Awkward & Beautiful

Blog #2 in the Therapeutic Development Series

In the last blog, I talked about a change that’s happening in my practice. The change is bridging bodywork and psychotherapy. I’m learning how to explain to people that if they’d like; I can help adjust their body….and their mind. That sounds really funny and really, It’s not like I’m doing the adjusting anyway.

Something that both Core Synchronism and therapy have in common, is the person needs to be invested in their own healing. They need to be willing to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty.

That’s one way that all this bridging business has been really beautiful.

Another thing beautiful about Core is that we were taught as practitioners we are not to think of ourselves as healers. The clients’ body will respond to our intention, awareness and skills and it will heal itself.

It doesn’t always feel super comfortable introducing my new practice to clients. I’m not used to talking to people before they lie down on a massage table, that transition has been a bit awkward and I’m working my way through it. That’s really the only way there is; is through. Another thing that has felt new and awkward is telling people about the new work I do. When someone has been seeing you for therapy and all of sudden you tell them that they can now lay down on a massage table and you’ll sit quietly while you palpate the bones in their body, they sometimes get a little surprised or confused. It’s taken some leaning in and some learning, to get a small elevator speech on how I introduce it to people. Both of these things I’m feeling more and more comfortable with, but they are the nuts and bolts reality of learning a new skill, changing my paradigm and communicating this to people. The beauty of it though, is that my clients get to see me have compassion, humor and kindness for myself while I go through transition… The very thing I may be helping them with. One of the greatest ways of teaching is modeling. It’s the earliest form of teaching we got from our parents and profoundly affects the way we take in information. It has the ability to hit us at the gut level, on levels that move beyond the rational mind. If this serves my clients in some way, I’m in.

Another way bridging these two practices has been an adjustment for me is that I usually like to go really deep into things and become really good at them. I have perfectionistic tendencies and what that can look like is wanting to be the best at something. So when I’m not super good at something and offering it to others, I can be really hard on myself. I can feel like I shouldn’t offer anything at all if it isn’t the best out there. Ok, this isn’t possible. For one thing, what is the best for one person, isn’t the best for the next. Because of uniqueness, practitioners can practice the same technique and the experience can be different for different clients. Our attitude, our words, the way we set a room up, our energy; these all lead to having a certain experience. When I think that I need to be perfect, I may be robbing someone of having a really good experience with me; and there’s room for me to get better at my skills. Secondly, if I kept myself from practicing Core until “it was the best out there (or at least that’s what I thought),” I might not get chances to learn and grow and actually build my skills.

What this makes me realize, is that I need to be careful not to let my perfectionism get in the way of having new experiences. If I want to be the best at everything, then I could find myself on a slippery slope to not doing anything new. What fun is that? While I will certainly make sure to hone these skills and provide absolutely wonderful sessions for my clients; I will not allow myself to be stifled by perfectionism and rob myself of magical, fun things.

Ok, now that I’ve talked a lot about bridging bodywork and therapy and that it’s magical and fun; it seems like a good idea to write a whole blog dedicated to the beautiful practice that is Core Synchronism. That’s up next week! Please tune in. I’ll also be video blogging to provide more explanations and answer questions. Check my Facebook page, Luminous Ground Counseling for the date and time.

Love to you,

Erin

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