It's wintertime! Time to slow down and do what you want.
Good morning, friends! Today I’m writing to you from my home, looking out the window at a rather unusual sight for the Atlanta area: snow-covered rooftops and a street riddled with patches of ice. So, I’m planning on being home all day today and possibly tomorrow as well.
Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem, but I had plans for this weekend. Some of you were going to share in those plans, since they included presenting the Upledger Institute’s two day Introduction to CranioSacral Therapy class at the Heal Center. I love sharing CST with students, so having to make that call to reschedule the class was a major bummer, doubly so when I found out that the next weekend our classroom would be available wasn’t until April.
And yet, this situation brings with it an unexpected bright point: free time. We all lead such busy lives, it seems like we sometimes need a weather event just to force us to get still, look inside, and really consider what we want to do with our time. Do we really need ice on the roads to do this, though? I remember being told by a CST practitioner I travel to receive work from occasionally that I should spend time after my sessions doing whatever I wanted. Such a novel idea, and something we almost never give ourselves permission to do. And sometimes, we don’t even know what it is we want to do, either because we never stopped to consider it or because we are out of touch with what our bodies are telling us we need, whether that is rest, exercise, touch, social engagement, or something else.
I know that when I first began studying CST and receiving it as a client, I was out of touch with my body’s inner wisdom. I was shut down to the point of not knowing what hurt and what didn’t, and it wasn’t until after a part of my body stopped hurting that I realized it had been hurting in the first place. If you had asked me what I wanted to do, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you. It took time, support, and a gradual process of connecting with that inner wisdom to get the point of knowing. Now I can tell you about the sense of warmth and comfort in my belly, or the tension in my neck. And I can tell you how that sense of warmth and comfort increases when I consider snuggling with my dog today, or how the neck tension decreases when I think about going out for a walk and taking in the winter scenery.
Our bodies are wise and can give us all of that information and more, if only we pay attention. It may be tempting to keep on being busy, to check one more thing off the to-do list. And sometimes those things do need to be done. But what if, today, you also decided to give yourself the gift of time to do whatever you want? Think of your choices, and see what your body says about each of them. Where do you feel that? What do you notice?
And if you’re like I was a few years ago and not sure what your body is telling you, consider building a new relationship with yourself with the support of someone who can help you. If you think I might be that person, please get in touch with me and let’s talk about working together.
Warm regards on a cold day,
Maija
P. S. Wondering about that rescheduled Intro to CST class? The new dates are Saturday, April 22 and Sunday, April 23. Join us!