EmbodyGrace is Poised for World Domination!

Okay, so maybe just the greater Chester County area...

Anyway, together, with my partner-in-crime, Bill Bryan, we will be offering three classes at the newly-opened Thrive Yoga Center in Gilbersville. And if you've ever attended a class with Bill and me, you know they are usually pretty fun.

This Saturday, October 22nd, from 4:00-5:30 pm:

Posturing for Health: Qigong

A small sample of our 10-week course, we discuss the concepts of unhealthy vs healthy stress, grounding and centering, followed by an introduction to the "Eight Pieces of Brocade," - a qigong routine (qigong being a form of 'moving meditation') designed to strengthen immunity, increase vitality and flexibility, and help you cope with the stresses of daily life. No experience necessary. Hand-outs included. Wear comfortable clothing.

Also that Saturday, from 6:30-7:30pm:

Self-Massage for General Health and Specific Injuries

Learn a simple yet effective whole body self-massage routine that you can practice anytime, anywhere, in whole or in parts as needed. Mostly shiatsu-based but also incorporates soft-tissue release to address common injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome or tendonitis, as well as a few simple qigong moves to relieve back and neck pain. Hand-out included, so you can practice at home!

Each of these classes is $45, but you can attend both for just $80!

Then, on Saturday, October 29th, from 1:00 -3:00 pm:

Couples Massage, Shiatsu-Style!

Touch is powerful means of communication. Too often in our culture, our experience with touch is limited to aggression or sexuality. Now you can expand your language to include compassion, caring and healing with this whole body shiatsu routine. In this class you will learn to give healing touch to a partner, friend, family member, or co-worker from a place of centeredness, as well as receive a treatment. No experience is necessary... bring a friend to work with, as well as something soft to lie on the floor, a blanket and a pillow. Also, wear loose, comfortable clothing. Hand-outs will be given so you can practice the routine anytime.

This class is $110 per couple.

==> To register: call Sue Greenwald: (484) 459-3082. As her space is new to the community, I don't think she's expecting a large attendance... wouldn't it be fun to surprise her with a huge turn-out!?

Run, Forrest, Run!

Got my bi-weekly (bi-weekly? bi-monthly? It's twice a month, whichever that is) shiatsu session today.

Upon walking in, my practitioner, Diane, asked me what my body was saying.

Over all, nothing major, but this damn vertigo that keeps popping up is still bothering me. Usually when I tilt my head back or turn to the left, the room starts spinning. But sometimes, just randomly.

Ah, she said. Mentioning things like Gall Bladder, which was not the usual association I would have made, she clarified by saying that Bladder is where we toss everything back to that we don't want to deal with. And then Gall Bladder is even beyond that.. the last stashing place. As well as governing decision-making.

That I knew.

And then, she said she suddenly got this image of Forrest Gump, you know Forrest Gump, right?

Uh, yeah...

Well, remember when he gets the braces off his legs and starts running? At first he's all wobbly, but eventually gains his stride. You're like that. It's like the braces just came off, and you're trying to find your balance amidst this new freedom. And your body is kinda freaking out.

I laughed. Yeah, put 'em back on! Put 'em back on!

It made me think of those times right after giving birth. Nine months of something growing inside, taking up space, adding extra weight in an unwieldy way, but at least with time enough to adjust. Not that you ever get graceful with it, but you compensate slowly.

Then the baby is born. Within a matter of minutes, twenty-plus pounds are lost, and I'll never forget the sensation of standing up after giving birth and finding I had NO idea where my center of balance was. It took me at least a week or two to figure out again how to walk, how to find the right posture. Meanwhile my back and shoulders would be in all kinds of weird pain, and I felt almost as clumsy as when I was pregnant.

And it's not like you ever really go back to how you were pre-pregnancy. Hips have widened, muscles have  stretched, fascia imprinted ..  adjustments have been made on every level, never again to be the same.

No doubt, I am again learning a new posture. The braces were constricting, but secure. Known and familiar. I'm struggling with how to be... to feel where my center is.

Many days, I really have no clue.

And here's another metaphor that just hit me, speaking of center (the Heart being center in Chinese medicine.)

Mark Silver talks about how the heart is never really divided (to reference a phrase used to describe feeling torn).

