To my Students in Massage School

Your client lies upon your table. He is in two parts.

His mind is busy. He has trouble at work. Pressures upon him from the home front. He cant seem to get ahead and now there is a pain coming from his body that worries him.

His body. This thing that does as he wishes 24/7. The arms that work, steer his truck, pick up his children, the legs that propel him thru life, the organs that perform without so much as a single thought. This thing he doesn’t really know, his own body, is “letting him down” and he hopes you can help. The doctor has sure tried.

He is in two parts. His mind and his body.
He lives in his mind. The place life is, decisions are made, emotion is felt, everything!! In his mind! And then, you lay your hand on his back and his mind stops.

Stops cold.

As you begin working, moving with a good firm discerning stroke, over, up and down his back, feeling the tone of his soft tissues, his mind stops.

His “mental eyeballs” are under your hands. His mind is right there! Under your hands!
He is slowly moving out of his busy, chatty, constantly talking mind, into his very own quiet, listening, truthful body.

That area of tension you feel on the right? He feels it now. Didn’t know it was there!
Interesting.
When you slowly press deeper he feels that pain he thought was a failing kidney. The pain that had him spend thousands of hard earned dollars on trying to find out what it was.
And you!
In ten minutes! You found it.

Here is the deal.

Back when this man was a tiny embryo, a layer of his original cells, called the ectoderm became his skin and his nervous system.

Hold on!!

Think about that for a second. The skin and the brain are connected in ways that when you lay your hands on this client and do the work you are being trained in, every touch, every movement coaxes new feelings on the skin and new awareness in the mind of your client.

The central nervous system and the skin are made from the same embryonic layer of cells.

So when you massage your client know (take confidence in it!) that your skilled hands quiet their minds.
Something that just doesn’t happen out there in the world much.

You bring that client back into their body. They once again become aware of themselves, which, as we know, self awareness brings so many benefits to the body, mind and spirit that we wholly are.

As you learn the basics of the human body, as you move thru your schooling, pay attention to the magic. Even if it is as small and unnoticed as a layer of a cell dividing and becoming.

Breathing is underrated

I cant tell you how many times a day I find myself holding my breath. Why? Why do I do this? I like to breath. I know it is good for me and that my body can do it without me thinking about it. Yet, when I am working at my job I find myself breathing shallowly and holding my chest and shoulders tight.
I am glad for the body awareness. I am glad for the times I catch myself in moments of tenseness and holding. Because I can stop clenching and start breathing deeply again.

I sort of smile because it shows me time and time again how the body and the mind are so connected. The brain talks and the body listens.

There are things about breathing that I want to share with you. Things I find are so cool and so helpful I just cant keep them to myself!

I have learned so many things in school and out of school. This is because I am one of those people who listen to what the teacher is saying and I take pretty good notes. But later on in the old home space, I dig in. I read all kinds of books about the subject, or I find other articles concerning the lessons learned in class and before you know it, the evening lecture has blossomed into a 3 dimensional real live event for me.

My brain starts linking this fact or that fact to past events of my own life or those of others. And I recall things I have learned in the past, and in my mind, lines begin to connect and color starts filling in the spaces and it begins to move and become clear and then feel it and it is then that… I get it!

Yee-ha!

I like this breathing thing. It is highly underrated. We all know that breathing brings oxygen to our cells. They need it. Without the oxygen that is held by your red blood cells you wouldnt be able to think one thought or move one single muscle of your body. Breathing assists in circulation which brings the oxygen where it is needed so you can actually think and move.

Not only that, but when you breathe, really deeply breathe, your diaphragm assists the movement of lymph and blood thru your body. And it is lymph that carries some really awesome anti-bodies that can help you NOT get a cold when your fellow worker has one.

The lymphatic system is not pump (heart) driven like the circulatory system is. It depends on you getting up off your couch or chair and moving. Walking, running, playing. Breathing.

When you breath deeply, your diaphragm expands in your chest. And it presses up against your spine, inside of you, where the large lymph vessels nestle in with the large veins and the arteries that carry blood. And your deep breathing moves this fluid. It moves the blood in your veins that also rely on muscle movement to get that deoxygenated blood up from your feet back into your heart so that it can be brought back to your lungs where it can be re oxygenated (Ha!) by your breathing.

