Let’s start at the very beginning. A very good place to start. When you read you begin with abc, when you sing you begin with do re mi. Do re mi fa so la ti do!
Such wise words from the Sound of Music.
As my first official blog post, I think it is important to start at the very beginning.
Practitioner preparation. It is of utmost importance and often overlooked or moved through much too quickly. It is important to build a good foundation for your healing sessions whether your sessions are Craniosacral Work, Energy Work, counseling or massage.
As my teacher Hugh Milne says “If you want to go deep, BE deep.”
Preparation for a session involves consciously bringing your nervous system into a calm state. Many of us are running around in sympathetic overload – fight or flight. We need to learn to turn the volume down on our own nervous system – into a parasympathetic state so that we can “model” this to our clients. We can’t expect our client’s to relax if we are not able to relax. And trust me… it feels a lot better to be in ”rest and digest” than “fight or flight”.
I highly recommend a daily practice of quieting oneself. Notice, I am not calling it meditation. I LOVE meditation but the term meditation sometimes conjures up ideas of discipline, and sitting in lotus position until your knees ache. “Quieting oneself” can be as simple as stopping for 5 minutes here and there throughout your day to practice dropping into a calm state. I will suggest 2 simple practices that you can easily incorporate into your day.
1: Grounding is a very important practice for your healing work. Most of us like to trip out on higher states of consciousness. They do feel kinda cool. However, it is recommended that we have a connection to our root – rooted to Mother Earth and grounded in our Being. Grounding helps to keep us present – in the here and now. Healing takes place in the present.
Here is a simple practice for grounding. The more you practice this, the easier it will become to drop into this state very quickly.
Sit or stand. Feel the contact of your feet to the floor or ground and/or feel the contact of your sits bones on your seat. Begin to grow roots down into the ground like a giant tree. Keep growing them deep into the earth and at the same time invite the earth to rise up to you. Don’t rush through this. Do it until you feel a palpable shift in your nervous system.
Once you have that sense of ground, then allow the energy to rise to your low belly area – to your hara (2 inches below your belly button and 2 inches deep). Allow it to accumulate here and then expand it all dimensions. Keep a sense of the ground as you do this.
Then allow the energy to rise to your heart center. Allow it to accumulate in your heart center and then allow it to radiate out in all directions – front and back, side-to-side, and top to bottom. Again, keep some awareness of ground as you do this.
Now allow the energy to rise to your third eye area, allow the energy to accumulate and then expand it in all dimensions. Again, keep some awareness of ground as you do this.
Then allow the energy to rise to your crown area, allow the energy to accumulate and then expand upwards. Again, keeping awareness of ground.
Now sense the “plumb line” or a cord that runs down your center. Imagine it to be like a rope with a rock tied to it. Get a sense of “center” – it is pliable, moveable yet anchored with a sense of ground.
2: Sonia Cochette recommends a simple breath pattern that she refers to as the “Grace of God” breath.
Place your tongue on the roof of your mouth just behind your front teeth. Exhale through your mouth as if you were blowing out a candle. Exhale to the count of 7. Inhale through your nose. Hold for a count of 4. Exhale to the count of 7. Repeat this pattern for 3-5 breaths. On the last exhale just let a nice sigh breath out – ‘ahhhhh’.
Notice the shift in your nervous system. Calmer. More present. Repeat as often as needed. Now you have 2 simple, fairly quick practices to enhance the quality of your sessions. Before every session, before putting your hands on… Please, ground and center yourself.
Set your intention to be present. Presence alone can be the most transformative practice available to you and your client. (More on presence in my next blog post.)
Set an intention to remain open, curious, and in a neutral state – no comparisons or judgments. Maintain a sense of non-attachment to the outcome of the session.
Allow, allow, allow. Enjoy Your Self!
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