I really hope this finds you well on this New Moon, Thursday November 4th 2021, another day of precious lifetime. Or indeed on whatever day this happens to be for you.
Welcome to another Body Harmony New Moon Blog.
As I write, it’s a clear Autumn Tuesday night here on the East coast of Ireland and the sky is a thick carpet of glimmers and twinkles. Orion is back in all her take-no-shit glory, but, at 7ºC. it’s a bit cool to be lingering outdoors for more than a quick hello to the stars. A refreshing taste of awesome infinity before returning to the (potentially) guilt-inducing, global-warming comfort blanket of my couch…
Grateful for the warmth, and the wonder. Grateful too for the choice of how to spend my evening. What to experience and acknowledge including the troublesome, doubting voices and thoughts that share my head along with the positive ones.
There are sixty million chemical events occurring in my tissue at any moment, from autonomous bodily functions to learned responses and ancestral programs. Cells responding to taste and texture, pressure and pain, sound, vibration and emotion. Processing questions and colours, heartbreak and happiness, past and present, ease and uncertainty, spontaneous joy and hilarity, future and fear, doubt and love.
How much of this can I be aware of or influence at any moment ? Am I turning on the TV – what to watch? Writing this on my laptop – what to say? Is this ok? Why is my throat dry? What to do about it?
“Howzitgoin’” is a common greeting in this part of the world. How are ya doin’?
How’s it going?
You will have your own versions: Hiya? Cómo estás?… Hoe gaat het?… Hur mår du?… Whassup?… Ça va?… vie geht’s?…
So, how IS it going? How is your day being experienced? Slowly, quickly, busily, easily, painfully, joyfully, creatively, fearfully? Fully? Conscious or unconsciously? Any or all of the above? Can you even say? I’m not sure I can myself without stopping to consider the question, and who’s got time for that?
Perhaps you are now smiling, perhaps frustrated. Maybe feeling annoyance and about to bale out of this blog. Perhaps you have too much else going on: problems, worries, deadlines.
You’re not alone.
Personally, I have acute health and family challenges. My father is in hospital, confused and delirious after surgery and I can feel guilty that I’m not with him – if I so choose… I’m annoyed that some of the fruit I bought earlier is rotten. I have a Zoom call shortly and I would like to make tea. A text I’m thinking of sending, but should I?..
Thoughts that are felt in my belly, my chest, my jaw. My shallow breath. A jump to action unconsidered. Why am I standing at an open cupboard, my legs & shoulders tight, a jabbing flutter in my gut, breath catching in my diaphragm?
How much awareness do I, can I, need I bring to this moment?
How safe do I feel in here?
So before going any further we’re gonna take a little break…
where…
I invite you to relax your jaw and your shoulders…
soften your arms and your hands…
and to connect with your chair or immediate environment.
Soften your hips, knees and ankles…
take three long breaths deep into your belly, allowing your out-breath to empty slowly and completely…
Feel the earth come to meet your feet and support you. Perhaps playfully?..
Consider what you notice in your body. Perhaps bring a smile to somewhere that could use more ease. Can you breathe more fully without efforting? Lately I’m finding it more difficult, but when I take a moment to connect, it feels great. Easy even.
You see, if I ask you to do this exercise by writing it down and trying it out, then the chances are I’ll do it myself too. Because I need all the help I can get to cultivate awareness and presence in any given moment and I know I’m not alone.
It occurs to me that each of our clients also brings a dynamic catalogue of similar issues to a Body Harmony session, as do we practitioners. Personally I find it easier to notice my own breathing when working with a client, but I can of course drift in my concentration at times too. I should have mentioned that I have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder, so my mind is busier and concentration is more elusive than most people’s.
It can be fun in here sometimes too, however.
My point, I think is, that finding the sweet edge of presence can be challenging sometimes, especially as efforting does not help. My busy mind wants more to happen than just ‘noticing’ and coming back on track with breath. And my body responds in kind which is often not helpful.
So, perhaps being able to acknowledge and accept these shortcomings is beginning enough. Knowing that however you are feeling right now is totally ok, and just allowing that. And being willing to come back to breath. And taking the time that you don’t have, and finding that it’s there always and not a linear construct.
And as I look for a way, on Wednesday afternoon now, to wrap this blog for delivery, my mailbox pings with a daily thought from Abraham Hicks, which I am going to share here with a smile at the timing and a thank you to the creators – all.
“Aren’t you just thrilled that there are billions of beings of intelligence within you? Cells that each know what’s best for them? And as they find what’s best for them, it is ultimately what’s best for you—unless you’re focused upon something unwanted and using that as your excuse to block the flow. They are asking, Non-Physical is answering. Are you in the way or are you letting it flow? That’s what this “Letting go and letting God” is all about. It’s about relaxing and no longer hindering the communication between the individual askers. Every particle gets to individually decide. And as every particle asks, it is answered—and the Whole continues to thrive.”
(Abraham Hicks)
