The Tasmanian Devil that Lives Within Me
Do you experience this?
When life is accelerated and time bends and twists as if from some other dimension,
I find my body whirls.
I get this dull tension in my solar plexus, near where my gallbladder used to be, and it feels like the Tasmanian Devil has taken up residence.
Photo by Martin Adams
In the summer it can be even worse because there's so much light and heat and such a natural desire to do more.
When that familiar whirling in my solar plexus shows up, it's time for me to slow down.
Because no one in my life benefits when I'm coming from that space.
Not me.
Not my partners.
Not my children.
Not my clients.
Photo by Todd Quackenbush
Here are three things I do when the pace of life causes sensation in my bodymind:
ONE: Get Outside
My favorite thing to do recently is to take my clothes off and lie on a blanket in the backyard. I welcome more vitamin D into my body, and the heat really softens all of the places I feel tense and contracted. My senses delight in the wind and exposure, too.
TWO: Get Horizontal
With overwhelm, a natural freeze response can come (or flight or fight). I can feel my knees wanting to buckle to fall to the ground. Instead, I safely get horizontal, and for me that means climbing under a gravity blanket especially when it feels like I can't. Too much to do? That's an illusion. I need to surrender.
THREE: Breathe Deep
The solar plexus is right along the diaphragm, the threshold between the chest and the belly. When tension gets trapped there, I can't take fully belly breaths, and instead I'm shallowly breathing into my chest. You know...closer to a panic attack. So when things are absolutely hard, I'll put a ten-pound bag of rice on my solar plexus and challenge myself to breathe into my lower belly. Sometimes I'll run or hike just to stop the cycle of shallow breathing.
What do you do when your body starts whirling and time is sand falling from your fingers?
Send me an email and share with me. :)
Sending you so much love,
Daniela
