Finding the Nuggets of Guidance in Dreams

I had a dream last night which, upon close reflection, held a nugget of guidance for me.  Dreams are often like this…a bundle of seemingly irrelevant pieces mixed up in a story that may not make complete sense.  Yet within this mix there can be an important message from the inner wisdom.

My dream, at least the best I can remember it this morning, was about the computer.  Not a surprise considering how much time I’m at my computer these days developing new products, putting out my blog and ezine, and using email.  I often feel like I have a love/hate relationship with my computer.  I love it when everything is flowing smoothly and working well; I hate it when I encounter a weird technological blip out of nowhere that I don’t know how to fix and seemingly blocks my efforts.  I say seemingly, because my dream last night was about me being stuck with a technological issue that I couldn’t understand, was causing me great frustration, yet in the end was not really important to what I needed to be doing.

This was the message I took away from my dream…sometimes I get stuck in the structure or vehicle when really there are other ways to do what I need to do.  In my dream, I realized this point and actually said something like, “not only do I not need this to get the job done but there’s actually a better way to do it.”  Hmmm…great food for thought for me this morning.  I have the basic message loud and clear.  Now I’m going to ponder to what in my life at this moment is it applying.

I also had a client who had a portent dream and shared it with me this week.  In her dream, she saw a box of  Stomach Ease Yogi Tea.  She has had some digestion issues for the past several months and had been using both the tea as well as a traditional pharmaceutical medication.  When she first had the dream, she was off the medication, had stopped the tea, and was now taking aloe vera juice to successfully manage her symptoms.  She didn’t think the tea in her dream was anything other than her subconscious bringing up a past memory and so didn’t do anything about it. 

A week or so later, she began experiencing stomach problems again and decided to go back on her medication.  During her session, she felt drawn to bring up her dream and in sharing realized that her inner wisdom was cuing her to add the tea back in.  I also was able to share with her another tool, a licorice supplement called DGL, that is effective with calming the digestion especially when going off this medication.  Since then, she has gone off the medication and added in the tea and the supplement and is doing well again.

Is your inner wisdom sharing information to you through your dreams that you’re missing?  Take a moment upon waking and see what stands out for you.  I notice that it’s what calls to me the strongest, whether it’s disturbing or pleasurable, that I need to sift through.  And although there are many techniques and philosophies for interpreting your dreams, which you are welcome to try out, if I just take the time to pause and listen, I usually find the answer.

Suspended Animation

This morning my yoga consisted of almost an hour in corpse pose lying in suspended animation.  With the non-stop activities my week holds for me, I needed a counterbalance to all the movement, mental and physical, in my life and corpse pose was the natural answer that came up from my inner wisdom.

Corpse pose, or Savasana in Sanskrit, is often used at the end of yoga practice as a way to integrate the energy changes from the set and a space to enter into deep relaxation where you can release all the tension in the mind, the body and the spirit.  But this wonderful restorative doesn’t need to be limited to a post-class scenario; it can used anytime you need to go fully into the space of being, of suspended animation.  I say suspended animation because in corpse pose I often becomes so relaxed that I slip into that dream-like space between waking and sleeping.  Thoughts flow, I’m following them lightly but without direction or attachment, and I’m simply absorbing with my senses.  At some point, however, if you stay in corpse pose too long you will drift off into sleep.  Not that this is always a bad thing, it just depends on your intention.

This morning my body started waking at 4 am.  Though physically I may have been ready to get up, a deeper part of me cued me differently.  Because when I get up, I start doing…doing yoga, doing meditation, doing computer work, doing morning prep…and I have been doing non-stop for several days already and have several more with that energy.  In the past I would have labeled my not getting up with my physical cue as resistance or ignoring my natural impulse.  Today I was able to recognize that I have multiple needs within my total self and when I paused to listen deeply, my highest priority was to be in a restorative space. 

Thus corpse pose, lying in bed on my back with a pillow under my knees, listening to the gentle rain, being aware of the changing light as the sky colored with the waking of the sun, tuning in to the subtle needs and message of my bodymind.  As I stayed in the space, fully embracing the perfection of being exactly where I needed to be in this moment, new insights bubbled up to the surface, my body naturally started to unwind tension in the head, temporal bones and jaw through subtle movements, and I felt at peace.  Then I was ready to get up…really ready on all levels with no “resistance” or counter cues…so up I went, ready to welcome in the day with a centered calm.

