  I'll talk about this more on my Facebook page, but I wanted to share some links to resources for what we're all navigating these days. Take what you need; disregard the rest. Don't try to do everything at once! Breathe. Just do what's easy. I also want to acknowledge that everyone's experience with this is different. Some of us are luxuriously quarantined with nothing much to do, some are working more-or-less as usual, and some are very ill, worried about finances, food, safety, or on the front lines dealing with the virus. Again, take of this what's relevant to you, leave the rest, and please reach out if you need support! - Connect with people! Reach out to friends and loved ones. Pick up the phone, use Zoom or Facetime. Talk about what's happening. Talk about how you feel. Support each other, ask for help when you need it, offer help when you can. Start a support group for your community or organize an online happy hour for your friends or family. Check out Deep Listening for a guide on organizing and facilitating. - Do Feldenkrais! Take care of yourself, give your stressed-out nervous system a chance to quiet down, and take this time to examine yourself and your patterns. You can access most of my recorded Awareness Through Movement lessons for FREE on my Patreon. My teacher also has some excellent lessons available for free: Feldenkrais Access Free Lesson Library. Or check out The Feldenkrais Project. - Try the Wim Hof Method! Strengthen your immune system, decrease stress and inflammation, ameliorate anxiety & depression, get more energy and better sleep, and get relief from autoimmune diseases and underlying health conditions. Do this. It's easy and gentle and will make you feel so much better. They’re running discounts on all the online trainings to make it more accessible because of COVID-19, but you can also start simple and download the phone app for free, or check out Wim's YouTube videos, especially "Wim Hof's take on Coronavirus (COVID-19)" - Get outside and get some exercise! Strength and Conditioning Guide from Inhabit: Territories Get a few free weights and try the Happy Body Workout Find a local trail and go for a hike, go for a walk in your neighborhood, find a yoga video to do online - Journal! Bullet points, paragraphs, stream of consciousness... it doesn't matter how you do it or what you write about, just write! - Try a sit spot! Find a place in your backyard, balcony, or somewhere nearby and just sit outside and observe. Try it for 10 minutes a day or 40 minutes a day. Let your mind settle (or be busy), and notice how the animals come out as they get used to you. Observe the weather and the change of the seasons. Give yourself some time to rest, breathe, and notice. - Tune into your menstrual cycle! (if applicable)
- Cook, bake, prepare food, and ferment! Be creative with what you've got in your pantry. Try a new recipe with a loved one. See if you've got any wild foods growing nearby outside. Read Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz. The way he talks about how fermentation relates to our health & immune system, cultural homogenization & rehabilitation, and social change is mindblowing. “In a country almost clinically obsessed with sterilization Katz reminds us of the forgotten benefits of living in harmony with our microbial relatives.” - Listen to music, make music, dance, sing! - Read, listen to podcasts, take an online course! There's a billion courses, museum visits, concerts, etc. now available online for free. Check out Krista Tippett and On Being Studio's “A Listening Care Package for Uncertain Times” or this free three-video series "The Power of Self-Compassion". The Movement Matters podcast with my friend Colin Kirts is one of my favorites on embodiment and social change. But also, is there something to be learned from just being bored? Is there a gift to be had in all this free time? Is there a gift in the uncertainty? I’ve also recently gotten into holotropic breathwork, which is known for it’s profound effects on releasing trauma and stuck emotions. I don’t have any online resources yet that I’d recommend, but I’ll update if I hear of some good ones. And of course, stay updated on CDC guidelines and recommendations from the World Health Organization, as well as local guidelines and recommendations. Articles to consider...
Here's a great message from a friend of mine living with ME/CFS: "In times of uncertainty, we have a defense mechanism to try to predict the future, because we think if we can predict the future we can be safer.... But we're sacrificing this present moment by worrying about what might happen.” Noam Gamady: "Questions That Can Make a Difference in Your Life" Shamama Group has an exciting new opportunity in Grand Rapids and a great message: "Out of the ashes, beauty will arise." Writings, Quotes, and Poems... Writings from Morgan Hite:
"Power’s hold over us is equally demonstrated by emergent forms of social control and by the utter disregard with which they cast aside our lives. Our inability to survive outside their broken system is rapidly being confronted by our dwindling chances of surviving within it. To resist their control has become inseparable from the urgent need to care for one another. How to treat illness, how to care for the vulnerable, how to overcome isolation, how to reinvent presence, how to live with dignity and perhaps how to die with it. These are among the revolutionary questions of our times." from Inhabit: Territories “But the old Lakota was wise. He knew that man’s heart away from nature becomes hard; He knew that lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to lack of respect for humans too. So he kept his children close to nature’s softening influence.” — Ola K’Te (Luther Standing Bear) "Chaos Is God’s most dangerous face-- Amorphous, roiling, hungry. Shape Chaos-- Shape God. Act. Alter the speed Or the direction of Change. Vary the scope of Change. Recombine the seeds of Change. Transmute the impact of Change. Seize Change. Use it. Adapt and grow." - Octavia Butler
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |