Muscle spasms a Yin and Yang experience

Many years ago I had muscle spasms all over my back.  Muscle spasms are involuntary contractions of the muscles.  Whenever I tried to move, muscles in my back in different locations would spasm so badly that any action was impossible.  It was completely unpredictable and about the most physically painful thing I have ever experienced.  I didn’t dare to breathe, never mind laugh, and spent days sitting in a chair with a heating pad avoiding to move or talk.

My doctor came to help me out and suggested the following which ended up being the only thing that eased my discomfort.

You take an ice cube and put it directly on where the spasm occurs.  This causes the spasm to contract even more which then allows the muscle to gradually relax.  We applied the ice cube therapy for a few days and it gave me great relief.

It makes perfect sense to me that when an extreme (in this case the contraction) is pushed to it’s limits to the point of no return, that it then tips over into it’s opposite.  A perfect experience of the Yin and Yang dynamic!

And as the picture indicates blood flow needs to be restored to overcome the energy crisis.

I wanted to pass this little wise trick on because I don’t think it is widely known.

~Claudia

Listening to the rain...

I was listening to the rain in the early morning hours.  I felt enveloped and invited to let memories and thoughts come and go, all held in the cleansing experience of rain falling and nourishing the earth.
Gratefulness filled my soul for the things we can do for each other.  When I lived in an intentional community with people with special needs we learned a perspective that, over the years, has become second nature to all who work with it - a renewed understanding of faithfulness which is described in this quote:

“Create for yourself a new, indomitable perception of faithfulness. What is usually called faithfulness passes so quickly. Let this be your faithfulness:

You will experience moments.... fleeting moments.... with the other person. The human being will appear to you then as if filled, irradiated with the archetype of his spirit.

And then there may be.... indeed will be.... other moments, long periods of time, when human beings are darkened. But you will learn to say to yourself at such times: "The Spirit makes me strong. I remember the archetype. I saw it once. No illusion, no deception shall rob me of it."

Always struggle for the image that you saw. This struggle is faithfulness. Striving thus for faithfulness, we shall be close to one another, as if endowed with the protective powers of angels”.  Rudolf Steiner


Maybe the sound of the rain reminded me of the “protective powers of angels” that surround us quietly and invisibly.  We may or may not notice when others struggle to uphold our higher self when we go through tough times.
But this mindful struggle of upholding the best in another person brings light into the darkness and strengthens us as individuals of integrity.  This practice is a real force in the world and with it we can become precious to ourselves, as this poem says so beautifully.

“The Recognitions” by Irving Feldman

Not the god, though it might have been,
savoring some notion of me
and exciting the cloud where he was hidden
with impetuous thunder strokes of summoning -
it was merely you who recognized me,
speaking my name in such a tone
I knew you had been thinking it
a long, long time, and now revealed yourself
in this way.  Because of this, suddenly
who I was was precious to me

What do you hear when you listen to the rain?


~Claudia

The importance of your nose!

Sense experiences have many facets.  The sense of smell impacts us profoundly on many levels.  Some smells remind us either positively or negatively of a past encounter with a person or place.  As the cooler days and nights of Autumn approach we anticipate the smell of spiced hot apple cider, pungent pies and musty leaves.  Winter brings us the smells of coniferous trees, roasted chestnuts and candles.  In Spring we experience smell overwhelm, flowers, bushes and freshly mowed grass.  And what is a typical summer smell?  Hay and grilling.  There are smells that attract us to food or tell us if something is good or not.  Smelling is an important diagnostic tool in Chinese medicine.  And sometimes the smell of someone we hold dear is an important part of who they are.  Scented oils and perfumes can intensify that smell.  And we make surprisingly many judgements based on what our nose tells us!

    Vanilla is an old time favorite of mine.  On my recent trip to Italy I found the following quote on a bottle of Vanilla perfume which captures many of the delightful aspects of Vanilla.  It also shows how a smell can open up a whole world of imagination.

“The sweet scent of Vanilla: The invisible thread of nostalgia.  Who could ever forget the fairs with the call of their roundabouts, that white vanilla cloud of candy floss, the vanilla ice-cream, the stalls where the sugar cooked, turned brown, became caramelized to stick pine-seeds and almonds together and then turned crisp, or the loose sugar that was spun into a long shiny string and then cut into “hard pieces”?  “Go on and cry, little children, Mummy will buy it for you!” the vanilla-scented sweet seller would shout.

Like a Gossamer dress it wraps round you, invisible, and yet is so real that it covers to give just a mysterious hint of things, of thoughts never entirely revealed that are held out like budding roses and that retreat like shy Acacias.  I would like to reveal who you are by entering furtively into your perfume.  I would finally know if your Vanilla is nostalgia for that lost paradise or a promise of intense love that has yet to come.  Let me find a place in your Vanilla Perfume: Invisible cloud of youth”.
(Profumo alla Vaniglia, Speziali Fiorentini, L’Essenza di Firenze)

Try for yourself to describe a smell that you love.  You will quickly find that you move into the space of imagination.  Smell is both illusive and very real.

The essential oils I use in my practice work deeply into the organism both through the nose as well as through the skin.  Imagine lying on my massage table thinking of lavender fields, roses or arnica flowers!


~Claudia

BE YOU

It is not so easy to pinpoint what this feeling of being oneself really means.

