bodywork

The Brain, Body and Healing

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Your body is a wonder and does so much more than you think or know. Only considering it one thing, like a temple or a vehicle to use on this human journey is so naïve. For example, it is a storehouse of emotion, information, and energy. Of course, all things in their purest form are energy.

Many think that the brain is where all data is stored. However, this is far from the truth, unprocessed elements are often left behind in various parts of the body. In fact, this unprocessed energy can be stored anywhere in the body. This type of energy can affect you immediately or lie dormant for years undetected and then rise up causing illness, pain or emotional upheaval after trauma or some other trigger.

There are many ways of exploring and releasing this energy. For instance, certain types of bodywork like Spiral Release Bodywork®, energy work, yoga or meditation to name a few. Each one of us must find the path that allows us to let go. Just be careful that your own conditioning does not fool you into thinking you are on the right road only to wake up years later realizing you are still lost. When progress is being made when your life changes for the better rather than remaining the same, you know you are going the correct way, which will need rigorous honesty on your part.

Life needs us to bring greater awareness into our lives to heal, to reconnect with our True-Self and to release the False-Self, the person we have become from this energy and our conditioning. If we are not willing to feel our pain and emotion, then we are destined to live out our lives in a haze never realizing the greater possibilities available to us.

The Opportunity Pain Presents

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Our greatest opportunity to let go and heal is when we are in pain. I am referring to both physical and emotional pain. This is true because when we are in pain, what we need to let go and heal is accessible. During other times, it is often unavailable or hiding from our conscious awareness.

For example, on a physical level sometimes a client will come in with a particular pain. When describing the pain they say, when I do this it hurts. Of course, I just tell them not to do that anymore, problem solved. OK, so we know that will not actually solve the problem. However, what I have found over the years is that if I find a way to work on them in that position, where they feel the pain, I have greater success than when I work on the area in a neutral position.

The same is true around emotional issues. When our emotions are up, they can be seen clearly. If we pay attention, we have a real opportunity to let them go for good and heal. When our emotions are calm, we think that we have resolved the issue or everything will be OK in time. This is also true with pain in the body. When the pain is gone, we think the problem is gone and that we are fine. However, have you ever had a pain or emotional issues that you thought was resolved reappear?

Most people will answer yes to the previous question. In fact, many clients have thought that they had resolved their emotional issue through some other form of therapy, only to find out that there were remaining parts stored in the body. They thought it was resolved because they were not having the usual agitation. Yet when the remaining part was released from the body, there were noticeable changes in their lives.

Know that your physical and emotional pain will leave behind energy from unresolved issues in the body. This energy can affect your everyday life by influencing your choices, mood and behavior. We are usually not aware of this influence because it is happening beneath our conscious awareness. Our mind will point to something in the moment as the cause to further the deception and make us think it is something new.

However, if you feel the emotion, pain or energy as it arises, you can let it go and heal. There are many ways to bring this energy up like Spiral Release Bodywork, yoga and meditation. This process does not require you to figure the problem out or even understand it. It only requires a willingness to feel your pain and/or emotion, something we are used to resisting and have been conditioned to avoid.

It is time that we begin to recognize that the world is interconnected through energy and whether we mean to or not our current state affects the people around us, even though we might not realize it.

Remember that emotional healing does not just take place in the mind.
We just THINK it does.
Remember that letting go in the body can heal emotional issues.
Remember that letting go of emotional issues can heal the body.
Remember that there is a direct connection between the body and our emotions.
Remember that there is a direct connection between our emotions and the body.
Remember your body stores unresolved experiences energetically.
Remember to allow your pain to serve a positive purpose in your life.

Finally, remember that pain is not a problem it is an opportunity. If you adjust your perception and attitude toward pain, then your life will change dramatically for the better.

Short and Sweet #172 – Accept What Is

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“I have not ceased being fearful, but I have ceased to let fear control me.” – Erica Jong

“To ignore or not admit our fear is resistance to what is. We all experience fear from time to time, this is normal. When we resist our fear, the energy builds in the body. This growing energy (fear) increases in strength. The body begins to be transformed as well as our lives. The fear begins to control us and our body begins showing signs of this transformation in the form of pain, stiffness and other maladies. Life is not about not experiencing fear or any other difficult emotion or situation. We must allow the energy to move through us and not resist it. It is our perceptions, attitude and beliefs around our life that change the experience. Change these things to live more fully and stop thinking that everything has to be perfect or that it will be OK when… Start accepting what is and keep the energy moving. This will allow you to settle into more ease and grace in your life.”

