Fully occupy the space of your body
Reclaim your birthright of being fully human with the practice of full embodiment
“To be (fully) human is to become visible
while carrying what is hidden as a gift to others.”
~ David Whyte
“Let the soft animal of your body love what it loves’.
~ Mary Oliver
The Buddha taught ‘When you sweep the floor, sweep the floor’ – be fully in, fully present in whatever activity your are doing
In this sympathetic (fight, flight or freeze) dominant culture, recruit back your parasympathetic nervous system to be awake, present and calm
Do this by:
Observing posture and breath
Neutral spine, minimize slouching, allowing your shoulders to rest on top of your rib cage
Soft belly breath, inhaling through the nose
Feel your feet firmly rooted to the ground
Observe sensations without judgement or attachment
Observe the power of the present moment
Stay curious about the mind as master vs tool
The head brain integrated with the heart and gut brain
Chant, sing, drum, play!
Connect with Mother Earth ~ barefoot on the grass, embrace a tree, observe, appreciate and listen to her and all earthlings
Move your body – Walk, run, skip, swim, dance!
Cold water can give you a jump start. Perhaps finish your showers with cold water. http://wimhofmethod.com
Eat whole plant foods and when you choose a treat, enjoy it with your whole body!
One step, step by step, feel into your wholeness
To all the peaceful warriors out there
Don’t give up!
Keep showing up with the power of presence
Keep mirroring embodiment
Endeavor to see others, see life fully, be present fully for others
To all those with dominant feelings of fear
Gift yourself a few moments of full embodiment practice daily observing your posture and breath, learn to pray
Place your hands on your heart, slow the breadth, breathe into your heart space, let your belly be soft and rise with your inhalation through your nose, feel one thing you are grateful for for 3 minutes a day
Return to Love ~ Read Mariane Williamson, Brune Brown, Pema Chodron
To all those with overwhelming depression, you are paying attention! You are awake in an unjust world! You are carrying a burden that likely is not all yours.
We see you! We need you!
Fully occupy your body with the practices above or others that serve your true health
Depression is an opportunity for transformation
Seek out a somatic or depth therapist
Find a community of faith that is grounded in love
We deserve community
Before we can rise we need to descend into the darkness, drop down into soul work
Read Soulcraft by Bill Plotkin
What to Remember When Waking
coming back to this life from the other
more secret, moveable and frighteningly honest world
where everything began,
there is a small opening into the new day
which closes the moment you begin your plans.
What you can plan is too small for you to live.
What you can live wholeheartedly will make plans enough
for the vitality hidden in your sleep.
To be human is to become visible
while carrying what is hidden as a gift to others.
To remember the other world in this world
is to live in your true inheritance.
You are not a troubled guest on this earth,
you are not an accident amidst other accidents
you were invited from another and greater night
than the one from which you have just emerged.
Now, looking through the slanting light of the morning window
toward the mountain presence of everything that can be
what urgency calls you to your one love?
What shape waits in the seed of you
to grow and spread its branches
against a future sky?
Is it waiting in the fertile sea?
In the trees beyond the house?
In the life you can imagine for yourself?
In the open and lovely white page on the writing desk?
— David Whyte
Wild Geese
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
—Mary Oliver