Re-Connecting to Choice Brings New Sense of Empowerment

I had a client this week who was struggling with a work situation which had her feeling unhappy, angry and powerless.  She literally came into my office fresh from a phone call and crying, such was the intensity of the situation.  Long story short, she was pushed into working with a group against not only her choice but her better judgment and there is a person in a leadership role who is lacking in diplomacy and compassion…to put it mildly.  In fact, from her descriptions, the person is actually engaging in emotional and verbal abuse and, because the project is being done by volunteers, no one is censoring his unprofessional and cruel behavior.

Sounds bleak, doesn’t it…an untenable situation in which you see no way out.  This is where my client was…stuck in the story and caught in the drama.  By staying in this place, she was unknowingly contributing to the negative energy of the situation and becoming further enmeshed in disempowerment. 

Step one:  acknowledging and accepting where she was at…not being able to be who she is or express herself.   To help shift the energy and explore options, I invited my client to become aware of how she was feeling in her body, where this energy was being held and stuck.   By connecting with the body instead of the story, my client began to tap into her inner wisdom…first noticing that the emotion was held in the chest and throat (heart and throat chakras) which represent interactions with others and being able to express one’s truth.  As she vocalized this, some of the tension in her body softened. 

Step two:  ask the body part what it needs.  At this point we explored options…did she need to express herself by leaving the group and what would the fall out be?  Did she need to explore different ways of communicating within the group that felt more authentic for herself?  On one hand she realized that she wasn’t able to be authentic in the way that was normal and comfortable for her.  But she also realized that she actually wanted to stay in the group because she thought the long-term benefits would be worthwhile.  This was a pivotal moment in which she realized that she had a choice and that her choice was to stay.  Gone was the sense of feeling powerless!

Step three: identify a better way to support herself in a temporary situation that was uncomfortable.  Part of her holding was in the throat and jaw and she knew it was about communication.  She was being shot down by this abusive person and was getting the message from herself and others that the best thing to do was “put a piece of tape over her mouth”.  At first this felt restrictive but as she explored further, she realized that she had the opportunity to develop and expand new ways of communicating on a more subtle level.  And suddenly, instead of feeling restricted, she began to feel hopeful and even excited about learning a new skill. 

The results…she created a new belief statement for herself to support her personal choice and commitment to stay in the group and that she was open to exploring communication from a new angle.  In her body, all the tension on the right side was gone (her logical mind was completely on board) while some tension remained on her left side (the emotional side understood but still felt a bit raw from her experiences and anxious about trying out something new).  And, perhaps most importantly, my client felt more in control and had a plan of action, both strong values for her.

And she did all of this powerful work in just 40 minutes!  Shifting perspectives doesn’t have to be a long, drawn out process.  Identifying the core issue, asking what that issue needs, and taking inspired action is the basic structure we used and you can use it, too!  Give it a try this week and see what interesting results show up for you…and share if you wish.

Client Case Study: An Interesting Reflection on Lists

I had a client this morning who brought to the table a pattern that I think many of us hold in today’s modern society that I’d like to share…the ongoing burden of lists.

The background.  Jill (name has been changed for privacy) has been having some ongoing tension in the mouth, jaw and neck for the past several months which we’ve been exploring.  By her own description, she is a task-oriented, efficient, perfectionist.  She has a part-time job that really requires full-time hours, is a mother, and has an upcoming social event that is taking lots of planning and time.  Put all these pieces together and my client has found herself in a highly pressurized environment!

Prior explorations and discoveries.  As I mentioned, my client has been working on this pattern for several months.  We have done regular CranioSacral Therapy and massage to soften the tissues, we have done inner mouth techniques to release the tension in the jaw and re-align the jaw joints, and we have strategized about ways to deal with the stress through a specific meditation.  We also explored left brain forms of self support from new communication patterns in the work situation to her methods of delegating or seeing when she doesn’t delegate.  All of this has helped but the tightness continues to come back.

Beneath the symptoms.  The cornerstone of my work is that symptoms in the body are messages from within that something is imbalanced and is asking for help.  This morning we dug deeper under the surface to look at what the tension in the mouth might be saying.  And in doing so, an interesting pattern showed up around lists. 

