I hope 2012 is treating you fabulously so far.

Over here in Thailand, I’m enjoying the natural surroundings, amazing people and going deep into my ability to get out of my own way and squeeze the juice out of life.

Just this morning, my meditation practice left me so full of energy that I felt like screaming for joy at the top of my lungs.

And yesterday, I was blessed with an ecstatic dance party under the sun, palm trees and even deliciously refreshing rain, surrounded by lovely people fueled by their passion for life. Everyone was glowing and smiling at each other as they surrendered to their bodies’ need to shake, shake, shake to the music until they could shake, shake, shake no more.

There was so much bliss in the air, that you could physically feel it. Breathe it in and fill yourself up like a balloon with it!

Just looking at others in the eyes, witnessing them smiling with their whole being… The joy bubbling up from inside of them was so obvious that you could literally feel it making its way through your own body.

An ecstatic love bomb exploding in your heart, the energy of which is so immense that you can hardly contain it with the barrier of your skin.

All this, without a drop of alcohol. Without a touch of any mind-altering substance.

It is possible to experience this kind of clean, clear, full and expanded kind of connected bliss. This is our birthright, and it’s a crime that most people don’t even know it exists… let alone have experienced it.

I feel so blessed and grateful that I have had the pleasure of embodying this feeling on repeated occasions and, lately, more and more often.

In fact, it is increasingly clear to me in an experiential way (and not just an intellectual one) that this feeling is there all the time and it’s only a matter of tapping into it by getting out of my own way.

The simple strategies and techniques necessary to do this are coming more and more effortlessly to me as a result of my self-love practices, and life is in full bloom.

It is simply unacceptable that this is not available to all, and this is why I am making it my mission to spread the news.

And I would love your help.

Now, here is the shameless bit of self-promotion:

For women who are ready to step into their power through simple daily clean and blissful strategies, I’m offering my Orgasmic Woman: Self-Love and Sensuality Retreat in the fabulous paradise in Koh Phangan, Thailand.

This is the same place I am now and, as you can see, it is pretty spectacular. It’s the kind of place people change their flights back for and decide to stay for a while longer (sometimes, they change their flights several times!).

The magic of this place is like a magnifying glass that really allows us to take a look at what is holding you back, bring acceptance in, and transform it into the sweet, sweet  pure and clean pleasure, love and joy that comes from true connection.

I’m sure there are other hot pockets of magic on this planet, but I’m not sure when I will find them or when I will be holding a retreat there.

This one is happening in a month and, if you sign up within the next 24 hours… you’ll get $500 OFF.

If you or any woman you know would like to learn how to get out of their own way and tap into their power through utter bliss, please do yourself or that person a favor and urge them to get in touch with me as soon as possible.

This New Year’s Resolutions Insane Special ends on January 16 at 12 pm ET.

[As a side note to the scrumptious men who have been asking me for a retreat of their own, do not despair. It's coming soon!]

Always with pleasure and love,

Melody

Happy 2012! And, as one of my friends just told me, happy infinity as well!

I am writing to you today from beautiful Had Tien beach in Koh Phangan, Thailand… where, despite the fact that it’s now 4:40 pm, the celebration is still going strong.

It’s such a joy for me to be able to spend a few months here every year to recharge.

When people find out about my yearly ‘break,’ their reaction tends to be…

I’m so jealous.

You know what I say to that?

Don’t be jealous. Be inspired!

The honest truth is that everyone can have this sort of freedom. They only need to believe it is so, and then put things into motion to make it happen (or allow it to happen) in their life.

I speak from personal experience, and I cannot stress enough the idea that we can have it all! Yes, we can have the cake, eat it… and love ourselves and our body!

I can hear those voices in your head right now.

How??? No, we can’t. It’s impossible. Life just doesn’t work that way. If it did, no one would be miserable. Only the lucky or special ones can have that, and I’m not lucky or special. I don’t deserve it.

And that is the difference!

