And in fact, we are now all learning how allowing ourselves to be with our vulnerability is so important if we are to maintain any level of mental health – so I’m outing my lower back pain, putting it on the couch and using it to gauge what the learning is so that I can explore it and hopefully, if it resonates for you in any way, that it might be useful for you too.

So, ‘back’, what is it you wish to communicate to me? This is the question I’ve been with over the last few weeks. And here are my answers:

• You’re holding on to anxieties over your new business because it’s new; it’s a risk; there’s a lot on the line if it goes wrong.

• Your interest in multiple subjects means that you’re not always focused…So true – learning to discipline myself with a ‘business mind-set’ is work-in-progress…

• You have ‘over-stretched’ yourself in some of your commitments.

• You haven’t placed enough focus on slowing down to incorporate your learning on the Scaravelli yoga teacher training course you’re on. So you’re not slowing yourself down enough in your practice; you move too quickly between poses and you need to be still far more often!

• You don’t always ask for support when you need it.

• And throw in a couple of heavier emotional issues (that I won’t share) and we’re done here…And breathe…

So, does any of this resonate with you? Well, maybe all of the above is just a symptom of the human condition and certainly part of how it is to live in Western society.

I firmly believe in the mind-body connection. When I sat down and stilled my mind to ask my back that question, the list above felt like it was just ‘downloaded’ to me with great ease and without me even questioning what was coming out…my truth spoke to me simply because I invited it in. And the more I did, the more clarity I gained. Humans are amazing.

Bessel Van Der Kolk, who recently famously wrote ‘The Body Keeps the Score’, tells us that ‘One of the clearest lessons from contemporary neuroscience is that our sense of ourselves is anchored in a vital connection with our bodies. We do not truly know ourselves unless we can feel and interpret our physical sensations; we need to register and act on these sensations to navigate safely through life.’

And so it is that my own body – this fragile yet incredible structure – decided that it would have to force me to listen to it once and for all, so that I may learn some valuable lessons that I wasn’t heeding. It’s meant that I’ve had to ask for support; I’ve had to slow down and take rest; I’m now doing structural and mindfulness work with my Osteopath and, when I’m ready to, will be approaching my yoga practice with much more focus, giving it the time and space it deserves; I’m rethinking how I structure my work patterns; I’m addressing my anxieties about my business and now have another coach mentoring me as well as my usual coach – what a gift!

I’m facing my other emotional issues through journaling, meditation and EFT and already beginning to shift some mind-sets and releasing some emotional pain.

This is the work that I, like all therapists, ask of our clients. ‘Healer heal thyself’ is therefore an absolute must. However, when one bit of work is done on one area of our lives, another part of the puzzle emerges for us to look at. So we must always be prepared to expect the unexpected; the odd back-pain; the flu; the accident – whatever it is, and ask it, ‘what is it you wish to communicate with me?’

In ‘Awakening the Spine’, Vanda Scaravelli’s tells us: ‘Do not fight your body. Do not carry the world on your shoulders like Atlas……Do not look at your body like a stranger, but adopt a friendly approach towards it. Watch it, listen to it, observe its needs, its requests and have fun……To be sensitive is to be alive.’

For many of us, this is a radical change of mind-set; one which believes that it is our thoughts, beliefs and attitudes that govern what manifests in both our bodies and in our lives. Taking responsibility for how we experience our lives therefore is not only our birthright but our duty.

If you’d like to explore whatever it is you may be going through and/or you’re not sure which package or service may be of interest to you, then contact me or book in a Discovery Call so that we can explore which is the best way forward for you.

I look forward to connecting with you!

I would love to get to know you more, connect with me here.