“My hips are really stiff” said Karen after her session the other day. She added: “I guess I’m only noticing them now because before the session, my back was really tense and compressed and now it’s not, so I’m able to notice my hips more.”
I told Karen to stay on the table and stretch so she could work the tension out.
If I was able to make all the tension disappear in an instant, without Karen feeling it, what would she have learned about herself? By helping her get more in touch, more in tune with her body, she then has the potential of learning how to unwind her body herself. She then even has the potential of learning what role she plays in creating the tension.
More awareness = more power (because you can do something about it)
The other day Norm was in and during his session he remarked: “I come here so that you can take the pain away.”
Why would I want to do that? This may sound like a heartless thing to say or think. But when you take a closer look it’s actually quite reasonable.
People believe that pain and suffering go hand in hand, as if they were synonymous.
Suffering is the act of not being fully present with what is. Oftentimes ‘what is’ can be too much all at once. Or ‘what is’ could be an accumulation of not being fully present because it has become a habit.
When we are not fully present with what is, we develop chronic tension patterns because the body is trying to do what it can to help us get through the experience.
Pain is what happens when the body sends a message: please pay more attention, please be more present with…
If I were to take the pain away magically, that would be doing anyone a disservice. It would be like shooting the messenger, so that you can go back to sleep.
Why would I want you to be less present in your life?
When life gets to be too much, we may react by shrinking away, withdrawing, or disconnecting. But this is not the place where we want to live our lives from. It may take less energy in the short term but in the long term it will cost us our health.
When we’re living in this box, we’re waiting for something to go wrong so that we can treat it. Rather than staying in this smaller box and waiting and treating symptoms, we can choose to build: our strength, our capacity to handle more, our adaptability to life.
Building our strength, capacity and adaptability helps us be more fully present in our lives as they happen. This way we not only head off problems before they become bigger, but we also get more out of life, enjoying it so much more. We’re also able to be more for the people that matter most.
Building your health on a regular basis in all aspects of your life is in my opinion the only way to become truly healthy.
If you’d like to hear more about how you can build the healthiest version of yourself, join me on Wednesday February 21st in person or on Wednesday February 28th on Zoom to find how at these complementary workshops. Please register by sending me an email or in person at the clinic.