Happy New Year! Happy Valentine's Day! And Happy New Year of the Black Water Snake in Chinese Tradition!

This will be a year of transformation, and in the spirit of the Water Snake in Chinese Astrology:

"The nature of the deeply feeling Snake year is “gradual and gathered strength,” bringing a more moderate than radical year. During Snake years, our concerns turn toward inner-growth, spirituality and discovering the reasons behind things."

When I read this, I think about the stress and traumas that can get trapped in our bodies. Sure, sometimes we have worked or played hard and strained muscles, and our habits create patterns of imbalance in our bodies, but sometimes our patterns of imbalance are caused by emotional or physical events that caused us internal trauma which shows up in our bodies. This does not have to be a permanent condition. Through effective bodywork paired with appropriate dialogue, we can shift these patterns - at the same time, correcting a physical imbalance and healing an emotional trauma. In both cases, it takes establishing new feelings and new ways of being to incorporate and reinforce change and growth.

I can’t believe we’re already to Valentine’s Day. I hope you have all been enjoying the wintry weather, coming and going through the area, interspersed with warm, spring-like days to recuperate. It sure was nice to have just enough snow to capture the beauty of the season, but not so much to keep us inside for too long or to make getting around on the roads a challenge.

How is your 2013 going so far? Have you noticed any new patterns or ideas coming to awareness? Have you started any fun new projects? The contraction of Winter can show up in our bodies. Be sure to drink extra water when in heated, dry environments - be it wood stove or furnace heat. Our joints, more than ever, need to stay lubricated, and I don't know about you, but I've been drinking more hot coffee and tea than usual (read DIURETICS!), and so really need to pay attention to hydration. Also, hot soaks with epsom salts are a nice way to loosen up some of the stiffness.

Our bodies move, sense, feel, work, rest and perceive in so many ways. I want to find where the restrictions are, bring conscious awareness to them and hold space around them - give the body (and mind & spirit) the space in which to reach beyond the restriction and discover where things can feel and move “easier.” This is when we start sensing the mysterious and pleasant new sensations of ease. I hope you are getting enough water and sleep and keeping it loose through these colder days. On the other hand, I hear folks talking about changes and feeling lighter and more free. I can surely feel some of both!

Right now, I am sitting in a sunny spot in my yard, soaking in some rays and letting my body synthesize vitamin D. It is important this time of year to make sure and get some sun rays specifically for this purpose. Our bodies need sunlight in order to synthesize vitamin D for bone health and other benefits.

I came across an interesting piece on NPR this morning (click here to see/hear it). It is about a study on what radiologists see - or rather DON'T see - when they are reading films.

"Trafton Drew, an attention researcher at Harvard Medical School, took a picture of a man in a gorilla suit shaking his fist, and he superimposed that image on a series of slides that radiologists typically look at when they're searching for cancer. He then asked a bunch of radiologists to review the slides of lungs for cancerous nodules. He wanted to see if they would notice a gorilla the size of a matchbook glaring angrily at them from inside the slide. But they didn't: 83 percent of the radiologists missed it, Drew says."

I'm sharing this because it made me think, once again, about our attention and how it focuses our energy. Wherever we put our attention is where our energy goes. So if we're thinking about our pain, it will only persist and grow, but if we choose to shift our attention to our places and parts that feel good (or if we just don't feel good, then to something beautiful, perhaps) then we can find ways to feel better and establish new patterns. Just imagine that the gorilla on the image is pleasure, joy, beauty. We might then reconsider what we're looking for. After all, that which we are seeking is seeking us. Are we seeking enough? Too much? What is right for us?

As Winter winds down and Spring showers head our way, it's time to start thinking about the seeds we will sow come April or May, and in general as more active times approach. During this still slow part of the year, it's a wonderful time to sit down and sketch out some ideas for how we want the rest of the year to play out. Are there any new habits we want to initiate and have in swing by Spring? Things we want to finish up so we can clear space for fresh opportunities?

Take some time to peruse the seed catalogs or other sources of inspiration for the coming seasons - maybe some travel magazines.... And start day dreaming, night dreaming, however you dream about what you want to begin next.

Speaking of dreams, I am still leading dream work and am available for consultations. Do you have a big dream that has been asking you questions or telling you things that you just can't make sense of? Dreaming is a powerful gift and we can mine our dreams for gold in the form of life guidance and resolution and shifting of outdated patterns in our lives. Feel free to email or call me about setting up a consultation.

And remember to take advantage of my Valentine's offer this month! If you don't have a honey, book a session for a good friend you know deserves a great massage - it's good massage karma and will come back around to you!

May your dreams deepen as the light shines more brightly upon you this winter. May your new year bring many blessings and much surprise and delight. May you remember ease, grace, beauty and joy every day!
Warm Winter Blessings,

Honor Woodard, LMT
GA MT 008365
FL MA 66301
Member, FSMTA
904.315.2917
706.212.7924

Happy Holidays!

Yay! The days are getting longer, brighter...

Good afternoon and holiday greetings! I hope these longer days are bringing the light of inspiration and the warmth of peace to us all.

