Presence Matters

The issue of resilience is in the air since the publishing of Elizabeth Edward’s new book. It is a timely and valuable subject since so many people are facing such adversity in their lives right now – emotional, financial, and health-related issues.

How we respond to stress and adversity defines the quality of our lives. Life’s stressors are not going away. The only thing we really have any control over at all is how we respond to what life presents to us. And, our ability to respond well – defined as making choices that enhance our life experience – is dependant in large part on our resilience.

In a recent interview about her new book, “Resilience”, Elizabeth Edwards gives us her definition,

“I talk about my father’s dealing with his life after he had a stroke. I think that resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it’s less good than the one you had, the reality that you liked before. That’s what my dad did. He still grabbed hold of what was left and lived it as fully as he could.” (italics mine)

My own father had a unique and wonderful way of demonstrating this for me when I was growing up. If a difficult situation came up, rather than reacting negatively, he would use it as an opportunity to “put on his thinking cap” and rise to meet the challenge, especially if someone tried to tell him that the problem was unsolvable.  

My earliest memory of this talent was one Christmas vacation when I was about eight years old. We were driving to my grandparent’s cabin in Fort Valley, Virginia when it began to snow, hard. By the time we got to the final leg of our journey -  a long dirt road up a steep incline to their cabin - the snow was almost three feet deep and still coming down. There were two other cars stuck at the bottom of the hill with my uncles huddled around them looking worried and defeated. They were about to abandon their cars and carry all their stuff on foot up the long steep hill through the deep snow. We were tired and grumpy as kids usually are after such a long time in the car.

However, when my Dad looked over the whole situation and yelled to my uncles that he was “going for it”, our tiredness turned to excitement. I remember him backing up the car, getting up speed and charging up the hill, slipping and sliding all the way.

Over and over, we watched as he got part of the way up and had to back down and start again. Each time he would get a little farther up the hill, until, finally we were all at the top – all three cars – and everyone was feeling exuberant rather than defeated.

Then, there was the time (obviously before the days of security checkpoints), when we arrived late for a flight. The ticket agent looked at us and said, “ You have exactly nine minutes to make it to your gate.” Dad looked at all of us with that gleam in his eye and said, “You want to run for it?” Well, run we did, and we made the flight, seconds to spare, breathless and triumphant.

He emanated this wonderful sense of adventure and creativity in times of adversity.

The other day I was working with a young woman in her late twenties who had recently been home visiting her parents. She went to sit down in a chair and it collapsed. She found herself suddenly sitting on the floor, unharmed, but to her surprise, feeling anxious and frozen in place.

 As we explored it further, she told me that when she was younger, her Dad would beat her with a belt if anything ever went wrong. It didn’t matter whose fault it was, and it happened so frequently that it became an automatic response to freeze, waiting for the blows she knew were inevitable. 

So her recent response was understandable, but outdated and crippling to her as an adult woman - to be frozen with anxiety because of something that was an accident?

In her trauma response, in that moment, she had no resilience, no ability to see the situation as it currently stood, and thus no ability to respond in a creative, life-enhancing way. 

Slowly we worked together to release the old nervous system response and bring her body and its ability to be resilient, into the present moment where she is safe and capable of taking care of herself quite well. 

Memories of my Dad coached me all the way - if he had been there when the chair broke, he would have gotten that gleam in his eye and probably headed to the garage for the tools to fix it, all the while engaging her in how to creatively solve the problem of a faulty chair.

When the time was right, I shared the image of my father’s likely response, and she was astonished. Then she laughed and decided that his was the attitude she wanted to hold next time something went wrong. My story helped expand her view about how differently a parent could react in situations like that. 

By the time we finished, she no longer felt like a scared little girl. Her power had returned and she had practiced how she could respond in the future.

A colleague and friend, Kathy Burns, gave me another definition the other day as we were discussing this issue.

“Resilience is the ability to accept what is actually happening, with as little judgment as possible, so that you can take clear, wise action about it – to make the best of it.”

Then she laughed and added,

“This acceptance issue is a huge step for most people, particularly when the situation isn’t what they bargained for, or even faintly wanted.”