Short and Sweet #147 – The Body Wound and Bound

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This is not meant to be technical but something useful to give you a different perspective and knowledge about your body. What I am about to share I have ongoing experience with in my body and through my work with clients since 1987.

Many fail to recognize how the body stores information in the form of energy caused by our experiences, physical and emotional trauma, in utero, genetics and past lives. I know that the last one may be hard for some to believe but I have personally experienced this in session and with clients. In addition, this information effects how we interact with the world and those around us. Sometimes these energy patterns can run in the background like a loop tape on an answering machine, which can initiate certain behavior without conscious involvement. As this information is stored, it causes changes to the connective tissue. The connective tissue is not just the soft tissue as you might think; it makes up everything in the body from blood to bone.

Another reason that causes restrictions in the body is called cross-tissue linkage. Imagine your fingers as individual fibers; the cross-linkage occurs when little fibers grow between the fingers causing them to be pulled together. Now instead of having free moving fingers they are stuck together, it reminds me of string cheese. This reduces flexibility and movement causing the soft tissue to be bunched up then over time it becomes tight and hard. These fibers can be released with certain types of bodywork like Spiral Release bringing back the flexibility and freedom.

You might be wondering how all this information can help you. By releasing the connective tissue and the energy patterns held within we can increase flexibility and movement of course but something even more powerful takes place. You can release the energy held in the tissue, which holds old trauma, emotion, and past life memories. Once released our body upgrades on all levels just as your computer does with a software upgrade. We vibrate at a higher frequency because the denser patterns have been released and this allows us to physically feel lighter and connect on a stronger spiritual level. This is one way to uncover the True-Self by releasing the False-Self, the conditioned self from the body.

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What’s on your mind? I am always open to questions and comments or for a healthy and supportive discussion about these topics.

Short and Sweet #134 – Getting to Know your Body

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Do you really know what your body does or what it is capable of doing? I am not talking about its physical capabilities. It has so much more to offer us than that. The truth is, as much as we think we know about our body we know very little.

For instance, did you know that your body stores information in the form of energy about your emotional and physical experiences? Did you know that this energy can be accessed and released allowing you to let go of trauma and emotion? Did you know that this energy influences how you interact with the world and everyone around you? Did you know that it is possible to release this held energy without knowing what it pertains to specifically or having to figure anything out about it? Did you know that once these energies are released that it will change how you interact with life? Do you know that you can release the fear that is holding you back in life or making you anxious? Do you know that you can release repressed emotions that still affect the choices you make in life? Do you know that the very things you thought was resolved or released may still be stuck in your body and influencing your choices and behaviors?

There are so many things that you think you do not have control over that can be shifted just by getting to know your body better. I have spent the last 28 years exploring the depths of my body with many modalities most notably deep transformational bodywork.

In my personal life, my sobriety, increase in personal empowerment, the release of fear and anger can all be contributed to this type of work. The shift in my emotional state has allowed me to become more present, caring, loving and focused in my life. These are just a few of the many benefits that I have experienced. In addition to my personal experiences, I have seen this and many other similar things happen with my clients since 1988. The amazing thing is that the letting go process never stops as long as you continue to connect and learn from your body at this deep level.

Why am I telling you this, because it is time that we all begin to wake up to the power of the body and how it can facilitate our growth both personally and spiritually. We must stop taking our bodies’ for granted and only see them as a vehicle for our human journey. We must realize how important and integral they are to our growth as human beings and our connection to the Divine. We must stop beating them up by our over indulgences and choices in food, alcohol and drugs. Getting to know our body and the body of mother earth is vitally important for our continued evolution and survival.

 

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What’s on your mind? I am always open to questions and comments or for a healthy and supportive discussion about these topics.

Short and Sweet #81 – The Body Map

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If you read this blog regularly then you know that the last few posts where about body scanning, #78, 79 and 80. Two things this practice helps develop is awareness and a deeper connection with the body. The body is sending us information all the time, without awareness we can miss this helpful guidance. In addition, our body is like a map recording our experiences and history. This stored energy and information changes the physical body to represent the information. In other words, our body structure reflects who we have become and how we interact with the world. I use this type of body reading to help clients understand why their body has become hard, shortened and painful.