Deep breathing calms you. And if you focus on your breathing, the slow, rhythmic in and out, in and out, you can meditate and clear your mind for some true deep relaxation and centering. Also underrated.

Breathing is beneficial on so many fronts that I am surprised no one has ever taken the time to tell me about it until now! If I had known this as a mom raising kids, I would have taught my kids to meditate and do some deep breathing. Kids have a lot to bear these days, I am sure they would benefit from meditating and centering, thus creating some excellent habits for adulthood.

Breathing deeply makes you mindful of your posture too. You have to sit up straight, un-kink your spine to get a good inhale. And by straightening up, you bring the pressure up off of your internal organs and they get some more of that beautiful oxygen.

The realization that our veins carry blood back up to the heart and do not have much (blood)pressure at all to do so made me think hard about this breathing/movement thing. My muscles act as the pumps to move deoxygenated blood and lymph fluids back up to my heart, utilizing the one way valves in the veins and vessels to keep it going up against gravity. This motivates me to move. To walk. To get the fluids moving to benefit each cell of my body and every system it consists of.

I am learning these things because massage moves this fluid as well. A good deep tissue massage moves lymph fluids, oxygenated blood and glandular secretions around, bathing our cells in new fluids and moving out the wastes. It builds our immune system and aids in keeping sickness away.
I am grateful that I have chosen this profession to help others live a mindful life, aware of their body and the beautiful inter-workings of it.

Deep breathing is easy for all of us to do. As we approach the winter many folks get colds and sniffles. My advice is to breath deep, and do it often. Drink plenty of good clean water, and get plenty of sleep. Engage in something pleasurable, too. Happiness is a healer.

When your mind is involved in something you enjoy, the body listens.

Evacuated!

This overfull lake has inundated the drinking water system of my RV Park. No water for a while for us.

Park under water.

Flooding at the RV Park. One lake blending with another.

The river pouring into the lake creating potential danger for all of us in the RV Park.

When we came to Colorado to go to school I half expected to be driven insane with daily smoke from distant fires, or evacuated with a close dangerous fire burning nearby. Both of these things I have lived with as I am originally from this ‘High Desert” climate.

I never would have dreamed of being evacuated because of water. Lots of it. Too much of it. Colorado has received a years worth rain in just few days.

At 3:30am we were awakened with 5 or more cop cars charging into the RV park we are staying at here close to the Poudre River. My husband and I thought that they were on a search for a criminal. And when they began pounding on the doors of RV’s and cabins, we thought that someone was hiding out in our park, trying to escape the police.

My husband is a man of action, so he donned his shorts and shirt and went out into the rainy night to see what was going on.

It was a mandatory evacuation. Now. The Poudre river was out of it’s banks and pouring into the lake in the park. The concern was that the out of control river may flood the park quickly. Leave now. With or without your rigs.

Standing outside, getting soaked with the heavy rain, we could hear the sound of rushing waters. But we just couldn’t see a darn thing! It was unnerving.

At 4am the world is not friendly. It is full of fear and potential danger. It is a hard time of day to gather and feel good about your thoughts. I process things very differently at 4am. And I don’t work very well under pressure, especially at 4am.

My husband does. He was taking the steps to unhook from the park and hook up our rig to our truck. He was not going to leave it here to be damaged by flood waters. It is all we have, he said. It is our home.

So, while he worked outside in the rain, I worked inside, preparing for travel and movement. Pictures, seashells and pretty rocks had to be put in the drawers. Dishes secure. The furniture rearranged so that the slide-outs could be brought in. I filled water bottles and jugs. Who knows how long we would be without water?

As Trey and I worked, my mind was on alert, yet strangely calm. I was not angry. I was afraid but not panicked.
In one strange moment I was cleaning the counters and remembering stories I have read and heard of where the jewish people were driven from their homes by the advancing Nazis and had only moments to gather their belongings and leave their homes. Stories where the women of the house cleaned up and made the beds, with only minutes to gather their belongings. The husbands prying the brooms from the hands of their wives, who were unable to mentally process what was happening to their world.

