June 21, 2019
“Finding yourself” is not really how it works. You aren’t a ten-dollar bill in last winter’s coat pocket. You are also not lost. Your true self is right here, buried under cultural conditioning, other people’s opinions, and inaccurate conclusions you drew as a kid that became your beliefs about who you are. “Finding yourself” is actually returning to yourself. An unlearning, an excavation, a remembering who you were before the world got its hands on you. –Emily McDowell
Buddhists describe this as well: The sun is always in the sky, but sometimes we don’t see it due to nighttime or clouds covering it. Just because we can’t see it, doesn’t mean it no longer exists. Likewise, our compassionate, generous, and wise self is always here, even when we cover it with cultural conditioning, compensation patterns from childhood, and daily stress.
What’s this have to do with my integrative and wholistic bodywork? If you apply these concepts to a hands-on approach, you may discover Ortho-Bionomy®. Tensions, stress, imbalances, and injuries can create stories/misunderstandings that prevent the body from being as fluid, free, and functional as it can be. Ortho-Bionomy®, however, supports the body to once again remember itself under the hurt and re-awakens its ability to self-correct the misunderstandings that have been going on. When the body recognizes itself anew, how it was “before the world got its hands on you,” it can heal itself naturally from within. And it brings your psyche with it.
A client came in, referred by her psychotherapist. The client had had open heart surgery in the last year and still suffered from pain in her breastbone and ribs that had been cut open. Following the principles of Ortho-Bionomy® I did my best to free up her body from the surgery: decrease pain in her ribcase and release the muscles between the ribs, to increase flexibility and ease breathing. At the end of the session, she felt much better. A week later in her follow-up, she said, “And you know, my therapy had really been stalled for a few months. After our session, though, I just dove in and made a lot of headway. Even cried for the first time in months too.”
The innate healing capacity of the body and the heart/mind will shine when we give it an opening, when we give it a chance—because that’s who you really are under the clouds, under the emotional and physical bumps and bruises of living in this world.
An Invitation: On this day of the year with the longest daylight, take time to find joy in the sunlight, in your true nature, and in the wondrous body you are. And if you can’t find the sun for the clouds, please do call.
P.S–I saw the opening quote on social media with an illustration that looked to be from The Lion King, Mufasa talking from the spirit world to youngster Simba, no author mentioned. As I researched to find the quote’s source, however, I discovered it was penned by Emily McDowell, a graphic artist in Los Angeles. When she initially posted it last fall (no lions to be seen), it went viral. Unfortunately, in recent months it’s become one more example of a woman’s work becoming anonymous. Please do credit your sources accurately. Thank you.