The Lists.  Many of of us use lists to keep our tasks organized and help us move forward towards goals.  Jill came in saying that she felt weighted down under the endless lists.  She has a master list for work, another master list for her social event, then she has her daily lists of the tasks off the master list that she wants to accomplish that day.  Any of this sound familiar?!  Right now, the lists are never ending and no matter who much she accomplishes, there is still so much left.  The energy around these lists, therefore, feels heavy and creates pressure.

The left side of Jill’s body is the area that is having the greatest tension.  This side of the body is also connected to the right brain which is that aspect that ties in with the emotions, the state of being.  In the discussion about the lists, Jill came to the realization that she does trust that she will get the items done but she doesn’t like who she is in this process and how she is feeling.  She wants to be in a better internal place of ease while doing these tasks.  Both of these ideas reflect a being state of energy with emotional components which ties is with the tension held in the left side of the body.

We then ask the left side of the body what it needed today to feel greater ease.  The answer was to stop making lists…a request my client didn’t think she could do.  No problem.  The list is simply the vehicle not the real issue so we began to explore underneath the list.  For my client, her stated purpose of the list is to acknowledge that she is getting things done.  Notice that purpose isn’t about staying on task or actually getting the task done because she knows she will do that.  This is an important distinction because while she states that the point of lists is to create acknowledgement, this is not what’s happening!  Jill current pattern is that she finishes a task and instead of pausing to think about what she’s finished, bask in her success, or acknowledge a job well done…she moves directly into the s pace of knowing she has more to do and feels pressure to get to the next task.  It’s a double whammy…no positive energy flowing from feeling successful and pressure to do more in a cycle that seems to be never ending.

Expanding awareness and new options.  This awareness created real clarity for my client not only about what she was doing but that her actions weren’t supporting her needs…this disconnect thus triggering her body to “speak up”.  In discovering this awareness, all the tension in the right side (connected to the logical left brain) went away and the tissues on the left side softened from my perspective but still felt tight to my client.  The inspired action to begin to shift this pattern and align it with her truth was for today to focus only on the celebration, the success of a job well done every time she crosses an item off the list.  Yes, there will still be more items on the list that she will be working towards but the focus on her energy will be elsewhere.  And she likely will not be able to hold the self request perfectly because shifting patterns does take time.  However, the experience itself will continue to increase her awareness and each time she pauses for those 30-60 seconds after crossing off an item, a new thread of energy will be added to the new neural (brain) messages which becomes a new pattern over time.

What little adjustments can be made to your pattern to  line up the actions with your truth?  And if you’re a list maker, is the process serving your needs?

Perception Management

I was recently reading a David Baldacci book in which part of the theme was around percpetion management.  In the book, there was a perceptioin managanemtn (PM) firm whose sole job was to create a “truth” that fit the clients need to be broadcast out to the world.  According to Mr. Baldacci, these such firms do exist and governments use them to control not only the information the public receives but the “truth” of situations, like what is really happening around war.

Although I have no doubt that this happens on a societal level, I would also posit that it happens within companies, families and individuals even without the assistance of an actual PM firm.  Just think about the “truths” that get held and perpetuated in society such as if you are thin, beautiful and rich, life will be good.  On one level, we know this isn’t true and see that evidence in the traumatic and dramatic lives of movie stars.  Yet, even with the contradictory evidence, many individuals, with the help on continued marketing for products, continue to buy into this belief on some deep level.

Families can also perpetuate certain “truths” about such things as gender roles, self worth, cover ups, and archetypes.  These beliefs or truths that get “sold” to individual by families or cultures, form a foundation for beliefs and patterns which shape individuals.  Often this buy in is on a unconscious level and many of these beliefs are not fully recognized.

The good news is that you can become your own PM company and re-create the truths that serve who you are and who you want to be.  It may take some detective work to root out the old “truths” that aren’t yours or no longer apply to who you are but that in itself can be a freeing process.  Then the real fun begins as you craft your own strategy and marketing plan to put in place the reality that you wish to hold for yourself.

Of course, all of this does bring up the interesting question of, “What is truth and with different perceptions is there ever an absolute truth?“  What are your thoughts on this question?

