i can’t tell, really, but i have this feeling like i’m peeling off layers and getting closer and closer to really being right next to the vibrating core of life. ok, that’s a tad purple. but i feel so much more vulnerable and open and therefore, um, vulnerable and open. i mean i’m still a barely peeking clamshell with rhino hide, but baby steps. and what does it mean to be really open? and is that an ok way to walk through life? through new york city?
i tried squaring my shoulders yesterday like my chiropractor suggested so these little muscles in my upper back don’t hurt so much. and i felt naked. and infused with a sense of pride i don’t feel. like, here i am, world, heart forward. i’ve gone back to schlumping slightly to protect. but it really is amazing. wondering if i could trick myself through my body–ok, teach myself through my body, to be more open and confident and bold. just by shifting my shoulders a couple of inches. that would be neat. because i imagine once you fully embody a bold openness, a gentle strength, being open isn’t quite so scary. so the question is, how do you be open and protect yourself at the same time?
or is openness its own protection? or does protection become just totally and completely besides the point when you are an awake, present, loving human?
4 Comments
protect yourself from what, exactly?
Here’s my walking trick:
1) Stand tall by imagining a thread pulling you up from your feet through the top of your head. This will automatically pull your shoulders back.
2) Breathe deeply a few times and find your core strength, around the 4th chakra.
3) Give that core a boost of energy and let it be your eyes as you start walking.
4) Focus on feeling your hips rotate and giving more energy to the core and allowing the back, shoulders, heart, head float along without so much obligation.
This kind of walking keeps me more present and grounded without putting my heart in jeopardy from all the zingy clingy energy out there. The gut knows how to protect the body way better than the head and the heart do.
I just sent you an email about book deadlines — let me know what you think!
M
i can totally relate to your question about staying open and protected at the same time – i struggle through this in a different way, and the same ways too because they are all related… open with my art to show the viewer what’s really going on inside my heart, mind, gut – i am thinking if i (too) could train my body to walk/sit/be with an open/bold heart, it probably wouldn’t be so much of a struggle to let it all out onto the canvas. i always want to hide some things so that i can have my own special channel for me just to view… also, if i had a dime for every time a chiropractor showed me how to do that with my shoulders (wonder if aries women carry the stress there?) i would have enough $ to send us both to every beautiful retreat we wished to go to:) i say that if we can find a way to shift those few inches in a way that feels right and unique to us – the more power it would give us in so many situations – including walking through the city streets! peace to u, J
wow, thanks ladies for the amazing tips and thoughts. and b, great question, protect myself from… other people’s unconscious words, movements, behaviors; inclement weather; crazy people on the subway; people who do not have my best interest at heart; business; speeding taxis; my own mean words.