Are you kind to yourself?

Are you kind to yourself?

Today I participated in a pruning course for hundred-year-old olive trees and young olive and fruit trees. We have a lot of old olive trees that were treated in such a way that they are screaming for help. I wanted to know for myself if pruning can be an act of kindness. I have seen horrendous things happen when chain saws and eager farmers come together to assure as many olives as possible.

Actually I learned what my heart already knew. Now my mind knows how to follow both my heart and that of the tree. Basically, there are two ways of pruning:
One is about a productive tree. The tree serves only as a production machine for olives and has no other value to the farmer. A bit like how animals are treated in the bio-industry. It hurts me terribly to see that. Afterward, there is a stumpy tree that has been robbed of its soul and shape, where first there was a proud big grandpa tree of 100 years. They call this the hard way.

There is also a way of pruning that is about collaborating with the tree. You listen to the tree its growth wishes. You help the tree find its structure again, by creating order out of chaos so that the nutrition can get from the roots to the branches. In this way, the tree has a clear focus again and can remain healthy. It can grow in such a way that it has an equilibrium. It’s called pruning with a heart for the tree. And you see the tree flourish when you prune.

What does this have to do with people and movement? Everything!!!

Our bodies have more in common with a living being like a tree than with a machine or a robot. (Did you know that a tree also has a kind of nervous system in its root system?) I just have to look at the way many of us have become alienated from the body and force the body to look and move in a way that ignores its intelligence and design… Turning a deaf ear to the body’s messages.

In the somatic movement classes of Feldenkrais, we are like the pruners working with the tree by gently pruning away neural ‘branches’ that get in the way of our resilience and growth. We listen with curious attention to the body, to its desires in movement, and to the ´noise`: The habits that interfere with its ability to move freely. We explore the internal relationships that have been disrupted by what we have learned in the past, by pain experiences, emotions, our thoughts, etc.

And we ask the nervous system ´What are the neural patterns behind these habits and how can we rewire or unwire these gently?´

Pruning is then looking for ways of moving that the body enjoys, helping the nervous system see new neural network options and remove neural connections that do not contribute to efficiency, and pleasure in the body. In this way, we help the body to move again as it was meant to move: with pleasure, ease, vitality, and sensuality.

Would you like to explore a Feldenkrais lesson with me? You can find my free Feldenkrais introductory series Your compass to wellbeing and vitality here

A Musing about being connected to the rhythms of life

A Musing about being connected to the rhythms of life

One of the awe sensations of living in your body is being connected to the rhythms and movement of life.

There is no movement without rhythm. All in life is rhythm.. universal rhythm, cosmic rhythm, earth rhythms, the rhythm of you, the rhythms in you, the rhythm of me of us together, the symphony that we -earth beings create in interconnectedness, the rhythms that transform ordinary movements in a dance,  and the rhythms that turn ordinary sounds in a symphony.

We are all both the music and the dancer, in every moment of our lives.

And every time when we find a way to move with more pleasurable, more ease, more variety, more expression, more wonder, we come back to our very own nature and gain more artistry in dancing through life.

I love the video about human rhythm
Watch until the end to see some rhythm and dance that will leave you in awe.

Moving out of habits of perfection

Moving out of habits of perfection

Last week during the retreat as we were exploring our senses through our animal body and dancing with its emotions of grief, anger, and pleasure, we came to speak about the habit of perfection, the hurt and wounding underneath, and how it has influenced how many of us can be so hard and demanding on ourselves, and lack the self-compassion to give loving attention and care to our bodies and sensations. As a result, we miss out on many valuable sensations, sparks of sensory wisdom, and a sense of natural time and rhythm.

Many of us live with a stressed, deprived nervous system, and chronic holding patterns in the body that cause hypersensitivity, and lack of energy, and also make us feel less animated or flatten everyday pleasurable and joyful sensations and emotions.

I believe the most important part of healing your soul is finding your way back to sensing in the here and now. Allowing your sentient animal eyes, ears, sense of smell, taste, and touch to curiously scan their natural living environment, feel its beauty and magic in every cell of your being, and receive its nourishment for your nervous system and body.

For in order to heal your system of body, mind, soul, and inner spirit and soothe the stricken animal within, your nervous system needs to connect with and map into its present sensuous environment where it can tune into the soothing ebb and flow-like greater natural movement and rhythm of the earth and cosmos.
This gradually and in small reversible steps changes your perception and your physical-emotional holding patterns and steadily guides you into your sacred essence….

I have read Marion Woodman´s ‘Addiction to Perfection’ a few times and Marian Woodman puts it beautifully. I quote Marion Woodman:

“First, I believe that femininity is taking responsibility for our bodies, so that the body becomes the tangible expression of the spirit within.
For those of us who have lived life in the head, this is a long, difficult and agonizing process, because in attempting to release our muscles, we also release the pent-up fear and rage and grief that has been buried there, probably since or before birth .
Within ourselves we find a stricken animal almost dead from starvation and mistreatment. Because it has been punished for long, it acts at first like a wild neurotic creature that hasn’t known love. But gradually it becomes our friend, and because it understands the instincts better than we, it becomes our guide to a natural, spiritual way of life.
To find the natural rhythms of our bodies, to walk, to see, to hear, to feel with renewed sensitivity and perception, is to return to our birthright which is our gift from the Goddess” Marion Woodman | ‘Addiction to Perfection’

Because the relationship with our bodies is such an important and permanent one in our lives, I feel that creating a beautiful relationship with our wise bodies is a must in order to feel alive, and able to manifest our greatest, most exquisite soul desires and dreams.

Are you seeking to connect deeper with your body and feel better in your skin?

I offer ongoing retreats to help women with

  • finding their way back to sensing themselves in the here-and-now
  • changing constricting perception habits
  • change painful physical-emotional holding patterns in the body
  • align with their sacred essence, inner wisdom, joy and sensuality
  • build a loving relationship with their wise bodies
  • create beauty with who they are and what they have

You can check out my retreats via Bookretreats.com

 

 

Pausing your thoughts

Pausing your thoughts

Did you know that every thought, every feeling, every sensation comes from the body?

So often we immediately attach thoughts and feelings to old stories with our minds instead of listening to what our bodies are telling us now. And in doing so, we have become deaf to the message our body wisely wants to send us.

Our mind habitually wants to give meaning to everything we take in and feel and does so based on memories, experiences, perceptions, and beliefs from the past and the values we hold. And with this filter system, we get stuck in the same groove: the painful experiences of the past. These filters also create a very limited view of our inner and outer world that slowly distorts our personal truth and our personal myth.

Our Body Wise wants to help us break this habit by helping us feel and perceive in the Now Body. The challenge is to perceive with an open mind. By stepping into the space of your curious, playful infant mind and feeling from there, you can step out of the habit of wanting to give meaning immediately. And in this space of not knowing, the wordless messages from our bodies become clear.

How often do you listen to your body with an open, curious mind?
Soul messages that nourish your inner sparkle

Soul messages that nourish your inner sparkle

I love to create mixed media collages, write short poem-like musings in addition to loving to dance. It’s like journalling for me. Together they create my soul messages: Body-wise ways to heal, thrive and grow

In this time of selfies and fast cameras on the phone, I often play along in my Self Wise way.

When was the last time you nurtured your soul with a creative, playful, uplifting message to yourself?