It was a gift to gather with new friends and long-time friends at the Spring Retreat last Saturday.
One of the resounding themes seemed to center around noticing things that maybe have always been with us but now we’ve come to appreciate…from the joy in movement to Spring daffodils to a family member to the tastes and camaraderie of food.
Could it be that simple and profound all at once?
Noticing. Sensing.
These are some key learnings in Bones for Life® and Feldenkrais®…that sensing oneself invites each one of us to become all that we continue to desire to be. Noticing and sensing were also the key aims of yoga long, long ago before we silly humans became so addicted to ‘poses’ and trying to make a so-called perfect shape based on what some teacher thought the ‘pose’ should be like. It’s possible ancient yoga had no prescribed poses…”like a serpent on the waters,” Patanjali invited.
My one-year-old nephew makes such lovely shapes without anyone telling him what to do. He laughs with deep joy at his moves, at his moving his hands through running water, at the taste and texture of food, at people’s smiles. His moves come from within him, from his own curiosity, from his playfulness…not from his parents or big brother or grandparents or silly uncle or anyone telling him to do this or that.
My little nephew’s curiosity leads him.
Noticing. Sensing. Playing.
That’s the bliss we adults might be seeking, yes?
Tiffany West’s gentle yoga-invitations last Saturday invited so much playfulness, exploration, sensing. Thanks, Tiffany!
This week we have two special opportunities to notice and to reflect with two Inner Journeys…our journaling/contemplation circles:
Tuesday/today beginning at 6:30pm ET via Zoom, led by Penny
> one advantage…you can join us from anywhere in the world and wrap up in your favorite blankey and make yourself a warm cup of something delicious
reach out for the link!
this Thursday, March 16 beginning at 7pm ET in-person, led by me
> one advantage…you get to be in a room with other humans and chit-chat before and after…sometimes it’s in those side-conversations that the real gift we need comes to us, announces itself…
791 E McMillan St, Cincinnati, OH 45206
$10 donation requested for each (one option is to pay by clicking here);RSVP appreciated by replying to this email
Zero journaling experience needed. Whatever shows up on the page is a gift…words, sentences, doodles, drawings, or even a blank page as we stare off into space, watch the paint dry, luxuriate in something else, at whatever arrives for us. Even a getting up and twirling, dancing…or sitting and resting, daydreaming…all welcome.
Who knows what you might come to notice, sense, playfully appreciate, and behold with wonder that ripples through your whole life…I’m looking forward to noticing what happens!
Brian Shircliff
PS Our next 45-minute $20 Healing Touch sessions are one week from today…appointments available at 5:30 & 6:30. They disappear quickly! Reserve your spot by replying to this email. Or maybe you’re ready to sign up to take a Level 1 class…April 29-30 with Stephanie Beck Borden!
PPS photo above of the lovely daffodils VITAL-friend Helen Buswinka brought to our retreat – grateful!