Energy Part 2: Healing Energy

FT staff have been hard at work; planning workshops and playdates, delivering books for book club and preparing for one of our co-founders (Dinah Shepherd) to transition into a different role.

Lisa Provenzano offered us a moment to pause and listen to our hearts, create space within our bodies and minds and embrace gentleness.

“Gentleness will get you out of the stickiest of situations” she says.

This was a much needed reminder because as parents, caregivers and people who wear multiple hats, it can be easy to prioritize to-do lists and children, and criticize ourselves for forgetting our tasks or not showing up as our best.

During our time with Lisa, she reminded us that each of us carries an energy frequency within us. Our brain and body has energy in it that needs to be replenished and calibrated. Pausing and checking in with our mind, body and even our spirit is a gentle way to learn to shift our energy from a “negative” frequency to a frequency we are more satisfied with.

Sun salutations is a nice way to move our energy around in our body.

There are specific movements Lisa demonstrated that can help our bodies release energy that may be stuck. Stuck energy produces tension that ultimately causes our bodies to carry stress, especially in particular areas. Sometimes these stressed out parts of our body then begins to develop pain. For those of us who spend a lot of time sitting down, if we practice circling our hips in a figure eight, that can help move some of the energy that stays in our lower back, relieving some of the tension in that area of our body!

PAUSE and CHECK IN WITH YOURSELF! When you’re feeling stressed, where does your body hold tension (forehead, shoulders, hands, jaw, feet, etc.)?

Do you notice yourself taking deep breaths throughout the day? This is your body’s natural way of regulating stress. Being intentional about the breaths we take can help us get closer to calm.

Some of the practices and ideas Lisa shared with us resonated with a lot of the information we learned with Barbara, a science teacher, that lead us through our squishy circuit playdate. Where we learned how energy moves and how it helps us in our everyday life.

During our squishy circuits playdate we learned that salt is a conductor: a substance or material that allows electricity to flow through it. Lisa gifted us with beautiful Epsom salts with balsam fir to encourage us to relax and let go of tension. With the reminder to be gentle with ourselves and welcome gentleness when we feel ourselves needing it!

A Poem about Gentleness 

When the rhythm of the heart becomes hectic,

      Time takes on the strain until it breaks;

      Then all the unattended stress falls in

      On the mind like an endless, increasing weight.

      The light in the mind becomes dim.

      Things you could take in your stride before

      Now become laborsome events of will.

      Weariness invades your spirit.

      Gravity begins falling inside you,

      Dragging down every bone.

      The tide you never valued has gone out.

      And you are marooned on unsure ground.

      Something within you has closed down;

      And you cannot push yourself back to life.

      You have been forced to enter empty time.

      The desire that drove you has relinquished.

      There is nothing else to do now but rest

      And patiently learn to receive the self

      You have forsaken in the race of days.

      At first your thinking will darken

      And sadness take over like listless weather.

      The flow of unwept tears will frighten you.

      You have traveled too fast over false ground;

      Now your soul has come to take you back.

      Take refuge in your senses, open up

      To all the small miracles you rushed through.

      Become inclined to watch the way of rain

      When it falls slow and free.

      Imitate the habit of twilight,

      Taking time to open the well of color

      That fostered the brightness of day.

      Draw alongside the silence of stone

      Until its calmness can claim you.

      BE EXCESSIVELY GENTLE WITH YOURSELF.

      Stay clear of those vexed in spirit.

      Learn to linger around someone of ease.

      Who feels they have all the time in the world.

      Gradually, you will return to yourself,

      Having learned a new respect for your heart

      And the joy that dwells far within slow time.

      -John O'Donohue's  For One Who Is Exhausted