Life can really throw some hard stuff at us these days. To be disappointed, angry, frustrated or depressed over a turn of events is normal and even appropriate at times. The problem is when you stay there, stuck in an emotional soup that keeps you paralyzed and unhappy.  

The skill of knowing how to expand your lens on what is happening is one worth cultivating, so that you can get the perspective to be able let go of whatever judgment is hounding you. With this acceptance comes an expanded capacity to creatively problem solve, in ways that are not available when you are locked up emotionally, or frozen with anxiety or worry. 

My father modeled resilience for me. It guides me all the time these days. And when I share his wisdom, it guides others as well. Although he is no longer walking on the planet with me, part of him lives on in me. I know that would please him to no end. Thanks Dad!

I am delighted to announce that Full Body Presence is stepping out into a wider audience – New World Library (think Eckhart Tolle’s publisher of “The Power of Now”) has bought the rights to the second edition of “Full Body Presence”! Coming to a bookstore near you early next year. I am feeling deep gratitude to everyone who has helped me, my work and my first book arrive at this point.

The buzz about the book is growing steadily, and I am touched by how many people of all different ages, professions and walks of life are being positively impacted by what the book has taught them. I love hearing about it. It is encouraging and heartwarming for me. 

Have you read Full Body Presence yet? If so, please comment here on my blog or email me directly at healingfromthecore@comcast.net . Please, share any insights you may have gotten as you read it and listened to the audio. Tell me how this book has made a difference in your life. Please, also let me know if I can quote you on my website.

AND, the upcoming second edition means that the remaining books are now limited edition items. So, in celebration of the contract with New World Library Publishers, all books sold through our website in the next month will be personally signed by me. 

One of the other ways I am celebrating is with an Author’s Party, given for me by a local friend and colleague. If I am in your area in the next year, I would love to come and celebrate with you as well! Contact my office athealingfromthecore@comcast.net if you are interested. 

Coming next month.…the book will be on iTunes, and on our website totally in MP3 audio format - I’ll keep you posted when that is available for those of you who are audio book fans! 

And now you can also keep up to date with me and Healing From the Core with Twitter, Facebook  and LinkedIn. Stay in touch, and, enjoy!

“What if we think of gravity as a spiritual force of belonging? Gravity offers each of us a place called here, where we can let go of effort and rest in the ‘lap of belonging’ of the larger earth’s body. By turning our attention to an inner awareness of the attractive force of gravity, and to felt sensations of this ongoing connection to the earth, we can tap into an innate sense of belonging.”

Thus, Susan Harper began our time together this past weekend in the Meeting the World with Heart workshop. I was reminded over and over as the days progressed, of the enlivening effect of simply directing my attention to what is happening in each present moment in my body as it is an integral part of all of nature. It was wonderful, restful and rejuvenating.

Then we dived deeper into the consciousness of open inquiry – exploring how our hearts have such a capacity for seeing the beauty in everything around us – the beauty that is deep within, not the surface Hollywood definition of beauty. The inner intelligence of the heart is stimulated each time we perceive our world with fresh eyes – not pre-judging something. We all played with turning off the auto-pilot and navigating with no set preconceptions. The weekend deepened and got richer with a wonderful balance of movement and stillness, reaching out and resting back to receive deeply.

I am reminded, yet again, of the importance of taking periods of time away from my normal life to deepen my own relationship with myself at a deep core level - my Spirit, my Soul – this is the primary place of belonging for each of us. When it is not fed and valued all else starts to suffer. Often I feel as though I get off course (slightly or dramatically) when I forget to tune in regularly, drinking in what my inner wisdom is telling me in each moment.

What are you doing this Spring to start this new cycle of nature inspired and renewed? 

Something in this week’s news caught my attention – it was in the story about the hostage situation with the Somalian pirates and the naval captain that has just been freed. As the news channels churned out all possible aspects of the story, an expert hostage negotiator was being interviewed.  What he said made my ears perk up. He was talking about the elements of what makes good negotiation in a situation like this. One of his key points struck home with me.

In essence, he said that a good negotiator must be a presence that calms the captors, saying the right words so that they don’t panic and kill the hostage. He went on to explain that this is a two-pronged effort. The first is knowing the right words that create clarity and calmness in the mind of a hostage taker. The second and equally if not more important is the presence to deliver those words in such a way that they come across with congruence. Meaning that the person hearing them feels calmer by their delivery. Right words and thoughts coupled with presence – creates an optimal possibility for success.

