Spring is generally the time I can most palpably sense and feel the vibrant, pulsating energies that animate life. From the sight of ephemeral blooms emerging and the sweet scent of budding trees...to the melodic sound of ice melting and the swelling of birdsong...Spring consistently seduces my senses, softens my body, and draws me outward to taste, see, hear, and touch each effervescent trembling of aliveness.

This year, while the stirring is strong, it is also tempered. With continued social distancing and navigating how to share space with one other, I can feel my body bracing...emerging cautiously...each movement outward followed by a turning within...opening then closing...orienting to the external world, then returning to the ground of my own living, breathing body. More than ever I need to belong to myself...to root before I rise. More than ever I need to honor and follow the impulses, pace, and timing that are just right for me as I dip my toes back into connection and belonging.

The core movement resource of expansion/contraction supports me in this exploration as I oscillate between movement and stillness, reaching out then drawing in, pushing against gravity and yielding to it's support. Like the dance of ice melting and freezing...melting and freezing...I play with my edges to learn how much space I need for these rhythmic micro-currents of change. I get more comfortable discerning the contexts, textures, and movements that feel just right for me to stay present, available, and malleable of heart. I learn the subtle difference between freezing and settling...between expanding outward and spacing out.

“Healing is about taking the time to notice what gets in the way of feeling connected to your life, your community, and your sense of possibility. Healing, at its core, is about slowing down so that we can better listen, to ourselves and each other. ”

— Susan Raffo

Take a moment to pause, ground, and check in with your body. Listen as you contemplate:

:: What does your body know about this transition from Winter to Spring, from rest to wakefulness? What impulses toward movement may be emerging?
:: After months of social distancing, how does your body respond to the prospect of shifting from solitude toward connection? Do you sense constriction or softening?
:: What does your body know about feeling connected to your life, your community, and your sense of possibility? If you don't currently feel connected, what practices, people or places help you remember what you belong to?

:: Notice any vibrations or sensations that are present, even numbness.
:: Notice any urges to turn toward or away from what's happening.
:: Place your hand gently on your body. Breathe. Listen.

Sometimes we need to turn the volume down on the rest of the world to open communication with our inner experience. Other times we need to orient to the vibrations and frequencies of the external environment to know what our body needs.

In times when awareness is dormant or subdued by a modern culture that has pulled itself out of belonging...out of relationship...I find great resource in slowing down and coming into contact with the natural world. Attuning to its rhythms. Feeling a sense of belonging to the Earth helps me reconnect to my own body, rest in the embrace of something larger, and find my way back to belonging to each of you.

Whether you're feeling tender and cautious these days or you're invigorated and enlivened by what's to come, may you tread gently...softly...and listen with curiosity to your Life!
:: Allow nature to call your attention outward, enliven your senses, and remind you of the great joy and pleasure of sensation.
:: Reach out to make contact with a plant or tree then return to the ground of your own living, breathing body to sense and feel the impact of that touch.

Each breath, each gesture, each slow step outward becomes a practice in listening and discerning for the “just right” pace and space for connection that is current and congruent. Each return inward becomes a practice in receiving and refining what is needed now.

Expansion/Contraction. Moving toward Spring.

With love, Teresa