"The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me."
Ayn Rand
Monday, October 3, 2011
Waking Up My Inner Ninja
My inner ninja (more to come) is awake. I will leave you only with this quote as a tease for information to follow:
"The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me."
Ayn Rand
"The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me."
Ayn Rand
Friday, September 30, 2011
Healing Past Trauma
I was talking to a client about myofascial release, a kind of hands-on treatment that I use, and we were discussing the idea of past trauma, which myofascial release can help with. This client is in touch, with good body awareness, and meanders down a spiritual path that has her exploring ways to heal body, mind and soul. I asked her, "have you had any past trauma that you can remember?", "anything where you feel like you were injured physically or mentally or just something you remember as difficult?" She looked at me and thought for a moment. "I really don't remember any real trauma, I mean I am lying here trying to think of something and I really haven't had anything." "Well, there was that car thing." She finally says and her eyes well up as she starts to tell me the story.
In the years that I have known this patient, she has never brought up "the car thing." As we worked together to allow her story to come out and to let her feel the thing in the tissues of her body, some more tears fell. After all that time (several years) she was able to feel a piece of the trauma that had been stuck in her body so that she could let it go. This process is called a somato-emotional release, which can manifest as tears, shaking, heat, therapeutic pain, tingling, etc.....
The idea here is that fascial tissue of the body, the whole body system of connective tissue inside of us, acts as a super highway for light and energy and fluid. This tissue has memory and intelligence. If someone has an injury or trauma, the energy of that force can get lodged in this tissue. Sometimes for years. We tighten and constrict and protect around the area of restriction. For years. This dehydrates the tissue over time which can then lead to many pounds of pressure being put into pain sensitive structures of the body. We hurt, but we can't remember doing anything to cause the hurt.
The key to this deep kind of healing is a combination of things. First you must practice awareness. Notice the sensations, symptoms, and emotions in the body with your feeling senses. John Barnes, the founder of myofascial release says, "without awareness there is no choice." In other words, you have to feel to heal. The problem here is that fear and resistance get in the way. We really don't want to go there. This kind of healing is not for sissies people. For my taekwondo friends, it is a little like when you spar for the first few times. A little scary but you know it is good. Once you begin to uncover the layers that keep your essence from shining, you will wonder why you didn't go there sooner.
The practitioners, including myself, that work this way with their clients practice these things themselves. We do the hard work of healing ourselves so that we can help others. Finding a skilled practitioner is important. They can provide a safe space and they can teach you self treatment techniques that will allow you to continue your journey on your own.
If this blog makes you wonder about something in your own story then why not explore it? I would love to help you go there! I know what kind of gifts it might bring.
In the years that I have known this patient, she has never brought up "the car thing." As we worked together to allow her story to come out and to let her feel the thing in the tissues of her body, some more tears fell. After all that time (several years) she was able to feel a piece of the trauma that had been stuck in her body so that she could let it go. This process is called a somato-emotional release, which can manifest as tears, shaking, heat, therapeutic pain, tingling, etc.....
The idea here is that fascial tissue of the body, the whole body system of connective tissue inside of us, acts as a super highway for light and energy and fluid. This tissue has memory and intelligence. If someone has an injury or trauma, the energy of that force can get lodged in this tissue. Sometimes for years. We tighten and constrict and protect around the area of restriction. For years. This dehydrates the tissue over time which can then lead to many pounds of pressure being put into pain sensitive structures of the body. We hurt, but we can't remember doing anything to cause the hurt.
The key to this deep kind of healing is a combination of things. First you must practice awareness. Notice the sensations, symptoms, and emotions in the body with your feeling senses. John Barnes, the founder of myofascial release says, "without awareness there is no choice." In other words, you have to feel to heal. The problem here is that fear and resistance get in the way. We really don't want to go there. This kind of healing is not for sissies people. For my taekwondo friends, it is a little like when you spar for the first few times. A little scary but you know it is good. Once you begin to uncover the layers that keep your essence from shining, you will wonder why you didn't go there sooner.