I threw the rag down, like it stung me and continued working toward leaving.

We left the park, directed by police and city workers. There was an escape route explained to each of us, as many roads had been closed to travel. There was no way to go from the north of the city where we were, to the south, as the city of Ft Collins is divided in half by the mighty Poudre River and its many bridges. Beautiful when it is flowing normally, dangerous now with all of this rain. We wound up taking refuge in a grocery store parking lot. And we were not alone. There were many other RV’s parked in rows. An instant RV park made possible by King Soopers Grocery Store.

While it continued to rain Trey and I crawled into our bed and slept fitfully for 5 hours.

The sun was out when we awoke and it had finally stopped raining!! We made some coffee and began assessing our situation.

Ours was not a bleak situation. There are many more people in this area who have lost everything. Whole farms are under water. Damaged with silt and debris. Whole homes, businesses and towns destroyed by rushing turbulent waters. Miles and miles of roads washed away. Even a few lives have been lost and many missing. We considered ourselves extremely lucky.

Toward the end of the day we were able to return to the park as the waters of the lake were pouring into a field to the East of the RV sites, thus making it okay to park back into our spot. There is no running water and we have to remain on alert. But it is better than parking at a grocery store parking lot.

Life is full of surprises. Some good, some bad, some half and half. Things like this bring you back to the fact that your life and your plans are fragile and may go south on you. It reminds you to embrace goodness and peace where you can because it may not last. It helps to remain flexible and accommodating and non-judgemental.

And for me, it reminds me to let go. Go with the flow yet remain true to what I hold dear. I find again that it is not what “things” I have around me that are important. It is the people and the love and the connection of others that hold me together.

Turn away or turn toward life?

When a foetus is in utero a gentle stroke upon the cheek causes the little life to turn away: At the tender age of seven and a half weeks in utero, the head turns away from this touch. As the baby grows, the whole body turns away.

But when the baby is born, a gentle touch to the cheek causes the baby to turn toward the stroke in search of a nipple, in search of nourishment.
A stimulus that once meant “Danger! Protect!” now means “Pleasure! Grope till you find it!”.

Our bodies have sensory reflexes that keep us upright in a world of gravity that tries to bring us down, and it has sensory reflexes that respond to pain in order to keep us alive and safe.
Our bodies also have sensory reflexes that respond to pleasure, interest and nourishment so that we can have meaningful, productive, happy lives.

If our reflexes were just meant to keep us upright and away from pain, life could become pretty mundane and fearful. And for some, this is how it is. And this is what I want to look at. Because I do not wish to live a life without pleasure, happiness and purpose besides protecting my own ass.

Once we are born and begin to grow and develop as children, the world is full of information and experiences that shape how we respond to life. Our emotions and feelings are key to this development because it is the “higher brain” that interprets all of this stimuli from our early life, thus coloring how we looked at it then and how we look at life now.

We naturally create a pattern of responses to life. Some people gravitate towards a closed, “turning away” pattern of response, and others tend toward an open, “turning toward” pattern of response to life. And these patterns are cumulative, so that one builds upon the other, thus affecting how we look and respond to life. Are we stiff, fearful, closed and turning away? Or are we supple, relaxed, open and turning toward life?

A child who is not open to change or adventure has at some point in their past “felt” threatened. They inwardly “turned away” emotionally in order to prevent pain or emotional harm or physical danger, whatever it was in their life/mind at the time. And the next event that occurred would have been colored by the previous experience. This is how we learn, in a very simplistic example, to respond to life.

And this is how it builds, one upon the other so that the child who becomes an adult has pain in the low back, stomach or head pains or chronic depression or anxiety. The list of maladies is endless actually.

The child who is open and excited by adventure and seeks it out, delighting in all life has to offer has escaped the perceived pain or emotional danger somehow. They have not felt the need to close up and turn away. Indeed, they have been rewarded by turning toward life and experience and this too has a cumulative affect on their life as they grow toward adulthood.

