​Alice laughed. "There's no use trying," she said: "one can't believe impossible things."
"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before dinner!" from Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
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If it weren't for the fact that every single year for my entire life the sun moves north and tulips shoot up and birds start singing their spring songs, I would wonder if this year I'd entered Narnia during the White Queen's reign in Oregon.

But something outside of me reminded me that this is not the year of eternal winter: two days of warm sunshine in a row after this long, cold, dreary fall-winter!

I can't always count on my own sense of what's possible and what's not. No one can.
We're social beings, deeply rooted in the fabric of Mother Earth.

Two things are true:

1. We cannot see what we cannot see in ourselves.
2. We are conditioned to over think, work hard, push push push, and make less of the messages our bodies are getting, which means we miss important information.

Two other things are true:

1. When we are in relation with a trusted other, e.g. spring always comes; they'll let us know that "the sun'll come out tomorrow," or tell us when we have spinach in our teeth, or that there's a way to change the habit that's creating or worsening that annoying pain.
2. You can't predict where this help is going to come from. But you can make yourself available for that help.
   
   

A case in point:
A few years ago, I'd been in an accident and had not been able to sit comfortably for months because of nerve pain. I went to a business conference to learn about money. Sheevaun Moran was the last person I thought I'd want to have a conversation with (oh prejudice!) and yet in her workshop, which I reluctantly attended, she asked me in front of the crowd, “Why do you want to get rid of this pain?” After each answer she'd curtly say, “No, that's not it.” and ask again. When I blurted out my secret, “Because I want a big life!” She said “That's it. Go sit down.” She gave a couple more simple things for me to do during the conference, which, since I was feeling much better, I did. By the way, she also helped me change my relationship with money....and with energy.


So think about your life. What's going well? What, outside of your self has helped? You have a roof over your head. Someone said a kind word. Someone insisted you do something you didn't want to do and it paid off. Spring finally arrived!!

And what's nagging? What, if it were gone, would help open you to your big life?
Make yourself available, receptive, “completely receptive.” And listen, watch, let yourself be curious. Take a step and notice what results.
​
Is the result in the direction you want to go? Great! Go for it!
Is the result nebulous or negative? Continue to make yourself available to the interconnected web of life, and take another step. 

I had an amazing experience with my imagination and what those mirror neurons could tell me.

About 10 years ago I was having some weird discomfort in my left leg. Now, I had both of my hips replaced in the 1980's due to a childhood hip disorder (Yay! Out of pain and into life!).

So anyway, since I had this "feeling" in my leg, I was playing around with one of Irene Dowd's exercises  from"Taking Root to Fly."  
Since I wanted to experience walking without that not-good feeling, I lay on my back, quieted my mind and did her visualization of seeing someone else doing exactly what I wanted to do.
The next step was to put my body image into or next to theirs and start to feel my muscles firing just a little. 

Normally this would continue to develop over time till I was standing and moving the way I wanted.

​Instead, what happened was that the only way my image of my body could move in the easy gait I was looking for was when two husky men held me up so my leg didn't take any weight. "How strange!" I thought.

And here's the important part: I trusted what my mind had given me, and so I made an appointment with my hip doctor.
The Xray showed that the replacement in my femur had come loose.  There was no stability to be had.  
So my surgeon (who wasn't a husky man, but a tiny woman--and nursing at that) opened me up, easily slipped the old prosthesis out, and gave me a solid new replacement.
The next time I did the Dowd visioning exercise, I was able to use it to improve my gait with the new hip!    Of course, I also got PT and Aston-Patterning to continue my rehab....and then this:

"Your healing is remarkable!" said my surgeon on my first post-op visit. 

And your healing can be remarkable too!
It's never too late to change old movement patterns into something better, easier, more comfortable and even stronger.
If it's time for you to take some action, make a phone assessment appointment
and let's talk.
​Or come to one of my monthly Easy Healthy Movement classes. and find out what all the fuss is about.
​
Because I want your body.....to feel fine!

"Better the devil you know than the devil you don't know." Anon    

Really??  Well, you know the frame of mind that came up with that saying!

On the other hand, who, in their heart of hearts, wants to feel less than great? If you knew you had a choice or choices? If you were allowed to find your own pace, and make it your own, I expect most people would be delighted to know they weren't wedded to that old companion: pain, dis-comfort, dis-ease. 

Imagine: What would your world be like if you knew you wouldn't have to figure it out on your own....if you could actually move easier with some help, and the time and some fun?

Real change does take decision, commitment, practice and some amount of discomfort. 
But what if it doesn't have to be a slog?

I'm all for fun. I've been on the long road to health and vitality and I've gathered a few (quite a few) tools for the journey. One of them is lending my courage when you can't find your own. 

So if it's time for you to get to know the devil you don't know, let's connect.
 
Because.....

I want your body.....to feel fine!

Valerie   ​