Uncharted Territory

I had started writing something a week or two ago, and so I am beginning with it, even though it starts on a different branch...

For several years now, in my practice, I have been honored by women bringing their mothers and/or their daughters to me. I would have a long time client whose daughter visits every so often and she would become a repeat client. Or a woman would bring her mother in to treat her in such a sweet gesture. And come to think of it, several families have come in three generations, and I love working with the young people - teenagers are so much fun, and seem to be at once surprised and amused by having their limbs moved about by another and coming to a new awareness in their own bodies.

I have always felt the added sacredness of someone entrusting the care of a loved one to me, first and foremost. And there is the gift of witness to what transfers from one generation to the next. I am always amazed at what gets passed down - physically, emotionally, spiritually, energetically. Even when the third generation is adopted (and from a starkly different ethnicity), I see the same physical manifestations in the body. We are made from the inside out and then the outside in. What we think, what we do, how we do what we do and how we feel about all of these show up in the body. It is inevitable.

Often it is not until we age past midlife that we truly realize how much we embody our ancestors. We see resemblances early on, and appreciate them, then sometimes we attach ourselves to the story of an elder - on occasional an unfavorable story about health issues - and then finally we gain a deeper felt sense and understanding later in life when we begin to manifest similar or identical conditions to our parents or grandparents. To me, this emphasizes the value of coming into a unique body-felt-sense awareness in our own bodies.

We have the opportunity to acknowledge and let go of our storied associations with our ancestry as they pertain to our physical and even emotional or psycho-spiritual lives. A beautiful way of doing this is to come present in the physical ground of our own being - our own bodies. To let this be the ground from which our unique expression emerges with greater clarity. In each moment, I have the opportunity to feel where I am, what I am, who I am. It’s so easy to get into the stream of busy-ness, work, family, chores, etc., and yet we can get carried away in that stream before we know it and become defined solely by our activities. This is where some kind of practice comes in handy.

Such a practice can be to address any aspect of our being - from inner, physical self to emotional, psycho-spiritual. To me, a practice can be utterly simple. It is something we do with regularity (let’s just say several days a week or on a schedule of one’s choosing). When I say utterly simple, I mean it. If there is one thing I have learned about personal growth and transformation, it’s the power of keeping a promise to one’s self. It matters not how challenging the action is, and it matters fully that we follow through on doing it.

SO, it can be as simple as walking around my house three times on waking. I firmly believe and know that the power of keeping promises to one’s self is tenfold the to honoring of commitments to others (which seems so much easier to most of us, but only becomes as powerful when paired with accountability to self). Each morning when I rise, I cook breakfast for myself - real breakfast. Yes, I rise hungry in general, but it is also a ritual I do for myself that involves all of my senses, and a certain amount of care to nourish myself.

I take the opportunity to move my body as I prepare breakfast. I’ve always been shy to dance, but for whatever reason, in the mornings, my body takes the opportunity to move about the kitchen in something that looks like a dance. We cannot underestimate the value of movement to our general health. If nothing else, our internal organs deeply depend on such movement. Vibration, swinging, bouncing, turning - all these mobilize our viscera in ways they need to function properly. Especially as we age, things tend to stick together if we don’t move enough, and it is vitally important that our organs can slide and glide as we move. So I bring my conscious awareness and attention into this movement and really feel the places where I can stretch a little farther in a bend at the gut and think about opening space for things inside to move. Conscious awareness and attention - these are what transforms a normal activity into a practice. As such, if I decide to notice my breath at certain intervals throughout a day, this would also become a practice. Simple. Easy. Effective. And quite transformative.

One of my favorite practices is dream work, in which I am tracking and learning to understand the language of my soul. This language is coded into my world since before I arrived, and there are clues in every direction in which I look. Yet I must pay attention, follow along and experiment with the elements and signs and symbols to learn this language and how to navigate by it. Over the years of writing dreams and working with them - in small groups, one on one and by myself - I have come to learn more and more how all life becomes more navigable. Waking life and dreaming life have a way of merging or becoming less differentiated - more integrated and complementary, actually.

