healing Archives - Page 3 of 13 -

Obsession…Dedication to Tuck

By Simone Lipscomb | August 10, 2013

I spent over a decade working as a massage therapist, energy work practitioner and instructor. The great value of massage therapy and bodywork (such as Reiki, Polarity Therapy and process-oriented bodywork) is that it provided a very good way for me to release old, stuck patterns in the body. And to support that process in others.

Trauma of many kinds can cause us to develop patterns of movement and holding in the body that can eventually cause joint and muscle pain and injury. This works on an emotional level (example-you protect your heart by rounding your shoulders inward) and from a physical level (example– an accident produced an injury and you hold a muscular pattern around the area to protect it). With both emotional and physical injury, the result is the same–a holding pattern. Stuck-ness.

Movement is a valuable way to release these old patterns. Massage therapy, energy work, yoga and other forms of stretching are great ways to clear muscular/energy blocks. SUP boarding is, too, as well as other forms of core exercises. While these have served me well through the years, I’ve recently discovered another way to get healthier and it feeds my body and mind deliciously.

While visiting my daughter for her wedding she introduced me to Pure Barre through the Midland, Michigan studio. After the first class I was hooked. Vibrant and high-energy music, small movements designed to strengthen the core, along with motivating, supportive instructors create the perfect opportunity for positive change in the body and mind.

During the first class, as my legs were shaking and I was pushing through to work my legs and core, I felt emotions bubble up that completely surprised me. I didn’t have to understand or process them…I just allowed them to move up and out. Afterwards I felt clearer and more focused. And yes, I was tired as the workout was intense. I couldn’t wait for more so we did another class the day before the wedding.

After I got home I looked up Pure Barre studios in my area and discovered the Eastern Shore studio in Daphne. Not especially close, at 20 miles from home, but the drive has been totally worth it. During the past five days and five classes I have felt my body changing through shaking and stretching and tucking. It’s one of the most intense workouts I’ve ever done but it’s very low impact on the joints.

The instructors are trained to keep the class moving toward our personal goals. They provide a space for women (and men) to come together for 55 minutes of dedication to change. We all may have different specific goals but those attending do so to change. Coming together with others with the same intention and working…sweating…shaking…is powerful.

As I check in with my body, sitting here at my desk, I feel a strength within that is vital, alive and open…more open than I’ve been in a long while. Stronger than I’ve felt since…I can’t remember when. So yes, I’m into it and am happy to do whatever it takes to help my body and mind feel this great.

I am still doing my cardio through my elliptical trainer, walking and SUP boarding (if it ever stops storming) but there’s just something special about Pure Barre.

They say it’s addictive…that women become obsessed with Pure Barre. I get that. But I think of it as dedication to positive change. And why not? Changing, growing…feeling stronger…what could be better than that?

I'm going for the challenge...20 classes in 30 days! — I’m going for the challenge…20 classes in 30 days!

Before the Dawn

By Simone Lipscomb | June 30, 2013

The Earth issues an invitation to commune with the light. Each Sunday morning I answer by rising before dawn and walking along the shore at the Gulf of Mexico. My purpose is to look for sea turtle tracks that indicate nesting activity but my intention is simply to listen and share with the salt water, the white-sand shores and the essence of light that, in my mind, is the creative force from which everything arises and to which it returns.

Dawn on the beach near Gulf Shores, Alabama

Being part of a dedicated team of individuals who love sea turtles and nature is rewarding. Its that affiliation that nudges me out of slumber and my list of excuses to make it to ‘church’ on time.

I started walking both ways in my section of beach to have more time in nature and to extend my time in communion with the nameless emanation of love…of light. I share aloud with the sea my grief at humanity’s sins against the planet and each other. I beam with excitement as the light changes prior to sunrise. The sight of a dolphin’s dorsal fin slicing through the surface ignites passion for and love of all creatures– the fish being chased and eaten by dolphins and sharks…and osprey; tiny coquina shells returning after being wiped out from the oil spill three years ago; ghost crabs….all life is sacred.

In the Sunday morning pilgrimage I look for sea turtle tracks and expand my heart energy walking east. After reaching the western most point in my section, I turn and walk back picking up trash left by humanity. Water bottles, cigarette butts, tampon applicators, boat bailing jugs, fishing lures, aluminum cans, rope, balloon bits and small bits of broken plastic. That was this morning’s haul. Later I’ll sort it into recycling and trash piles.

It is during this walk back where I especially feel grief as I gather in the sins of humanity into a garbage bag–the bits and pieces of cast-off junk thoughtlessly tossed or left to injure sea life, decompose over the next 500 years into toxic components. Oh, this is the challenging time in my conversation with light.

This morning, two things of notice happened. First, on my eastward trek I kept feeling a presence to my right. I looked out over the Gulf and saw a cloud, illuminated by dawn’s glory before the sun had peeked above the horizon. The magic of sunrise, the magic of light at work.

The Harry Potter nest this morning.... — The Harry Potter nest this morning….

The second little miracle was a sea turtle nest found by two of my patrol buddies on another section of ‘our’ beach. Life continues.

Sky from last year....the favorite photograph of light I've taken — Sky from last year…favorite photograph of light I’ve taken

And while answers haven’t been forthcoming so much lately, it could be true that it really is darkest just before the dawn. Let there be light!