I am reminded further of a story from Full Body Presence about one of my students whose home was broken into at night. She stayed calm, using her presence to calm the intruder and talking him down so that he did not harm her or her boyfriend (although he was armed and initially really agitated). Here also, knowing the words and having the presence to deliver them congruently was highly successful for her.

This has ramifications in our bodywork sessions every day. I see the “right words” spoken about above, as knowing the proper techniques to address the issues of the person on your table. There are many available classes in all the specialty areas that can give us this information. Once we practice them enough, our “right words” are at our fingertips (pun intended) when we need them.

The “presence” spoken of above is the invisible substance that holds the session together and allows those techniques to be delivered seamlessly. This is the part that I find fascinating. I have mastered many techniques across the years and continue to add new ones to my storehouse of knowledge, but the presence to deliver them seamlessly, when they are needed most is what stimulates my creative juices.

The process of how to nurture this presence - how to stay inspired - how to take care of myself so that I have available all that I am capable of - this I see as my daily practice. 

One of my favorite mentors in this rejuvenation process will be here this weekend to help a group of us prime the pump of our creativity - come join me if you feel so  inclined  http://www.healingfromthecore.com/conmeetworld2009.shtml

How do you keep your presence strong – how do you nurture yourself? Is it a priority for you? Are you on your own “TO DO” list? 

As the days grow shorter and the holidays approach, I notice that everyone around me seems to be speeding up, to get it all done before they cross the finish line to the New Year.

In times like this, having the ability to slow down and drink in the joys of this season is a skill well worth the effort. As I go about my days, I am taking time to rest, to ground myself, to soak in a warm tub, to walk in the cold air wrapped in many layers. My favorite activity is making time to contact the people in my world that I am especially grateful for - the people who have made a difference in my life. It is so easy in today’s busy world to forget to give thanks - and yet, my heart opens and gets bigger every time I feel my gratitude in this way.

Life has been challenging this past year for all of us. There is a lot of stress and uncertainty in the world right now. And yet, there is also a remarkable sense that this time of change holds the possibility of deep healing and transformation for our nation and for the planet. So how can we open to this possibility? How can we feed the positive change and let go of the fear and distrust?

The Five Principles of Full Body Presence can be a guide here.
Trust that there is a nurturing source of life energy around you at all times. Gratitude for the blessings you already have in your life is an excellent way to bring this trust in at a deeper level right now.
Feel this life energy in your body - feel your feet connecting to the earth beneath you. Take a deep breath and let in rejuvenating energy wherever you are. Last weekend I was helping out in the concession stand at my son’s high school basketball game. It was extremely busy and chaotic, and yet, we were all enjoying ourselves as we sold hot dogs and sodas. A kind of rhythm was established in the midst of the chaos, and we worked as a team churning out food and drink for the crowds. It was exhilarating. So allow yourself to connect to whatever activity you are doing and feel the flow of life moving through you as you do it - whether it is cooking for your family and friends, shopping, or visiting an elderly relative. Each moment can be rich if we feel what is there that is energizing, that is life-giving.
Integrate this life energy throughout your entire system. To me, this means that I allow myself to feel as full as I can. This gives me the steadiness to meet old family patterns and my expectations in a new way. When I am grounded and full, my boundaries are better. I remember to take a walk rather than staying in an familiar, draining family situation. I go and take a nap if I need one. I put on the music that feeds me at this time of year. This keeps me more full and resilient. Having this cushion of energy is vital to my health and well-being. It also means I can be of more help to those around me.
Expanding my perceptual lens enables me to see the joy in my life, no matter what I am doing at that moment. As my lens expands, I can let go of expectations and let people be who they are, pure and simple. This makes my relatives and old friends so much more fun to be with!
When I remember to take care of myself as I move through the holidays - when I connect to healthy resources moment to moment - my tank stays full and I am a nicer person. This year I am putting up my Christmas decorations rather late. The rest of the neighborhood has been lit up for weeks. I needed to rest after a long trip and the decorations will be put up when the energy is there to do it. Treating it this way means I am a nicer, less stressed out person.
So may this holiday season bring you more trust in life, more sense of gratitude for what you have, more resilience and nourishment within, more capacity to share the love in your heart, and an unending connection to what feeds your soul.

