that They say ‘When you don’t own an aspect of yourself it runs your life.’
For a long time, I tried to be a good girl, denying that somewhere inside was a very angry little girl. However, what we can’t be with, won’t let us be.
During the retreats here at Jardin de Luz, there is always a moment when my clients come face to face with an aspect of themselves about which they have major judgments and feel resistance to embracing it. Very often it is a theme around anger.
Many women learn early in childhood that getting angry does not suit girls. Many women learn to suppress or replace anger with tears and interpret it as sadness. And that can take on a life of its own in the body with consequences such as chronically high muscle tone, Irritated Bowel Syndrome, anxiety symptoms, prolonged fatigue, poor sleep, a tight body, sexual problems, less and less movement possibilities, and an inflexible mindset to name a few.
A creative practice that I use in the retreats is creating an inner child card from working somatically, energetically, and creatively with parts of ourselves and with the past painful stories that we hold in our bodies
For this practice, we use our somatic messengers -‘Image’, The senses, Sensation, Emotion’, Meaning, and Movement- and lots of old magazines, scissors, and glue.
Some time ago, I made an inner child card for this angry, sometimes destructive, young part of me that I was far from comfortable with. (see above)
“Owning all aspects of yourself” is an essential step in the process of healing and creating beauty with who you are and what you have. We cannot embrace what we do not own. Then we can release suppressed energies and restore the body’s natural state of being.
Does awakening your self-healing powers and growing from the inside out through dancing, movement, and creativity speak to you? And are you interested in a retreat with me? Feel free to contact me for an exploratory chat.
Source quotes Debbie Ford. Dark Side of the Light Chasers: Reclaiming your power, creativity, brilliance, and dreams (p. 73). Hodder & Stoughton.