Day 3: New Clients

It's new clients that keep my practice alive. As one of the counselors that's now working in our office says, "My job is to work my way out of a job because my clients get better."  This can apply to me too so its crucial to keep the new ones coming in.

Thanks to a once new-client-turned-regular, I had two new clients today!  Both sessions went really well and I got to do what I love - open another's eyes to the possibility of living without pain and discomfort.

Day 2: A Loaner Ride

A week ago I realized that the car I just bought had a major leak in the trunk. Bummer. I guess the leak itself wasn't major, but it needed serious bodywork instead of just a replacement liner like I was hoping.  It ended up needing to be in the shop all week, and I had a full week of work after having just come back from vacation. I would have hated to miss more work because of this.





But as it turns out, I didn't have to. My mom let me use car (left) all week. It all worked out wonderfully, even gave us an excuse to hang out on Friday and go by the new Kaleisia Tea space (one of our favorite places). It almost makes me thankful the car thing happened...almost.

THANKS MOM!

Day 1: Memories of Clint

Just yesterday I discovered that a good friend of mine passed away in a car accident earlier this month.  I saw a picture of him on Facebook with words about "loving memories" and "passing on" that led me to check out his page to find several messages about his gentle, loving soul and how he will be missed. I agree with them all.

It only seems appropriate to start this project off with my gratitude for getting to share some time with this man. Clint showed me, and many others, the wonders of raw food. He taught me how to make salads, enlivened my love for kale, and is the reason I own a dehydrator.  It was also through Clint that I connected with an awesome group of friends. In a lot of ways, this guy changed my life.

I would like to dedicate this project to his memory. Clint was an incredible inspiration to those around him, may his love for health and good food live on in us all.

Here's a video of him in his element showing Tim Van Orden, a raw food athlete, the how-to on foraging Florida foods.

If I got a chance to talk to Clint one last time, I would want him to know that I can't make a salad without thinking of him and that I am so thankful he was here for his time with us.

What I Think I Know About Gratitude

A few weeks ago I decided to start a project called "101 Days of Gratitude," where I will recognize at least one thing everyday that I am grateful for.

For practice, I had one week a few weeks ago where I was actively posting on Facebook/Twitter something I was thankful for everyday. After the first few days, I started to notice how it often I wanted to post multiple things a day.  It was like I broke the gratitude seal or something. Once I started to look around for something to be grateful for, I couldn't help but notice an increasing variety of gratefulness.  This in turn, brightened my mood, shifted perspectives on my life and how it was moving along. It seemed true that practicing active gratitude helped me to see, or possibly to create, more things to be grateful for.

I anticipate a similar result from this project, but am unsure of how the longer time span will affect the outcome. My life may be about to radically change. But, gratitude project or not, this is always true, the excitement of which is one thing I am grateful for.  

Letter to the Editor

Here's another example of what I wrote about in the last post:

When I started this blog months ago, I changed my gmail chat status to the title of the blog with a link.  Just today I had my friend, who is an editor, send me a message and ask, "Isn't it supposed to be "Not So Seriously?"

Only then did I realize that it read, "No So Seriously" and has for months.

Oh. My. Gosh. Not So Seriously doesn't mean sloppy.  It just means that I don't get to feel bad about it. In fact, I think it quite funny.  Thank goodness for friends with sharper eyes than I.

All in the Editing

So the word on the street is that my blog posts are too long.  Or as my friend rephrased, "Its not that they are all too long, it is just that for the amount of words you are writing you are not saying that much."

Wow. Alright then.

So as I coax my confidence out of the dark corner, I thought I'd write about it. Try, try again, right?

In my contemplation on these observations I think I've realized a key point here: I avoid editing. The act of composition gets all my attention and then I want to be done with it.  In the last few years my writing practice has focused on learning to write my first thoughts, let go of the internal censor, allow my deeper voices to uncover themselves. It seems now that I forgot this is just the first step in the creating writing that I want to share.

Leaving first thoughts as first thoughts is just fine if I'm the only one reading it.  But if I want to put it out for others then it's best I clean it up a bit. I don't want to read someone else's mess. And I'm sure you don't want to either.

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We'll mark this as the beginning of my "Say More with Less" campaign and I proudly affirm that this post has been edited for your reading pleasure.