Thank you for being in my life,

Full Body Presence and CranioSacral Therapy

In light of the current political and financial instability, it makes sense for all of us to walk through our worlds, grounded and present in our bones. Our bones are those deep recesses that hold wisdom and provide us with a sense of steadiness and clarity.

What follows is a classic example of how the current political and financial situation is affecting many people on a physical level, and how full body presence combined with CranioSacral therapy allowed me to support and facilitate my client in shifting into more trust and steadiness.

This week, a client, Vanessa, comes into my office, and as she lays down on my treatment table I am immediately drawn to her lower back and sacrum. She tells me they have been bothering her.

As I cradle them and she begins to talk, her back tightens up further. I ask her to bring her awareness to the area between my hands, and as she does this she pops out with, “I am enraged - at the financial markets, at my financial advisor not warning me and keeping me out of harm’s way…” Her voice trails off. Her back is not relaxing.

What can I do as a hands-on therapist in response to this appropriate outrage? The American public as a whole has a right to be outraged with the political process and greed that got us to where we are today. Her retirement is certainly at stake, and she is less than a decade away from wanting to live on it. It behooves us to know how to come back to our center in times of stress and crisis like this, in order to better meet the issues for healthy resolution.

As I listen, I realize that I need to gather my full body presence to be able to hold a neutral, therapeutic space for her healing process. Her low back and sacral area are in spasm and have been for almost a month, since the financial markets first began to take a downturn.

As I ground myself, and listen to the flow of energy through her system, I feel her outrage in her low back muscles and gut as excessive heat and extreme tightness. She acknowledges the continued tightness and tells me how powerless she feels to change it. I remind her that in times of stress, one of the most important things anyone can do is to “plug in,” call in their angels, say a prayer, ground themselves and fill up with nourishing sensation. In other words, reclaim their trust in life. She chuckles, “I am always calling in angels for everyone else - I forgot to do it for myself!”

As she does this, the room fills with a scintillating energy that we both can sense. This begins the softening process in her back. I can now feel a spreading sensation in my hands. Then we go through the process of contacting her inner wisdom, which leads her to the realization that her heart, the master conductor of her system, is feeling small and dark.

Next her inner wisdom guides her to take her awareness into her bones, deep into her bones. To help her with this, I invite her to notice how her spine feels resting in my hands. Quickly she begins to feel the warmth and aliveness in her lower spine, where I have been holding and mobilizing the system. Her cold, stiff upper back, which is the support for her heart, is now calling to both of us. What can be done here to help her heart?

I move my hands to her upper back to meet the tissue and mobilize this area, using more CranioSacral techniques. At the same time, I continue to invite her more into her own full body presence so she will be able to hold the treatment she is receiving.

As I make contact with her bones giving her spine more space, her upper back relaxes into my hands. I love combining CranioSacral Therapy, which so beautifully opens up the bones and membrane structures, with the Full Body Presence awareness work. They go hand in hand, supporting each other seamlessly.

So, as her spine opens and she can feel her chest filling - her heart plumping out and relaxing - I ask her how she feels throughout the rest of her body. Relaxing even more into her bones, Vanessa says, “I feel calm and steady. I can see the entire situation without my outrage rising up again. I feel like I can see more clearly. Whatever I need to say or do when I get into my financial advisor’s office next week, I know I can be clear and steady - no matter what he tells me. I’ll be able to strategize with him from a very different place than when I walked in here an hour ago.”

This is a wonderful example of how full body presence allows us to contact the wisdom that our bones impart to each of us, when we can be fully present there. Think about it. Our language - “bone deep” knowing, “I feel it in my bones,” and other such phrases highlight the recognition that our bones hold an essential knowing for each of us. So take a moment and feel your bones.

What does your backbone feel like against whatever you are leaning on right now?

What do your sitting bones feel like on your seat?

How do your feet feel resting on the floor?

Notice how taking your attention to these three places can subtly but powerfully change you sense of steadiness and clarity. Feel free to continue to play with this.

And, enjoy!

