Late summer greetings to you. I hope you’ve all made it through Irma with your bodies and homes intact. I was going to say without much inconvenience, but really it seems like we should be paying attention as our weather patterns make it hard not to do so. Are there ways in which we can make small changes in our lifestyles in order to better weather these storms? And in the same vein, are there changes we can make in our lifestyles that could possibly soften our impact on the climate? I don’t have the answers, but it seems worthwhile to think along these lines.

All is well, if debris-strewn, damp and dark in my little hollow in Lakemont — seems power is out in much of Rabun county since Monday. Sounds of chainsaws and generators can be heard in the distance or nearer as power lines are freed from downed trees and roads are cleared.

I don’t know about you, but I was impressed during Irma’s winds and rain yesterday and last evening at how my trees can dance. They were wagging and bending and twisting in the most surprising ways, and in ways one might not expect possible. Amazing to watch their grace and even how they seemed to interact, one with the others. I guess we don’t know until things happen to us, or in us, just what our bodies are capable of doing or withstanding. Flexibility is key, and some degree of rootedness to our mother earth. What comes to my mind is the push-hands exercise from Tai Chi, where two people stand facing each other almost toe to toe and, using only their hand to hand contact, try to push each other off center enough to break contact between their feet and the earth. Of course for a tree there is only one chance.

This makes me wonder about my own flexibility and strength. Of course it is better to have both. And each enhances the other. What comes to mind when we think of strength? At first I think of a body builder, with short, fat muscles. But I am quick to correct that image because if my work has taught me anything, it’s that short muscles are not where strength resides. Rather it is in smart muscles that strength resides. Smart muscles are capable of lengthening with strength and steadiness as well as shortening with measured effort.

Many of us have been conditioned to think that lifting a heavy weight denotes strength, and I well remember arm wrestling with boys in my younger days and the burst of strength that is required; or lifting heavy furniture during moves and feeling proud of being capable of shifting things about. But that was not without injury. I split a bicep once, helping someone move, and I distinctly recall seeing my tibia (the shin bone) move out in front of my knee when I lifted a heavy piece with my foot. Things I would not do now, knowing what I have learned from working with so many bodies.

We are impatient creatures and in our fast-paced world we want to just “get stuff done.” And yet I can accomplish so much more when I increase my breathing capacity - increased breath capacity increases my energy proportionally. And I can work so much more efficiently when my muscles are in a state of balanced strength, and I can work longer and without fatigue. More importantly, I can work with ease and in the absence of discomfort. This may require some specific attention to muscle groups I have allowed to weaken due to my habitual patterns of use.

The Resistance & Release approach has been profoundly effective for restoring balance and strength to clients I see who are recovering from injuries or who have just settled into postures and/or ways of doing things repeatedly that have slowly created pain patterns due to muscle imbalance. Once our strength is back, we can restore our relationship to gravity, such that we are not unduly adding stress and/or strain to our supporting structure, and doing things from a place of balance enhances our ease with little effort.

If I haven’t seen you in a while, please let me hear from you. I’d love to know how you’re doing.

Please take a moment to peruse my latest offering - a Nature/Soul oriented retreat in October at the beautiful Elohee Center in Sautee Nacoochee. There is information on my website, http://honorwoodard.com and also the Elohee site: http://www.elohee.org/retreat/1019/awakening-with-nature-a-return-to-the-authentic-self/. I am honored and excited to be invited to facilitate this retreat and am so looking forward to sharing in this way.

Wishing you all a rich, colorful and healthy Autumn,

Honor Woodard, LMT