Day 33: My Practice

The past few days have presented me with a few challenging situations in which my mindfulness practice has become invaluable. All in all, things are great.  There is really one incident in particular that has been calling for way more of my mental attention it deserves. Being able to focus on what I am doing instead of steaming in what I should say now or should've done before is what is getting me through it. And without the mindfulness, I would have already said things I shouldn't. So instead, I am being with the amazement of another person's "stuff" and how they want to place it on me.  Being with the amazement of it doesn't mean I am wearing it. It just means I am working on my compassion and being thankful for this opportunity to learn how other people like to wear their "stuff" accumulated in this like. I'm thankful I can recognize what is under the surface without being pulled under also. My practice is my life raft.

This is why we meditate and do yoga. When we practice being with what is when 'what is' is fairly neutral, then we are more like to be with what is when it is freaking crazy.

Day 32: My Job

I don't think I posted this gratitude exactly yet, but it was coming. I've said it before and I will say it again:

I LOVE MY JOB!!!

This is what I did at work today:

First I saw a client who is recovering from a concussion.  He has been seeing me every week for therapeutic bodywork, which has been fun because I have been experimenting with various techniques and approaches. Today I incorporated vibrational healing from a Tibetan Bowl and a chime, both with sounds that evoke the sacred space within. After the session he said that it was the best session he's had so far. Yeah!

Then I saw my weekly Traumatic Brain Injury client. I've wrote about him before on the Upward Spiral blog.  Though his movement and communication is limited, we've worked together so much that I feel a fond friendship with him. Today when he came in he said hi to me for the first time. It may not have sounded like that to someone else, but I heard him. For an hour I got to help him feel relaxed in his body that he may often otherwise feel trapped in.  I even got some good laughs from him in sharing some funny stories.  He may not say much but he sure loves to laugh.

Last I saw a client that came to me originally for physical pain and in that we've found other emotional traumas that were tied up with it. We had a long discussion about where she's at and where she'd like to be. She left saying that it was like counseling and massage all-in-one place, and that she feels like she can get through the rough road she's been traveling. We brought in some light where there was darkness. To top it all off, we helped make significant difference in her chronic pain.

And I get paid for all of this!  That's just the icing on the cake of transformation. More please!

Day 31: Tea + Meditation

Yay! Those in attendance to tonight's first ever Tea + Meditation event at Kaleisia Tea Lounge may not have known this but I was a little nervous leading up to this event. Of course, I KNEW it would go great but it was a new experience that I was in charge of and that's a little bit nerve racking. This is the first time I led a meditation event (I've done meditation/mindfulness within other events, but not where it was the event itself) and like when we do anything new, I was a bit unsure of how it would go. I mean, I had 21 people's internal world in my hands. I didn't want to let them down.

So I am proud to say it was a success! We had a few glitches, but that is to be expected and will make it better next time (which will be October 10th).

We all shared "one pot, one moment," and practiced cherishing the moments, our breath, as the breezed by. Even though I was leading it, I caught the vibe too and felt GREAT afterwards. Already looking forward to next time...

Day 30: Call to Action

Last year on the 10th anniversary of the events on September 11th, I posted about how this event has a lot to do with why I am a massage therapist.  I spent several weeks in late 2001 and early 2002 in NYC working with a volunteer massage team.  My mom had gone up a month before and got the call to start the United Aromatherapy Effort. In addition in chair massage provided by at least 20 different therapists from all over the country and beyond, we also collected and disseminated aromatherapy supplies. Here is a video slideshow of pictures from our trips.

UAEvideo

More PowerPoint presentations from sylla

I can't find words to describe how this changed my life. Suffice it to say I am infinitely grateful for a grand opportunity to help others in need and feel the motivating fire that lights the human spirit.  

Day 29: Perspective

Sometimes all you need is a little perspective. Perspective is like gratitude; once you start to acknowledge it, it pops up everywhere.

I had several moments today where a little shift in my perspective transformed my emotional outlook. The more I try to think of examples, the more I see that my whole day was a bunch of new perspectives. Visiting the dentist, listening to stories from clients, visiting Kaleisia's new tea room (where we will hold Tea + Meditation this Wednesday), stories from my roommate's trip to Malaysia, the longest phone wait I've had trying to contact my credit card company.  Each experience gave me a new perspective on some aspect of my life. Today will affect how I view tomorrow, the combination of which will affect the day after.

Now I realize that I can view each day as an opportunity to see the world differently.  I wonder what tomorrow may show me?

Day 28: Rainy Sunday Mornings

The past few weeks I have been working on willing myself to be a morning person.  I'm halfway there. I love morning time. When I am up for it I enjoy the slowly brightening day and my stirring mind, an easy transition into the day.

But I'm not consistently there yet.  I stay up too late and am so comfy in the morning, it's difficult to get up and going. I am happy to say I was successful with getting up way earlier than my usual time without an alarm yesterday morning. It was fabulous! More please, I thought to myself.