The practitioners, including myself, that work this way with their clients practice these things themselves. We do the hard work of healing ourselves so that we can help others. Finding a skilled practitioner is important. They can provide a safe space and they can teach you self treatment techniques that will allow you to continue your journey on your own.
If this blog makes you wonder about something in your own story then why not explore it? I would love to help you go there! I know what kind of gifts it might bring.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Message From the Universe
I got an email from the Universe. It read "next time you feel fear, either right after a major decision or just before one, it usually means you're exactly where you need to be."
I was sitting at the computer yesterday working on the book and decided "what the hell, I am going to send this thing to New World." Oh wow, that familiar feeling in my stomach and chest came around, my heart started to up its beat a little. "Right where you need to be" I remembered. And I hit send.
When you are aware enough in the present to recognize the familiar feelings of fear you then have a choice to act. Or not. Action is the magic. You can think about and imagine the end result that you would like, but then you have to lean in the direction of that end result, which means taking action.
Catch yourself in your mind the next time you are over thinking something that you want to do. Recognize the feelings. Then take any little action you can. Changing your thoughts and acting changes the world.
If you would like to get Notes From The Universe, then visit www.tut.com!
I was sitting at the computer yesterday working on the book and decided "what the hell, I am going to send this thing to New World." Oh wow, that familiar feeling in my stomach and chest came around, my heart started to up its beat a little. "Right where you need to be" I remembered. And I hit send.
When you are aware enough in the present to recognize the familiar feelings of fear you then have a choice to act. Or not. Action is the magic. You can think about and imagine the end result that you would like, but then you have to lean in the direction of that end result, which means taking action.
Catch yourself in your mind the next time you are over thinking something that you want to do. Recognize the feelings. Then take any little action you can. Changing your thoughts and acting changes the world.
If you would like to get Notes From The Universe, then visit www.tut.com!
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Random Afternoon Wondering
"Mom, Rocky's doing it again!"
You know when everyone is quiet, hanging out, lounging with the TV or reading or typing, and the dog is there too, content to sprawl on the floor and sleep one more hour?
And you know when all of a sudden they begin to do the little flinchy thing in their sleep, and then comes the whimper-cry-shake, and then an actual sleep bark? Their eyes are in REM and their little noses are sniffing and their body rises and falls in deep breaths.
What do you think happens when dogs dream? Are theirs like ours? Are they the main character in some vivid doggie movie going on in their brain? Are they working out some doggie stress in their sleep?
Do dogs have flying dreams too? Or maybe just Milk Bone dreams?
You know when everyone is quiet, hanging out, lounging with the TV or reading or typing, and the dog is there too, content to sprawl on the floor and sleep one more hour?
And you know when all of a sudden they begin to do the little flinchy thing in their sleep, and then comes the whimper-cry-shake, and then an actual sleep bark? Their eyes are in REM and their little noses are sniffing and their body rises and falls in deep breaths.
What do you think happens when dogs dream? Are theirs like ours? Are they the main character in some vivid doggie movie going on in their brain? Are they working out some doggie stress in their sleep?
Do dogs have flying dreams too? Or maybe just Milk Bone dreams?
 |
| Rocky is our 15 year old blind Jack Russell who barks in his sleep. |
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Top 10 List - How You Know You Are Addicted to Taekwondo
10. After arriving rushed and late to work you realize you left your shin guards on under your slacks.
9. When a loved one/friend/co-worker reaches toward your face to remove a piece of lint, you respond with a right high rising block and a left punch to the torso.
8. You rearrange your vacation so that you can attend the test.
7. Your partner tells you that you kiup in your sleep.
6. When you sit on the floor you automatically sit in a split.
5. Instead of walking the three feet from the sink to close the fridge you take the opportunity to practice your turning kick.
