Healing, deep healing is not a linear path. It involves both outer and inner work. Here’s a little story of healing that you may relate to.
At this unique point in time, we have opportunities to shift our foundational set points and beliefs. The body is in on this deal, and since it’s the densest, it often takes the longest to shift.
Outer Work
In May of 2017 I injured my SI joint. If you don’t know what that is, that’s a good thing, because it means you haven’t injured it. The SI joint is in the pelvis. It is a helluva injury. I don’t recommend it. Unfortunately, it’s way too common in the yoga community. This injury causes all sorts of cross body movement pain and asymmetry problems. At my worst, I couldn’t even hold a grocery bag over one shoulder.
I had to shift my habits to using mostly symmetrical and balanced actions. Through my journey, I held myself together with kinesiology tape (kinda like duct tape for the body) for stability until my body could figure out how to support itself with this new set point.
Ligaments, simplistically said, hold our bones together. I injured my SI joint ligament. Ligament injuries take forever to heal for multiple reasons. It is imperative to develop and strengthen our outer myofascial (muscle and connective tissue) tissues to create stability in our pelvic ligaments, especially with loaded movement. I did this through dynamic glute and quad involvement with my movements and work. In addition, I received structural help from my chiropractor (Dr. Pia), my bodywork therapist, and I used nutritional and herbal therapy.
Our pelvic bones and myofascial connections create amazing pelvic sturdiness and stability, until it’s lost. It took about 18 months until I wasn’t hyper guarding my movements. My work with clients continued, but I had to shift many habits. I let a lot of yoga poses and movements go. Walking and hiking were out for a while. Our pelvis is our biggest area of physical stability and support. It is involved in so much we take for granted.
What’s Underneath That?
After all that time and work, I thought I was out of the woods. My outer, big moving myofascia (glutes and quads) became more integrated with my core and things worked much better. I changed my habits. I became more aware. Pain dissolved.
I added in pelvic floor work, which if I’m being honest, had never been 100% after childbirth. Our pelvic floor is anatomically connected to our deep core. Simplistically, it’s a big myofascial bag that holds and supports our organs and connects all the way to our diaphragm (our breathing muscle.) This inner connection, our deep core, also connects to the myofascia of our outer pelvis, which I had strengthened. I was pleased.
Then things started to go wonky in my inner layers. My structure, which I thought was balanced, was not. My wonky structure was now impacting my body’s inner function. Structure and function go hand in hand. If something is out of alignment in our myofascia structure (simplistically, our body’s bony alignments held by soft tissue) then our function is impacted. This is true for all parts of our body.
For a bit I was worried. There’s only so much bodywork, chiropractic, acupuncture, alternative and even allopathic medicine can do. But then I moved to the next level, a deeper level, because life called me to it.
Inner Work
My work moved to the subtle realm. Subtle work is inner work with the unseen world. It can be many things. In this case, I moved into first and second chakra and energy work — security, safety, relationships, creation and sexuality. Some of this work I did with healers, some of it with guides, and some of it in conversation with younger parts of myself. It was foundational, intense, transformative, and as Glennon Doyle says, Brutiful (brutal and beautiful.)
Throughout this experience, my vocational work has been shifting. Some out of functional necessity, some out of desire to bring more to my offerings, and some because it’s just *&@! time and life called me to it.
The entire foundation of my body has shifted on its axis. That’s had an effect. Work with some of my clients began integrating the subtle and inner levels more consciously, too. It naturally emerged. I moved with it.
Many of us have had this kind of pivotal year. It’s as if the cosmos have reached down, took us by the shoulders and said, “Hey, time to get moving. You have some things to bring into the world that only you are able to do. No more lollygagging around. Let’s get busy.”
We are creating our new worlds as we walk—no big map, just one step at a time. The next few years are going to be interesting. We are entering a new decade. Old ways are crumbling fast. We have to shift and change. We have to let go of what is no longer serving our highest good. We can move with the river, or be taken by it.
The Offering
On Sunday, December 29 from 1-4 pm, my husband Steve and I are offering our yearly workshop to assist you to Consciously Create your New Year. This doesn’t mean you’ll write a list of goals to check off and then forget about it sometime in February.
This workshop is designed to get you to your Inner Work. You’ve probably done a ton of your outer work. Now it’s time to get to the foundational levels and reorient to what is calling you forward Now.
Give yourself the gift of time and space to hear what your inner, subtle world is saying. Give yourself time to listen and receive. From there you will be able to bring your ideas and inspirations into a cohesive understanding of how to move forward with your first steps.
We are in a time of amazing creative opportunities even if it doesn’t feel like it. New paths can now be brought forward to create the world of your dreams. One step at a time.
If this sounds like something you’d like to know more about, please send me a note here.
Chris