Those ‘lucky’ or ‘special’ people? The only difference between them and you is that they feel good enough.

They feel really truly worthy of what they desire, so they go and get it.

They don’t let pesky voices stop them. Their belief in their deservingness is so strong that there is no self-sabotage happening.

This year, I invite you to really look at those voices in your head and ask yourself if you really truly believe them.

If the answer is ‘no,’ then follow it up with writing down what it is that you do believe about yourself. And throughout the year, practice reminding yourself of this, your true thought-feeling, whenever the voices come up.

I wish you the most pleasure-filled, ecstatic, transformational year… yet!

______________________________________________________________

If you enjoyed this post, are a woman, and one of your resolutions is to harness your power and create a life full of vibrant health, energy, creativity, sensuality and passion, you might be interested in my upcoming Orgasmic Woman: Self-Love & Sensuality Retreat.

11 scrumptious women will get to join me in this Thai paradise to explore practical ways to bring more bliss into their lives on every level (physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual).

This is the year that you get comfortable in your own skin!

I want this for you so bad that I’m doing something totally crazy:

I’m offering a 50% discount for women who sign up before January 15.

This is your year! Are you ready to take it on?

I absolutely love looking at myself in the mirror!

Is this a sign of vanity?

Maybe.

Honestly, though…. Who cares???

Over the past year, since I moved into my current bedroom, I have been admiring myself first thing in the morning every morning.

Well,… At least the mornings I sleep in my bedroom. Tee hee!

You see, I sleep naked, so it’s pretty hard to avoid seeing myself in my dresser’s beautiful round leveled mirror when I get up from bed. The dresser is directly in front of my bed, so it’s inevitable that I will catch a glimpse of myself.

I have to admit that it hasn’t always been a positive experience. There’s those days that I feel like a blob, but for the most part… I have learned to feel beautiful even in my blobness.

This has really become a beautiful ritual for me, a practice of loving myself up first thing in the morning.

Why not?

So, while in the past I looked at my reflection and found everything that was wrong with me, today I make it a practice to find new things to appreciate every day.

Today, I must say, I’m loving my rear view! It came to my attention that I really enjoy the way my small back flows into the indentation at my waist and flares out to my hips… And the full round soft heaviness of my butt.

Before, I would have looked at the same thing and seen my cellulite, the width of my hips would have been too big, and my butt too heavy. I would have found the difference between my waist and my hips to be way more pronounced that it should be.

But who sets those rules anyway??

I say trash them, and make up your own!

I’m so happy that these same things I would have found fault with before, are ones that I now absolutely adore!

So tell me,…

Jump in!

What are some things you do, or could do to appreciate yourself and your body as soon as you wake up? What are some learned rules about what is beautiful that you could do away with?

Feel free to be as detailed as you feel inspired to be.

How are you? It’s been a while since I last wrote, and I wanted to check in with you to see how you’re doing.

Please leave an update in the comments section.

I’m writing today because I found this letter I wrote a while back to my body, and I feel it was a really important step in my making friends with it and reconnecting at a time when I felt so at odds with it.

I’m sharing it in hopes of inspiring you to write something similar, though it doesn’t have to be nearly as long as mine.

(As you should know by now, brevity is not my thing!)

Love Letter to My Body

 

Dearest darling body of mine,

I love you. Before, during and after I say anything else. And I will always love you.

I’m sorry I treat you like shit sometimes. I’m sorry that I rail at you for not working the way I “think” you should, for not supporting me the way I want you to support me.

The truth is, whatever I do unto you is what you give back to me and I haven’t been very supportive of you lately.

I got busy and set you aside, prioritizing other projects before your well-being.

I haven’t been giving you the exercise you need to stay strong and flexible. No wonder our knees hurt and our energy level dwindles at the smallest amount of physical effort.

Instead of giving you what you need to support me, I’ve been complaining and getting frustrated with you. I haven’t been listening to you very much, and perhaps this has developed into minor a lack of trust.

I’m so sorry.

