away from the noise and stress of your day. Breath in deep and slow, hold the breath gently for a few seconds, then exhale slowly.

Six-steps: Repeat the words to either the Six Step Quieting Reflex or the Six Stages of Relaxation. Speak quietly or imagine the words, which ever is the most comfortable for you. The more you do this, the easier it is.

Closing breath: To finish the sequence, at the last bead again take a deep, slow, gentle breath. Hold this for a few seconds, and then slowly exhale.

Six Step Quieting Reflex

Focusing breath ...

• Think about something that makes you tense or anxious.
• Smile inside. This breaks up the anxious facial muscle tension.
• Tell yourself, “I can keep a calm body in an alert mind.:
• Inhale a quiet, easy breath.
• Let your jaw go loose as you exhale; keeping your upper and lower teeth apart. Place your tongue in the position you would use to say the letter “N”  (this will relax the jaw muscles—great for TMJ!)
• Imagine heaviness and warmth moving throughout your body from head to toes.

Closing breath ...

Six Stages Of Relaxation

Focusing breath …

• Focus on sensations of heaviness throughout the arms and legs (beginning with the dominant arm or leg)
• Focus on sensations of warmth throughout the arms and legs (beginning with the dominant arm or let)
• Focus on sensations of warmth and heaviness in the area of the heart
• Focus on breathing
• Focus on sensations of warmth in the abdomen
• Focus on sensations of coolness in the forehead.

Closing breath …

Standing Still
Written by Sally Barris (and used here her with permission)
Copyright 1999 Reynsong Publishing BMI

You're moving and shaking, fixing and breaking
Even when I can't see
And you're listening, healing, molding and freeing
Someone like me
I was running in circles, jumping the hurdles
Not trusting your will.
But I feel your love all around me now that I'm standing still

You're breathing and filling renewing and building
My broken spirit
And you talk to me, shout at me, speak right out loud to me
Even when I don't hear it.
I was so busy searching and painfully hurting for a dream
That I could not fill
But I see how you bring it to me, now that I'm standing still

I hear your voice again, my old familiar friend
Telling me where the struggle ends and where love begins
Where real love begins

You're moving and shaking, fixing and breaking
Even when I can't see
And you're listening, healing, molding and freeing
Someone like me
I was so busy searching and painfully hurting for a dream
That I could not fill
I feel your love all around me now that I'm standing still
I see how you bring it to me, now that I'm standing still
I feel your love all around me now that I'm standing still
Standing Still