Full Body Presence is here - the books are in and ready to go! One reason I self-published is that I wanted to have this book and its wisdom in the hands of as many people as possible as we go into the last month of this election process. Please help me do this. It is more important than ever before in our lives that each one of us make an intelligent choice, informed by our full body wisdom in the next election. It is not only vital for us as individual citizens here in the United States, it has become clear that our choice will affect the rest of the world. If you are not registered to vote and you still can do so in your state – do it now. We are long beyond the point of saying, ‘My vote does not matter.” Everyone’s vote matters. (See chapter 10 of the book.)

In the growing turbulence and divisiveness in our country it is easy to sink into fear and hopelessness. When our leaders or leaders-to-be are caught in blame and personal attack rather than rising to finding the solutions we need to grow and return to prosperity, it can be disheartening. However, after an initial period of complete frustration with the deception I was seeing on the political scene, I have realized that those of us who have refined our capacity for clear discernment, who are not swayed by glib answers and personal attack ads, have a responsibility to step fully into our integrity, into our power, into our full body presence and be a source of clarity and strength for those around us.

The major issue when we hit those places of fear in ourselves is to remember to connect to our deepest wisdom, and ground ourselves. Use whatever spiritual practices you know to fill up with life-giving energy so that you can change the resonance of fear in your body, to a resonance of life-giving sensation - of fullness - which always helps you choose more wisely in any given crisis situation such as the time of unknown outcomes that we all face right now. When we are full, we can experience the present moment with clarity and determination.

This is vitally important. The outcome of this election will affect many generations to come – our children and our children’s children…reflect on how your choice will affect everyone - from the economic situation to our moral authority in the world; from women’s freedom and equality, to better healthcare and every child’s right to a full education; all the way to honoring the heart of the Constitution – look under the charisma and personalities of each candidate and see what each one stands for and whether their record reflects their current position. Does it spell integrity?

Listen and look at each of the candidates from your full body presence. Use your discernment. What does your heart tell you? Does your head agree with your heart? What does your gut tell you? When you walk in your world and watch how the candidates are conducting themselves, think of how you want your president and vice president to represent you in the world. That’s how you can expect to be treated by them. Notice, do they talk down to people? Do they try to sway you with fear tactics? Or do they speak to you and call for your intelligence and courage, to correct the inequities we are currently experiencing in our nation? Do they honor and support each person’s right to their own views and truths which is fundamental to our Constitutional rights as Americans? Do they make personal attacks on their opponents in order to derail the more important issues at hand? Or, do they address these issues cleanly and directly so we can make intelligent choices based on what we see/hear/feel/sense in their presence? We know that when someone hides behind personal attack what is left is the shell of a bully, not a clear message we can hear and make a decision from.

No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, it is vital that you search out the truth as you read the paper, the internet, and watch the debates. As I look at this election, gathering data from all sides, I am struck by the twisting of the facts and mis-information being billed as the truth. Seek out multiple sources. Listen to the news stations on all sides of the issues, not just the ones on the far right or left. Those on both the far right and the far left throw out stuff that is pure hogwash at times.

In my opinion one of the best places to ferret out the real issues, and where the candidates stand on them, is the nationally televised debates. Make time to watch them. They are geared to be neutral ground for our citizens to be able to see and hear the truth from each candidate. And as you watch and listen, ground yourself and stay full energetically, so that your entire body’s navigational system for wisdom is operational.

And, vote. You can make a difference. If you need help getting the skills to be able to listen to your deepest wisdom in this way, Full Body Presence can help you gain these skills quickly and easily. I have worked tirelessly for the last year to have this book available at this time. Help me get it out there to those who need it. These are exciting times – the ability to be fully in your body and able to clearly discern what is for the highest good is what makes these times exciting rather than scary. And, enjoy!

P.S. I have done a short video clip on how to drop quickly into your body for clear discernment of the candidates. It will be coming up in the next few blogs - watch for it!

Awhile back, one of my clients began talking about “The Dog Whisperer,” a TV show with Cesar Millan. He was fascinated by how Cesar recognizes the invisible connections between dogs and humans that other people just aren’t picking up, and how that information can solve all kinds of problems in seemingly magical ways. 

