February Gratitude

As many of you already know from prior posts, I have adopted a gratitude practice this year, which involves a daily exchange of lists of things for which I feel grateful.  This other person, with whom I exchange lists,  I affectionately refer to as my gratitude buddy.  Each month a new gratitude buddy joins me in this adventure.  This month, my gratitude buddy was someone I affectionately refer to as Mom.

This has been a very special month indeed.  I have already written about the gratitude practice being a express lane to happiness.  It continues to be so.  My glass feels half full.  This month brought with it the realization that the gratitude partnership also brings people closer.   I have enjoyed the daily connection with all my buddies immensely, and have deepened my relationship with each of them, but this past month I consider myself truly blessed to share something so life-affirming with my mother.   It has truly been a gift.

I feel better letting go and moving on to the next buddy knowing that my mom has a new buddy for March- my sister!  Each of my buddies has gone on to continue the practice with either a new buddy or a journal.  Just think....if everyone got a new buddy each month....this project would grow exponentially and become a crazy out of control gratitude fest.   This sounds just great to me.

Wishing You Balance,

Nancy

Opening The Heart

Many massage therapists offer couple's massage for Valentine's Day.  Although this is a lovely idea, it is something I have never offered.  I have a solo practice.  Without another therapist with whom to collaborate, a couple's massage would be challenging indeed!  Right now I am imagining myself trying to give two people a massage simultaneously!   Couple's massage fail!

Now that Valentine's Day has passed, I have thought up the perfect idea for a Valentine's session.  Of course! Now I get the idea!   Happily, I am not going to let the fact that Valentine's Day is behind us to go ahead and offer it.

Opening the Heart is a massage session that focuses on all those muscles of the thorax that get so short and tight from all the things we do like computering, driving, carrying things, even cooking and reading.  Those tight muscles round our shoulders forward and collapse our chests.  We literally sink into ourselves.  When we open the sternum, the shoulders and the ribs, we are able to breath more fully and experience more deeply.  Opening the heart opens us to life itself.

I received a note the other day from a client that recently received an Opening the Heart session-

"I think that the work has encouraged me to soften my heart....I feel different." 


Open to Possibiltiy.  Open to Joy.  Open the Heart.

Request an Opening the Heart session, now through the month of March, and pay just $50.00.

Please visit the Body In Balance website for more information on massage and somatics bodywork.


"The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart."  -The Buddha

Wishing you balance,

Nancy

P.S.  Some other resources for opening the heart-

The Heart Chakra

Loving Kindness Meditation  

Yoga and Breathwork

Gratitude: Month Two

I am well into my second month of my gratitude project and am now exchanging messages of gratitude with a dear friend that I went to college with who I haven't seen for several decades.   I can't even begin to describe the richness of the exchanges.  At this point, writing my daily gratitude list has become a habit, as natural as brushing my teeth.  When I started the project on Thanksgiving day, I was so excited about it that I couldn't wait to do my gratitude list and I would put a great deal of thought into choosing my three things; I wanted them to be the right things.  I wanted them to be profound.  Then, after a few weeks, the novelty of the project wore off, and it began to feel like a chore.  And for a few days in there, but only a few, my mood so dark, it was difficult to think of three things, and the whole project felt like a lame joke.

But nowadays the gratitude list flows easily.  Whatever resonates at the moment I decide to do my list, I write.  One day I am thankful for opportunities to begin anew.  Another day I am thankful for lemons.  The longer I do this project the more I love it.  I think it is true that what you give your attention to grows.  These thoughts, the positive thoughts that I have cultivated and cajoled, have now become second nature.  These thoughts have changed the way that I live.  These days I would describe myself as a happy person. I am grateful to be alive.  I happily greet the morning and climb into bed excited for sleep so that I can wake up and do this life thing some more.  In the words of Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, "Change your thoughts and you change your world."

I am grateful for the people who have signed on to do it with me.  I have three more gratitude buddies in the wings and I am excited about month long exchanges with each of them. And as I continue, I will keep you posted.

Wishing you balance,

Nancy

Setting Intentions

We will open the book.  Its pages are blank.  We are going to put words on them ourselves.  The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day."  ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

This is a time of setting intentions.  How would you like your life to be in the New Year?  To what habits of mind and body would you like to say goodbye?  What would you like to invite into your life?

I have been having many conversations with people, clients and friends alike, about New Year's resolutions and intentions.  Health seems to be the number one priority when making those resolutions.

