When you read the title of this blog, what came up?  Fear?  Avoidance? Did you take a second to think about what it meant, or did you keep reading in hopes that I’m going to tell you how to do it?  I wish, more than anything most days, that I could snap my fingers and create a loving and healing environment within each of the clients I have the privilege of working with.  And I wish I could do the same for anyone reading this blog.  Truth is, I can’t.  Someone once said, “a healer is someone who holds space for you to heal yourself; a healer cannot heal you”.  So that’s what I’m here to do, I’m going to hold space, and guide you through creating a more healing and loving environment within yourself. 

When we go through a trauma, whether that trauma is emotional, physical, spiritual, or a combination of the three, the single most important thing we can do for ourselves is to acknowledge it.  When I say acknowledge, I don’t mean saying “oh, this terrible thing happened, and it sucked but I’m strong and I’ll get over it”.  We must be willing to go deeper than the superficial, to sit with the feelings it brings up.  We must feel what it does to our body.  If we suppress our feelings of disappointment, anger, confusion about why it happened, embarrassment, fear, etc. it will return later with much more intensity.

When our body processes trauma, of any kind, it becomes stored in our fascial system.  And it is when we don’t acknowledge the trauma that it gets stuck there.  Our memory, our conscious and our emotions are all stored within the fascial system.  Think of your fascial system as a webby matrix that surrounds every fiber in your body.  Without the fascial system, our skeleton would not be able to be held up by just our muscles and ligaments as the fascia is the connective tissue binding it all together.  Our fascial system should move freely.  When there is a restriction, it mimics the inability of plastic wrap to slide after its been folded over itself. 

The restriction is the trauma that hasn’t been released.  In order to foster an environment that supports healing, the trauma needs to be released.  It is through the release that we can return to the wisdom held in the female body.  Freedom for the feminine wisdom to flow easily throughout our body is what provides the ultimate healing environment.

I’m going to walk you through an exercise that helps to return you to freedom.  This can be done multiple times a day if you want.  My hope is that this becomes part of your self-care routine, whatever that looks like to you.  To start, sit (or lay) in a quiet space, preferably away from any bright light (unless it is sunlight) with eyes closed.  Place your hands over your womb: the space just below the naval to the pubic bone.  Imagine warmth traveling from your hands into your body; feel your hands and lower abdomen start to feel warm to the touch.  Your breathing should be slow and purposeful; each breath should fill up the lower abdomen.  As you rest your hands here, notice if anything comes up.  If your thoughts drift off, it’s okay, just bring your awareness back to the placement of your hands. Sometimes it’s even helpful to picture light shining from underneath your hands.  Allow yourself to cry if needed, allow yourself to laugh, to scream, to smile; just notice what comes up.  You don’t have to have all the answers about what’s popping in your head, just notice it.  Towards the end of the session (with maybe a minute or so left), think of one word to support your journey and repeat the word a few times as you again feel the warmth build between your hands and your lower abdomen.  Here are some of my favorite words in case you aren’t sure where to start: beautiful, safe, empowered, powerful, seen, appreciated, love, strong, enough.  This exercise can last as long as you need, but a good starting place is 5 minutes. 

The purpose of this specific exercise is to initiate a relationship with yourself from your center and to break up any restrictions caused by trauma being stored in the body.  It may feel awkward at first, but I promise it gets easier. And once you have this relationship, then you’re able to allow this freedom to spread throughout the rest of your body.  The more freedom that’s present, the more movement there will be through the fascial system and the more healing can take place.  It’s a beautiful thing to get to know yourself from your deepest center.  And what comes from a woman who knows herself, and her body, is magic. 

I am a firm believer in our innate body wisdom, especially as a female.  And I know from the experience of treating my clients that the more they know themselves, and the more they facilitate this relationship, the more peace they carry within themselves.  Our world is full of distractions and reasons to ignore our truest self, but I’m hopeful we will all return to knowing ourselves. 

Ashley

Ashley Zimmerman, PT, DPT, NCPT is a pelvic health physical therapist, certified Pilates instructor, full spectrum doula and a Birthfit Professional.  Her approach to treating women is to address the person as a whole.  She believes that you must look past the current physical presentation in order to find the true root cause of the dysfunction.  She believes in facilitating the relationship with your innate body wisdom in order to completely heal. 

Ashley is one of our amazing Malas for Tatas Preferred Providers!

Learn more:
(720) 593-0489
https://yourstrengthwithin.com/

Happy New Year, Friend.

It's that time of year, the time you're supposed to step up, lean up, build up, make new goals, and work tirelessly to obtain them. The problem is that all or nothing approach is an excellent way to feel over it all and burned out by February 1st.

I invite you to forget all that January jargon and instead gracefully and gently make your way into 2020.

Aww. Now, doesn't that feel good?

The breath you took and the tension that just dropped out of your shoulders looks good on you! Now smile and repeat after me -- I am enough.

That's right; you are enough, just exactly as you are today at this very moment. Feeling behind from all the holidays and time lost at work? Still enough. Did you add a few extra pounds because of holiday goodies? Yep, still exactly enough as you are, tight pants and all. Feeling guilty for not spending enough time with family or drained from too much time with them? Let it go -- the guilt, the pain, the need to be more than you are at this very moment, and start by simply remembering you are enough. Give yourself permission to love yourself exactly how you are at this moment. Then and only then can you work towards having the mental space, energy, and confidence to reach your next goal. There is nothing wrong with setting goals or working towards manifesting a beautiful new year ahead, but pace yourself and appreciate this moment.

Let it go -- the guilt, the pain, the need to be more than you are at this very moment, and start by simply remembering you are enough. Give yourself permission to love yourself exactly how you are at this moment. Then and only then can you work towards having the mental space, energy, and confidence to reach your next goal.

For 2020 I'd like to suggest to you a fresh way to approach the New Year. I propose a two-month bridge built to soften the blow and gently guide us into our best selves for the coming year. I'm not sure why any of us thought it would be a good idea to go from vacation and celebration mode with friends and family to strict diets, unrealistic resolutions, and significant changes to our routine. After all, the start of the new year does not take away the cold weather, lack of light, or need to feel comforted and cozy. Unless, of course, you live somewhere warm and sunny.

So for this January and February, enjoy your "Uary" Bridge. Think of yourself as a seed still nice and snuggly under the soil. You're doing the work -- taking in nutrients, getting watered, and even feeling the richness of the sun, but you have until March before you have to rise out of the soil and share yourself with the world. You still have some time to nurture yourself and others and take it one gentle step at a time. I promise that if you remember that you are enough, and set tangible and straightforward steps to reach your goals, you will have your best year yet. Real change comes from being consistent with small actionable steps.

Much love, 

Denise

3 Gentle Ways to Enjoy your Uary Bridge:

1. Instead of jumping into a significant new workout routine that can feel jolting, try some at-home yoga videos on for size. I'm a huge fan of Yoga with Adriene. She just released a new 30-day yoga challenge, and you can jump on board today. If you prefer running or going to the gym, start by adding one extra day a week from what you're already doing.

2. Introduce one new healthy habit or business goal a week instead of implementing a major overhaul.

3. Nurture yourself -- give yourself lots of water, sunshine, and time to grow.

Chances are good you're probably already taking plenty of positive and beneficial steps to keep balance and joy in your life, so keep up what you're doing and slowly add next steps that eventually become second nature. 

Bonus: Have some fun! January doesn't have to be the month of resolve and willpower. Watch a funny movie with a loved one, take a long winter walk, go sledding, dance in your living room, and enjoy the last few months of winter before a busy spring..