I have some news, so I will get to it first. In the interest of your convenience and my continuity, I will be moving my practice into Clayton this winter. As you might imagine, my road gets impassable when it snows, and I imagine we will be getting some snow this winter. I want it to be easy for us to get to each other. I will have the same phone numbers and you’ll simply come see me in a warm office downtown rather than at the cabin for the next few months. This is also an opportunity for me to try out having space in town, so I will decide later if I will move the practice home to the cabin in Spring.

Other news... I am recently back from an amazing workshop with Deane Juhan (www.jobsbody.com) in Florida. This workshop focused on the breath and breathing. We worked on the shoulder girdle, the ribcage and the abdominal area - creating greater breathing capacity and more ease of movement around the structures involved in breathing. You’d be surprised just how many parts and pieces relate to the breath. And Deane is an amazing practitioner and teacher. Interestingly, he got his start at Esalen, in Big Sur, CA, where I recently attended the dream work workshop with Robert Moss (www.mossdreams.com).

Deane studied with Dr. Milton Trager for more than 20 years, and his work is a beautiful combination of Trager’s work and his own resistance/release technique that Deane has developed over the years. Many of you have experienced this resistance/release work with me, and some of the movement I do with you comes out of the Trager style learning I have received from Juhan and other teachers. It truly is amazing how simple movement and vibration can work more deeply into the tissue and muscle than what people call “deep tissue.”

Deeper is not necessarily better. Change can occur in the body more easily when one is in a relaxed and open state, and deep work does not always create this opening, though it is certainly effective where appropriate. Another tidbit I gleaned from working with Deane Juhan is the value of sensation - particularly pleasant sensation. There is an “edge” of opening I experienced with some of the work that felt unique and important to me. It is challenging to describe, but it is like the edge of pleasure, but a pleasure that is unfamiliar - so the nervous system has to learn from it as it strives to understand or make sense of the sensation.

This brings me to the Solstice. I set my alarm yesterday morning, to wake up early and meditate before the sunrise. I meditated a little, drew a mandala, wrote down some simple thoughts and then was inspired to drive down to the overlook in Tallulah Falls to watch the sun rise. It just felt right to do this, and I was rewarded with a wonderful image of the sun rise with a violet crepuscular ray above. And just as the sun broke the horizon some crows flew across, greeting it with me. On the way home, the hymn “Morning Has Broken” came appropriately to mind, and I thought to myself, “this could have been written for just this morning!”

In my writing, I had some simple but profound understandings.

I came to a deeper awareness that we are here on this Earth for a short time, and that the vehicle we have been given for this wild ride is a BODY. Flesh, bone, muscle, organs, viscera, nervous system, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, fingers, toes, hair... We are sensory beings. We are miraculous systems with thousands of cells flawlessly performing complex duties and functions all under our conscious radar (and while we are busy enjoying the ride). And I’m not even going to touch on the Soul or Spirit here (maybe another time). So the piece that I became more aware of is that we are here, in large part, to experience life through our sensory apparatus - our body, our senses.

I can feel my own edges, and there is pleasure in this. Seeing is feeling, using sight. There is pleasure in seeing beauty just as profound as the most sensual touch. Each and all of our senses can be developed and explored, to find more ways to beauty. The pleasure of texture - in sound, image, music, touch, taste - the complexity of flavor, the fullness of breath, the expansion of the heart. How much we sense, feel and know with heart and stomach... remember, always, the wisdom of both of these. My heart tells me what is right. My stomach tells me when something is wrong. The importance of heeding the stomach's message was emphasized for me. Our heads so often get in the way and confuse the matters at hand - especially between head and heart - and we can forget to notice that the gut is there, like a student with hand raised awaiting her turn to speak, trying to tell us something. Or fear gets in and confuses our gut to distract the heart from the truth it is holding.

Our bodies move, sense, feel, work, rest and perceive in so many ways. I want to find where the restrictions are, bring conscious awareness to them and hold space around them - give the body (and mind & spirit) the space in which to reach beyond the restriction and discover where things can feel and move “easier.” This is when we start sensing the mysterious and pleasant new sensations of ease. And the more expansive our experience of sensing and feeling, the more subtle it can be. The most minute shift of light or change of texture can be appreciated. The gentlest touch, the softest sound, the slightest movement - these can create the most profound awareness. These can create profound shift.

Lastly, I am HERE for the holidays. Feel free to call on me if you need to break away and pamper yourself with a massage!

Oh, and... Happy Holidays! I hope you are enjoying peaceful and joyful times with your family, friends and furry critters during these short days and long nights.

There is always so much promise in the air this time of year - folks thinking about ways of giving to and blessing each other. Thinking about what and whom we're grateful for in the passing year. Dreaming what we want to bring into being this coming year. And just resting in the stillness of the great turning, here in the pinch of the hourglass where time seems to stand still for a moment at the solstice.

