Category Archives: Body Wisdom

Easy Focus is NOT Always Easy!

out-of-focus-1

Easy Focus is NOT always easy!   Man, did I discover that last night! It was the first night of our eight week Online InterPlay Body Wisdom Tools class. My co-teacher, Sharie was coming online from her home base an hour or so from Seattle and I was coming online from my second home base outside of Boston. Our 9 participants were joining us from 9 different locations -6 in various time zones in the USA, 2 from Australia and 1 from India! This was a first for almost all of us. But, because I was the one who had done a very small amount of online teaching, Cynthia (co-founder of InterPlay who had asked Sharie and I to teach the class) dubbed me as the “technical expert”! Hahahah. I think that’s where most of my distress -the opposite of easy focus-  originated.

Throughout our planning and preparation  process Sharie and I kept reminding one another to breathe deeply, sigh often and do lots of shaking of our arms, legs, bodies and voices (all good ways to foster easy focus!)! Even so, even a cursory scan of my body data told me that I was anxious. So, not only did I do my part in preparing to guide us through  the content  we would be covering, but I read documents and watched training videos so that I thought I knew every in and out of how to help our participants get signed on, use the meeting controls and have a positive experience.

I was not, however, prepared for what to do when every word almost any of us spoke reverberated with an echo traveling down a long tunnel! And what was the Body Wisdom Tool we were teaching? Easy Focus, of course. Easy Focus, that way of seeing the big picture and holding things lightly and playfully! Easy Focus, that encourages us to savor and enjoy our experiences. Easy Focus, that encourages us to relax our muscles, soften our attention and just be in the moment. But how how how  do do do you you you do do do that that that when when when every every every word word word echoes echoes echoes????

Well, we took lots of deep breaths with lots of sighs and lots of shaking. We danced. We played. We laughed. We practiced softening our focus in a guided meditation that Sharie led. And we noticed what all of that felt like in our bodies. Here are some of the things folks said they noticed:

I felt a progressive softening in my face and body…

I was more a part of everything

I was less tense

 I was more forgiving to myself.

I was allowing myself to float.

Easy focus increases my sense of connection to all and everyone that is

Amazing! By playing and practicing the things that help to bring easy focus….. we somehow found easy focus even in the midst of the echoing. And just as we moved from our exploration of the Body Wisdom Tool of Easy Focus to our exploration of the Body Wisdom Tool of Affirmation the echo stopped!!!! That’s right just as mysteriously as it began, it ended!

As I pondered all of this I began to think how life can imitate art… that is how when I remember to do what brings me to that place of playful ease called Easy Focus, even and especially when easy focus seems hard to achieve, then wa-lah there it is -Easy Focus! And with Easy Focus comes peace, ease, playfulness, creativity, and JOY!

Take a deep breath…. let it out with a big sigh…. shake out your right arm…. shake out your other right arm…. shake out your right leg…. shake out your other right leg…. shake out what you are sitting on…. shake out your voice…. repeat as needed!

 

Share This:

And a little child shall lead them…

Masters of Play!

One of my delights over the past 2 1/2 years has been living within driving distance of our first grandchild, Ben, who turned four this past May. One of the joys of being a grandparent is that you have time to simply observe your grandchildren at play. A couple of weeks ago  when I was at his house, Ben was so involved with what he was doing that I had an extended time to just sit and watch and learn from a master of play!

As I witnessed his adventure, I noticed his imagination and how every object held the possibility of being something new and completely different from what I understood it to be! I watched as he created stories, made up characters and occasionally gave me a part to play in his elaborate drama. I noticed how he slipped effortlessly and totally unselfconsciously from singing to a talking in a made up language and back to English with complete delight in just hearing the sound of his voice. It made little or no difference to him whether I understood what he was saying or singing; he did and that was all that mattered. I also noticed the joy he experienced as he moved about the room, making objects fly and dance and twirl. But I also noticed his delight in having me witness his play,  It seemed to matter that I saw him and watched him and delighted in him, because once or twice someone else came in the room and Ben was quick to call me back if I started to talk to someone else!