So now, here we are. We have grown up. We look at life in all of our different ways, and yet, there are really two ways arent there? Do we “turn away” or “turn toward” life?

If we take this train way back to our childhood, we can see that these were self-protective built in reflexes in response to negative or positive stimuli that brought us here, and these reflexes were interpreted by our higher minds. And these belief systems can now be changed if we wish to become more open to life and what it has to offer.

A child who has fear and anxiety can become a child who is open and ready for life and its adventures. It takes consistant gentle touch, kind words and encouragement to bring the cheek around. Ignoring the response, forceful touch and angry words will only reinforce the turning away.

The same is true for us adults who struggle with fear and stiffness and perceive the world as a threat to be avoided. With gentle touch and kindness and love we find that it is safe to turn our bodies toward the stimulus, toward the adventure, toward the experience. And over time, the turning toward life will be rewarded with pleasure and happiness and purpose of being.

I have to say that the one thing that does make the difference here is what we tell ourselves. The self-talk. It is the “higher mind” that interprets all things. It is what sets us apart from salamanders.

We truly are creatures of habit and adaptations and mind over matter.
Just as our bodies can be trained to run races, work for 8 hours on a concrete floor, create jewelry at microscopic levels or drill out a tooth for a filling, so can our minds be trained to open up to something new, pushing fear away and finding the beauty and the good in life . As a matter of fact is was the mind that was trained to perceive danger or delight in the first place!

It can be changed. We can turn that ship around with different thinking, and taking that chance. We are captains of our ship, and we can turn that wheel and look at life from a different angle. You just have to want to.

Back when I was a kid, I used to climb up onto the back of horses that were not mine. They were out to pasture for the winter or they were just in the corral, whiling away the hours in sun-baked boredom. I would sneak in the tall grass or barn shadows up to the horse, making sure the owners didnt spot me from the living room window. I would slip on the makeshift halter of bailing twine I made and lead the horse to a private corner. Then I would climb up onto the back of this horse who literally was a stranger to me, and I to him. And I would ride. Or lay there drinking in his horsey body. I knew no fear. Only delight.

Fast forward to me as an adult. I would NEVER do that! Who was that child! Where were her parents? Ha! What changed?

My thinking of course. Now I am afraid to go riding because I might fall off and break something, right?
And when I shoo off that fear and climb upon the equine back, I am euphoric and exhilarated!
My “thinking” changed. There really wasnt an experience that caused me to fear horses. I just grew up and had to buy insurance and learned that broken arms are expensive.

A dear woman who came to me in massage school clinic could not lift her arm above her forehead. Just to move her bangs caused her pain. She was so afraid that she would have to cut her hair short like her mother and her grandmother because pain in the shoulder means you cant braid your long hair anymore. Her whole future and personality was being altered by pain and the fear it generated. And understandably so!

With gentle massage, and some lengthening of some shortened muscles, and some releasing of very tight muscles that had been ratcheted tight as a drum by her increasing fears, we worked her range of motion passively as she watched me with her wide eyes. She did not realize she could actually move her arm that high! She got up off the table and went to brush her bangs back and had no pain. She began to cry. “I dont have to cut my hair now,” she said.

I share this example because it was gentle touch and kind encouragement that showed this lady a different perspective for her life. There is a bunch of energy in the human touch. And there is a bunch of energy in thinking positively. And there is all the energy in the world in your mind to live your life fully and fearlessly. Take it one baby step at a time. After all, that is exactly how it began in the first place. One baby step at a time.

RV Living

Trey is shoveling snow off the roof of the RV.

Trey built many piles of roots and branches like this one, to be chipped.

The Rig is skirted for the winter months, adding protection from the wind and cold.

RV Living with Waddie lookin’ for critters.

We live in an RV. By choice. When we were newly married, Trey and I bought a Four Seasons Kountry Star 5th wheel and lived in it up in Rock Creek, Montana. Year round. Ever since that experience, we have always loved it more than living in a house. Cost is one reason. Our debt load is far less, but it has been more than that reason alone that has drawn us to RV living.