Here we are in a time when we are all being asked in some way to isolate ourselves. We are doing this to protect ourselves and each other, at the chance of mitigating the influx of a global pandemic. So many challenging emotions and reactions are coming to the surface and will continue to increase in frequency and intensity. It’s scary for each and every one of us, except maybe for those who feel ready to leave the planet. I’m not saying that in a flip way. I know of one person who publicly wrote about how his poverty has made him feel ready to be taken by the bug, although he is not suicidal. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t had a moment of fear of having already been infected at this moment. We are coming into allergy season and still in flu season and how do we know at the onset of any of these what is really happening. And really, it hasn’t even begun yet where we are locally.



I want to talk about some ways to calm this fear and desperation. I know many people are busy with work and family and so many obligations and not accustomed to down time or being stuck at home. These people don’t even stay home when they do fall ill, but choose to power through because they don’t feel they have another option. But right now we are being asked to pull in, retreat and isolate, not because this will stop the whole thing from happening, but because it is what will make the best outcome for the highest number of people, minimizing the death toll and ensuring that affected populations will be more likely to have access to appropriate care. And we should heed this precaution.

I was writing a couple of weeks ago about what makes a practice. And I was saying how making it very simple and approachable is a good way to begin. I cited a silly example of walking around one’s house three times upon waking and before attending to anything else. I was making the point that it is arbitrary what the practice is and essential that we follow through with it reliably. In the days following, I decided to begin walking that talk. I know the effectiveness of this in theory and in other practices, but on a lark, I just decided to take up this practice. And then today, as I was chatting with a friend on the phone over breakfast, and she was hearing the birds in my yard, it hit me. I had just started a practice that is perfect for this time we are in, when many of us may be by choice or command stuck at home or very close to home for longer periods than normal.

Don’t laugh. Or yes, by all means, LAUGH! You, too, can take up this practice. Look, we can feel stuck at home or we can begin to explore the world we’ve been passing right by. I live down in a hollow and so walking around my house three times gives me the opportunity to go up and down a hill and some stairs in a variety of combinations. I can hear the birds and the creek, I can see all the stuff that needs doing around the yard and remember projects I left unfinished. I can be caught by the beauty of the sunrise light that will soon be obscured by fresh new leaves but is now as bright as it gets in this north facing hollow. I can also feel my body getting a little extra movement, breath, and grounding. And as I circle my home I give thanks for such a wonderful place that supports me.

There are other ways we can explore being right where we are. How we connect to the land, the house itself, the others who inhabit them - people or animals, what elements surrounds us and affect us. We can also learn to inhabit ourselves in new ways. Are you dreaming? What are your thoughts and emotions like in this moment? How is your body feeling? Are you breathing fully or holding your breath in suspense or fear? Are you eating well, nourishing yourself to stay strong? Not eating enough or overeating for comfort? Are there any habits you want to change or begin during this time? I’m sure we’re all a little more keen to wash our hands more frequently now (although as a body worker it’s about normal for me). I don’t know about you, but I need to moisturize more than normal this time of year with all the extra handwashing, and this can be a ritual itself. I also plan to take time to write some letters, especially as the people I love are more than ever in my heart and mind. I'm thinking a letter a day might be a nice cadence and that means each day I can spend time thinking about one person in particular and how they are important in my life.

Keep returning to what is close and what is simple. A cup of tea. Bare feet on the moist earth. Fresh air in my lungs. Sunshine on my skin. My heart connecting to a nearby tree. Recognizing the resources I already have all around me, and how I know them and how to utilize them. The books I’ve been meaning to start reading but haven’t had time for. Longer phone conversations with far away friends. My dreams and how they inform me about what’s been churning under the radar and also caution me about what is coming. How my dreams and my days are always interweaving. The creatures in nature around me and how they meet each moment ready and respond to the environment only in real time. What it means to fully digest what is happening before I have to respond in any way. Which leads me to internal guidance systems.

We all have an internal guidance system. Many of us disregard it unless all bells and whistles blare at once under extreme crisis. It can sometimes be referred to as the “still, small voice within” or the “little voice” or “a gut feeling.” And we can learn to be fluent with it. We can learn to hear it more clearly. All we have to do is begin engaging it. There are some simple ways to learn to hear it and you can begin today with some simple practices and it will become more clearly a tool for navigating daily life I use it for things as simple as which item to buy at the grocery store, which route to take on a journey, whether or not to attend something I’m not sure about, etc. If you can find your way to a yes or no question, you can use this simple guidance system to discern your inner yes or no. I can talk you through this process.