It starts with me. I cannot blame you when it’s my responsibility.

I love you. But I haven’t been treating you like it.

I’m so incredibly in awe of everything you do for me every day. It’s truly jaw-droppingly amazing.

Without me even thinking about it, you master my heartbeat, my digestion, my breathing. You protect me from disease without my even being aware of it. All those tiny and significant cellular processes I know nothing about.

You take care of them for me, leaving me free to focus on other things.

Thank you.

Thank you for taking me wherever I need to be.

Thank you for Breath, which is quite literally inspiring.

Thank you for being a home, tethering me to this beautiful planet. For the amazing learning tool you are, the interface between my spirit and my ego.

For being the screen on which my emotions are projected… Wow! How could I embark on this exploration of my self without you??

Wow! What a ride! The ups and downs would certainly not be the same without you. Despite my complaints when I feel uncomfortable, it’s because of you that I get to enjoy what it feels like to be thrilled and scared, to be happy and sad, to be angry… So amazing all the things you do!

You are such a great mirror of what’s going on inside me! You always show me how deeply I trust.

You are so honest with me, and I’m so grateful for that.

Thank you for having such a strong voice when it comes to my physical safety. You are so good at keeping me safe from harm.

Thank you for always having my back. Literally and figuratively.

Thank you for being the canvas on which I create outfits with so much glee. It’s so fun to dress you up, change hairstyles, or even makeup and see the results. What a chameleon you are! The best toy to play with and you come wherever I go.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for being such an amazing source of pleasure. It’s such a reward to be able to focus on how you feel at each moment, dropping into the present and finding how to be with that.

I love noticing how our skin and muscles feel like when we move, when we stay still… stretching, contracting, relaxing.

The spectacular joy of dance! I could never have that without you. Thank you for the freedom to express myself through movement. How did I get so lucky??

Thank you for housing the mechanisms for my senses. How delightful to be able to enjoy all of them! How amazing that I get to see the quiet of sunrise, hear the beauty of song, taste the symphony of food, touch the scent of skin, smell the sensation of a fragrant flower as it makes its way inside me.

You make love to me every day.

And I vow to make love to you too.

By feeding you right, exercising you right and appreciating you every day by providing you with more and more pleasure.

You are so incredibly beautiful, inside and out.

Your glowing skin, the softness of your curves… The heaviness of your breasts. The roundness of your belly, the cuteness of your pinky toes. The gentle slopes of your feet and collarbones. The fullness of your lips. The strength in the planes of your back and the power in your glutes.

My thighs.

Sigh.

My thighs.

Your softness… How I rail against it and yet, when I can step out of the ideas of how I feel our thighs should look… They are beautiful just as they are. Cushiony, inviting and full of the juice of life. How could I despise that???

Thank you for being the interface through which I can give and receive expressions of Love. Hugs, cuddles, smiles, touches filled to the brim with caring!

What a gift!

Dear body, you are magnificent.

I could go on and on and on extolling your virtues. Pretty much forever because you are so complex and awe-inspiring. I could write an ode to each part and aspect of you, going deeper and deeper and finding more reasons to lose my breath over your awesomeness.

But I’m going to stop here because the most important thing is for you to know that I love you just as you are, even when I forget to show it.

Even when I’m frustrated with you.

Even when I’m picking a fight.

I love you. And I trust you. It feels good to say that.

It feels true and I’m happy that is so.

And I will do my best to remind myself of this little humongous fact.

Thank you. From the bottom of our heart.

If you’ve read this far… Thanks for indulging me.

An invitation

I now invite you to contemplate in what ways you are grateful for and love your body.

And every time to find yourself fighting against it,pick one and focus on it.

These are your true thoughts about how you feel about your body, and anything else that comes up are insecurities trying to bring you back into the comfort zone of misery and self-doubt.

Loving your body (and your self) is a choice you make every time.

So…

Jump in!

And tell me, what part of your body do you choose to love more today? What are some of the things you would say to your body in your own love letter?

