Week ? • Time Out

My Dear Friend,

Apologies for the radio silence. I had to take a break from our correspondence and tend to myself for a moment. After several weeks of full-body education, I was feeling pretty raw and tender. 

Even though the program is part-time, even though we are not assigned “homework”, it takes time to integrate these lessons. The body and mind need to rest, to come together and compare notes. This requires you to stop doing. My instructors say this is also part of the work.

This give-and-take rhythm is not common in our grinding productivity culture. I find myself resisting the advice of my instructors to rest, to receive, to let go and allow things to unfold. I want to do, to figure out, and to fix. But this is not the way of the body. It's not a machine that pushes ever forward. It's more like a plant with different needs at different times. Sun, shade, soil, water. If we learn how to listen, it will tell us what it needs.

So much of this work is turning one’s brain way down, and letting your body’s sensitivity rise to the top. When we practice on each other in class, we learn just as much from receiving massage as we do from giving it. This is where we practice listening to our body from the inside. Observing changes unfold that we did not initiate. 

I am so pumped to hone this skill of intuitive listening. I feel like I've spent the past decade waking my body up and calming my brain down. Trying to detangle and smooth my frazzled, tender nerves. I love that I have found a way for this sensitivity to be of use. And not just of use, but like, vital at this moment in time. 

Until next time,

Your friend,

Rested & Refreshed Bodyworker-in-Training