4. Instead of hiding it at work, you now hope someone asks you about the monster bruise on your forearm.
3. Everything feels better bare foot.
2. You've gone out dancing with your significant other and the only moves you can think of are your fundamental moves.
1. When browsing the lumber aisles at Home Depot you now imagine how you could break the wood instead of what you can build with it.
9. When a loved one/friend/co-worker reaches toward your face to remove a piece of lint, you respond with a right high rising block and a left punch to the torso.
8. You rearrange your vacation so that you can attend the test.
7. Your partner tells you that you kiup in your sleep.
6. When you sit on the floor you automatically sit in a split.
5. Instead of walking the three feet from the sink to close the fridge you take the opportunity to practice your turning kick.
4. Instead of hiding it at work, you now hope someone asks you about the monster bruise on your forearm.
3. Everything feels better bare foot.
2. You've gone out dancing with your significant other and the only moves you can think of are your fundamental moves.
1. When browsing the lumber aisles at Home Depot you now imagine how you could break the wood instead of what you can build with it.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Cat's Out of the Bag
I started writing a book. Yep, a real one. So now that you all know, you can ask me "how's that book coming?" and I will be motivated not to give up.
I have been sending a chapter or two at a time to my mom (had to start with an easy critic) to read. After she emails to tell me that my writing is "just wonderful" and that I should be so proud of myself, I email back to ask what she thinks could be improved. My mom writes reports for a living and is a darn good writer and proof reader.
The last chapter I sent her was about being addicted to taekwondo. I was, in my writing, pondering just what I was addicted to. The question was about pain. My journey started with an abdominal muscle tear and a jammed toe, and has gone on to include various other painful injuries. She wanted me to answer the question that I asked in that chapter.
So today my sister sends me this blog link in an email about writing. It was fantastic. The author included a quote that answered my question brilliantly.
"We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret and disappointment."
Jim Rohn
I will suffer the first one. Way easier. But once in a while that means I get kicked in the head.
I have been sending a chapter or two at a time to my mom (had to start with an easy critic) to read. After she emails to tell me that my writing is "just wonderful" and that I should be so proud of myself, I email back to ask what she thinks could be improved. My mom writes reports for a living and is a darn good writer and proof reader.
The last chapter I sent her was about being addicted to taekwondo. I was, in my writing, pondering just what I was addicted to. The question was about pain. My journey started with an abdominal muscle tear and a jammed toe, and has gone on to include various other painful injuries. She wanted me to answer the question that I asked in that chapter.
So today my sister sends me this blog link in an email about writing. It was fantastic. The author included a quote that answered my question brilliantly.
"We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret and disappointment."
Jim Rohn
I will suffer the first one. Way easier. But once in a while that means I get kicked in the head.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Shhhh!
Sometimes at the end of class after we line up and you ask us to close our eyes the quiet envelops the room my ears almost ring from the all-of-a-sudden silence. It is that rare moment when nobody is coughing or clearing their throat, there are no crying toddlers in the hallway and the playground behind us is empty. That quiet is rare and welcome to my soul. It demands presence, awareness. It makes me smile, with eyes still closed, because I know how many people are in the room, some having just sparred their brains out, or kicked the crap out of the bags, students waiting, parents waiting for students. All are silent for that sweet moment when there is nothing else but the space to notice it.
I realize in that moment how my life lacks those quiet spaces. I am so used to the noise of life, the voices, the sounds that constantly bombard us, numbing us up a little, distracting us from ourselves. My tolerance has diminished. I don’t often turn on the radio in the car anymore. Funny how the kids never ask me to. Maybe they enjoy those quiet spaces too. I feel like the older I get the more I need the quiet to feel what is going on inside of me, to realize the important stuff, to stop myself from just keeping busy, to slow down, to breathe. I practice in silence clearing my mind and notice what tapes try to play themselves in my head. Without judging I clear again and try to drop into my body instead. As I feel my body with aches or pains, light or heavy, tight or loose, I am grateful for it and all the awesome things it can do.
Please just one more minute of sweet silence to nourish my soul.
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