The Fascinating Present

Dear Students:
I often tell my Feldenkrais students that “pain is your friend” and when you listen closely to it you can discover the personal messages it has for you. Today’s post is about how listening to signals from within yourself can help you live in the present moment.

This past month, my brother started to get ready for the winter, by splitting some logs he cut from a friend’s tree, relocating seasoned wood & stacking green wood in it’s place.  After I finished teaching, I helped him with this big project.  He showed me what needed to be done & that his goal was to get it done that day.

I started moving heavy logs closer to him to quicken his splitting pace & transferred wood to & fro.  As I looked at the work ahead of us it seemed daunting and I began to dread what needed to be accomplished. Quickly my mind went into a downward spiral of awful thoughts such as, “we’ll never get this done today”, “I would rather be doing something else” & “it’s only going to get hotter”, etc.  As my attitude worsened, my shoulder developed an ache & my leg became uncomfortable.  Fortunately as my body began talking, it brought me into the moment. I knew that things would only keep getting worse if I kept distracting myself from what I was doing.

I then remembered my Feldenkrais history & turned my current situation into a long Awareness Through Movement lesson.  I began studying the shape & size of each piece of wood that I handled & paid attention to how I picked them up.  I noticed how beautiful all the logs in their particular cut were & how wonderfully they smelled.

I focused on to how to stack wood better as I am not skilled at balancing it just right & I actually improved.  Eventually my mind became quiet as I became interested in my internal & external worlds.  In the end, we decided to finish the task over the week & I was happy as I could sense the limits of my endurance.  Because of this, I felt gratifyingly exhausted and my shoulder & leg were tired but not cranky. The many beneficial effects that I sensed due to this exploration fascinated me just like a typical Feldenkrais lesson always does.

It was my bodily discomfort that ultimately woke me up during this particular chore but my thoughts, emotions, behaviors or attitudes could have done the same thing. Due to this, I prevented myself from creating physical, emotional, mental or spiritual pain from building within myself & this allowed me to have a pleasant time. I hope this inspires you to take more opportunities in your life to awaken yourself up to some fascinating experiences.  Peace!
~Donna