Kapha Balancing Tips

I shared in an earlier post about the Spring weather creating some Kapha imbalance for me yesterday.  I didn’t want to leave you without resources so I’m offering a few tips on how to balance the Kapha energies.  Know that these are general recommendations not designed to be tailored to individual needs.  If you feel like you have more going on that you wish to address Ayurvedically, please see a qualified Ayurvedic Practitioner in your area.

Without seeing an Ayurvedic practitioner for individualized treatments, the best way to balance the dosha is largely through diet and lifestyle choices.  Remembering that the general quality of Kapha is heavy, dense, wet, cool and solid, to create less of that, energy you want to bring in more of the opposite energies.  Try these measures to bring in more dry, light, warm elements:

•  Do dry saunas
• Engage in strong exercise
• Receive a deep massage 
• Try not to sleep past 6 am otherwise you dip back into the Kapha time period making it hard to get up
• Eat lightly and/or fast
• Eat foods that are dry and hot with pungent, bitter and astringent tastes
• Enjoy hot spices such as ginger, pepper and turmeric

Here’s a basic list of good anti-Kapha food.  Rather than feeling like you have to follow this rigidly, I invite you simply to add more of these and less of others.  Find a space of moderation and balance that serves you and makes you feel good.  I often find if you go to an extreme in one direction, there will be an opposite and equal flow in the opposite direction.  And remember, these are simply possibilities for play so have fun and observe with the neutral mind what shows up for you!

• dark meat chicken
• avoid dairy or have in small quantities
• light oils such as canola, safflower or sunflower in small quantities
• avoid or minimize sugars
• eat these grains instead of wheat: barley, buckwheat, corn, millet, oats, rice, rye
• legumes except kidney and black beans and lentils
• avoid nuts; can eat sunflower seeds
• beets, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, eggplant, garlic, lettuce, mushrooms, onions, parsley, peas, radishes, spinach, sprouts
• apples, apricots, berries, cherries, dry figs, mango, peaches, pears, prunes, raisins

As always, listen to yourself and see how you’re feeling.  Follow your inner wisdom which is not to be confused with your habitual thoughts!

A Boggy Spring Day Zapping My Energy

Yesterday I had a down day.  A boggy Spring day was zapping my energy leaving me lethargic and mildly blue.  My normally positive and bright attitude was a bit dull and defeatist thoughts seemed to be bubbling to the surface.  The little blips of off energy and growth opportunities felt more like burdens and challenges.  I felt heavy and dense.  I wanted to curl up in a ball and hide inside, retreating inward to a point of mythical comfort. 

Have you ever had one of these days?  I have noticed that I have them more in the spring with certain pressure changes.  And now that I’m studying Ayurveda, I understand why.  For the temperate world, spring is filled with the dominance of Kapha energy, one of the three energies that exists not only in our bodies but in everything in life.  The qualities of this energy are oily, cool, smooth, soft, heavy, nourishing, slimy, compact in arrangement, white in color, and sweet or salty by taste.  In excess, it causes stagnation, excess tissues, mucus, fat and water.  Cold and damp environments (such as wet, boggy Wisconsin springs!) create excessKapha which can then bring imbalance and create symptoms of heaviness in the stomach and body, cold hands and feet, mucus, excessive sleep, lethargy and lack of concentration, and the feeling of being emotionally heavy and depressed.  Sound familiar to what I, and maybe you, experience on boggy Spring days?

With my new Ayurvedic perspective, what I’m loving today is that I have new options.  Rather than my following my old pattern of eating “comfort foods” such as sweets and heavy, wheat and dairy oriented foods and resting more (all of which add more Kapha energy) on those blue days, I supported myself with different measures.  A little bit of knowledge can make a difference!  Yesterday I did choose to sleep a bit later but still did a fast 20 minutes on my exercise bike followed by a yoga set for brain balancing.  I ate healthy with lighter yet still satisfying foods (oatmeal blend for breakfast, lentils with paneer and sweet potato for lunch, hefty salad with a few pita chips for dinner followed by a small bowl of organic sorbet).  With the sorbet, I still had a yummy treat but one that didn’t add as much mucus as a bowl of ice cream would have.  The results…my energy felt better as the day went on, I didn’t have an afternoon drag time, my mood stabilized, and I felt good.

