I hope this note finds you well, taking care, and turning toward the light that is now increasing. With the start of the Winter season and new calendar year, I am looking forward to finding ways to connect with you.
My kid recently taught me that polar bears don’t fully hibernate, they torpor. They slow down, similar to hibernation, but stay awake enough to care for their babies. It is an active rest –their way of surviving winter and keeping their families alive.
I am in some pandemic version of torpor –maybe many of us are. And I want to move into Winter and the start of 2021 honoring my time of active rest. I'm doing this for myself and my baby, and also for the sake of my work and my ability to reopen my bodywork practice (see below for more details).
This year has been immensely challenging, collectively and personally. Whether your life looks like a polar bear or any other possible response to this moment, I hope you are finding ways to honor the pace that is right for you and your loved ones. I hope that you can remind yourself of your own resilience and dignity.
Home Practice Guide
BEING IN DIGNITY*
Access the muscles of the upper body and inner core to explore a felt-sense of dignity.
What does dignity mean to you? Where do you feel your own sense of dignity? How might embodying dignity shift the way you move through your days?
Dignity is often supported through an upright posture, particularly through stability in the mid/upper back muscles and the inner core muscles. Many of the movement patterns and postures we take on in our culture don't give us access to using these muscles, and by extension it's easy to be disconnected from an internal feeling of stability.
If this feels curious to you, try experimenting with physical postures that evoke your own unique sense of dignity.
PRACTICE GUIDE: LOW WALL ANGEL**
One entry point to waking up these dignity muscles in your back is an adapted version of a wall angel.
If this is accessible to you, stand with your back against a wall and your feet about a foot from the wall. (You can also do this on the ground with your knees bent so you back is flat on the group)
Try to tuck your chin slightly and shift your head straight back, and keep your low back as flat to the wall as possible by tucking your pelvis. Just this might be a stretch, so explore the sensations.
When you're ready, place the backs of your hands against the wall by your sides and slowly lift them along the wall, like you're making a very slow snow angel on the wall moving toward shoulder height. Don't force your arms to go higher than your appropriate edge —you may feel the muscles of your back wake up within just a few inches of movement.
Find your edge where you are just starting to feel your muscles activate, and stay there for a while. Notice what it feels like to connect with the muscles of your upper back.
When you feel complete, slowly move your arms back down and step away from the wall. Stand upright for a while and notice how you feel.
I'd love to hear if you experiment with this practice. Feel free to email me with how it went for you.
*Adapted from Movement for Trauma, and based on somatics principles and practices.
**This practice guide is meant for mindful kinesthetic exploration only. The standard wall angel exercise that has your elbows bent for an overhead reach is a difficult stretch, especially if you aren't warmed up or have low mobility in your thoracic spine. If you want to progress to this stretch, I recommend starting on the floor with bent elbows, with knees lifted or up on a chair/exercise ball, before trying it against the wall.