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Body Language

4/30/2015

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I marvel at the number of healing modalities out there: from Western medicine to Eastern philosophy, from shamanism to folk medicine.  Some of us are fortunate to have access to it all, while others are limited to a narrow spectrum of the healing rainbow.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about the physical/emotional health of certain relatives, friends and patients, even adding my personal state into the contemplative mix.  I’ve asked certain questions.  How do we make space for our body?  How do we tune in to its wise message?

 
A body part calls out
Help, I’m hurting
Stay with me


Do you walk away in disgust
or wait for the story
breathing
listening patiently
to its language
what it needs to function


how it really wants to support you
the best way it can
if it’s given the chance to speak


 
On my journey towards wellness, towards wholeness, I’ve come to discover a few things.  When a body part or organ system calls out, I cannot walk away in disgust.  If I do, I banish that part of me from the sacred temple of wholeness.  I don’t give the body a chance to tell its story, to honor it for supporting me, to thank it for doing the best that it can.  The exact healing modality I choose isn’t as important as the attitude I bring to the healing journey.  Am I annoyed at the body’s incompetence, grateful for its wonder, or somewhere in between?

Making space for the body and tuning in to its wise messages take a tremendous amount of patience and time.  If you’re looking for a quick fix, you won’t find it here.  Not that there’s anything wrong with a quick fix.  It just depends on how deep you want the healing to go in yourself (and maybe even the generations before and after you). 

Making space.  Patience.  Time.  Who has space, patience, or time?  I don’t know about you, but everywhere I look, we’re racing against the clock, impatient and don’t have the space or time to do what I’m suggesting above.  Who has time for exercise, nutritious meals, body based practices that can help us experience life from the inside out, creative endeavors that sing to our souls, or supportive communities that can understand and normalize our experiences?  Commitments to work, family, and the community don’t make anything easy.

Still, I’d like to invite you to take one step towards wellness, towards wholeness whatever that might mean for you in your particular situation.  In the comments section, please share one practice that is helping you listen to your body.  In giving yourself one gift of space, patience, and time, may your body speak to you in ways that are both meaningful and supportive. 

Disclaimer: I cannot overemphasize this notion of space, patience, and time.  The body is intelligent.  It will know when you have an agenda – when you are trying to force it to speak, heal, or change before it is ready.  If you are genuinely curious, stay listening just as you would with a distressed friend or frightened child.  Your body will speak when it is ready, and not a minute beforehand.

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Self-Forgiveness

4/23/2015

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There are things I wish I could change about the past.  The future terrifies me.  What if I could be better?  Would I feel more peaceful, at ease with everyone and everything?

Do these contemplations sound familiar?  We have high expectations of others.  Still, the greatest burden of expectations are those we carry ourselves.  If only I were more this and less that.  The self-improvement project list is endless.

If you’ve followed my writing long enough, you’ll know I love to mention self-compassion wherever, whenever I can.  But there is a particular flavor of self-compassion I want you to taste with this post – self-forgiveness. 

What if you could soothe every explosive thought of inadequacy, every sharp look of disapproval, every distorted perception of a problem with a kind gesture, a pledge of forgiveness?  What if you could place both hands on your heart and silently whisper the words forgiven, forgiven to yourself (a practice often taught by Tara Brach), and gently take yourself off the hook of crucifixion?


Remember

Knock on the door to your heart
A secret garden awaits you
plump red strawberries
and wild fragrant jasmine
a swing where you can fly
kiss the breeze and
tickle the sun with your toes


Whoever said there’s no such thing
as magic never knew about the door
how it can open when you need it most
invite you to play, to rest
to remember the child within
how she wears a crown of petals
and dances with the wind



What if you could go back to a time where things were less complicated, where innocence and freedom gave you permission to play, to rest?  What if there is a secret garden inside us all?  May you knock on the door to your heart.  May the words forgiven, forgiven greet you as you remember the child within, how she wears a crown of petals and dances with the wind.


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Becoming the Sky

4/14/2015

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After returning home from a blissful week of vacation, I saw everything as a problem.  The hangover feeling each time I woke up from jet lag.  The loads of laundry waiting to be washed.  The overflowing inbasket of work waiting to be addressed.  The sore throat and runny nose that could be allergies or a brewing cold.  The dream about missing an important meeting and having an unusually full schedule of patients.

Was any of this really a problem?  Could all this be considered normal if I allowed a change in perspective?  What if I could change my relationship with what was happening as it happened?  Could there be post vacation bliss independent of external circumstances?

After listening to an enlightening Q & A session with Pema Chödrön, I began to ask the question, is this really a problem?  A gentleman came up to the mic and asked the following question.  “How can I overcome my fear of public speaking?”  (Public speaking was an integral part of this man’s livelihood.)  Ani Pema asked, “Is this fear debilitating?  Can you still perform your job effectively?”  The gentleman replied that he was performing just fine and that the fear was not paralyzing.  Ani Pema chuckled, smiled her mischievous smile and said, “Is this really a problem?”

We spend our lived trying to get comfortable, fleeing from discomfort as if it will kill us.  I’m sure many of us would argue that the physical manifestations of anxiety (or any other difficult emotion) are in fact downright unbearable at times.  Sensations of tightness in the jaw, neck, shoulders, and forearms.  Racing heart and summersaulting belly.  Who wants to experience that?  I’d rather have my muscles melting into the soft hand of a masseuse and the sun while sipping mint, cucumber, orange, and lemon flavored water!

In the past, I would have killed anxiety with my bare hands if I could.  Maybe it would be considered murder, but I was willing to serve time in prison.  Any place was better than a place where anxiety ruled.  How I relate to it now makes all the difference in the world.  If it’s the kid no one wants to play with, the ugly zit on otherwise clear skin, or the stain on a new dress, then it’s naturally going to be a problem.

What if fear is just clouds in a blue sky?  Sometimes it’s thick and gray, swollen with tear droplets waiting to be released at a moment’s notice.  At other times it’s a single fluffy and white cloud like cotton candy, not taking up much space at all.  But the blue sky, this vast compassionate presence is always there above the clouds like a window to the stars and whole universe of light consciousness.

If I can remember the sky, I can let go.  I can let it rain because I know that the storm is temporary.  I can let the sensations play themselves out till they are tired, till they’ve lost momentum.  My Brahmavirahic breath can save me, stretch me to become the sky itself.  Maybe fearlessness is being with fear just as it is and learning to stay.


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Lunar Eclipse

4/4/2015

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Moment of Truth


We define ourselves by name
socioeconomic status
the number of friends on Facebook
the way our partners look at us
the extracurricular activities 
and colleges our children attend


What if we lost it all
Who would we be
What would we hold onto


The lunar eclipse is upon us
when the ego
all black and white thought
can dissolve into the space
of higher consciousness 


The moment of truth has arrived
Will you become the light?
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    Author

    Kaveri Patel, a woman who is always searching for the wisdom in waves.

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