He grew quiet as his session progressed. Finally he said, “You know, Suzanne, you do something like that, what Cesar does with dogs. Only you do it with people – when you know where pain is emanating from and can address it, or when you know right where my tension is and you put your hands on it before I say a word….” He fell silent.  

I contemplated what he said. While I’m a practiced bodyworker with years of experience under my belt, I’m not alone in the ability he was speaking of. I share my talents with many others in the bodywork community. 

About a month later, out of the blue, my colleague Robyn McHugh said, “You know Suzanne, we’re like body whisperers – we know where to go, where to start and end a session, often without even knowing how we know….at an invisible, unspoken level.” 

Now I was tickled. We are body whisperers. We know how to make connections with the muscle and tissue and bones and membranes. And when we’re very good, we even connect with the energy field that runs through and around us.  

The body speaks to us, silently yet potently. Every good bodyworker hears this in a slightly different way. Yet in the end, if we’re truly listening and responding to the body’s whispers, we all end up facilitating healing for the people on our tables. 

I see it like different doors into the same room. There are many excellent systems of bodywork out there right now. We’re lucky to be alive on the planet at this point in time. There are so many talented people and systems designed to help us find our way home to the healing space that ultimately leads to growth and integration. 

I’ve experienced it all: CranioSacral Therapy, Lymph Drainage Therapy, Visceral Manipulation, Trager, Zero Balancing, Rolfing, Neuromuscular Therapy (and massage of all kinds) the Rosen Method, Feldenkrais, the Alexander Technique, the Rubenfeld Synergy Method, Cortical Field Reeducation, Shiatsu, Touch for Health, Healing Touch, Reiki, energy balancing of all kinds…I’m probably forgetting more than I’ve named.  

Some systems include talking, some are silent. Some are performed on clients who are dressed, others require no clothing at all. Some are short (20 minutes), others are long (2-3 hours). The point is that in every case, when the practitioner was dedicated to listening deeply to my system, I ended up feeling like I had come home more deeply to myself. I may have come in through different doors, but they all opened to the same room inside of me – that room that helps me relax, heal and integrate my life’s experiences.  

Feeling inspired? Me too! That’s why I propose that someone create “The Body Whisperers,” a reality TV show with different bodyworkers working with a range of people and issues. Imagine how well it could help educate our culture as to the depth of healing that can occur when people are touched in a caring, non-invasive way. Just give me credit for thinking it up and let me do a show or two! 

What do you think? I think the world may be ready for us. If we can have horse whisperers and dog whisperers and baby whisperers, we can certainly have body whisperers. 

In the meantime, come see me at The Upledger Institute booth at the National AMTA convention in
Phoenix on Friday, September 19th from 12-2 p.m. I’ll be signing my new book: Full Body Presence. Stop on by. I’ll sign your book and you can let me know what you think of my idea.  

And, enjoy!

When Claire Laplante interviewed me recently for an article on working through injury, I was struck by how many injuries could be averted if we listened more closely to the signals our bodies were sending us - and we knew how to interpret them accurately.

Across the course of my bodywork and teaching career I’ve seen many therapists miss those signals. Then they end up hurt and either having to leave the field or spend a lot of time out of work.

That’s one of the reasons I’ve been so outspoken about encouraging people to slow down and listen. I narrowly averted a few potentially serious injuries myself by tuning into what my body was desperately trying to tell me.

I received one of the earliest signals only a year or so after graduating from massage school. At that point I enjoyed doing at all kinds of massage, but my clients really seemed to like the firm strokes of my deep-tissue work. Unfortunately, as my client base grew, so did a ganglion cyst on my left wrist. It was sore to the touch and would not go away.

When I finally stopped and tuned into my wrist, I clearly got the sense that my wrists and hands did not like doing deep-tissue work. That’s when I knew I had several choices.

I could have ignored what I was hearing and kept on working. That probably would have led to carpal tunnel syndrome or some other wrist-forearm-hand dysfunction. Then I might have been dealing with long-term recovery or worse, permanent burnout.

Or I could have medicated my wrist. But that could have caused the issue at the source to get more complicated as I dealt with the side effects of the drug that was silencing the voice of the inflammatory process.

