Showing up

(the practice)

It’s been on my mind for a while now, this idea of showing up and what it really means to me. How aligned am I to my core beliefs and my soul’s purpose in everyday life? As a chronic overthinker, I often find myself pretty far from alignment. As a mother, I have to show up; my children need me to be present in order to survive, and yet (honest disclosure) I’m often far from present when I’m in their presence. This current stage of their development is loud, and I often exist in a semi-dissociative state unless I’m connecting directly with them. But I’m there - I’m showing up - and this resonates with me when I consider my holosomatic practice. We don’t have to come to somatic practices with it all figured out. We can just show up (and sometimes that’s the hardest part of it).

As I continue to practice and facilitate solo and group sessions, I see more and more that showing up is the most important part of the practice. Everything else follows on from that act of coming into the therapy space. They are safe. They can trust me to hold them. They can listen to their body. They can release. They can rest. None of this exists without the courage to show up.

Nine gorgeous women showed up on Sunday and practised with me. I held them. I listened to them. I had a lot of self-doubt rising, but I kept going anyway. Because all these women had shown up, I had to keep showing up even through those moments of doubt. I know my soul’s purpose is to keep showing up. To witness the ways those around me will challenge my core beliefs and try to shift and change them on my behalf. And even though this is a familiar sensation for me, having been raised in a religion where blind faith was a pre-requisite for membership, where even the thought of cultivating my own core beliefs and values would have been frowned on, this is a revolution that I had to be part of for my own sanity’s sake. I was not born to mindlessly believe in order to fit in. This doesn’t mean I didn’t suffer, that I haven’t been punished in myriad different ways, that I haven’t been ostracised, accused of things I never did, never said, the list is endless, and ultimately, it is of little consequence. What matters in the end is our peace. I guard that peace as closely as I can, and I keep showing up - because I know I have work to do, and so do you.

Sunday’s full moon retreat marked the beginning of a new moon-led cycle of teaching for me, with classes on each New and Full Moon going forward. I began to lean into the moon cycles in a deeper way in 2015 when I started to use Many Moons planners, created by Sarah Faith Gottesdiener. In 2016, I started to hold soulsister circles every month on the New Moon. The Moon has taught me to embrace and weave the many parts of myself into my offerings, and I’m so excited to take you all along for the ride!

I would love to invite you to the next class in this series, a New Moon holosomatic body therapy session at Barefoot Body & Soul on April 27th 11 am - 1 pm. We will flow through an energy recall meditation, followed by some journalling + intention setting. Then, we’ll move into our holosomatic body therapy practice, pendulating between rest and activation 4 - 6 times before finishing in a foetal position to integrate the effects of the practice. Then, there’ll be an opportunity to journal and integrate the healing you’ve experienced. Afterwards, we’ll all enjoy a cup of tea and a sweet snack (TBD!) together.

I look forward to seeing you there or connecting in other ways soon. If you have any questions, I’m always open to a free intro call which you can book here, or if you’re ready to join you can book here.

Thank you so much for reading x