To quote directly: "Whatever the heart witnesses, it fills with. It's simply not possible to have a divided heart. However, what the heart can do is turn, and turn very quickly. In fact, in Arabic the word for heart is "qalb," which also means "to turn." As it turns, it fills with whatever it is facing.

The divided heart is really one that is turning between two or more realities, emptying and filling, emptying and filling. Exhausting."*

Yes. That would be me. I would also add that it makes one quite dizzy.

*So what does Sufi Master Mark suggest we do? Well, he brings our attention to the First Commandment: "Thou shalt have no no other gods before Me." In other words, fill your heart with the Divine, with Spirit, "so that your heart is filled with that primal love and truth, and not distracted, weakened, or caught in the muck of other things."

Interpret that how you want, but I know for me, when I even attempt to face 'primal love and truth', my head indeed does stop spinning, if only metaphorically.

Now, back to learning to run without braces....

How to Be a Guinea Pig

So, on the heels of that 'practical application' post, a few interesting things happened.

One was that a woman walked into my office, shortly after publication, seemingly needing eveything I had to offer. She needed some help getting her life and health back on track - I had a wellness program thingy to flesh out, and viola! a beautiful partnership was born.

Being a scientist, she's quite familiar with the guinea pig idea, and therefore was quite willing to be my first case study.

More on that as it progresses.

The other 'thunk on the head' I got was that, hey, couldn't I be my own study? I mean, I have stuff I'd like to work on, I have some beliefs that the work I offer could help, and if I'm asking people to participate, shouldn't I be doing this, too?

So, what follows, in writing, is my stated intention to commit to my rough draft of a program.

For twelve weeks, I'm going to partake of shiatsu, exercises and a macrobiotically-inspired diet to address some nagging stuff that's been bothering me. And give weekly updates about my progress on my blog. I'm thinking Fridays.

Nothing like accountability, right?

So, tomorrow or Thursday, look for a post outlining some specific issues I'm hoping to work on, and a rough outline of what I'll be doing. I expect challenges and setbacks and tweaking and all of that, but hopefully, I'll have a good idea of what I can offer to folks who would like to work with me in the same vein, as well as some reality to go with it.

It's time.

Long Overdue

"Bless me, father, for I have sinned. It's been three and a half years since my last shiatsu treatment...."

I know what you're saying .... what's wrong with me? And then I expect my clients to be more regular visitors? I mean, I know how great this stuff is... what's my excuse?

Whatever.

Point is, I finally went yesterday to see my friend and lifesaver, Diane .. she of the contagious laugh and the listening hands. She who can make me cry before she even touches me, because she has a way of nailing me on whatever mind games I'm laying on myself.

In a compassionate way, of course.

A lovely little lesson I learned, for example, was the profound connection between "But I HAVE to..." and chronic physical contraction.

As in, "But I HAVE to.... (make this much income; drink less; exercise more; eat better; become a superior mom, shiatsu person, human being) ... and if I don't... well, you know....

The "Have To's" had taken up residence in my left shoulder and neck, and my lower back. The "I'll Never Be Good Enough's" were lodged in my chest and digestive system. "This World Is Too Much" was sitting on my lungs and crouched just behind my eyes, ready to let loose with the tears at any moment.

Diane reminded me how the "Have To's" were driving me the last time I had visited her, and how well that was (not!) working out for me.

Oh, and hey, guess what?

When the body contracts around the mind's imperatives to push push push, the horizons of possibilities narrows, the mind gets more frantic, the body contracts further, and so on and so on and shooby-dooby-dooby.

And while it would seem that meeting pressure with pressure would be the obvious way to address this (oh pleasepleaseplease just dig your elbow in under my shoulderblade...!) I was again blown away at how a simple holding of points in strategic locations freed up my back, my neck, my breathing, my mind.

Her fingertips just outside my ankles relaxed my lower lumbar and sacrum. Her fingers in my ears (!) caused my shoulders to drop. "Ah!" she exclaimed. "You have a neck again."

Indeed. (Deep breath....)

Oh, shiatsu. I will never again foresake you.

Forgive me?

Shiatsu in Context

While shiatsu was the main thrust of our training in school, we were also given instruction in breathing, diagnosis, exercise, self-massage and basic macrobiotic cooking.