Recently, I re-watched one of my favorite all-time movies, <a title="I I <3 Huckabees.

It’s one of those movies that, after watching it for the first time, you’re most likely reaction will be a big, fat… “Huh???“

It’s a funny and intelligent mess, starting with a string of curses and a poem dedicated to a rock. (You rock, rock! and it certainly does rock.)

Which is why it’s on my list of favorites that I will watch again and again. Each time offers a different level of funniness and insight.
But I digress…

The reason I’m telling you about it is because there’s a line that has stuck with me since I re-watched I <3 Huckabees a couple of weeks ago, and it keeps cropping up at the most random moments, sending me into loops.

How am I not myself?

Exactly.

How am I not myself? How am I not myself? How am I not myself???

I feel like I’m a character in that other baffling mind-bender of a movie, Being John Malkovich. (“Malkovich, Malkovich? Malkovich. Malkovich?“… You get my point.)

I particularly love this scene because it is a clear display of how we create masks and stories and habits that we repeat over and over again so that others will like us.

But the question is… Even if we do create these stories, are we not being ourselves?

How are we not ourselves?

How am I not myself?

I talk a lot about allowing ourselves to be who we are, without masks… But the masks are a part of us too.

They served us in the past, but perhaps no longer do… Perhaps they are keeping us from connecting now, and being ourselves would mean putting the mask down and allowing ourselves to be visible without them.
In any case, the reason I wanted to share this is because by virtue of this line being stuck knocking around in my head like a pinball machine, I’ve been experiencing the most ridiculous moments of silly bliss.

Honestly.

Try it.

After repeating it a couple of times, it’s so ludicrous that you cannot help but start laughing like a liberated idiot.

It’s the best short-cut to meditation ever.

Jump in!

How was it? Did you laugh? Did you slip into Beingness? Did you think “Oh boy, somebody must have dropped Melody on her head when she was a baby“?

Leave your reaction in the comments section. Pretty please.

How are you this rainy New York day?

I have to say, there’s something so soothing and comforting about waking up to the pitter-patter of raindrops.

Maybe it’s because it brings memories of snuggling up under a warm comforter, sighing deeper into a cocoon made up of warm sheets and soft mattress.

Mhhmmm….

In any case, I’m writing today because I’m excited about a new discovery I made about myself last night.

I’m usually very calm, and people always tell me how grounding it is to be around me.

My pace is a lot slower than most people’s in this hectic city.

My energy level a lot more even than the crazy rollercoaster of sugar-highs and sugar-crashes most people engage in every day.

In my life, everything is slow and steady… Much like one of my power animals, the tortoise.

I went to the monthly Full Moon Party my friends at Unitribe put together at City Life Wellness, a community oasis in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

It is always a beautiful family gathering, full of love, fun, and celebration. And lots of dancing!

In any case, I had just arrived and hadn’t made my way inside yet. I was chatting with some of the people who were catching some fresh air outside, one of them a musician who was playing Brazilian drum.

As usual, I was pretty chill.

But as soon as I got inside, the drum music got into my body and my energy level skyrocketed effortlessly.

Whoa! I was shaking my hips, dancing and jumping like a tribal mad-woman. Or rather, the Earth Goddess that I am.

Now, this is pretty normal for me because I absolutely adore dancing. And I absolutely adore dancing to live drums.

But the insight came when the drummer, who had seen me outside all calm and chill and my usual grounded self, came to me later to comment on how much he enjoyed how high-energy I was while I was dancing.

Whaaa???

While I had experienced this switch before, it wasn’t until he said that that I realized…

Drums are one of my “ON” buttons!

They are one of the things that turn my body on so much so quickly, no matter how tired I am.

And in such an utterly delicious way!

Jump in!

So, tell me…. What are your “ON” buttons? Mayhaps you inspire the rest of us to try the same.

I get asked a lot how I got started with what I do, so I figured I’d share it here.