So I asked a few people to tell me in what situation(s) they feel most themselves.  All described activities (and it included their work), that they are good at and that they love to be engaged with.  They described situations in which they felt in “their element”.  For the one it is fly fishing...being in the stream, casting, experiencing nature around and only having eyes for where the fish might be.  For another it was being able to be of help.  Helping another person allowed him his strongest connection to himself.  Another person described her joy in teaching.  She had originally wanted to become an actress which for many reasons did not come about in her life.  As a teacher now she has an audience and gets to perform.  Yet another person said that she feels most herself when she is engaged in any fun and creative activity such as baking, gardening or painting.
All said that confidence and expertise played a big part in feeling oneself.  As my friends were speaking and thinking about it, their excitement and enthusiasm sparkled!
I like to call this part of ourselves our ‘day self’.

No one I spoke to mentioned silence, not doing anything or simply breathing.
In these experiences we can find our ‘night self’, our less conscious and developed self.

Rudolf Steiner describes how the macrocosmic breathing process in the heavens is connected to the microcosmic breathing process in the human being.  It is a celestial rhythm called moon node that expresses itself in 18.6 years and that can influence human biography greatly.  We can all look back at our life and ask what was happening for me at 18 and a half years, or around 37 and some and then again around 56 and onwards.  Steiner says that important things are happening for the human soul at these times.  And that it is the nights at these points in time that are the most important nights in a person’s life.  At these times a window to the spiritual world is opened that lets us look at the original and deepest life impulses that we incarnated for.

To find out what our deepest life impulses are, never mind base our life on it, we need to do inner work to have the awareness and opportunity to grow our self with our day and night elements.

Body work and skin treatments can be a bridge towards this work.  A space is created that protects the receiver from outer demands and stimulation.  The silence allows the client to hear him or herself think and feel.  Breathing deepens as relaxation gradually sets in and new energy, new ideas, renewed strength for life can appear.

Taking time for oneself, shutting out and/or working with disturbances, silence, deep breathing, thinking and feeling are elements of inner work that ground us in who we really are and can be.

I hope that treatments with me are refreshing, renewing and help you be you.

~Claudia

RENEW

Refreshing was easy... renewing cranks it up a notch!

In order for something to be renewed, something else needs to be let go of or die away.  For this to happen on the conscious level, there needs to be a willingness, reason or longing to do so.

On the organic level, it is a profound reality that all the cells of the human body take seven years to completely renew.  This process assures optimal functioning of the organism.

Massages and skin treatments are always refreshing but to what extent can the client expect renewal?

Massage treatments activate the circulation of blood and lymph which enhances the overall metabolism (the tummy grumbling is an expression of this stimulation).  Each cell is helped to better rid itself of waste.  To the extent that this process is accelerated -and we always recommend to drink lots of water after a massage to flush out stirred up toxins - the body gets renewed.

In skin treatments it all lies in the exfoliation techniques.  There are a variety of ways and products with which we can exfoliate.  Many can be done at home; others only in a salon.  All have the aim to clear the skin surface of old skin cells which enhances new cell production and gives you that renewed, youthful glow.

How can treatments supporting such a fundamental process still be considered a luxury?

It is no luxury.  With these treatments and others we optimize and care for the life processes in our organism so that we can be our best.  New life emerges after death.  New cells can only come forward when old cells are shed.

Massage and skin treatments can be healing and they are life supporting.  This process is key to becoming more and more oneself...and can be very renewing!

Stay tuned!

~Claudia

Refresh

Do you know where this is?

 How do you refresh in any given day?

A short power nap?  Internal Arts?  A spritz of rosewater over your face?  A spin around the block?  Computer games?  Art?  Music?  Calling a friend?  Spending time in nature?  Playing with children?  Connecting with animals?  Cooking, baking, eating or drinking?  

For me it is cold fresh water.  The fresher and colder the better!
Splashing cold water in my face or taking a cold shower when I am tired completely refreshes me.

When I was four years old my mother took me up a 4000 meter high mountain in Austria.  It was a hot summer day and above us was an impeccable blue sky.  It was my first major climb.  My mother, who grew up in that area, wanted to show me the beauty of the mountain, it’s life and waters.  Whenever we came across fresh mountain water we would sit down and take a break.  We drank and splashed the fresh, cold and lively water all over us.  I never forgot the refreshing and vivifying effect of it.
A few years later, on another mountain, she encouraged me to take a dip in a mountain lake.  OMG!  14/15 degrees Celsius, I thought I would stop breathing!  I did not stay long and afterwards I experienced the pulsing circulation, the prickling sensation on the skin and the gradual warming of the body.  I loved it!

 A cold shower changes the chemistry of the body.  It is like turning the page.  Tiredness, moodiness, sluggishness can be turned around and the need to transition from one activity to the next can be helped with a little cold water.

Mountain lakes and waters are hard to come by here in Chester County but when I turn on the faucet or the shower for a short refresher during the day or after a long day to get ready for the evening, I imagine the quality of the waters in the mountains, and I see the spritzing, bubbling, white crested flowing and moving of the water and I am grateful for every droplet.

Like roses after the rain are plumped up, refreshed and are even more beautiful, so I feel the beneficial enlivening quality of cold water.

Try it!

The first one to tell me where the above picture was taken will get a free massage.


~Claudia

Late summer images of Tuscany

garlic and onions on market day

ready for picking at the end of September-San Giovese grapes

shoe flower pots gracing a window

home made pizza with olive oil and rosemary

Morning light in the olive groves

ripening olives ready for picking at the end of November

Evening clouds over the Tuscan hills

late summer mood

The autumn colors are appearing gently.  It is still hot but the nights and mornings are crisp.  This is the last fling of summer.   Being surrounded by the ripening fruit reminds us of our own maturing.  It helps us to transition and be ready for the Autumn.
~Claudia