It is a simple kind of living. The space is small and cozy (ours is 333 square feet). It is quicker to clean (I got it down to a 1/2 hour). You cant have a lot of junk in your possession (do we really need it and where would we put it, honey?). You never have to yell to each other to hear each other ( I heard that!). You have 10 gallons of hot water for a shower, so your quick about it (don’t run the water now, I’m showering!).

When it snows you have a “fun” feeling about it because you sorta feel like your “camping” and the feeling of camping in the snow IS fun!
You also feel vunerable and “thin skinned” because you are. The skin of a 5th wheel rig is far “thinner” than the 2×6 construction of a home. This makes you feel closer to the outside world. You feel closer to nature and all she has to offer.

Now, before you get all googly-eyed on me thinking how “neat” it is to live in an RV, I have to tell you the down sides. Because you are living in “thin skin” you ARE closer to nature, but nature is not all warm winds and verdant shades of bliss. There are strong winds, and cold and ice and rain that you are “close” to in an RV. You can hear all the sounds that weather throws at you. The heaters (we have two propane forced air heaters) run alot. And the floor tends to be chilly so you must always wear your fuzzy slippers. You have to keep the rig well ventilated so the windows dont ice up. (Our rig has double pane windows that give off good warmth when it is sunny and tend not to ice up).

But oh my…The breezes thru the windows on a spring day! The sounds of the owls calling in the January night. The coyotes song to give me chills when it is dark (OMG Trey! They are right-out-there!) The smells of the pine trees on the breeze. The muffled silence of a two foot snowfall! These things are priceless to us. And these are some of the reasons that keep us living in our RV year round.

We live in Maine. Years ago, we bought 24 acres and began clearing an acre of trees. We put in a driveway, drilled a well, ran electricity to a post and installed a septic tank. Wa-La! Our very own personal RV site. This is our home and it is here we also began planting fruit trees, berry bushes, and a few gardens. It is a project in motion, that will be amazing when we are done, and that may be years and years from now. How exciting to think that we have years of hard work and fun ahead of us!

This is creating. To take a heavily wooded lot, clear it of trees, move dirt, huge rocks, piles of branches, roots and small stones and then create gardens, an RV site, a path along our rock wall, a small orchard! This is creating a living painting, a living sculpture. And what about all of the “woods” we took out? Rather than haul it away to a dump, we utilized everything! Smaller branches were chipped and composted. This we use to mulch our fruit trees. Rocks are always usable and weeds and needles add to the organic matter of the soil. Big ol tree roots and branches are laid end to end around the perimeter to slowly compost back to soil, but, in the meantime so many little birds nest under them and feed in and amongst them. Small animals make homes there, and all manner of life LOVES brush piles and root piles. (I once observed a snake and a mouse inches from each other. The mouse did not move a muscle for many, many minutes. It was frozen in an awkward position that made me want to help it, but it remained motionless. The snake moved on and that little mouse took off like a torpedo into the brush!)

To create a small farm, an orchard, a home place out of the woods, is this not an expression from the heart? To take an idea in the head and make it something real? For Trey and I, the dreaming and imagining of an idea is how we entertain ourselves. It lifts our spirits to draw out ideas on paper, research materials and costs, forcast gross income, break it down into tiny steps and then move on the idea. To set a plan in motion is utopia for us. To see it come to fruition-this is our heaven on earth. Yes there are road blocks and it is not ever easy! Nothing is! But as I look out of my windows at the work that is done and the work that is undone I am happy. I have another day to create beauty in gardens, orchards, soil and our life.

As I write this, I am in Colorado, going to school to become a massage therapist. (Yet another one of our “Ideas”!) We are working stiffs investing in me learning a trade so that we can return to Maine and make our living working, farming and bringing healing through massage to people who desire it. After years of “working for the corporations” we have desired to create a quality of life that feeds our soul, our bellies, and our social needs to be part of our community in Maine. This takes years of thinking, scheming and working to make it happen and every small step in that direction makes us smile and continue!