If you’re in any way inspired by me and feel a wee bit jealous (it’s ok!) wishing you could do the same, let me tell you…

I used to have the same feeling about others, telling myself I couldn’t do what they do or didn’t have the courage or whatever other excuse I made up to stay in my comfort zone.

Yes, comfortable… but miserable!

What changed?

I enrolled into the Institute for Integrative Nutrition‘s one year health coaching certification program and it was the one of the most empowering experience of my life.

Why am I sharing this?

Because if you have been looking for a change in your life and are interested in holistic health and sustainability, enrolling into the program between August 15 -18th will get you the following:
1) $200 SpaFinder Gift Card
2) $300 Tuition Reimbursement
3) FREE VIP seating at IIN’s live September conference in NYC with guest speakers & wellness experts: Deepak Chopra, Mark Hyman, Joshua Rosenthal & many more!

I cannot stress how amazing the experience was, and how grateful I am every day that I took a chance and enrolled.

If you’ve been twiddling your thumbs, not sure how to get started but knowing you have to do something…

Stop twiddling and pick up the phone!

To jump on this opportunity, call the IIN Admissions office at 877.730.5444 and tell them Melody Kiersz sent you.

Believe me, you’ll look back and be so happy you did!

For ages, I’ve been hearing teacher’s say that we eventually become friends with our ego, that part of ourselves that is small and scared and has a tendency to keep us small and scared.

That voice that tells us we are not good enough, that we will fail and that drives us to seek approval from the outside.

I’ve never been one for ego-bashing.

No.

Instead, I’ve always preferred the “hold your ego’s hand” approach. It just wants love and attention so, give it precisely that and it will feel heard, happy and leave you alone.

Except that hasn’t been the case.

Well, it has been… But then it crops up again, every time I reach a new peak.

It tells me “But you could be more. You could be higher. You could be better.”

And promptly brings me off my enjoyment of my high because… it’s right, right? I could be more. I could be higher. And I could be even better.

But instead of feeling excited about the prospect, I feel… lacking. And then I get overwhelmed.

And shut down.

And stuck.

And pretty soon the stuck becomes “I suck.”

And then the “I suck” becomes, “Hey… I was high a few seconds ago, what happened? How could I let this happen? What’s wrong with me???”

So this doesn’t feel like being friends with my ego.

It feels more like a cease fire in which someone (me) is forcing us to shake hands and hold the peace because we have mutual interests in common.

Maybe I’m talking to the wall here and you have no idea what I’m talking about. But I hope you can relate.*

I’ve been especially frustrated with this whole cycle lately because I’ve been really proud of my recent accomplishments, and then this voice comes and brings me tumbling down.

Wait… There’s a question here:

Why can’t I just enjoy the high for a bit? Why do I always have to immediately go looking for the next round, instead of savoring what I have right now?

This is valid.

There’s a fear that I’ll rest on my laurels. That I’ll be content, stop taking action and start slipping.

So as soon as I get what I want, this anxiety to start working on the next thing kicks in.

I’m setting an intention here, and in public, to make some time to enjoy and celebrate my accomplishments without feeling like I have to jump on the train to Next as soon as I arrive at my station.

Maybe I can wonder around, stop at the café for a nutritious smoothie and trust that I will continue on my journey shortly.

But getting back to this whole fucking my ego thing…

I had the privilege of having a session with the fabulous Andy Dolph from Ecstatic Light today, in which we had a conversation with my ego.

My ego was feeling a bit conflicted because, while he wants me to be happy, he felt that not pushing me to be better all the time (and reminding me how “I’m not there yet!”) would result in

1) me sitting on my ass and not doing anything.

2) him being out of a job and therefore dissolving into the ether. (Ego death, anyone?)

As it turned out in the end, my darling ego just wants to feel included.

The following conversation was what came up after our session with Andy ended. I felt I needed to go a bit deeper, and I needed to do it by myself.

Ego: I want to feel included.

Higher Self: You are included. Always. Melody loves you.

Ego: Then why does she want me to go away?It hurts.

