Field Notes (Early 2024)
Over the years, I've shared with you what I'm doing NOW to be well, to stay embodied, to find pleasure. It's a meandering path and changes as sure as the seasons. What worked yesterday doesn't work today and what feels delightful now wasn't even on the radar then. It seems to be the natural order of things.
So here are some notes about what I've recently been doing for my own health and happiness (insert regular disclaimer here that I'm not a medical professional and I always assume you take full responsibility for your own choices!):
Rolling My Belly on a Ball
I've recently been returning to this practice. I especially love draping over the ball sideways, letting my obliques receive some pressure. It's definitely possible I've had a few phone sessions with clients while working up the left side of my abdomen and then down the right side. :) I could tell you it's good for digestion, vagal stimulation, lymph drainage, core strength, etc., but what I reeeeallly like it for is reconnecting in a deep way with my body and noticing my patterns of activation and release.
Diatomaceous Earth (food grade)
I was using this as a general hey-we-should-occasionally-do-some-parasite-cleansing tool. I've decided I LOVE IT and may become somewhat evangelical with those around me. It's had a very wide range of amazingly positive impacts on my family, the strangest of which seems to be greatly reducing the size of a cyst my cat has on his neck (why? I can't quite figure that one out!). Diatomaceous Earth is one of those substances that gets attributed to myriad health improvements and is treated like a cure-all (like apple cider vinegar, black seed oil, soil based probiotics) and which I therefore am slightly skeptical of. But the bodies in my family clearly are responding well, whether it's to the anti-parasitic function, its ability to clear mycotoxins, its high silica content...I don't care. I love it.
Super Uneven Surfaces (with spikes)
A few days ago, we went on a hike a bit outside of town where the road is still covered in snow. People have been hiking and cross-country skiing along the road while it's undriveable and it's been melting occasionally and then refreezing. This has created the most luscious walking surface ever. Every single step was slightly unstable and unstable in a way different than the one before it. You'd crunch through the top layer of the snow or slide a bit to the right or the left. Occasionally, you'd step somewhere deep and post-hole. (Microspikes were definitely called for and created the extra traction that made this fun and not simply exhausting.) Again, I could tell you what this does for your body in terms of mechanical blah blah and neurological blah blah, but here are the notes from my walk: I FELT INCREDIBLE. It was like my body had drunk up liquid joy. I don't know that I've felt that physically elated in some time. Clearly, my body needs more of that.
Explorations in Death
I've had a few experiences where my body could easily have gone a step or two further and given up the ghost. Most of those are connected to childbearing (hemorrhages, e.g.), but it's only recently that the deep somatic knowing of that truth has been able to reveal itself to me. I've become aware that there are parts of me still hanging on at the precipice wondering "Are we staying or going?" not realizing that the moment has passed. Being connecting to that reality has been a wild experience and highlights deep patterns that want to see light in a new way. I'm very curious how this will ripple across my life and can already see some subtle shifts occurring.
Yoni Steams
Yoni steams (sitting over a pot of steaming herbs) have been a tool that I tend to use in the name of ritual more than of seeking a specific physical outcome. But my menstrual cycle has struggled since the insomnia and still hasn't quite recovered (one of the many downstream effects of a body in crisis). This month, I was certain that I'd ovulated and I was 100% sure my period was coming one day, but then it didn't. It was like my whole body had geared up and then didn't have quite enough resource to bleed. After waiting two days to begin bleeding, I decided to steam (and did lots of letting go ritual while steaming). My period started the next day! I've done a lot in general to help my body find hormonal homeostasis and I've decided I'd like to add steaming to the lead up to when my period "should" occur and see how this impacts my body.
Yoga Nidra
Most days, I lie down in a version of a psoas release and listen to a guided meditation by Tracee Stanley (or to one of my own recorded meditations) followed by some journaling. This yoga nidra practice gives me physical rest after nights that have been a bit rocky and deep spiritual nourishment that brings me back into deep knowing. It's one of those practices that I imagine will come and go throughout my life, sometimes feeling like an absolute lifeline to ease and clarity and other times moving into the background while something else emerges in the foreground. It's meeting me in a very deep way, however, and her meditative work is just adjacent enough to my own approach that I can sink in deeply while I encounter myself in novel ways. And, of course, in a way, just staking out the space to be in practice is sometimes at least as valuable as anything that is done during the practice!
Downhill Skiing
We live near a ski mountain here in Colorado. I haven't skied much since I was a teenager (even even then, skiing wasn't a huge part of my life in New Jersey), but I've got a season pass now and when conditions are right, it's absurdly enjoyable. Like stupid enjoyable, partially because I think that controlled falling down a mountain on two sticks is kinda stupid. I'm competent enough to generally feel safe, though, and I love everything from noticing how I try to avoid using my core while skiing (see my first field note above for another way I explore that) to the deep, playful pleasure of moving fast in snow while my 12 year old zooms by me. The ski season's almost done and I know I'll enjoy the break all while looking forward to it's return at the end of the year.
I invite you try any of these if you feel so called!