I will be trusting my internal guidance system while I take all the precautions I know how to take to protect myself and those I come into contact with throughout this challenging time. I am here to help you in any way that I can, whether lending an ear, providing dream consultations, helping you to create some daily practices for yourself, providing some cranial work or body work that is safe and effective to help bring you home in your body. There is plenty of work that I can do with the client fully clothed, and I’m considering meeting with clients in an outdoor location so that we can minimize vectors of transmission of any pathogens. Please feel free to comment with notes about what you are doing during this time to keep healthy and strong in body mind and spirit. Wishing you all continuing robust health and peace wherever you can find it.

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

Got balance?

How is your life balance right now? Are you feeling inspired yet challenged? Are you balancing work with play, rest with activity, creativity with contemplation? Is your body telling you anything about this balance or lack of it in your life?

Integrative body work and massage can help with balance in a number of ways, first helping us remember where we are in gravity, on this little blue planet hurtling through space. We find our edges and have an opportunity to get a sense of our weight or our lightness. What is it to feel heavy? What is it to feel lifted or light? What could feel easier? Have you taken the time to be still long enough, lately, to hear your inner voice prompting you to remember?

When I get into my daily habits and patterns, I sometimes lose track of what my body could feel like if it were softer, freer. And some days I don't stop and still myself long enough to hear my authentic voice. Today, my shoulders are telling me I've had too much inside time, sitting and working (it's been raining too much to be out hiking - or at least that was my excuse) I'm ready to get some body work and massage and be reminded how light and soft and free I can feel as I move about with increased energy.

Pain and discomfort can be invitations. They invite us first into the moment and into our bodies. They are messengers. They tell us that something is out of place. Oftentimes discomfort is a result of habitual patterns of using the body that pull us out of our optimal alignment, and so pain appears to show us where the energy is blocked or piled up as a result of imbalance.



The body really does want to function smoothly and with ease, and as luck or grace would have it, we seem to have the ability to self adjust quite beautifully - quite naturally. But our lifestyles tend more and more toward patterns that seem to be less and less varied. We get into routines and sometimes they get into us - shoulders round and slump forward, toward our devices and steering wheels; backs curve back into couches and chairs; necks crane forward over books and smart phones, etc., etc.

Nowadays, each time I feel the pull of fatigue in my upper back or shoulders, I stop and rearrange my body. In fact this is what my discomfort is inviting me to do. I can simply rearrange myself so that my relationship to the earth in gravity becomes more natural and effortless. Sometimes, though, it takes a little help from a skilled body worker - to open up areas that are restricting my ability to find that right relationship in gravity.

For years I have been balancing rocks. I most enjoy finding a great big one with a tiny point on one end and standing it up on its tiny point - because it presents an interesting challenge and because my eyes tell me it is beautiful this way. And, of course, the satisfaction is sometimes directly proportional to the challenge - if I pull it off.



I bring this up because there is something I feel in the stones as I balance them. When I can get them into right relationship to each other, it feels as though the two stones lock into each other and become one. It’s a remarkable sensation, really, as if there is an energy flowing between them that merges them somehow, as if extending a container to hold more fluid.

This, to me, is like being in balance in the body so that my structure is aligned well enough to rest effortlessly in gravity - whether in this chair, finding the sweet spot where my spine stacks squarely on my seat, or standing in such a way that I feel the earth rising to meet my feet, ever so gently, and again each time I fall forward slightly into walking.

Now, having answered the invitation of pain or discomfort, I have re-oriented myself to pleasure, ease and gentle connection. Now, if I can keep reminding myself to find this arrangement (if I don’t, discomfort probably will), then pretty soon I will have trained my brain to redefine this comfort as my new habitual state.

Of course, as much as I would like for this to be an instantaneous change, it remains a process and a practice. With a little help from my massage therapist and a lot of presence and awareness, I am moving easier and re-orienting myself. This inspires me so much!