On a scale of 1 to 10, how do you feel right now? in your body? in your emotional well-being?
Are you wishing for more ease throughout your whole being?
When people come to my lovely home treatment space for a Cultivating Wellness session and I ask this question, I often find the answers fall into two realms.
What I hear: “I’m feeling stuck”, “there’s a lack of flow”, “something is balled up tight”.
What I may see or sense: Stiff movement because of pain or tension, rigid thought patterns, some emotion held at bay.
Or, I hear: “My mind won’t stay still”, “my neck keeps going out”, “I’m feeling ungrounded”.
And what I may see or sense: General unrest, pops & clicks throughout the body, big range of motion, no pauses while talking.
Although generally speaking people may naturally tend to be stiff or flexible, I may also observe both of these patterns in neighboring regions–like a tense upper back and hyper-mobile neck. My approach is to listen deeply, observe broadly and open all my senses to determine what tool in my toolbox will address the needs presented to me. I’ve been working with people in a variety of healing modalities since 1983, so my toolbox is pretty big. I don’t approach everything as if I only had a hammer and everyone who walked through my door was a nail.
Greek wellness session with mom
Here’s an example of how I work, based on something that happened while vacationing in Greece with my family. My then 83-year-old mother (who also was a Phys. Ed. teacher) and even though she knows her body really well, she has some blind spots (don’t we all!). She asked for some insight into her back issues. At lunch, I noticed her posture and asked her to breath into her back and belly. This was totally confusing to her. I realized she has a reversed breathing pattern — she breaths up into her chest, so it’s counterintuitive for her to inhale down into her belly and low back. This can lead to an energetic stagnation in low-back and pelvic region. In just a few minutes of breathing the crisp mediterranean air, my mom came to feel this in her body. The rest of the trip I supported her to ingrain the pattern and so she can sail into the fall with some tools that can empower her.
Exploring, listening, discovering…
Are you feeling less well than you wish for? Would you like some support to identify what’s going on? Do you want to work on your own healing & well-being with guidance? I can be something like a side-view mirror for you, offering a perspective by listening to your whole being: body, mind, emotions, mindsets, beliefs. We’ll look for how these get translated into physical actions, focus on creating habits and routines or breaking out of habits and routines.
Exploring, listening, discovering…
My treatment calendar is open and starting to fill; there’s a nice stretch through the summer to come in and cultivate some wellness. Read more and set up an appointment at Cultivating Wellness.