Many people do not pay attention to the messages sent by the body. With a heightened awareness, you can begin receiving this information. I believe that the body is one of our greatest allies and spiritual teachers on this journey. It is with us all the time from birth to death constantly sending us useful information on how to live a better life, if we only begin listening.

For instance, did you know the shoulders hold responsibility? When our shoulders become tight and hard or rounded forward, it can mean that we carry too much responsibility in life. The structure of the body changes to show this pattern of behavior and our perceptions. Our words express this knowing, “I feel like I am carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders”.

The energy of every experience throughout our lives including the time we spend in the womb is processed through our bodies. Once we develop certain beliefs in life, we can then interfere with the body processing the energy properly. Over time, this can causes physical changes in the body especially if we keep repeating a certain pattern or behavior, most of the time these behaviors have become habit driven by the subconscious. However, they are playing out on the conscious level so with awareness we can feel or see them. Because our awareness is not fully developed, it is often easier for someone else to see our behavior. Once identified, the opportunity to let them go arises and with an unbending intention and desire on your part, you can finally release them. Once you do, the biochemistry of the body changes and so does the physical structure; this allows healing to take place. You can also release the energy or patterns through some forms of deep transformational bodywork like Spiral Release or energy work like Pellowah.

We have all felt that nervous feeling when we go on our first date but we miss so much more than these obvious signals. The more we tune in the stronger our awareness muscle becomes; we can begin to feel and see the messages easier, even the subtle ones. There are many other benefits to listening to the body. How would you like to know if you were making the wrong life choice just by feeling it in your body? Begin listening to your body with greater awareness and I guarantee you will not regret it and your life will change for the better.

 

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Short and Sweet #80 – Body Scanning part 2

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Body scanning is a simple yet effective practice that I teach to my clients. It helps release resistance to pain and emotion during their session and assists the body in letting go. If you have a yoga practice or stretching routine, it can help you let go deeper. Once your skills are honed, it can be used in everyday life to diffuse anger between you and another person. In addition, it can help release anxiety or tension in the body and be used in many situations.

Start by lying on the floor in a comfortable position with your eyes closed. The floor is preferable to your bed or couch because the firmness will help find areas of tension. In addition, you have a more intimate connection with your bed that could interfere with you staying awake and aware. If you begin falling asleep then you are resisting the practice and not giving it your full attention. If lying down is not possible you can sit in a comfortable position on the floor or in a chair. Eventually with enough practice you can do body scanning anywhere and anytime.

Sometimes when we are having trouble releasing pain or emotion, it is because we are resisting unconsciously. We think that if we resist it will be less painful, however just the opposites happens, the pain increases. We must develop our awareness to this resistance to let it go.

Here is an example of body scanning: While lying on the floor I feel a tight area at the base of my neck but I cannot release the tension. I scan away from the tight area and through the body looking to find other places of tension that I can release. I find that I am able to relax my feet and forehead. Then I notice that I am clinching my teeth and holding my breath. As I release these places I move on to find other new places. I continue doing this and every once in awhile I circle back through the body starting with the first place again to see if it has tensed back up. Once I check in with these places, I continue looking for different places that I can relax. From time to time, I circle back moving through each one from the beginning and I continue this endless circle until I feel like I am done. This could take five minutes or longer depending on what you feel and want to do. Once you are done, open your eyes and then with awareness feel the difference in each area of your body.

You may notice that if you had pain that it has decreased or disappeared. On the other hand, you may notice that first area of tension that you identified and scanned away from is more relaxed. If it does not feel that way do not get discouraged notice what has shifted. Put your attention on what is different instead of just looking at what you feel is wrong or a problem.

If you commit to this exercise everyday for several weeks, you will begin to develop a closer connection to your body and the signals that it sends you. This can affect your life in ways that you would not expect like your diet, the exercise you do and many other areas of your life. Just be open to the possibilities that can come from this simple exercise and expect more things to be revealed with practice.