Higher Self: Because she feels you’re always telling her she could do better, she could be more… So she feels like you don’t love her the way she is. That she is not fulfilling her potential. She feels she needs to hide this, that no one should know. She feels ashamed, and that she is not fit to help people out of this very same thing because she is still struggling with it. You remind her of that.

Ego: But I love her. That’s why I do it. I love her so much that I want her to continue moving up doing what she is doing. I’m so proud of her! She is amazing! She blows my mind with her amazingness all the time. She is so strong and transparent and willing to risk others seeing her as weak because she chooses to love herself (and me) so much that she’d rather alienate other people before making me feel less loved. She constantly rises to the challenges, picking herself up as a show of her love for herself, me and her commitment to serve selflessly. She is an inspiration. How can she feel ashamed? I don’t want her to feel ashamed.

Higher Self: So how can you drive her to continue on without her feeling “less than” or that there’s a lack?

Ego: Hmm… I don’t know. Perhaps I could just say “Keep going, you’re doing great!”?

Higher Self: That’s a start. She would like that.

Ego: I’m just scared that, if I don’t show her where she could be, her potential, she’ll just sit on her ass and be perfectly happy. Her evolution will stop.

Higher Self: And is there anything wrong with her being perfectly happy?

Ego: Errr…. No. It’s just that then I’m purposeless. Out of a job. I’ll disappear. I don’t want to die.

Higher Self: Is that true? Didn’t you just say you could instead cheer her on?

Ego: Yes. Yes, I can do that!

Higher Self: Plus, regarding this whole evolution stopping thing, life itself will take care of challenging her, asking her for more. You don’t have to take that on. There’s plenty of external stuff that’s going to keep asking her for more. Like all of the women asking for more sexual healing workshops, or opportunities to step out of her comfort zone. You don’t need to do that. You can just keep focusing on cheering her on.

Ego: But… Do you think that will be enough? She won’t stagnate?

Higher Self: Why don’t we try and see what happens? Are you willing to test it out?

Ego: Ok. I want her to be happy. I want her to know I love her.

Higher Self: She does now.

And, as it turned out, apparently I want my ego to love me as much as I want to love it.

Hurray!

I feel so close to my ego now that we’re practically having sex. Hence, the title of this post.

Jump in!

While I’m quite nervous about hitting the “Publish” button and allowing y’all to read this, I feel it’s part of my path and my practice to step out of my comfort zone in this way.

Please, please, please tread carefully and respectfully. As always, I’m not looking for advice but merely for people to share their experience regarding similar “stuff.”

The aim is to allow ourselves to be more visible, shed light on the darkness and give each other permission to be who we are, with our stuff and all. We all have it so let’s show it!

Thanks!

How is this 4^th of July weekend treating you?

Yesterday, I went to see Amma, the Hugging Saint from India. She’s making her annual stop in NYC, and the place was packed with people soaking in the atmosphere, eating the delicious food, offering donations and time, and waiting to receive her hug.

If you don’t know anything about her, this is a woman who’s desire to offer and give love was so great, that people worship her as a saint and a goddess, and built all this infrastructure for her to be able to follow this desire.

She is an inspiration to me, and millions of others.

Looking at her, it’s incredible how she gives hug after hug after hug non-stop, without food or pee breaks, while the rest of us need our distractions while we wait for hours to receive her embrace.

It’s always a beautiful thing to witness and experience.

The reason I’m writing about this is because something happened yesterday that I wasn’t expecting, and I’d love to hear if it resonates with you.

As I’ve mentioned in some of my previous posts, I’ve been experiencing some growing pains as I grow bigger and more visible.

I was feeling some sadness yesterday, and being a believer in allowing emotions to run their course, that’s what I was practicing.

I remind myself whatever I’m feeling is temporary, and that it carries a lesson with it if I get through it instead of around it.

So, there I was, feeling content to be feeling sad while watching the whole interplay and inner dialogue happen. All those voices I talk about in this diary. Witnessing what was going on inside me, at the same time being grateful for my ability to practice this.

