Archive for healing
The feminine connection
Posted by: | CommentsThe other day I was reading an article in O magazine and there was a piece written that had been taken from an interview with Marion Woodman. It was a wonderful piece about how in this present time the feminine principle is suppressed in both men and women. She says how “the feminine is difficult because few people have experienced it. The feminine is presence and relatedness, it is and a heart that can open so that when you meet another person you actually are seeing that person’s authentic self. What meaning does human life have if nobody has ever seen you?”
So often in my work with the somatic (feeling) body (usually through an area of pain) I find a part inside that is not heard or listened to and feels totally alone. This part is often missing the feminine connection of feeling loved, seen, feeling they have someone they can trust so that they can fully be themselves. This part is devoid of the feminine connection….. usually tracing back to childhood.
Marion goes onto say that “the great work of our time is to bringing the feminine into our culture. And it is not an easy path” And how it is important to “take time to listen, …. and recognise there are things that need to be felt, or said, or lived, or grieved…..Pay attention to your authentic self”
So how do we find that authentic self and heal that part of us that has lost the feminine connection? The way for me is by being more embodied in my feminine. It is the feminine self, energy system, principle within ourselves that gives us the opening to be, express, relate and love who we are and be able to be present for another.
Marion also says “when you are living your own reality, you become the sovereign of your own life. You know who you are, you speak what you believe and there is a natural pride that goes with it. So I ask you are you living your authentic life? Do you embody the feminine principle? Are you feeling connected, loved, and seen? Let me know how you feel about these questions, I would love to hear from you. I believe that it is the feminine principle that will assist in healing our world.
Musings On Today’s Class
Posted by: | CommentsToday is Thursday, my movement class day, and my step-daughter and two of her friends from Sweden decided to join us. How wonderful it was to have three young women in class learning how to connect to their body. On the ride home, as kids will do, they talked and shared about their experience. At first they thought it was a bit weird, they felt awkward, and they felt uncomfortable having the permission to move more fluidly and with less structure.
We also did some partnering work, which I love to teach as it is about being in relationship with yourself and with another and the girls LOVED this part of the class. They loved being supported and they loved having someone support them. They really got the importance of taking care of yourself before taking care of another and how valuable that is. One of them expressed how she felt uncomfortable that someone was crying, and I explained how when we move into the body emotions get released and it is a good thing to have them expressed otherwise those emotions can build up in us and create other issues.
I was delighted to hear how these 17 year old girls got a piece of understanding about how to connect more deeply to their body…. and that made me feel like what I do is worth it. I encourage you to spend some free time moving/dancing and take your time to FEEL as you do. Don’t just move, move with intention and focus – your body, mind and spirit will love you for it, like the girls did. Post a comment below and share your experience? How did it go?
Secret Life of Bees
Posted by: | Comments“The body knows things a long time before the mind catches up to them. I was wondering what my body knew that I didn’t” . I love this quote. Lilly Owen is the main character in a Sue Monk Kidd’s book A Secret Life of Bees. So what does your body know that you need to know right now? Love to hear from you! Mine is telling me to take a break so I have time to prepare for my movement class tonight.
Meet Your Inner Child… The Key To Reclaiming Your Power
Posted by: | CommentsI am always talking about the importance of being connected to your body and tapping in to the wisdom and information that is stored there… for a happier & healthier life of freedom, success and fulfilment. People often ask me, “What do you mean?” ”What kind of information is in the body?” ”How do I do it?” Here are a few examples from recent sessions with clients to describe what I mean when I say that real transformation happens through the body.
Recently, two of my clients had major realizations about why they were feeling powerless and trapped in their lives, stuck and unable to move forward. Both were struggling with the direction of their career and relationship issues. Both described how lost and directionless they felt, and how they didn’t know how to break out of this cycle. Both yearning for the self-confidence to be able to enjoy their life, step into the career that is right for them and find the relationship they truly desire.
The first client (I’ll call her Suzy) shared about how she feels she cannot move forward with her career, and that she is always sabotaging relationships. As she was speaking, I asked her what she was feeling in her body. She described feeling tight and tense in her belly and chest area.
The other client (I’ll call him Joe) was very angry about his life and that he did not have a father figure “like everyone else”. His father had been an alcoholic and now he was visiting him in a mental hospital and feeling very bitter about doing that. Again, I asked him to feel into his body and tell me what he felt. He also described a tight and contracted feeling in his belly.
Together, we delved more deeply into the body sensations and we discovered something critical! What we found was a young part of them (the inner child) who felt abandoned, ignored, and desperate to be loved. For both Suzy and Joe, this was a part of them that they had completely forgotten about and neglected… and who is actually the key player in their search for fulfilment in career and relationship.
By bringing awareness into the place inside your body where you hold the tension, pain, and feelings, you are able to access the incredibly important “information” that your body is holding. Both Suzy and Joe found in the tense part in their belly a part of them that was forgotten. What do we do when we find this? I often use the analogy of walking into a room and there is a part of us shrivelled up in the corner, forgotten and abandoned. Maybe this is where you suppressed your dreams, or stored some earlier trauma or pushed aside something you were yearning to do.
How would you approach this part of yourself that has been pushed into the corner? Again, think of how you would approach a scared or timid child, or an animal that is cowering. Think about how you would walk into the room and be with this part. Would you rush up to it and grab it or try to lecture it or punish it? Most likely you would sit down and just “be” with it. It would take some time to let it get used to you and slowly begin to build a relationship with it.
When we enter the body and discover these new parts of us that have been long forgotten, it takes some time and patience to get to know them, to start listening to them, and to integrate them into our lives. It takes time and a committment to re-inhabit our body, and to trust what it is telling us. I continue to work with this on a daily basis myself. However, if we are looking for the joy, the juice of life, the passion to live our dreams, then we must bring our awareness into our body and learn what it has to say.
The Inner Child is very real and lives in our body. And until we become aware and conscious of it, it runs the show! Often in ways that are anything but what we want. The good news is that by finding this part of you in your body, acknowledging it, and then beginning to build a different kind of relationship with it based on love and trust… your entire LIFE can change for the better on every level.
Check out the BodyTip for this month… it’s a simple exercise to connect to your inner child in your body and to then start to build a different kind of a relationship with it. This process is so key to our feeling of power, confidence and happiness in life.
Let me know what you think! Ask a question! Share your experience! Leave a comment below or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you.
Setting Your Intentions… A NEW Paradigm
Posted by: | CommentsThis is the usual time of year to think about and contemplate our intentions and set goals for the new year. As you feel into your higher purpose and your direction for 2009, I encourage you to include your body. As you think, write, draw, or dance your intentions, allow the feelings to come through your body. In other words, don’t just let the intentions come from your mind but allow the body to be involved. What do I mean by this?
Well, when I write down or think about what it is I want to move towards this year, I check in with how it resonates in my BODY. I feel into what my intentions, ideal scenes and focus are for 2009. I bring my awareness into my body and then feel into what it has to say. I have parts of me that “think” they know what I want, or what’s best for me, or what I should want… so I allow myself to bring what I’ve come up with INTO my body and I get direct feedback about what is and is not actually in aligment for me. I get the TRUTH from my body, to the best of my ability to discern it. For example, when I feel into an idea or intention, does my body feel spacious? Or does it contract? Do I feel pleasure? Or agitation? Do I get a specific image with some useful information for me? etc…