Within these two past days, there were two vehicle collisions.
There was a murder reported.
From where I’m looking, it is difficult to discern whether it is raining or snowing. That would not be unusual except that it is the last day of April.
Lately, I have been feeling more like the leaning tower of Pisa and scattered rather than centred and grounded.
“Mom, self-care is also your work,” my daughter Claire wisely advices me. Just what I need to hear. Everywhere I look, I see the elements of fear, despair, hatred, shame, depression, rage. Today is a self-care day.
I began by sitting on a stool with the intention of practising vowel toning. The body is a complex orchestra of trillions of anatomical parts that vibrate at frequencies which are either in harmony or out of harmony.
According to Jonathon Goldman, an internationally renowned sound therapist, “frequency plus intent equals healing”.
Entrainment is a phenomenon of physics that enables an object to change its frequencies or resonance of another object with the voice.
Using the chromatic C major scale, I vocalized through each chakra, from the root to the crown with each corresponding vowel while visualizing the colours associated with each of the chakras.
It definitely worked last night when I had a toothache. On a scale of one to 10, the pain subsided to zero. Well, today, I just felt like the leaning tower of Pisa, so after the toning I definitely felt more upright.
My gurgling stomach was telling me that it was time to feed it. Knowing my Ayurvedic constitution, or dosha, helped me to make a decision about the menu.
Vatas tend to toward leanness, dry skin, talkativeness, irregular sleep, being very active, restless, fearful and quick to love and hate.
The day was windy and cold. Soup was the order of the day with lots of root vegetables and warming curry seasoning. I ate without reading a book or magazine, mindful of each spoonful.
Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk and peace activist has taught mindfulness meditation through simple walking.
With belly more than three quarters full of warm soup, a meditation walk was a perfect adjunct to self-care. Each step and each breath became the focus for attention. I became free of the past and free of the future being fully in the present.
When done, I returned to the task at hand of writing this column.
“Now I am ready for dessert,” I thought. Savasana – deep releaxation. I lay down on the blankets in corpse pose, meticulously covering my body to stay warm, eye bag to stave out the light, being mindful of being anatomically symmetrical.
As my mind touched each part of my body, I felt myself surrendering to the floor, softening bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia, organs senses. My mind surfs the waves of my oscillating breath. I breathe in and the belly rises. I breathe out and the belly falls. Every pore and molecule in my body is responding to the pleasure of deep relaxation.
After a half hour or so I carry on with tasks of the day preparing for the client soon to arrive.
“Physician, heal thyself” is an ancient saying whose wisdom teaching we can all tap into. Each of us has this ability in small ways to realize our inner reality, to surrender to whatever life’s curve ball is thrown to us.
In that process, Eckharat Tolle, the author of The Power of Now states that, “The compulsion to think lessens and is replaced by an alert stillness.
“You are fully conscious, yet the mind is not labelling this moment in any way. This state of inner non-resistance that is infinitely greater than the human mind.
“This vast intelligence can then express itself through you and assist you, both from within and from without …” leading to “the peace that passeth all understanding.”
Namaste.
Lillian Strauss is a Yoga practitioner, reflexologist, Thai massage therapist, movement and music teacher at Energy Works. For information on her classes, contact her at 393-4541 or [email protected].
