Sometimes It Is Just Physical

As a BodyMind coach, I often help individuals explore the deeper messages underneath the physical symptoms which are keeping them in a cycle of chronic imbalance.  And yet, at other times, the symptoms or pain really can just be physical.  While tissues do store emotions, memory, and mental patterning, they also reflect good old muscular tension brought about through daily activities, weekend warrior overdoing momentum, or short-term misuse of the body.

I recently had a client for whom this example proved to be true.  Although Susie (not her real name) came in for BodyMind Coaching and we did uncover many connecting pieces to her larger goals, as she reached the end of her course of sessions, she still had residual constant pain in her right hip and leg.   Although she had been working with a chiropractor and I had also been using CranioSacral Therapy during our sessions, she wasn’ t finding any long lasting change. 

Although Susie hadn’t asked for soft tissue massage work as part of her coaching, which is an option with my clients, during our last session I suggested she might incorporate a bit of this modality to see if we could affect any change in her pain.  I have seen the phenomena before – a person who has tried other forms of treatment for pain finds significant release through massage.  And this proved to the be the case with Susie.  After just one session, she enjoyed a week free of pain – something that hadn’t happened for several years.

 Now, I’m not saying that the massage was the magical cure-all or that it was necessarily a better treatment.  Because in reality, what she had been doing before very likely could have played a role in having this particular massage be effective – kind of like you trying to unscrew a jar lid for 5 minutes then the person you hand it to opens it on the first try.  However, it does highlight the point that sometimes what needs to be released truly is just the muscles – the physical tension. 

Are you feeling tight?  Get a pre-holiday massage so you can enjoy the holidays with less stress!  Want to keep that stress down?  Take advantage of the holiday special and buy a package of 10 massages and get the 11th free.  Call my office at 262-782-1616 to get yours today.  And yes, they can be shared within the family so spread the love.

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.

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 »

The Mystery of Buzzing in the Mouth

*Client Case Study – name has been switched to honor confidentiality*

My client Mary, has been coming in for several months.  The initial symptoms for the visits, which were moderate severe pain in the abdomen and poor sleep, have long since been resolved which is a whole different story.  Lately, this client has had a buzzing in the mouth, especially the upper jaw.  Although there had been some actual pain at one point, we had worked through the pain but this buzzing followed and continues to appear intermittently.  additionally, today she had some actual soft tissue discomfort in the gum and cheek area.  We decided to explore below the surface today and discovered some great treasures.

I used the rhythm of the craniosacral system to guide me to where we needed to start our work and was led by the body to the sacrum…interesting from the surface since that’s seems to have no connection with the jaw but do read on.    There was greater restriction on the left side of the sacrum in general.  I offered up to Mary that the sacral area is connected to the 1st chakra which has to do with core survival instincts and the physical body.  Mary has recently started a new job and we checked in with whether anything was feeling connected in that area.  There was some acknowledgment that she was still learning new habits for the job and wasn’t feeling fully settled which is uncomfortable for her.  Habits are also part of the 1st chakra realm.  She also began to speak of her daughter big coming of age event which was causing Mary some additional tension and also affected her daily rhythms as she was staying up late at night to do connected tasks.

At this point, her sacral area softened and I moved up to her chest and shoulders.  She began to speak more about her 12 year old daughter and some of the changes taking place in their relationship as her daughter got closer to the teen mark.   I also invited Mary to describe how mouth  felt.  The buzzing was clarified to be not pain but more of an annoying disruption.  The inner mouth gum area was taut and lacking flow of blood and generally felt unhealthy.

The more we explored, the more energy I felt coming from the left area of the chest and shoulder.  I shared this information along with the fact that the left side of the body is connected to the right brain which is our emotional energy.  Long story short…she realized that she was struggling some with the separation issue that was occurring as part of the natural development of her daughter, and was trying to find a way to feel supportive and valued yet allow her daughter the space to make her own choices and mistakes.   Their conversations wasn’t feeling very flowing and open these days nor very soft and warm.  In fact, her daughter was withdrawn, not speaking much, and doing more passive aggressive behavior.  The mouth, the area commonly associated with speaking, was reflecting the lack of flow, inflexible, and unhealthy feeling in her relationship with her daughter.

Three parts of the body presented themselves to reveal : shifting in rhythms and changes in the foundational structure of a relationship; emotional intensity at the heart level which is where we connect our own identity with another; and the mouth reflecting the connection of communication.  All three pieces when put together, drew a complete picture which resonated with where Mary was at.

 May chose, as her inspired actions for the day, to have a conversation with her daughter this afternoon regarding a long term homework project to be balanced with weekend activities in a way that provided more options and choice for her daughter to make.  She also stepped into the space of acknowledgment that the change in the relationship feels awkward and uncomfortable and that she doesn’t have the answers at the moment which she doesn’t like.  For today, just accepting where she is at felt empowering and like a good first step.  She made the decision to further support the process with her daughter to do another 2 coaching sessions so that she can find some answers within herself about how she would like her role to be and which elements in their relationship are her own issues that she wants to clarify and reclaim so that she can support her daughter’s independence and growth with greater ease.