This morning was a whole different story. I woke up to the gentle light of a rainy morning, the sound calming my consciousness, and didn't even worry about what time is was or was not. Usually immediately upon awakening, I am churning through my to-dos and strategizing from the get-go. This can create an almost traumatic emergence from sleep and generally stresses me out if I don't watch it.

So when I awoke to the soft tap of rain drops and a sunrise of cloudy skies, it only seemed right to enjoy some Sunday morning time just laying in bed. Spending the first 20 minutes of my day just enjoying where I was at helped set the feeling for the rest of my day. It makes me think I should do that more often, rain or shine.

Nature is teaching me right.

Day 27: Saturday Afternoon

I was supposed to be working until 5 or 6pm today but by about noon my 3 o'clock client canceled. Though I would prefer the income, getting to enjoy an unexpected Saturday afternoon at home is almost just as good. Saturday afternoon feels kinda like Monday morning in that it has so much potential, but in almost the opposite way. The potential is more of relaxation than production.  It makes me feel like I have plenty of time to still enjoy today and more to look forward to tomorrow. Even though my schedule varies from the typical M-F 9-5, weekends still have a weekend feel.  And when weekends get to be enjoyed as weekends, the feeling is oh so good.

Day 26: This Breath

Today was a little more emotional than usual. First off, over the past week my grandmother has been slipping farther into her transition from this earth. At least that's how I am thinking of it. Another interpretation is to say her dementia is getting worse and she has shown that she needs more care than we thought last week. This is the first time I have witnessed something like this and there is a range of emotion that goes with it. Even though this would have been a true statement before it has more weight now: My grandmother as I knew her is fading away.  This realization just sort of hit me last night.

Maybe that had something to do with the crazy-ass dream I had last night? I woke up realizing that I had dreamed all night.  It was like a very long movie in which I was starring as one of the victims in a very sick psychological thriller. I won't go into the details, but I will say I was creeped out most of the morning.

What got my through my day was simple: my breath. Being able to just return back to my present moment through tuning into one of my most essential actions, breathing, was all I needed to get me out of that hectic head space.  When I look around at what's in front of me, instead of wallow in the mind-stuff, I see the wonderfulness that is my life and am able to focus at my tasks at hand.

I know that it is also important to take some time out for the things that deeply affect me. Breathing is getting me through that too.

Day 25: The Tea Lounge

I think it was back in 2006 that I starting to come to this new tea lounge on Fletcher Ave. My roommate at the time introduced me to Kaleisia and I was hooked. Even after my first few times in the tea-ristas knew my name and what I had already decided was my favorite (rose black tea with jasmine green, iced, if you were wondering...).  I didn't know it then but this place would become central to my Tampa life.

The original mission of the owners, Kim and Lan, was to create a place of community.  I think it is fair to say mission completed. I know for a fact many friendships have started here, groups have formed, ideas have been shared, and there has probably been a few who have fallen in love over quality tea. But it is not the tea that's the best part, although they do this very well. Its the space they create.

In fact, they create space so well, they've recently kicked it up a notch. About a month ago, they unveiled their new location with more space including a larger and more private patio and a Japanese tea room.

And it really isn't the space itself that is so great, it's what it is filled with. In everything that kaleisia does, first and formost, is consideration of the community and how they can enrich it. They aren't in this business to make money. Their in it to make the world a better place and they do, one cup at a time.

Day 24: My Unfolding Journey

Yesterday I got a taste of my own medicine.

Long story short, there is more to cranial work than what I learned in SET training. The unwinding of the spiral pattern in the body is crucial to our SET treatments and the way we've been taught to unwind the cranium is effective, but I see now there is more to the story.

My teacher, Don McCann, learned his cranial work from Dallas Hancock. Don did an incredible job at integrating the cranial work with releases in the soft tissues as well as awareness of the emotional components; all SET therapists are indebted to him for this contribution.  But now several SET therapists have gone on to learn the cranial work by Dallas, our teacher's teacher, and I am lucky enough to get to work with one of them.

Dallas's main contribution to cranial releases is what he calls the Master Release.  This release is very similar to what every client that come to me for SET receives on their first treatment, but there is more to it.  In our sessions we spend about 30 minutes on the cranium and 60 on the body; Dallas spends the entire 90 minutes on the cranium.  It makes me wonder what we are missing.

So yesterday it was my turn to be worked on in our office trades and I wanted to experience this complete Master Release.  My therapist released sutures on my head, face and mouth that I hadn't experienced before and I could feel my body letting go in new ways.  After the session I felt both lighter and more grounded, though a bit wobbly as I felt the spiraling energy release out of me.

I feel that this is a turning point in my life.  I am ready to be fully in the world, share all that I have to share.  My focus now is on embodying my own potential and travel this upward spiral that I keep talking about.  In just the past 24 hours since the cranial session, I feel like I am more confident in who I am and feel more free to be just who I am.

I thought I was already fairly good at this but it just goes to show that there is always more to the story. I must continue on my own healing journey if I want to help more people. There's no turning back now.