***Get to know the animal within…she’s the Goddess too. There is no separation…we are animal…we are divine in that we have the capacity to experience the oneness with all and that goes well beyond the body…it’s important to not leave out half of the equation…to be grounded, knowing and healing the body is an imperative…… Continue Reading →
By Will Meecham
Bessel van der Kolk’s 2014 book, The Body Keeps the Score, reminds me of how strongly both my physical and mental condition have been shaped by trauma. Spinal arthritis, abdominal pain, chronic muscle aches, fatigue, depression, anxiety, and many other problems combine to form an inner ledger of the abuse, bereavement, and neglect of my childhood and the uproar, frustration, and terror of my adult experience. Why should this be? Why should trauma have such profound effects on body and mind? It’s useful to remember what it means to live as a human organism. There are many ways to explore this, but let’s try an outside-in approach. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Let us please open our eyes and help one another to see. Right now those in public and sanctioned positions to help us are actually harming us unintentionally. We must bring this to a stop. We must help one another. There is no motivation to heal without drugs if there are no safe places to do it. Right now it’s not safe for most people most of the time. This alone will keep people from even attempting to do it or even realize or acknowledge it’s possible. It’s scary and the fear is justified and even rational given what we face. I am in a rare and privileged and lucky position and I still get frightened too. This is scary stuff. …
For people like me it is illness that calls us to wellness and waking up. Thank god for Dr. Google. Seriously. And to hell with those who glance side-ways at those of us who’ve learned to doctor ourselves. We commit *science* via observations of our own bodies everyday. We learn by coming up with hypothesis and… Continue Reading →
As I surrender I find that my brain/body/ has so much healing to do still and often times that requires bed rest and total quiet even now several years into this healing process. It’s not illness when the body needs to rest…it’s the demands of healing. Highly intense metabolic processes happening that mean I simply have to stop and allow the internal processes to take over. I need to surrender to the wisdom of the body at those times. I generally don’t bother trying to explain to others anymore…not in any sort of detail. …
Our bodies are incredibly knowing animals that we’ve systematically learned to ignore, shut down and ultimately poison. Healing is about letting the wisdom of the body re-emerge. … and
“In a mad world, only the mad are sane.” – Akira Kurosawa … (reflections and links…click through for more)
Healing is not always curing. People need to understand that. In the end these bodies die. So don’t misunderstand when I say they know how to heal everything. Healing is not the same as curing. What is nice about profound healing, however, is that transformation of body/mind and spirit is possible in ways that most western modern human beings aren’t even aware is possible. …
(old post sharing again by sticking it to top of blog today) — Spring has returned and I’m so happy to be able to start freely walking barefoot on the ground again. I’ve posted this a couple of times before and it seems a good practice to introduce to new readers now that weather will allow, so I’m posting it again. There is science behind my incredible and unstoppable need to walk barefoot upon the earth!! Every day that weather permits I do this. I walk barefoot on the earth. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Listening to music and moving to it (or not, sometimes I simply meditate) have become and will remain a foundational aspect of becoming well for me. I listen to many different sounds, do yoga, I walk, I dance, and I mindfully am present with the movements of my body when I do just about everything. Even when I do the dishes or any other household chores. Becoming conscious of our incredibly lovely animal bodies can be a deep and profound joy. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Fear will create all sorts of havoc in the body.
Most of us are terrified of being alive…(or alternately terrified of dying, which is the same thing)
I’ve found that as I heal the autonomic nervous system fear is absorbed into the body and slowly dissipates…
Healing the autonomic nervous system has required me to slowly and systematically face the terror of being human… … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Everything matters 