And always reminding myself to take a look around and appreciate the amazing abundant life that I lead.

I was pretty ok with where I was, feeling this temporary sadness that I wasn’t sure where it came from.

As I got in line for my hug, I was in a very meditative state, drawing closer and closer to Amma. I was feeling at peace.

And then, I was finally in front of her, and she took me in her arms and hugged me whispering in my ear.

Out of nowhere, I started laughing!

You know that kind of uncontrollable laughter that bubbles up for no reason?

Yeah, that!

It was like this sadness was wiped away, and I walked away in a state of joy.

Later, as I was talking to a friend about how people experience being around Amma, he said he believes she brings out whatever is being repressed.

That struck a chord.

Whoa…. Was I repressing my joy???

And you know what? This voice inside of me went

Duh! Because you’re uncomfortable being happy., You feel like it’s a bubble that’s gonna burst any second so better just feel sucky all the time. That way, you can be comfortable because you know what you’re getting!

Huh?

I’d come across this before, but I never thought I was doing it.

Now I’m wondering when I learned this… What was it that happened in my life that set this pattern up?

If this struck a chord, please…

Jump in!

I’m very curious… How does this resonate with you? Do you feel like you do/have done this? What are your feelings/thoughts/opinions on this?

Please remember, this is a forum for sharing. No advice is being solicited, so please… None should be given.

The way you feel life is passing you by and you’re just going through the motions? When you feel distant, disconnected from your body, your emotions, and the people in your life?

Yeah… nothing quite gets to you so you don’t get upset much.

But there’s something missing…

What is it?

Perhaps if you stop to consider, life seems a blur. Nothing stands out… Everything is a bit… muted.

Toned down.

How did that happen?

Sometimes, in the quest to stop feeling our ‘negative emotions’ so much, we distract ourselves. We numb ourselves out.

Common and well-known ways to do this are watching TV, playing video games, shopping, eating, drinking, drugs, pain-killers… even working can become a distraction when we do it excessively.

But… Has it ever occurred to you that maybe too much ‘thinking’ can also be a numbing agent?

When we’re involved so much with our left brain, explaining, analyzing, rationalizing, justifying, evaluating… we don’t leave much room to take in our life from different avenues.

Our body, our senses, our emotions…

Aghhh! But that’s what we were trying to avoid, right?

Our emotions!

We don’t want to feel so deeply and, our body, being the interface through which that happens (because emotions are nothing but sensations in the body that are triggered by thoughts), also gets left aside in the process.

We breath shallowly, avoiding getting our breath all the way into our belly, lest it awaken some unwanted feeling in that emotional center of our body.

We analyze everything that happens around us to death, because it’s much easier than allowing ourselves to feel the slef-doubt, anger, sadness, or feeling of separatedness, of being different.

So life becomes less vibrant. Less… alive, because we are leaving a whole side of ourselves behind.

We create that split in ourselves, precisely by allowing ourselves to take life in only through a part of us.

So how do we reverse this?

Integration.

This is the true meaning of ‘yoga,’ an ancient practice aimed at aligning our whole selves with our center.

You might know it as those weird positions that make your body hurt in places you didn’t know existed.

But there’s much more to yoga than that. It’s not just the weird positions, but a way of life.

The same goes for Taj Chi, Chi Gong, and many other forms of martial arts.

These are systems that were developed to foster a more integrated life.

You could take advantage of that and start your own practice.

But it’s not necessary.

You can also start becoming aware of in which ways you numb yourself out, and perhaps choose to allow yourself to feel whatever is running through you without trying to explain it away.

And through you it runs, because nothing is permanent so you can be sure this feeling is only temporary as well.

When you do that, you will notice that you feel more integrated and at peace, because there is no longer a nasty part of you you’re trying to hide from yourself.

This is a practice of self-love, allowing yourself to be you in your totality.

To be whole.

Jump in!

What are some of the practices you use to feel more whole?