Turning Point

By Simone Lipscomb | May 11, 2013

The dark, heavy energy has shifted. I’ve been sitting on my back porch listening to the rain, listening to distant thunder over the Gulf and to wind chimes slowly moving in the slight breeze, their deep tones filling the courtyard with celestial music and serving as background sound to drops splatting and thumping on the metal roof. Frogs sing occasionally, adding their baritone to the soprano whistles and trills of birds darting to and fro.

In the distance, the sounds of children laughing and playing in the rain provide nurturance to the joy taking root within the dark recesses in me that have stored grief over bad new– environmental reports this week that seemed endless. Swinging in my hammock chair with my buddy Stanley Kubrick purring contentedly on my lap, I realized that I have ridden the wave of grief to the other side.

A spark of light ignited this shift. A favorite musician posted yesterday on his FaceBook page, “So happy to be playing music. There is no finer place on earth today than Oklahoma.” Ben Taylor’s post planted a seed of light. I nurtured it by having a session of Thai Yoga yesterday afternoon that helped stretch me out of my funk. Then the morning of rain and gentleness helped me grow the light seed and expand it like a candle igniting a thousand inner lamps.

Being present in the moment and happy to be doing something I love to do is something to celebrate. Finding joy within a storm of bad environmental news gives me a stronger foundation from which to work and helps me gain footing on the Path so I can take the next step in my work. With my inner lamps rekindled I move forward with joy, in celebration of this beautiful water planet.

Stanley Kubrick and I celebrated this delicious, rainy, soft morning by dancing on the back porch while listening to Jolly Holiday. “Ain’t it a glorious day? Right as a mornin’ in May, I feel like I could fly….When the day is gray and ordinary, <Stanley> makes the sun shine bright!”

Staying present with grief, with joy…with beauty. It’s all part of this turning point in which we find ourselves on our Earthly planet.

Wisdom in a Garden

By Simone Lipscomb | April 17, 2013

This morning found me once again in the new garden–the task was mulching. It wasn’t difficult. It was just repetitive and like the grass removal, the effort gave me time to reflect. During my working meditation the same ideas I wrote about yesterday surfaced and continued to give me tid bits to ponder.

Yesterday I realized that many of us find our value from things we do for others or in our jobs. We might even assign ourselves a task for helping our spouse or significant other. This role might become our entire reason for staying in the relationship. And once that task is completed, we feel we are of no value to the other person or that there is no need to stay in the relationship. We might justify our existence by what we do and when what we ‘do’ is no longer needed, we fade away.

The same thing applies in work environments. If we base our value on the role or job we have, when that job ends we lose our value…at least in that way of thinking.

Amid scooping and spreading mulch this understanding kept growing….As the mulch pile decreased, the ideas increased.

There is danger in finding identity through what we do or our performance…rather than who we are at our core.

Over twenty-five years ago Thom Rutledge reminded me that my value doesn’t come from what I do. It was such a foreign concept he presented. I had based my entire life on approval for what I did. Not for who I was. Those layers are still peeling away and I understand on a deeper level exactly what he meant.

Success doesn’t come from how many books I sell or how much money I generate from hard work. If that were the case I’d be floating in cool cash after the past four days of labor in the garden. Perhaps success is really just about showing up, being present and living with an open heart and mind. I’m not sure yet…I’ll let you know in another 25 years.

Until then, I’ll be making my morning pilgrimage outdoors to unearth wisdom in a garden.

Garden Time

By Simone Lipscomb | April 16, 2013

How much grass is in a bit of land eight feet by twenty feet? After three days of intermittent hard-core shoveling, kneeling, sorting and sweating I am no closer to knowing how much sod it takes to cover that much ground but I do know how much fuller my compost bin is after hauling the final remnants of grass from my new garden space.

I live under live oak trees with very little sunny areas for growing vegetables or sun-loving flowers so the decision to take this small strip of grass and turn it into a place to grow food and flowers seemed the next step in rebelling against the corporate mindset that seduces us into believing we have to purchase our food from a box or can that has been adulterated with toxic chemicals, petroleum-based fertilizers and genetically altered food. The only grass that had to be mowed on my property is now being composted. So I’m saving fuel, creating less carbon emissions and I’m growing food…and food for my soul–flowers.

It was grueling work that was aided by heavy rainfall that softened the soil. There was a window of opportunity that would close once the ground became dry. So hours were spent on my knees listening to song birds, hawks, the neighbor’s chickens and rain drops dripping from branches. My mind relaxed and I sank into earth time. If I tried to rush it seemed little progress was made; however, once I paused and intentionally connected with that slow, steady heartbeat of the planet, it seemed as if the task progressed quicker. Ah….a good lesson.

During the hours of manual labor my mind brought up questions to ponder. Probably the most important was this: What would it be like if we let go of roles we think we should play and simply were present to enJOY relationships? Or jobs? Or places we live? What if we let go of the need to assign a task to ourselves, a reason for being….and simply enJOYed life?

How often do we validate our worth by the role we play? Or think we should play? What if there really are no roles we are asked to act out? What if our ‘value’ simply comes from being present..with ourselves…with others…with the planet….with life! Why do we believe we have to ‘serve a purpose’ to another person? Isn’t just being present enough?

Obviously I spent a LOT of time digging and sorting over the past few days and have pondered many questions. The rhythm of Earth Mother pulled me deeper into my body, into relationship with Her and in the process helped me gain understanding. Perhaps my new little patch of freshly planted soil will bring more than vegetables and flowers. Perhaps my new path to healing and wholeness is garden time.