Whatever it is that you dream of-keep dreaming. Make small steps toward reaching that dream. Dont wait for the “big thing” to motivate you or propel you into your dream. It wont come. You have to make it happen, one small step, one sweaty brow, one held breath at a time.

May I introduce myself?

My husband and I.

I want to introduce myself to you in this post. It is my desire to open myself up to the possibilities of life in establishing this blog. And there are more possibilities available when you get up off the couch, head out door and involve yourself with people.

This blog is just one way I am opening up myself. I am also going to school to become a massage therapist, at 51 years of age.

There is nothing overly special or interesting about me or my life. However, it is the sharing of our similarities and desires, likes and dislikes, hopes and dreams that make us interesting to each other. We like good company on this journey of life, dont we?

My husband says I am an “easy keeper”. I dont care much for things, and I spend less than 48 seconds getting ready for work in the morning. I forget what I look like sometimes, and am shocked by what I see in the mirror when I do look into one. I love to be outside, in the weather, in the woods, on the shore of the ocean, in the water, wherever I find it. I cannot see a creek or a river or a lake without putting my feet into it. I have to “Know” it that way.

I grew up around horses, animals and nature, and it is there I am most comfortable. I have the patience it takes to sleep in the woods, without moving, waiting for the unsuspecting deer to walk by within a few feet of my body. I have held finches in both hands as they ate seeds from my palms, because I was there enough for them to get used to me. I have spent whole days laying on the back of a horse, feeling the shift of his back end as he rests the right foot, and then, the left. Listening to the grind of his molars and the breath in his chest.

I just cant get enough of trees, plants, critters and rain. And I gain most of my belief systems from these things. Nature teaches me. She has been my psychotherapist, my friend, my teacher and my guide all of my life.

This is a thumbnail scratch of me on the insides.

I have two children. My daughter is an amazing person, full of plausable dreams, passion and intellegence. She is a CDL holding, roller derby-ing, screenplay writing, archery lovin mother of my four grandkids. You must get up real early in the morning to get ahead of her!

My son was taken from me when he was 24. He died in his sleep wrestling the many demons that he aquired from “War in the Middle East”, with the help of drugs and alcohol.

That is a subject worthy of discussion at another date and time.

I am married to the best man alive who has my deepest respect and love. Without him, I shudder to think where I would be. He has saved me and taught me to stand on my own two feet and think. He never tells me what to do, but he communicates with me about all possible options and outcomes. And he never plays “mind games”. Something I hold very dear. He is a straight shooter right out of Texas.

I am three months away from graduating from the Healing Arts Institute in Ft. Collins, Colorado. To write that sentence is a miracle. To be in school, to know what I want to be “when I grow up” is an unexpected treasure in my life. I never thought it was possible to be where I am now. And yet, here I am!

I love being in school, learning about the human body, how to bring healing and relief from pain sans the side effects of surgery and pills. I am eager each day of class to aquire more skill and more knowledge of the body and to talk with and learn from teachers who are massage therapists themselves and who know “how it is” out there in the real world of massage therapy.

For the past 6 months I have been eating and drinking massage and body work. I read every chance I get. I have been practicing on people I work with. My husband has let me practice and learn on him and he has been a gracious victim as I freeze him with ice, heat him with rocks, push on him here and pull on him there. I have had his legs up to his ears to “try this” and I have oiled him up enough times to make him a 1st place winner in a greased pig contest. I have asked people who walk by my 5th wheel RV (where I live) if they want a massage so I can practice. At work I help people who have various aches and pains and it is not unusual to find me behind a bread rack with my fingers in a fellow worker’s shoulders.

In this way I have opened myself up to life. In this new adventure I have opened myself up to possibilities.

My mom died in January of this year. She was my best friend and no one believed in me like she did. We spoke almost daily, and the love between us was a refuge for me. We saw each other through a lot of life’s ups and downs and she always came out above the situations. She was a true optimist and a lover. And these gifts of optimism and love she gave me, and I hold them close and use them every day.

It was after she died that I decided to become a massage therapist. I never even concieved of the notion until after her passing. But when it came to me, it was like it was meant-to-be. It was like the idea was always a part of me, always behind the curtain.

I have spent my life learning about mental and physical well being and how to obtain it thru natural and gentle means. My learning has led me to farming organically ( My husband and I have a small farm” in the works” in Maine, where our home is.) and bodywork and massage. Both of which will give me the quality of life I desire. It was like all of the dots of my life came together in a drawing I can easily see and go for. I believe my mom “finished her business” with me after she died, clearing the fog of life from my brain and wispering in my ears the thoughts and visions that came to me after she died. I love that my mom’s influence is braided into my life’s choice right now.

I will end this here. It is difficult to encapsulate a life into a few paragraphs, and it is hard to know what to put in and what to leave out.

It is my hope that I can meet new people, and share new adventures with others who have similar stories. We are in this together, all of us, in one way or another arent we?

Awareness of our body

How is it that we can know our selves? We most assuredly know how we “feel” about ice cream. We know the route we like to drive to work. We are fully “in tune” with our daily drama and list of things to do. We are aware of our many likes and dis-likes, especially as we age.
But this is in the “mind” that we are “in tune”. Our mind is where we live. It is where we hang out, run things, organize our life.
I am an “over-thinker”. Every one of my teachers has laughed out loud by just looking at me, with my eyes all screwed up into my head, my lips thin and pressed, my heavy brows knitted in thought. They know that I struggle with learning, but they also know and tell me repeatedly that I dont need to work so hard at it. “Relax and let it come to you”. “Calm down and let your hands find it, feel it, know it…”
I am learning to be in my body too, not just in my mind. My body knows things. It knows LOTS of things. I can accomplish alot by stepping out of the “captains chair” of my head and visiting the ‘engine rooms’ of my body.
To be aware of our bodies, we must expose it to touch. To objects, to people. We must get off of the couch and walk, duck under trees, fall on our knee and scrap it. We must roll down a grassy embankment, and swim in cold water. Our bodies “find themselves” by touch, by feeling.
When a baby is new in the world it learns by touch and by being touched. It finds out who it is by touch and by being touched. Without touch the new baby would die. And in a short amount of time.
A child learns by touch. Watch children outside. They are rolling, and running with arms out wide, they are falling into each other, jumping in puddles of water, climbing fences, a hundred different activities all involving touching and the body to be touched. The body in motion will be touched, and it is in this touching and being touched that the body will learn where it is in the world and who it is in the world.
Proprioception is the body’s ability to orient itself in space. And the proprioceptors of our body are always changing, adjusting to the reality of our worlds as we create it. If, over days, weeks, months, years, decades, we dont expose our bodies to motion and touching and exploration of our world, then these proprioceptors, along with our minds, emotions, opinions of the world and all that is in it, our muscles, and our bones and our movements will become small and inhibited. Our lives become small, inhibited and stiff.
What would you say, if I told you that touch determines how smart you are? What if I told you that your body is a mirror of your mind and your emotions and your belief systems? What if I reminded you of all of those experiments of the 50’s and 60’s that withheld touch to young children as they grew, and wound up creating emotionally and physically handicapped adults?
We must be touched to develop into healthy people. And we must be touched to maintain health. Our body needs touch in the same way it needs water and air and food.
Now what do I mean by touch? I mean the kind of touch that you get when you go out into the world and use your body. To walk, to run, to swim, to roll on the ground, to dance with another, to have intercourse, to hold another human in your arms, to play with your dog on all fours, to lay on the floor and stretch each of your limbs and back and neck. To pick flowers, to ride a horse, to ski on water, sidewalks, sand and snow. To ride a bike, and to feel rain on your face and body. This is what I mean by touch. These kinds of things.
Our body must “feel” its place in the world. It wants to re-orient itself and open itself up into something new. And when you do this something magical happens.
Your mind is changed. You are not as depressed. You are not self absorbed. You think of another person. You find that you are laughing. Your mind is refreshed and invigorated in a way you havent felt in such a log time.
And this is profound to me. The workings of the mind and the body. The reality that my emotions and how I interpret the world is layered in my muscles, etched in my nueropathways, infused in my chemical make-up. And, thankfully, my body and my mind is a continual “work-in-process”. It is not in stone, unmovable, unchangable.
I can refresh my mind now, and change my habits now, and alter my damaging posture now, and gain better range of motion now. By getting up and moving out of my comfort zone and exposing myself to touch.
To become aware of our body requires being touched and touching. Touch is how we learn. Touch stirs emotions. Touch conveys emotion. Touch is healing. Almost magical.
In school, my teachers guide my hands and therefore guide my mind. And each one conveys the importance of intuition, intention, and body awareness. These are things that my “mind” has a hard time grasping, but my body already knows.