Much of this was intended to bring other skills into our future practices, but more than that, we were learning how to change our own lives and habits. Being a shiatsu practitioner required a commitment and attention to our own well-being. Whether we took this on as a career or not, we were sure to be personally transformed by the education itself.

In my past five years of practice, I've wrestled with how much 'other stuff' to bring into my practice - admittedly because I had let a lot of my own self-care practices fall by the wayside. Now, as my own body gets a little older, and life gets a little more demanding, I'm realizing the importance of really stepping back into this way of life. I can't practice shiatsu... with its demand for my own physical and mental stamina and focus and flexibility ... as if it were just a job I go to and then leave at the office.

Nor can I continue to keep shiatsu out of the context in which it rightfully should exist for my clients.

In its natural habitat, shiatsu, like other Asian healing massage modalities, is just one part of a larger health care plan. Along with attention to diet, exercise, appropriate breathing, and cultivating emotional placidity, the overarching idea is to keep the body and emotions in a state of harmony and balance... living between extremes is believed to contribute to illness and disease.

Sure, shiatsu can stand alone as a healing bodywork modality (and, admittedly, I have cringed just a little to see it added as one more technique in one's repertoire) but I think it is far more effective when used as part of a larger wellness protocol.

All this to say that you will be seeing changes in my business focus over the next couple months (and my website) to include support in these other areas. I feel challenged by this self-imposed raising of the bar .. knowing that I have to live it myself to feel that I have any kind of authority in helping others.

Are you ready to join me in living more fully?

transitions and you

Summer and all that entails seems to finally be taking over.

In my shiatsu practice, this means not only futzing with a temperamental office thermostat that can't decide if I'm running a sauna or an ice cream truck, but also, the temporarily losing several regular mommy clients now trying to navigate new schedules, leaving less free time for them for luxuries like self-care.

This change of pace, as they've expressed to me, has been met with mixed feelings: relief from the lunch-making, sleepy-head rousing, school-bus catching, homework-chasing, never-ending activity routine. But also a little sadness over the loss of 'me' time; and in some cases, the challenge of entertaining bored children.

Summer rocks, in the opinion of many, but even so, it is a transition: a break from the normal routine. And no matter how welcome this can be, it takes getting used to.

And like with almost any shifting of the norm, the first thing to go is usually the self-care. Which is probably the most necessary thing during times like these.

In times of change, how do you stabilize?

I've talked before about the Earth element being associated with late summer in Chinese medicine, but also with the times between seasons .... the transition times. This is when we often feel most out of sorts and out of rhythm with our environment. Earth element governs the flesh... the muscles, the body .. stability, groundedness.. centeredness.. all things to be nurtured when life is in flux.

Summer's energy is very yang, and expansive... so much to do, so many directions to be pulled toward. And really, beyond even the seasonal changes, modern life itself at this time is so unpredictable, moving so quickly .. getting in touch with the feeling of being rooted will keep you from being overwhelmed.

Sure, I will admit I'm trying to woo back my wayward mommies and my world-traveling jet-lagged vacation-goers but seriously, whether you come back for some nice centering bodywork or not, be sure to take care of your physical body. Eat well. Stretch often. Do what you need to do to feel good in your phsyical body, which will provide you with safe haven and strength when all is mayhem around you.

Look on caring for yourself not as a luxury, or self-indulgence, or even pampering. (Ugh, do I hate that word!) No matter where you go or what you do, you have to live in that body. This is health care at its most basic.

It will help you get the most enjoyment out of your time during these months, and just maybe you won't be left feeling like you need a vacation after your vacation.

Survey Says....

In my last post, I mentioned how there are some of us on a mission to define shiatsu in ways that make it meaningful and relevant to the world at large, and hopefully establish its status as a integral part of one's well-being routine... rather than an esoteric, exotic luxury.

It would be remiss to overlook what the actual experience of shiatsu fans has been. I mean, I know how awesome it is, and how majorly it rocks. But it would help to inform our process of defining if we could hear directly from you.

So, here's a survey, created by Tony Brown of Worthing Shiatsu in the UK. Please note that you don't have to be a client of mine to participate... any experience with shiatsu will do.

It's short and easy.... and your input would be greatly appreciated! And you can sleep easy knowing you will be doing a great service to the Cause!!

Click here for the survey...

And thank you.