Hello Precious Siblings ~
There is so much that is troubling in the world. So much calling out to us for care, attention, love and repair. And we live in a culture that is so dissatisfied (with itself, life and everything) that there is always something that seemingly needs to be fixed, changed, altered, and/or improved. And I see this bleed into the way we treat ourselves…like a project that is never quite good enough and so always needs tweaking. We are constantly encouraged to make things better, improve ourselves, grow and evolve because the current version isn’t satisfactory enough. So we put enormous energy into the objectification and project of ourselves and rarely pause long enough to notice if we are enjoying the results or if the efforts have landed us into a place of worth and value. To actually experience our life in the moment. And so the action of fixing and changing becomes the goal and how we assign meaning to our lives.
I am not saying that we are not here to grow and evolve as beings but I am curious as to the methods and the attitude. One of the things that has become increasingly clear to me over the years that I have been doing deeper and more refined somatic explorations with myself and others is that when we pause and notice what’s happening here and now it opens the doorway for movement. When we slow down enough to be with what is right here; be with ourselves in the state of the moment and attend to it with love and gentle consideration and attention, when we accept what is without trying to fix, change, improve, etc. Something magical happens. What has been dismissed and plowed through gets some light and some welcoming and in that process it moves, shifts, and unfurls on its own. And this movement is so much more organic and naturally timed. And honors the resting places and the stuck places and the shy places.
Yes, the natural state of the Universe is movement, pulse, vibration, change. And we are part of that. And it has its own rhythms and cycles and ways of knowing when and how. So tuning in and being with what is allows for this process to have its way with us; grow and evolve us. Which is a very different process than forcing the movement and demanding the change and dismissing any place where we land as just a jumping off place for what is next. What if this is a beautiful moment of blossoming? Opening to the pain, the grief, the utter joy, the pleasure and all of it? What if, in arresting the constant drive to improve ourselves we discover that there is so much to love and care for within us? And in that act of tending and tenderness we heal and honor and homecoming ourselves. Which, I think, is what many of us are longing for.
These are my ponderings for this month. I welcome your shares.
May we find ways to tend ourselves with gentleness and compassion
May we practice slowing down to notice what is and allow the unfold in its own way
May we offer ourselves and the world open attention without an agenda
May we bring wild blessings and fierce love to all we encounter
Practice Prompts:
- When there is a moment of strong affect, take a moment to meet yourself in it. Pause and feel the sensations, perhaps put a hand on your heart or your belly and accompany yourself in the experience. Can you step out of the need to fix it and just feel it? And in that process can you notice what happens and what shifts within you? What is is like to offer yourself kindness and presence when being in the thick of life? Practice this with different emotions and affects as they are all portals into your aliveness and into your unfurling.
- Begin to notice the frequency with which you bring an attitude of fix, improve and manage to yourself and your circumstance. Notice any of the language you may use that objectifies you as a project. What does it feel like to live with that pressure all or much of the time? Is there a way to shift some of the language and also the pressure? Investigate this for yourself with kindness.
- I offer one to one sessions, in-person in Bend, Oregon, and virtually all over the world. These sessions are centered on supporting you finding nervous system capacity and resiliency through various practices including but not limited to Somatic Experiencing®, Continuum Inquiry and various embodying practices. Respond to this email or schedule a free 20 minute Exploratory Session.
Practice Opportunities:
Virtual:
- Yoga for Resilience, Mondays, 9:30-11am PT, livestream through Body of Insight (no class May 18, 25, June 1 & 15)
- All Levels Yoga, Sundays… June 21, July 5, July 17, 9:30-11am PT, livestream through Two Dog Yoga
Inspirational Wisdom
Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front
Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.
So, friends, every day do something
that won’t compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.
Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.
Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.
Listen to carrion – put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?
Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.
As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn’t go. Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.