The Neck

It will come as no surprise to those who know me that I think the human body is amazing. Actually, most of us feel this way. We have been amazed at how quickly we heal from some sort of damage to our skin or bones, and those who have suffered through cancer or disease and have come out of it know better than anyone how amazing our bodies are.
Our body wants to heal. Like a plant wants to grow, our body wants to heal from damage and disease. Given the proper nutrition, rest, water and hope, our bodies do very well. Just like a plant that is given good soil, water, sunshine/shade will do very well.
But in our world today, this simple recipe for health is, well, not so simple. And there are many reasons for this. Each one of us could go into the details that make “doing very well” such a challenge. Our jobs, a poor relationship, the fears that paralyze us, the bad water we have to drink, the lack of money to buy good foods, the addictions that lock us up, the guilt and self doubt we carry, the awful neighbor, the relentless noise around us, these and hundreds of other things challenge our health.
And yet, our bodies keep going. The compensation skills our body has is mind blowing. If we have pain in our back and it hurts to walk, our body will recruit muscles that “do other things” to help us walk. And when those muscles get weary, others will be brought in to compensate for the compensation. It is a domino effect of keeping us upright and moving each and every day.
This ability of the body to keep going, compensate and heal, will over years get harder to do, as we age. Understandably so. At some point a plant will become weaker and will die. So it is with us.
And years of compensation, pain, adaption to “challenges” and “the realities of daily life” will be etched in our bodies. Like the aspen leaf in the fall has brown spots and big chunks missing where a bug enjoyed part of it for a meal, so it goes with us. Our lives are in our body, written in the muscle fibers, in the bone structure, in the way our toes bend, in our facial wrinkles, in our teeth. Virtually every inch of our body bears the tale of our life.
And then there is the neck.
The place on our body, between the head (our mind) and our body. The place that is the conduit between what we tell ourselves everyday in our self talk, and the body that listens.
The Mind is where we live. We, like the captain of a great ship, sit in our mind and live there. What we feel matters. What we think is “where it is at”. We are hungry, so we grab a bite to eat. We see a chocolate brownie with walnuts and we want it so we eat it. We watch TV or a movie and enjoy the “make believe adventure” that is in our eyes. We see the weather and feel happy about it, or bummed by it. It is in our minds that we live. Not so much with our body.
For some people, they dont pay much attention to the body. They really never look between their toes. They dont pay much attention to what their body is saying or feeling unless it really is painful or exhausting.
And the neck is in the middle. The communication from the mind goes through the neck to the body, and the body, which is not really seen or heard, communicates to the mind thru that same neck.
So, is it any wonder that our neck hurts. This “middleman/woman” is tight, cramped, bent, and tired. Being that it is part of the body, it is ignored. Until the pain is loud enough. Until you cant really look behind your shoulder very well, or until the tension gets the best of you.
The neck.
If you want to hear your body, listen to your neck and what it is telling you. If you have gone for years “numbed out”, it may be time to change that habit. If you are young, the time is now to sit up straight, put your shoulders back, put down the electronic device and take a walk.
When you can swing the time, take a half hour and listen to your body. Quiet the mind, and listen to your feet. What would they say to you if you would listen? What does your back have to say? Tell the mind, “hush. For 30 min. just hush and let me listen to my body and see what it needs.”
And while you are listening, give it love. Love that body of yours for holding you up, digesting your food, taking you shopping, touching your children. Love that body of yours and stop telling it “I wish you were different”.
And listen to your neck. The middle place between your mind and your body.

The Beginning!

This is our beginning!