While we travel to friends and family and host our loved ones, let's remember to care for ourselves, too. Here are a few ideas to consider:

*Find a quiet place - it might have to be a walk in the woods or even around the yard - and listen to your own breath, remembering your own internal rhythm. It's always there. And getting some extra oxygen feeds your cells!
*Take a hot soak with some epsom salts - sure to neutralize stress and slow the world down for a little while. If you don't have a bathtub, a hot shower will suffice, and a few drops of an essential oil - mint, lemon, rosemary, eucalyptus, lavender or fir, these are some of my favorites. The hot water in the tub or the shower will diffuse the aroma and soothe your nervous system.
*Call a faraway friend you haven't seen in a long time or rarely get to visit with. It does the heart good to connect and remember the pieces of ourselves that are unique to particular friendships. AND, studies have shown that our aging process is slowed when we are around people from earlier in life and talk about or focus on younger times.
*ENJOY the indulgence! If you decide to indulge in behaviors or foods that are not in your normal diet or lifestyle, make sure to ENJOY yourself. Give yourself a pass when you need to. I imagine you will digest much more efficiently what you take pleasure in consuming. And I imagine, too, that we overindulge less when we enjoy more consciously what we are eating, drinking or doing.

May your dreams deepen as the light shines more brightly upon you this winter. May your new year bring many blessings and much surprise and delight. May you remember ease, grace, beauty and joy every day!

October already?

Summer has passed and Autumn is showing its colors...

Wow, it’s been quite a month, once again. I thought surely I would have sent out another newsletter by now, and here it is, almost October - wait, it IS October - and getting downright cold, here in my hollow. I had to put some fires in this last week to get the cabin warm and cozy for clients!

Since my last newsletter, the practice is growing nicely. I am so grateful for you all and want to thank those of you who have sent your friends and loved ones to see me for care. I have met so many wonderful people since coming home to Georgia, and I have to say I am enjoying this work so very much - even moreso because I am doing it in the log cabin, where I have wanted for so long to do this kind of sharing and healing. Some days I am simply amazed that I get to do this work in this place, surrounded by such great beauty.

I lost a close friend a few weeks ago. Seems it has been a summer of letting go here, and this has come with opportunities to learn and grow. I have learned a lot about grief, and how it comes in waves, and how it leaves an unmistakable silence that is deafening. It opens one's mind to many questions. It helps us to recognize just how important our connections and friendships and relationships really are - that we are more than just passing each other, we truly become parts of each other, inextricably. And if we’re lucky, we remember what we learn from each other and keep the good parts going forward. From my friend I learned that, whatever the business at hand, it’s the people and their humanness that are most important - that really knowing and honoring each other, in the midst of what we are doing, is what life is really about. My friend always showed up, because this was important to him. Because it IS important to keep showing up. We bring our energy wherever we are - even if we don’t say anything or do anything, or bring anything material (though he did all of these) - we always bring our energy and attention. It IS important.

The wonderful poet/writer David Whyte writes:

"The ultimate touchstone of friendship is not improvement, neither of the other nor of the self, the ultimate touchstone is witness, the privilege of having been seen by someone and the equal privilege of being granted the sight of the essence of another, to have walked with them and to have believed in them, and sometimes just to have accompanied them for however brief a span, on a journey impossible to accomplish alone."

from Readers' Circle Essay, "Friendship" ©2011 David Whyte

As I like to think, we have no idea how far the ripples travel when we throw goodness into the waters. And we need not think of this - we need only throw the goodness - of our intentions, our thoughts, our actions, our energy - into the waters of the world, and KNOW that they are very real and they travel very far and wide (inside of us and outward into the world). I am so happy to have met each of you and had the opportunity to exchange energy with you in some way. We have benefited each other in some basic way, and this carries outward into the world around us. Thank you.

I know I can sometimes sound like a broken record about drinking water, stretching those pecs and piriformises, simply paying attention to shoulders and where they are, breath, etc., etc. I cannot express to you how exciting it is for me when you come back and tell me how this has affected you and what you have noticed or better yet not noticed anymore. You have been the answer to my call for clients who are ready for change and growth, who want to participate in feeling better and evolving, and I am so inspired by you. Thank you!

DREAMWORK! I am excited to report that I will be going to California(!) to a workshop with Robert Moss (www.mossdreams.com) in mid-November - Way of the Dreamer.

Here is a video interview with Robert regarding the upcoming workshop.

The holidays are fast approaching! Are you ready?

Holidays are a time of celebration, joy and visiting with friends and family. Sometimes, though, in the midst of festive times, we can feel the stress of family dynamics, travel and busy-ness.

Gift certificates for massage make excellent presents for friends and loved ones! And for my regular clients, I am offering a 30% discount on gift certificates purchased in October (that's $45.50), and 20% off of gift certificates purchased in November (that's $52).

Just email me your order at: honorcatalyst@gmail.com

Chair massage is great for holiday parties!

Chair massage is a great addition to any event, and a wonderful way to show appreciation for friends, employees and customers.

Call today and let's arrange chair massage for your Church Event, Office Party or a Holiday Gathering at your home!

706.212.7924

AND A SPECIAL THANKS TO THOSE OF YOU WHO TOOK THE TIME AND CARE TO FILL OUT MY CLIENT FEEDBACK QUERY!

It is so valuable for me to know what your experience is like so I can improve my service for all my clients.