Thank you, Mary, for allowing us to witness your courage along the big journey of motherhood!

A Wake Up Call, Creative Thinking, & A Plan in Action

The universe gave me several nudges this week towards another wake up call that led to an amazing aha.    As I’ve become more of an expert in communicating with my BodyMind, this aha was quickly  followed by inspired action that is in motion even as I write.  And I’d love to share today’s journey with you because it is exactly what my facilitation as a BodyMind Coach is all about and I want you to be able to have the same successful dialogues.

My aha this week is that where my passion is and my energy is flowing isn’t aligned completely with my real life and actions.  Basically, my passion and energy is surrounding my work as a BodyMind Coach and, specifically at this moment in the time, around creating my new program, Healing and Harmony from the Inside Out.  While I have completed the first stages of the program, including teaching it, there is still more I’m doing to refine it and bring it out to a larger audience.  And the crux is that I don’t seem to have enough time…rather, I don’t have the time to devote to the project and development because I am also juggling my householder tasks, seeing clients, and taking care of myself.

Now, all of those aspects are important, but not all of them are my energetic priority.  For this year, which I really saw yesterday, finishing the development of my program and all the business infrastructure that comes with it, is my TOP PRIORITY!  There, I’ve claimed it.  So what’ s the problem?  Well, those other pieces of my life which seem like a necessity, are getting in the way of me putting my full energy behind my priority.  And sometimes this is life…we have to juggle multiple pieces and don’t have the choice to focus on something exclusively.

However, as a creative thinker and believer of the big ANDs in life, I decided that the current reality wasn’t acceptable to me.  I decided that I needed a sponsor for a 6 month sabbatical from my active practice so that I could devote the majority of my time and energy to the project which is calling my soul.  The idea of a sabbatical was my first inspired action…more of an inspired idea I suppose.  So, great idea but now what?

As I am a woman of action, I decided that while I would turn some of the logistics of finding a sponsor over to the universe, I would also do my share and start opening the doors for the opportunity to arrive.  I sent out a few emails stating my intention and asking for help with those in the know.  Specifically I contacted a good friend who works in publishing to see what tips she could give me on finding a publisher to buy my new program…in exchange for a nice sum to sponsor my 6 month sabbatical …or, universe if you’re listening, which I know you are, I’m not limiting the options and would accept a longer monetary sponsorship as well!  I now have the name of an agent, guidelines to prepare a book proposal, and…more work ahead of me.  But I’m willing to invest some time in the short term to receive my big pay off in the long term – though not too long term, mind you.  And that’s the part I’m really turning over to the universe…making the plan become a new reality.

I had my wake up call, put on my creative thinking cap, created a plan, and put it into motion.  Not bad considering my aha came at 6:30 am today and it’s now 3:05 pm.  And the best part is that I know this course of action is right.  How?  Because yesterday my left neck went into spasm with lots of pain and I was stressed and mildly anxious about my practice.  Today, after I had my aha, the tension was gone, the pain was gone (though I admit the 40 minutes of yoga last night helped), and I feel light, energized, and happy again.  When I’m aligned, I feel great!  And when I feel great, I know I’m on the right path.

Are your actions and your energy lining up so that you feel blissfully alive?  Tell me how!

Jamie Durner’s BodyMind Coaching Blog

Welcome to the BodyMind Coaching blog!

Here you can watch my journey in aligning my actions with my truth so I can live in health and harmony.  How do I do this, you might ask?  Great question!   I do this by trying to follow the cues and signals coming from my BodyMind and my communicating my needs and truth with greater clarity back to my BodyMind.  It is a vital street of 2 way communication.  

The term BodyMind for me refers to  the integrated nature of body, mind and spirit that is connected to my Infinite Self and inner wisdom.  I believe that our natural state of being is one of healing and harmony.   We have dis-ease and dis-harmony in our bodies and our lives because we are out of alignment with our core truth.  The answers to live connected to this truth are already there – in the language of the BodyMind.  The key is to be able to understand this language and communicate effectively.  In this blog, I am going to share with you how I have learned to do this and how these skills help me live in health and harmony.

No, I am not perfect in this alignment!  It is an on-going practice but one that I continually get better at and becomes easier.   This blog is a way I can share by story so you can see how dialoguing effectively with the BodyMind can expand your life in powerful and positive ways.   I will also share case studies from my practice as a BodyMind Coach.  We all can learn from each other’s stories. It is my hope that you can gain insight, connection, and tools from the stories to help you on your own path towards healing and harmony.

Feel free to post you own stories as well and join the circle of sharing and support.