Hello Embodied Wise Ones –

Hello Wild Elements Frolicking as a Human Body and Psyche –

In June we adopted two 8 week old kittens! Oh my goodness… what aliveness, curiosity, silliness and softness. Our house is so full of life as it unfurls and discovers itself in the form of cats. Each day reveals new combinations of neurons and co-ordinations that come together with a fresh curiosity of the world around them. This in turn reveals new skills and abilities that weren’t there days before. It is the curiosity of what is on the counter that drives the ability to jump and leap to ever increasing heights. It is the desire to connect with humans that drives them to meow and make efforts to communicate.

It is the same with us as little ones. No one explained how the muscles and other parts of anatomy work in order for us to learn to walk. What propelled us was a desire to explore the world around us, to reach another place or connect with another being. This is how we intrinsically learned the coordination of sitting up, crawling, standing, and walking. Curiosity and play are at the heart of organization and co-ordination.

It is important we continue this way of exploring, inquiring, and seeking newness in order to prevent becoming rigid and limited in our bodies and minds. So much of what we do is prescribed and laid out with a right and wrong way of doing things rather than an invitation to explore and discover. Resiliency of body and mind are nurtured with a balance of familiarity and newness, known and unknown, safety and risk. 

I invite you to let Blue and Lynxie be your guides… start to play and try new things on a regular basis. Explore your edges not by pushing harder but by doing things slightly differently or in a different order or in a different place. Or not doing them at all and doing something completely new! Give it a go and let us know what you discover!

Practice Prompts:

• Instead of having the goal of a certain yoga asana (pose) in mind and all the particulars you have learned about what goes where and why.  Try creating your own versions…just because someone codified a particular configuration doesn’t mean it is the only right way!
• Dance once a day to your fav tunes.
• Take a different route to work, learn a new skill and enjoy being less competent and fumbly and enjoy the process of co-ordination and understating coming online.
• Come in for a Resiliency Session and explore the wisdom of your body and learn new ways to cultivate your resiliency.

Inspirational Wisdom:

The Heart Moving

Scratch your left ear with your right foot by all means

But show me how your heart moves

Stand on your head til the cows come home
Or show me a thousand different points of view
Flip flop and drop back
Another 108 sun salutes just like that,
But I’d rather know if you can meet every edge in your body with kindness
If you have the courage to uncover and tolerate the truth about yourself
And lift your neighbor across fields of muddy waters
Bending over backwards to offer out whatever you have left.

The absolute gift of breath flowing with consummate ease through every joint
The moment to moment knowledge of how each beautiful step initiates, transfers and completes
Gliding quietly and smoothly, transition after transition
The quiet grace of the wild cat
Each dawn awakening fresh and vibrant
And the night, not a collapse in a heap, but a presence to the wonderful art of resting
Liquid pouring onto the earth
Facing the end with a breathing centre
And be held with great love

And turn and wonder, “My beloved, how does kindness move here?”

~ Neal Goshal