While taking these action steps certainly was effective, the other piece that I honored was really acknowledging that I felt blue…without trying to suppress, repress, or uplift away.  That didn’t mean that I wallowed in my down mood; rather it was that I played with the balance point of acknowledging this important piece of information, accepted that it was OK to feel blue for a bit, knew that it wouldn’t last, and ask myself what I needed within this space of feeling blue.  From that question came the answers of my action steps…choosing balanced foods and exercise with the intention to not overdo in my typically busy activities.

NEW Resource Page with Weekly Tips

Agitation & Challenge Represent Mis-Alignment

I had a lovely reminder this week of how agitation and challenges can be a message from my body-mind telling me that I’m not in alignment with my truth.

Several months ago I agreed to do a 7 week Ayurveda PH Balancing diet regime with a couple friends.  I think my thought process at the time was 1) cool – something new to explore and 2) I’m studying Ayurveda so this would be a great opportunity to check out some real life experiences.  Both of those were valid.  However, I discovered last week as I was in my first week of this regime, that those reasons did not necessarily represent a complete  truth for myself in the now.  How did I come to know this, you might ask?  Resistance, half-hearted compliance with the diet, a feeling of extreme dissatisfaction about eating lentils every day, self-sabotaging behavior, cravings for foods that weren’t on “the plan”…in other words, agitation and challenges. Read more »

Finding my “Best” With Waking Up

I have been exploring my balance with when to wake up for the past year.  This may sound like a no-brainer…wake up when the body says to or when one has to get up.  However, ever since I did my yoga teacher training in which the expectation was set out that not only is it ideal to wake up 1-2 hours before sunrise, but that it’s also ideal to do a specified 2.5 hours of yoga and meditation, I have been exploring my truth in waking.

During my teacher training, I pretty much adhered to the yogic ideal for waking early though I did not hold strictly to the 2.5 hours of the Aquarian yoga set…and felt good starting my day in such a fashion.  However, I also noticed that I was stressed about this waking process, so much so that I would have restless sleep, disturbed dreams, and a conscious level of resistance.  In the past year I have been exploring what this resistance is about.  I let go of the expectation to get up at a specified time and allowed myself to do my yoga whenever it felt right during the day.  I recognized that with my ongoing output of energy for my business expansion, my expectation for yoga was becoming another “to do” item on my list rather than a joyful celebration and self connection.

In releasing myself from the yogic expectation, my stress level around yoga and waking did go down.  However, not only did I find myself doing less consistent yoga, but I also noticed that I have been slipping into a pattern of over-sleeping which has me feeling groggy and lethargic.  It’s almost as if I’ve gone too far in the opposite direction in reaction to the initial expectation..  I feel like a child flaunting my independence -  rebelling with behaviors that don’t really serve me but send a message that I’m in charge.  And I now have a message when my body naturally wakes me around 4:30-5:30 that I don’t want to get up and don’t have to.  I have slipped into resistance as a habit!

To try to bring myself back to a neutral ground, I have decided to do another experiment.  For the next 40 days (I started this morning), I’m going to get up daily at 5 am or whenever my body wakes naturally around that time.  This is to try to re-set my timing back to it’s natural state and play with the ideal yogic time.  Yet, I’m going to honor myself each day in the moment I am by listening to what I want to do once I wake up.  Rather than having a specific expectation of doing X amount of yoga and meditation and exercise, I’m going to listen to my BodyMind and see what I need.  I’m going to practice being the neutral observer and simply notice what’s happening for me. 

No surprise but last night I dreamt about getting up and woke several times.  I finally got up 15 minutes before my alarm was set to go off.  I rode my bike for 20 minutes being mindful that I was sore in strange places from my 3.5 hours of yard work yesterday.  I did a lovely yoga set at half time, also listening to my lower levels of energy.  And now I’m peacefully doing a couple things on the computer before I go to do some cooking to support myself for the day.  I feel good. If I set aside the mental stumbling block I’ve unintentionally created, I welcome the idea of waking early and being able to enjoy these peaceful moments before the kids wake and the busy day starts.

For today, I am trying to hold the AND of these energies…the guideline for waking early for ideal health with honoring my best in each moment as I listen to what I need and am capable of.  For today, I’m liking it!