Most of us have two feet. Unless our feet hurt we pretty much ignore them. Some of us hurt so consistently that we also ignore that. But whatever our feet do and sense affects the rest of our body. Feet are sophisticated. Normally having twenty...
About 24 years ago, I was driving my son to school. We were late, and I was feeling a bit frustrated with life and parenting. I pulled up at a stop sign. Suddenly a black sports car passed us on the right. I was instantly enraged. “What an...
We are part of a huge social experiment. Our culture sits more than any other society in history. Much of our lives is experienced less than two feet from our faces. But there is little attention on the effects of sitting and staring at a monitor...
I was chatting with some friends when one asked about getting the attention of a man in whom she was romantically interested. I replied, “Show up naked, and bring beer.” It certainly wasn’t some great original gem of advice. It is the...
The way it is… a common saying, for sure. And it has its uses. Acceptance is good, often wise, and can be a great relief. Resignation is not. Resignation is defeat, a choice to withdraw, to bail out, to endure pain and loss- all without...
I was teaching a movement exploration during an advanced training for massage therapists. They were all successful working practitioners, many extremely intelligent. The material was complex, and some people were intensely challenged. One of the...
“What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning.” Werner Heisenberg, physicist, and author of the uncertainty principle. An “Umwelt” is the perceptual world of a being (person or...
“You don’t owe your identity anything.” Jenn Stauffler We all adopt an identity. It exists partly independent of us, as a social construct. Other people help form it. We take it on, and shape it to our desires. Comfort...
The perfect is the enemy of the good. Fussing with our posture can get obsessive. It becomes another excuse for beating up ourselves. There is a time for attention toward detail, and a time to let it go and move on. Too much attention to detail...
“Anxiety: Women Nearly Twice as Likely as Men to Have Anxiety, Study Shows” Researchers from Cambridge University reviewed 48 studies on anxiety disorders and determined that for every 1.9 females, one male is affected by anxiety, the...
I take some of my somatic principles from psychology. The struggles in the bodymind are mirrored by the social challenges we all face. Body parts and systems interact in ways similar to members of social groups. Marion Woodman is a Canadian...
Why do people read to confirm their existing reality, rather than to get new perspectives? Why do we all hear more of what we agree with, and drop challenging details that might force us to rethink our world view? These are perennial...