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Short and Sweet #48 – Pain

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What do you think about pain? Do you hate it, try to avoid it, resist it hoping it will go away? Has thinking about pain this way changed your experience of it or did it just increase your suffering? Have you recognized that your feelings about pain are a conditioned response? What if there was another way to feel about pain, one where you could actually suffer less by changing your relationship with it. Would you be willing to consider the possibility that pain is a friend instead of a foe and that it could help you grow spiritually? What a radical idea, right; pain is your spiritual teacher. We typically only notice pain in our lives and body when it rises up to the conscious level where we can feel it. Do you know that your body stores both physical and emotional pain below the conscious level? Anyone who has had bodywork can tell you that they felt pain in their body that they did not know existed and some have even experienced emotional releases from past events. We usually feel pain when we are emotionally or physically hurt, but we can also feel pain while we are healing. If we feel pain when we are healing, is that a bad thing? The next time you can, notice your pain, notice it when you think you are injured and when you begin getting better, see how differently you think about these two experiences. When we change our relationship with pain, our experience will change. You have experienced this phenomenon in your own life, like when you were a child; you may have hated broccoli or some other vegetable. As the child, you would scrunch up your face, scream and cry because you hated it so much. As you grew older, perhaps your relationship with it changed and you started to like it. In addition, this has happened to you in your relationships, with friends perhaps at a job or in other areas of your life. For now, begin to recognize that your pain has something to teach you about yourself. Know that your pain is not a problem but begin to see it as an opportunity to learn something about yourself and your life. Be open to this possibility and stop resisting. Your resistance will intensify your pain, however by starting to look for the opportunity and letting go of any fearful thoughts, feelings of anger or other emotions that hold you back, your pain will guide you out of suffering and into healing. This will take some practice, patience and commitment on your part. Nevertheless, once you change your relationship with pain I guarantee your experience will change for the better.

Short and Sweet #46 – The Body Talks

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Are you listening? Yes, the body actually talks to us and can tell us many things including how to live a better life. We hear some messages like when we are hungry or tired. These and many others abound if we only listen and get to know our body’s better. From my experience, the following are general statements, but for many people ring true. For instance, did you know that responsibility is held in the shoulder area? We hear this in our language; I feel the weight of the world on my shoulders. The liver carries anger; the kidneys fear, worry the spleen; grief and sadness the lungs. The right side of the body carries male energy and the left female. When you combine this information, it can be even more useful. For example, let’s say you have pain in the trapezius area of your right shoulder. You may feel or have felt overly responsible for a male figure in your life. Did you know that the throat area has to do with speaking your truth? Perhaps your neck pain is related to the fact that you have not been speaking your truth to someone. The body does talk to us and guides us on our spiritual path if we listen. It will teach you how to live your life with more ease and grace. Once you delve even deeper into the body with bodywork, energy work and other modalities that work at a deeper transformational level then you can let go of old energetic patterns. Releasing at this level will allow you to change behaviors, let go of old beliefs and other energies that no longer serve you. Begin to see your body as something more than just a vehicle for your human enjoyment because often it will rebel if you are not listening to its guidance and the less you listen the louder it talks.

Say NEVER MORE to NEVERLAND

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We have all been to NEVERLAND at one time or another. This is not the Neverland in the fairytale. It is a place of broken dreams and forgotten possibilities. We have different size properties, some lease others buy. Some stay for a short while and others spend a lifetime. How do I know this is true? Because I have been there, just as birth and death are part of the human experience so is visiting Neverland, at least for now. This is why no one escapes experiencing it; in fact, part of you may be there right now.

What is Neverland you ask? When someone says something to you that is not for your highest good, something that you come to believe is true, your life trajectory changes and your experience of the world becomes clouded. Each time you are told something that diminishes your soul’s fullest expression you acquire more space in Neverland.

For example, have you ever been told that you were not good enough, pretty enough, smart enough or perhaps you were told, like me, that you would live in pain the rest of your life. When a person of authority like a doctor, parent, teacher or even a friend tells you something that is not for your highest good and which you believe to be true, then part of your energy ends up in Neverland. Just keep in mind that no human being knows with one-hundred percent certainty the direction or outcome of your life, not even you. Only focusing on the highest outcome and keeping a positive attitude throughout will guarantee you the best possible results with the least amount of suffering.

Once the hurtful words are said and we believe them to be true, we begin to create a story based on these words. The story reinforces the “truth” of what we were told and then we begin to tell ourselves this story repeatedly until it becomes our new reality. This re-shapes our experience of the world and we begin to make different choices. This leads our life in a different direction, we feel less empowered, less capable, and we feel stuck. We may even feel like the world is conspiring against us.

We can cause this same shift in trajectory by having our own destructive thoughts, for instance, I am not worthy, I am fat, lazy or any other limiting belief. Do not be fooled, this is just as destructive as hearing it from someone else and will keep some part of you captive in Neverland. You will have difficulty manifesting anything else because you believe the story you have created and nothing exists outside of this story.