A few days after this amazing afternoon I was leading one of my InterPlay Classes and we were doing a back and forth form called “I Could Talk About…” One of the things I said was “I could talk about watching my grandson play…” Then later my partner invited me to do a DT3 about watching him play. (A DT3 is an InterPlay Form that involves moving/dancing then talking x3)  As I did I heard myself say how interesting it was that he did naturally all the things that we invite participants in an InterPlay class to do… he used his imagination, made up words, talked in a made up language, sang, moved, used his voice, told his story, connected with me and experienced joy and delight in simply being witnessed. How easy it was for him and how hard it is for us as adults! As my DT3 continued I came to a place of longing for all people -children and adults- to have the opportunity and the freedom of such creative, imaginative, play.

As I was noticing my body wisdom after I finished this form,  I remembered our recent InterPlay Leaders Gathering and the observation one of our leaders of color made that the things we do in InterPlay -movement, story-telling, having our voice, being still and connecting with others- these  things are birth-rite practices. They are part of what it means to be human, to be whole and I believe to be holy.  And I felt a deep sadness for those children who are denied any or all of these birth-rite practices. And I felt a deep desire to do what I could to create a world where all children and all adults can freely and joyfully move, have their voice, tell their story, find stillness, connect with others and be witnessed with joy and delight.

So if you have the good fortune to have children around, take some time and let these masters of play lead you back into the joy of your birth-rite practices and you just might discover the One who has been waiting to dance with you, sing with you, play with you, listen to you, delight in you and show you all that you might become. While you’re at it you might also check out the InterPlay website to see if there are interPlay classes happening near you or contact me to see about the possibility of playful on-line coaching that will empower you to lead joyfully and live playfully as you discover the wisdom of your own body!

Share This:

Finding Grace!

sunset

While I have a friend named Grace, I haven’t lost her, so she is not who I am trying to find! (Although seeing her right now would be a Grace moment in more ways than one!) What I am talking about is something I learned from my practice of InterPlay®; finding, discovering, experiencing, waking up to grace in the here and now…one moment at a time!

For most of my life “grace” was something you said before you ate, a somewhat vague theological term or something I sang about in songs such as Amazing Grace! I never thought of grace as something I experienced in my body; something as close to me as the air I breathe or the blood coursing through my veins. But in fact grace can be or in fact is as close as that. And it is not something we have to work for or earn. It is the birthright of every person; maybe even the birthright of the whole of creation!

So where do we find grace?

How do we find grace?

I began to awaken to this new way of understanding grace when Phil Porter -one of the co-founders of the system of practice known as InterPlay® was leading a retreat called The Secrets of InterPlay, and he asked us how we experienced stress in our bodies. The group was quick to name a whole plethora of things like -tight chest, shallow breathing, clamped jaws, abdominal discomfort, headaches and the like. Then Phil said, “OK, now shake that out and think of the opposite of stress…. what does that feel like in your body?” Although it took a little longer, the list was eventually just as plentiful -softness in the face, openness in the chest, deep breathing, relaxed shoulders, ease throughout the body, a smile on your face and the like. “This,” Phil went on to say, “is what in InterPlay we call the Physicality of Grace.”

So the “Grace Key” (a name coined by InterPlay co-founder Cynthia Winton-Henry) that which allows us to find Grace, is to notice what elicits these “opposite of stress” sensations. Another way of saying that is to ask: “who or what are our grace-makers?” Then, when we have identified our grace-makers, we can choose to do more of those things. or have more of those experiences. Each of us has our own rich tapestry of grace-makers. Here are some of mine:

  • dancing -almost any kind, but especially the improvisational just letting my body move to a piece of music kind of dancing
  • sitting by a body of moving water
  • watching a sunset
  • playing with my grandson
  • being with my husband
  • smelling a rose
  • walking through a flower garden
  • a heart to heart talk with a friend
  • connecting with others in movement, song and story-telling (InterPlay®)
  • breathing slowly and deeply and then silently naming the blessings in my life
  • touching the deep wisdom of my own true nature
  • hearing a song that touches my heart
  • walking a Labyrinth
  • laughing at something truly funny

What are some of your grace-makers?

One of the things I deeply appreciate about a regular practice of InterPlay is that I am reminded of my grace-makers and have the opportunity to reconnect with the grace that permeates all of life and dwells in the core of my own being. And the more I find grace in the simple ordinary bits of my life the more I am able to lead joyfully and live playfully whether it is leading a group or my own life. If you have experienced InterPlay, you know what I mean. If you have not, I would encourage you to contact me or check out the InterPlay website to find out about upcoming events  or if there are regular InterPlay classes near you.

Our bodies were created for grace, in grace, with grace and we all need to find grace in the ebb and flow of our day to day lives!

Share This: