Presence During Challenging Times

Two months ago I shared the sad news of John Matthew Upledger passing. At the beginning of this month I travelled to Palm Beach in Florida to attend a celebration of life for John Matthew, who is affectionately known as JM. It was a long journey to make across the country for a weekend but it felt important to gather with my friends and colleagues to celebrate all the gifts that JM shared so generously with us all. It is these bittersweet moments that have a lot of intensity and yet are very powerful.

In the past I have had a tendency to avoid such times finding it difficult to know how to respond and shutting down around it. Last month I shared about the importance of feeling into our bodies and tracking sensations and being able to stay present even in intense situations. I have spent many years practicing this ability through my training and receiving of CST and the Healing from the Core curriculums. I am thankful for this skill enabling me to come together and share these poignant/ difficult/intense experiences instead of feeling isolated, alone and afraid. I am so appreciative that I have found CST and Healing From the Core to help me embrace and accept my whole range of emotions much more fully and to not be afraid of crying in front of people or belly laugh for that matter!!

In the same vein of sharing the healing and gifts that come from CST, I'm inspired to include an excerpt from a piece that was written for July's Soul Connection Healing Center (SCHC) newsletter. You can see the whole article here. Each month one of us from the group writes an article for sharing in our SCHC newsletter. This month Meghan McGrath shared about experiencing chronic pain since she was age five which came with a long list of diagnoses into her adult life. Here's an excerpt:

"Here are three ways I shifted my health, and you can, too:

1. Shift Your Mindset. A big milestone for me included a mindset shift from symptom relief to healing. Symptom relief assumes you need relief from an ailment but does not address the cause of the symptom, which perpetuates the cycle of ill health. It was an ah-ha moment for me. I started to shift my focus and my healing accelerated.

2. Be Body Aware. It was with the help of amazing people that I no longer saw pain as something to numb or mute, but as a signal from my body and something to listen to deeply. CST was the key that opened the door to healing for me. It was not the only effective tool, but it was the foundation and a huge part of my journey that worked in collaboration with all modalities I tried, including acupuncture, chiropractor, myofascial release, massage therapy, and others. I learned to trust myself and listen to my inner wisdom about the messages my body were giving me. If something didn't feel right, I didn't do it.

3. Adopt A Theme of Ease & Grace. I learned to be gentle and kind to myself. When I settled in and listened, I was able to make the shifts needed to release the restrictions in my body and in my life with more ease and grace. Living in my body was no longer a fight, but a dance or an adventure. This led me to make real, substantial changes in my life that persist years later.

As always I love to hear your what thoughts and views inspire you. Drop me a line here.

From My Hands and Heart, Kate xx ,