In order to avoid this outcome you must not take the damaging information as absolute truth and remain open to manifesting something different. If you follow your own inner guidance, intuition, and stay awake and aware, you will be presented other options on your journey.

You may be wondering how do I become more aware, reconnect with my intuition and become more awake. These questions can be answered in many ways. There are no great secrets here; it requires an unbending intention and commitment to change. Once you step on this path and never give up, the universe will support you all the way, I guarantee it and you will never regret it for one second.

OK you have created the intention and are on the path, now what? Let’s talk about a few things you can do to develop these qualities. Just remember to pay attention as much as you can because whatever is for your highest good will show up to help you because the universe is always communicating to you in some form or another. Do not take these suggestions as the only way because there are many ways. However, if you resonate with something then go for it. Find what works for you and let the rest go, keep moving.

First begin to ask your higher self, God, your angels to help you. Pray, talk to them aloud or to yourself, whatever feels right and comfortable.

I believe meditation to be one of the most important and effective ways to develop your awareness, intuition and to begin awakening. There are many misconceptions about meditation these days and most people get frustrated when they first try it. If you have experienced that you cannot meditate because you cannot quiet your thoughts, know this is a normal part of the process and that thoughts flow continuously. The idea is to not attach to them. This takes practice; it could take weeks, months or even years. A consistent and regular practice will eventually bring you the peace you seek.  Just notice your thoughts, note that you cannot quiet them, without any judgment.

There are different ways to meditate.  Finding a form that works for you is very important. You do not have to sit is a seated pose, like lotus position with your legs crossed to meditate. Find a qualified teacher or read a book about it. Explore the various types and ways to meditate thoroughly before discarding it just because you think you cannot do it or you do not like to do it. Your perception of what it is and how to do it may be wrong. If you have investigated thoroughly and still do not find it helpful then do not worry, as I said there are many ways on the path and something will show up.

In addition, I believe the body plays a major role in our spiritual growth and it is rarely talked about. I will go into more depth about this another time. For now just know that deep transformational bodywork can help. I am not talking about a regular gentle massage, this type of message offers its own benefits. What I speak of requires a practitioner who is very intuitive and can do deeper work physically and energetically.

I would like to share what I call body scanning. This is a simple exercise which, when used regularly, will begin to bring awareness back into your body. Remember no matter how relaxed you think you are you can always go to a deeper, more relaxed state.

Find a quiet place to sit or lie down. If you lie down do not fall asleep. This exercise requires you to aware and awake. Turn the phone off and make sure you will not be disturbed. Close your eyes and begin to scan your body. Find the one place that speaks the loudest to you, maybe it is your low back. It may feel painful, tight or uncomfortable. Most people will not be able to relax this place. In fact, the more attention you place on this spot the more it will tighten up or hurt in most cases. Begin to scan away from this point looking for other places in your body that are tight that you can relax. For example, maybe you can relax your arms, feet or jaw. Continue to look for new places that you can relax moving through the body continuing to look for the next place. Circling back through the body, you re-check the places you found before to see if they have tightened back up. If you find they have and you probably will, relax them again and then resume looking for new places.

After several minutes of this, check in with your original spot to see if it feels more relaxed. Often it will because everything in your body is connected so whenever you release tension in one area it will affect the entire body not just where you feel it. You will receive benefit even if you are not able to discern the change by doing this exercise.

If you continue to practice on a regular basis, you will become proficient enough to do it at any time and in any situation. You can even diffuse an uncomfortable situation like an argument by relaxing your body in the moment. Of course, you will need to practice for some time to be able to have this kind of awareness in an argument, most people are completely out of their bodies and unaware of how their energy is effecting it until after the argument is over.

This exercise, which is also a form of meditation, will bring more peace and ease into your body and life. Over time, it will retrain your muscles and body to be more relaxed and you will find other benefits as well with continued practice. Connecting deeper like this with your body and developing your awareness will once again open the door to infinite possibilities.

Finally, if you have already created a story that does not feel like it is for your highest good then it is within your power to create a new story, one that is for your highest good. At all times we are aware of our soul’s truth, but we must be willing to face our fears and begin reconnecting with our soul’s guidance. You are ALWAYS being supported and guided, you just have to quiet the mind, fall into the heart and listen. Always know that you will never be given more than you can handle. You have already experienced the truth of this statement in your life. Therefore, the choice is yours at any given moment to take up space in Neverland or to say NEVER MORE to Neverland.