Recent research is hailing touch as the new medicine.  The research is welcome and affirming, but the body already knows how important nurturing touch is.  Bodywork feels wonderful and facilitates the body's own ability to  heal.  Touch is vital to our health.

What will you do to take care your body this year?  How will you invite in health and balance?

Some inspiring resolutions that I have heard-

• Drink more water
• Eat organic food
• Meditate more
• Get a massage a month
• Make a New Year's resolution

Here's wishing you a year of joy, good health and balance.  May you breathe deeply, sleep soundly, dance happily and laugh loudly.  I hope to see you soon.  I owe a great big thank you to all my supportive friends, clients and readers for making this year a great start to my dream to help others in their own healing journeys. 

Wishing you balance,

Nancy

Open Sky

The sky is different here.  It is open and vast.  Walking in the mild Kansas air, I too feel vast and expansive.  Life seems full of possibilities. 

A New Year.  Letting go of the old.  Welcoming in the new.

This is the perfect time to feel the possible.  A perfect time to gaze out at the open sky and dream a bit.

Granted, I am on vacation, but I always feel a great sense of possibility when I come here.

It is an interesting question then- what influence does the environment have on the way we live in our bodies?  The weather, the season, the sky, the landscape, the sounds around us- does our environment inspire or inhibit?  Does it push us down or lift us up?  Do we want to breath it in deeply? Do we want to brace ourselves against it?  Does it bombard?  Does it nourish?  Does it make us feel alive?

Just a little inquiry that I am thinking about.  Would love to hear your thoughts.

Wishing you a happy New Year full of vast possibility and of course, balance.

Nancy

A Month of Gratitude

The first month of my year long gratitude buddies project has drawn to a close, providing a perfect opportunity to reflect on what I have learned thus far.

It has been a great project- It invited a daily connection with my friend who participated with me.  I so looked forward to the happy messages I got from her.  The daily practice coaxed me into taking the time to count my blessings despite the emotional weather of the day and truly encouraged a positive outlook.  I have been much happier since starting the project.  Sounds sweet, doesn't it?  Pollyanna springs to mind.   But I have learned an important thing this month- the practice isn't about sugar coating your life, or accepting unacceptable situations.

When my gratitude buddy and I were discussing this very thing, I came up with the following analogy.  (Warning- this is an indelicate departure for this blog.)  If I were holding a pile of shit in my hand, the gratitude practice isn't about spinning the situation as desirable.  "I am so grateful for the warmth this pile of shit is providing for me."  The practice is about acknowledging my gratitude of the fact that I have enough sense to put the shit down and to wash my hands.

Acceptance is important.  Fighting with reality causes us much suffering.  But this doesn't mean we should just passively and happily accept situations that are unhealthy for us.  In other words, the gratitude practice isn't about justifying remaining stuck in a toxic situation.  Unhealthy situations require action, not sugar coating.  Sometimes you have to stand up for yourself.  Sometimes you have to put the shit down and wash your hands.

I am grateful for the opportunity this project has presented for me to take a deep look at my life and to appreciate all the wonderful, miraculous moments and terrific people that I sometimes take for granted, but also to recognize when I need to step up the courage in order to take action to make a healthy change.


Wishing you balance,

Nancy

I'm Getting a Massage!

Yesterday I got a massage. That massage is what got me through the day. The session was late in the day, but every time I thought I was going to succumb to the stress that this particular day was dishing out, I would remind myself, "I'm getting a massage!"

I'm getting a massage! What wonderful words these are. It is hard not to sing them.

You see, I have had this pain in my right popliteus. It has been pretty persistent. I have been having trouble sitting on the floor, which is something that I do pretty often so I was really looking forward to getting that problem addressed.

The massage helped the pain tremendously, but more importantly, I have felt calm, relaxed and centered since. Yesterday was one of those days that felt to me like the world was crashing down around me- stress coming from all directions- everything felt hard. And today- all is calm and I am enjoying a real sense of ease. What an incredible difference.

We all know that massages are relaxing. But I think that sometimes we trivialize how important relaxation is. Prolonged or severe stress takes a toll on health. It weakens the immune system, strains the heart, contributes to heart disease, depression and autoimmune disorders. Constant stress makes us sick. And being stressed out feels really terrible.

I'm getting a massage! I'm getting a massage!

The relaxation starts before you even get on the table. It begins when you make the appointment!


Wishing you balance,

Nancy