come to quiet

On Monday morning I awoke knowing I had a full week ahead of me. I sat to meditate as I do most mornings and my mind was scattered. At the end of an hour it was still scattered. Ah well, just accept the reality of the moment I tell myself…But later, as I set up my teaching space I am still feeling a low-level rumbling, a sense of undefined disturbance throughout my body. “How can I teach Alexander Technique in this state?” I ask myself. I am trying hard to keep my question open and curious and I’m not really managing.

My first student arrives. Her mother has recently passed away and she is soft and open, her thoughts and sensations raw and poignant. I make us both a cup of tea and as she talks I open myself to her and listen. She talks of memories and how the loss of a loved one brings your life and its succession of of small events into perspective. She has an acute awareness of how precious and fleeting are our lives. She is speaking from a place of deep calm and is present to every experience.

During our time together I find that I too have come to inhabit that same place of deep peace. I too have come to quiet.

When I put my hands on her shoulders we both sense the support of her tupuna (her ancestors) walking beside her. A little weight releases from her shoulders. There are so many places where we can find support. After that I am showing her a different way to balance her torso based on how I learned to carry the weight of my baby using the upper back muscles when I was pregnant. As she releases the holding in her lower abdomen and allows herself to let go and be supported, tears pour down her cheeks.

I think that an honest teaching experience is also a learning experience. I am grateful to all my students for teaching me too.

NEWS

Coming up - WHOLE BODY HARMONY - a workshop on singing without strain will be held on 26th January 2-3.30pm at Palm Beach Hall, Waiheke. The link to book your place will go out with the next newsletter in the New Year. Hope to see you there.

Peace and Love to the World

Lauren