Yoga til the Break of Dawn

I suppose that I should report on my last post about June's project of doing yoga for 30 days. Again like my last 30 day project, I didn't quite succeed in actually doing yoga everyday for 30 days, but I don't mind. I did yoga almost everyday and that was in itself transformative.

I am taking a break from 30-day projects for July, though I do feel a restless diligence that is motivating many of my actions.  30-day commitments or not, projects seem to be naturally manifesting through completion and it is quite satisfying (maybe a by-product of more yoga).  Just last night I have decided to start a project of 101 days of gratitude in a little over a month leading up until Thanksgiving.  The idea is to just acknowledge something that you are thankful for everyday. Keep a list, maybe take a picture, write a card.

But I think I've realized a little more an important lesson through my last project: Committing to something like yoga for 30 days is much bigger than that month. Its something I want in my life for the rest of my life.  The 30 day commitment helps to set a habit; its the habit I am after, less so the actual commitment.  Yoga practice lasts from now until tomorrow, then til tomorrow again.

This is a necklace I made years ago that now rests under my bathroom mirror, a constant reminder to just be.

June's Project

Time to re-cap and set new intentions:

So I began this blog at the beginning of May with the intention to write on here everyday.  During the first few days of the blog, I saw that the Sacred Tremor was also doing a 30-day project. I hadn't at that point thought about having a limited time to "write on here everyday," but after watching the TED talk about it, I decided 30 days was a good bet. And maybe I'd try to do something different everyday for 30 days. 

As you can see, I didn't write on here everyday for 30 days.  But I'm okay with that.  I at least wrote on here 17 out of 31 days, and that's just about over half... more importantly, I'm pleased with what I did write on here and am motivated to keep exploring myself publicly.  I am in the business of helping others make changes in their life and I know that means I have to do it too.  The thought here is that maybe reading about my struggles can help others; in the least, writing about it helps me. 

So my 30-day project for June is to do yoga everyday.  This means go to a class or do at least one full sun salutation.  So far through June I've done my project. We are only on day five though, so let's see what happens next week...

What is the Upward Spiral?

This will be an ever evolving page as I work towards defining all that the term Upward Spiral evokes for me.

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In short, it is how I am conceptionalizing my inner journey.

As it turns out, Upward Spiral is also the name of my business. When I was deciding on a name for my business Upward Spiral had what I was looking for. It has a feeling of positivity, growth, and unfolding. It also is a great description of what happens in Structural Energetic Therapy, the therapeutic bodywork system I practice as the main source of my income.

I also loved how the acronym for Upward Spiral is US so I can joke that I work "for us," because I feel like I do.  The services I offer help other people in ways that help make them a better person, which makes the world around them better.  Maybe that's the upward spiral...

After I began my business, a friend of mine was reading Siddhartha and came across this quote:


“We have learned so much, Siddhartha.  There still remains much to learn.  We are not going in circles, we are going upwards.  The path is a spiral; we have already climbed many steps.”


So I guess I'm not the only one who's sees the journey this way.

Immersion

So, I have begun a yoga teacher training and will be heavily immersed in the study of yoga for the next 6 months...and probably the rest of my life.  Part of the program is to keep a journal of our experiences; though I will be keeping a written journal as well I hope to use this platform to share some of what I learn.  I believe that what I discover will be humbling, enlightening, and centering, with surely some struggle and resistance mixed in.  But hopefully in revealing some of that here, I can help inspire others to immerse themselves within.

A few weeks ago I committed myself to going to as many yoga classes as possible. In our program we are encouraged to attend as many different classes/locations/teachers as we can. Even if we don't like a teacher or type of class, we should try it again see if its different, learning more about what is important to us in practice. Also, we will use all of our learning to deepen our own personal practices.

Currently, I am still working on integrating my own yoga practice into my free time at home, but I see ways in which I am doing a form of yoga everyday. I also know that yoga is much more than doing the physical postures and breathing exercises. They help, a lot, but help what? Help me to stay more firmly in my centered space, feel less hurried, have less of a need to get, do, want, and encourage love love love.

I am exstatic to be taking the time to delve into the deeper level of yoga practice and learn more about who I am.