Love and Somatic Pockets of Peace
Upcoming this week on the podcast
Healing and love. Love can exist without healing but healing can’t exist without love. Love is the driving force behind healing and only when we decide to heal will love be a part of that plan.
Healing is not linear, neither is love but you need love before healing.
My healing path is ongoing and I could not do it without the many tools I have acquired along the way. Most of all the path of healing has been though the consistent excavation of loving and accepting myself. It’s a balance of acceptance and pushing through like traversing the windy path up a mountain. I stop along the way to look back down at how far I have come and to be in the present curve alongside the steep slope. The wind whipping furiously invisibly moves around me, it makes me stop in my tracks, and it tries to push me down at times so I take it as a signal to slow down.
I see life as fleeting moments with curiosity and a voraciousness fills my veins as I age. Invigorating spiritual practices support me with wide eyes sprinkling flecks of pragmatism to keep one foot on the ground. Only one foot though because if I didn’t float a bit in the belief that there are other invisible forces at play, life would be so much harder and frankly, boring. Magic and belief of the invisible is so much more exciting! Gravity is real but we can’t see it just like the wind.
This is an invitation to embrace your healing journey whether you think you have one or not. Climbing out of the muck with a chisel is worth it. We all have trauma that is deserving of nurturing for it makes us human. We can love our trauma and hold it as a witness as a path to love. Healing is a mandatory process to find the joy and connections in life.
It is not selfish to take time for healing. Say that aloud.
Admittedly, it’s easier to love someone else while forgetting yourself. It’s a great distraction, however it can be a form of disassociation and all the muck will eventually come up in the relationship. As a mother, I did that for years as many do for when you have a little person to protect, nurture, and nourish it was all I could think about before falling into bed at night.
It’s part of the human experience to have wounds, pain and challenges. It’s a matter of what we decide to do with it that matters. If we allow wounds to become a part of our personality then the cycle is perpetuated and bitterness will prevail. These ambiguous unseen nuggets of pain that turn into grace.
I cannot leave you this week without sharing a tool so read on! I spoke with an amazing friend and healer this week who has a few things to say about Somatic Experiencing.
Sarit Z. Rogers was a guest on the podcast this week. She is a Somatic Experiencing (SE) practitioner who works with individuals in the healing process.
The SE approach releases traumatic shock, which is key to transforming PTSD and the wounds of emotional and early developmental attachment trauma. SE offers a framework to assess where a person is “stuck” in the fight, flight or freeze responses and provides clinical tools to resolve these fixated physiological states. It provides effective skills appropriate to a variety of healing professions including mental health, medicine, physical and occupational therapies, bodywork, addiction treatment, first response, education, and others.
Sarit uses her extensive study of yoga and trauma-aware movement in conjunction with SE™ to facilitate increased body awareness and nervous system repair. She strives to help clients experience a broader spectrum of their human experience in order to feel more alive and present in their bodies and minds.
Here is one of her examples for finding Pockets of Peace:
1: Sitting practice:
Sense into any area where you can feel the downward sensation of gravity. Is it your seat, your feet on the floor or tucked underneath you?
Is it your hands resting on your lap?
As you notice this, what else do you notice?
Is there a sense of connection?
A sense that you are landing?
Is there a deeper breath?
Did your shoulders settle a little bit?
One CYCLE OF BREATH where one feels even a little bit at ease (Say 2-5%), that is a Pocket of Peace.
2: Standing practice:
Stand with feet hip distance apart or any distance if you are being stealth.
Wiggle your toes and sense into all 4 edges of your feet: heels, toes, sides. Move your toes like a cat’s paws when they’re happy and kneading.
Imagine you have suction cups on the bottom of your feet (think lizards or frogs when they climb a wall!).
Now…Imagine roots growing into the earth from your feet, connecting you, grounding you.
If you have the ability to use movement, begin to sway from the ankles, side to side, maybe even forward and back. Notice how you are still connected. Here, you are still breathing with the images above.
If you are unable to do movement and are working stealthily, use the breath.
Bring in an image of your inhale calling up energy from the earth, ascending the front body, then bring in an image of your exhale descending back down the back body and into the Earth. You are creating a circle of grounded energy around you. No one needs to know what you are doing. You can do this sitting or standing with the homies!
You can find more about Sarit by listening to the upcoming podcast or by visiting her website.
See links below to listen to previous episodes.
Thank you for being here. May your journey continue to expand and be prosperous in healing and love.
Podcast Guests coming up on:
ICYMI I have a podcast on this platform. It’s been incredibly fun to create and I invite you to have a listen. If you want to be a guest on the show, let’s talk!
On this show we delve into the identities and roles we play in society and how we connect them to our spiritual lives for authentic living. These are compassionate conversations for insight to our universal truths and what is required to heal ourselves and the world around us.
Spawned from curiosity, I connect with creators of all kinds, from visual to auditory, from wise elders to budding intellectuals questioning the world around them.
It’s my hope that these conversations will bring meaning to the world that often feels chaotic and overwhelming to spark some curiosity and plant tiny seeds of awareness so that we might all collectively learn, grow and remember our humanity and interconnectedness.
Coming up:
Sarit Z Rogers, a somatic therapist and photographer who will tell us a bit about her story and what is somatic therapy. (February)
Chris Dyer, a Peruvian psychedelic artist who is a leading figure in the Northern American Visionary Art scene. Chris’ work is a bridge between spiritual and the street art and skate art movements. (March)
I’ve already had two fantastic guests:
Jay Michaelson an author/journalist - Moving from Judaism to Buddhism and what it means to be Human
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