As I listened further and experimented with what my wrists and hands did like (we’re talking months here), I finally discovered that the forearm strength needed to perform light-touch CranioSacral Therapy worked just fine for me. It uses different muscle groups yet in equally powerful ways, as I hold firm platforms for occipital-cranial base releases or I follow the tissue in deep fascial releases.

Because I listened to and honored the signals from my body, I switched directions in my career. Ultimately, it was a far more satisfying and rewarding path for me.

Today there are good articles on injury reduction coming out for therapists. The information they share can help you ask your body relevant questions.

Yet in the end, the biggest factor is whether you know how to listen deeply and communicate with your body. Everyone does this in slightly different ways. The core skill of knowing how to slow down, tune in, and listen to what your body is telling you is the key.

How do you tune into what your body is telling you? Drop me a line and let me know. I’ve just completed my book, Full Body Presence, that is designed to help you slow down and tune in. The eBook is available now and the printed copy is coming later this summer.

If you’d like to be one of the first people to read the book, I’d be honored. You can purchase and download the ebook or preorder the regular book by clicking here: Full Body Presence
And, enjoy!

Spring is a time of year that in many cultures and traditions signals new growth. Coming out of the dormancy of the winter hibernation cycle, life returns as buds and light green shoots greet the longer days and warmer weather.

This winter was a particularly inward and focused one for me as I came down the home stretch on my book (stay tuned in the next blog for how to pre-order it!) Having spent hours upon hours in front of my computer, editing and organizing, I was particularly ready for spring to arrive this year! And, as good things seem to happen in threes I have three particularly rejuvenating things to share with you.

My first re-awakening experience was a delightful weekend in mid-April taught by Susan Harper called “Opening to the Mystery”. In one short, amazing weekend in Reston, VA. she got us all back in touch with our feet, our spines, our bellies, our movement possibilities and our awareness of the world around us. I have studied with her annually for over a decade and she continues to inspire and rejuvenate me. Thanks, Susan! For more information about her work and travels go to www.continuummontage.com

Then earlier this month over 200 people gathered in Jupiter Beach, Florida for the Beyond the Dura conference sponsored by The Upledger Institute, www.Upledger.com.

From the practical to the esoteric, there was something for everyone. From how to treat special needs children effectively using Sensory Integration techniques, all the way to beautiful slides on brain ventricular motility; from cutting edge immune system research, all the way to fascinating Jungian archetypes and how they effect ethics; from how to treat post-surgical cardio-thoracic patients in the hospital, all the way to drumming and hands-on table work; from mobilizing and feeling more in your own sacrum and experiencing how that gives you more skill in subtle palpation, all the way to acupuncture meridians and hands-on treatments. And there were many, many more - all of them excellent.

It was also a blast. The conference culminated Saturday night with a fabulous poolside dinner party with Dr. John Upledger playing piano with the live band, followed by hula dancers. Personally, I find this combination of intellectual stimulation, hands on work, seeing old and meeting new friends and colleagues from all over the world, and dancing the night away to be one of my favorite ways to learn and rejuvenate. The conference planners did a great job of varying the program so we were not sitting for hours and hours as so often happens at conferences. Being right on the ocean for walks in the morning and evening was also wonderful.

This conference continues to be a groundbreaker in the field of bodywork that has relevance for all of us. Attendance was plentiful from all the professions involved in CranioSacral, Lymph, Healing From the Core and Visceral therapies- from medical doctors to massage therapists. Go to the Upledger site www.BeyondtheDura.com to catch up on some of the great conference presentations and mark your calendars for the next one!

And last but not least, this week is one of my advanced level trainings, Expanding Present Moment Consciousness, at the historic Claymont Court mansion in Charles Town, West Va. This retreat is a delight to teach every spring. As the staff and I facilitate these advanced students in coming more into the present moment – using conscious awareness, breath, movement, hands-on work and sacred ceremony - we naturally get to drop more into the present moment ourselves. So this workshop is rejuvenating for me as well. Being out in the rolling hills of West Va. in late spring is a delight all on its own. Then add the excellent food and good company and it is a wonderful combination. I look forward to this retreat every May. For more information on this training and its prerequisites go to: www.healingfromthecore.com/advMay.shtml

I hope your spring has been awakening and growth producing as well.
More next time on the book I am currently finishing up.
Enjoy this gorgeous spring weather!