Massage & Bodywork

JULY | AUGUST 2019

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healing and new possibilities to surface. To prevent trouble before it arises, we practice using pain as a way to empower and inform new ways of being. Pain can be a conduit for change. Are you willing to use your pain to ignite change? THE SHIFT MOVE Try this "shift move" we learned from Kathlyn and Gay Hendricks, co-founders of the Foundation for Conscious Living. This practice has fundamentally changed our relationship to painful body-mind- heart situations. The four steps can be abbreviated as FACT—Facing- Accepting-Choosing-Taking action. Facing This FACT experience is not merely a cognitive journey, but a radical practice of acceptance, magnifi ed by giving attention to our emotional waves and physical sensations. The fi rst step, facing, asks us to open up and turn toward the painful feeling or the painful area in our body. Practice facing by imagining your pain experience as an energy form outside of you: put your pain in a chair, on the fl oor, or on a wall. Once you have placed the pain somewhere outside of you, begin to play with facing it. Like a game of full-body peekaboo, turn your body toward it and then away from it. Get inventive and play with how you look at, or avoid, your pain. Now you are starting to create a new relationship with your pain. When you're ready, turn toward your pain with your whole body and give yourself a generous breath as you wonder, "What haven't I fully faced about this yet?" Ask this question multiple times to allow for an answer to arise. Get curious and willing to suspend your judgment. When you feel like you've had an experience of facing your pain in a new way, move on to the next step. Accepting The second step, accepting, invites our body intelligence to enrich our experiment. Hold one palm up in front of you and say aloud, "I want to accept this." Then, turn your other palm up and say, "And I don't want to accept this." As if you're holding a sentence in each hand, repeat several times alternating between your palms. Add another layer by playing with different intonations on syllables and emphasizing different words until you notice a shift in your body. These shifts might appear as more heat, a rush of energy, smiling, a change in your breath, or muscle tension. Choosing When that feels complete, move on to the third step, choosing. We're using the superpower of choosing to transform our relationship with pain. Begin to consciously move your body in different ways, wiggle your fi ngers, stretch, stand up, take a walk, bounce, shake, or invent a new movement. While you are moving in new ways, fl oat this new question up in your awareness: "What do I really want?" Keep moving your body as you repeat the question several times, until you come up with a response. You may be surprised by what naturally emerges. Taking Action Now you're ready for the fi nal step of taking action. Ask yourself: "What is the simplest and easiest action step I can take to get me to what I want?" Again, repeat the question several times while moving, shaking, or stretching your body. Let the words simple and easy guide you as you get curious, patient, and open to wonder, and allow for a solution to unfold. And then, commit to doing it! Once you've decided the simplest and easiest step you can take toward what you want, add a time commitment by choosing a by-when time. For example, I am going to drink a full glass of water by the end of the day. BEFRIENDING OUR EXPERIENCE We serve ourselves best by not throwing mental darts at ourselves and instead allowing and including every feeling, thought, idea, and sensation into our experience. Choose to repurpose the energy that goes into repeating "I should feel better by now" or "Why is this always happening to me" into a radical and friendly acceptance practice. With patience and deliberate practice, you will be encircled by the glow of your own trove of shining magical gemstones. You may notice how much more energy you have, how many more positive feelings you enjoy, and how you become a living example of loving kindness. Shine on! Heath and Nicole Reed are co-founders of Living Metta (living "loving kindness") and want everyone in the world to enjoy the experience of befriending their body. The Reeds lead workshops and retreats across the country and overseas, including Thailand and Mexico, and have been team-teaching touch and movement therapy for 16 years. In addition to live classes, the Reeds offer massage therapy and self- care videos, DVDs, and online trainings, which may be found at www.livingmetta.com. Ta k e 5 a n d t r y A B M P F i v e - M i n u t e M u s c l e s a t w w w. a b m p . c o m / f i v e - m i n u t e - m u s c l e s . 27 Watch "Transforming Pain"

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