GSS News this month:
Somatic Movement Classes return in July
This is your last chance to give feedback on what times are best for online classes. You can do that in the poll below or through this survey.
Stay tuned for more info on the classes, one-on-one lessons, and my recent trip to Canada to continue my ESMT training.
New Merch
I needed some new Go Slow stickers and thought, wouldn’t it be cool to also have a pelvic floor sticker? So I put them into a Teepublic store where you can find them and a few other designs (you have to have 10 for your designs to be searchable). Check it out here!
What I’m learning about this month: Too many things… so just try this!
My goal has been to get these out in the first week of each month. I didn’t meet that this month as I attempted to grab writing time here and there. I started a few pieces–writing about how my neighbor told me I should plant more wildflowers, but first need to pull up all the “weeds” (native goldenrod, boneset, etc.)... Then after I connected an experience I had to a study I just read, I started writing about how just the right amount of cardio can be helpful for anxiety and chronic pain… Look for those in the coming months when I can carve out time to complete my thoughts on them. For now though, I thought I’d just share something really interesting I learned that I invite you to try.
I took a Somatics class this month with Katrin Neue. She said with the sun coming out for summer, everyone’s doing a lot of squinting, so she had us work with our face/eyes. What we did was subtle but revelatory. Read the following and then go try it:
Close your eyes. Imagine there’s a piece of paper you’re trying to read. It’s in small print and right in front of your face. Now imagine you look up and see something far in the distance–perhaps mountains or a sailboat along the horizon. Bring your attention back to the paper. Notice. What’s happened to your face? Now imagine you look back out toward the mountains. Again, notice the shift in the muscles of your face. As you repeat this shift one more time, notice. What happens with your breath? Does anything else in your body respond?
Now really, close your eyes, and try what you just read. I even recorded it for you:
Interesting, right! We find the simple shift in focus–we’re only voluntarily moving our pupils–has a cascading effect. As we focus in on something close, the face tenses. You may have even noticed tensing in the front of your body and a shift to shallower breathing. As the focus shifts to the distance, the face widens, the body relaxes, and it feels easier to breathe. I look forward to learning more about the physiology of this in the future, but for now I just take it as an example of how we are a connected system. I also love this little exploration because it’s something I can do everyday. I spend much more time than I’d like to working in front of a computer (as many of us do these days), so I’ve begun to take more short breaks to just look out the window into the distance. When I shared this with my ESMTT cohort, they also pointed out how this ties into the importance of getting outdoors. It could be a piece of why so many people love the outdoors, particularly when there’s a great view or they’re out on the water. So I encourage you to try it throughout your day. Notice how your body is responding as you scroll on your phone and take some time to get outside this week!
In Case You Missed It:
JVN is our poster child for reclaiming how we age, and now Martha Stewart is the official cover model!
I’ve long been a fan of hers. Some people think she’s fussy or fancy, but I find she’s really about making life rich through simple pleasures and doing so in ways that don’t take yourself too seriously. She continues to do this through her social media account and new television shows. So why not be on the cover of the SI swimsuit issue! This cover is going on my wall next to my JVN collage and Janelle Monae candle. (Also ICYMI, Janelle Monae put out a new album last week and it is “phenomenal”–a luscious, bold, sexy evolution of her work as an artist and worldbuilder! I’m really digging this video.)
The Question Box:
When I was a teacher, I had a box out for students to submit questions/suggestions. This was especially helpful during the Reproductive System unit in Anatomy and Physiology 🙃
Writing my above-mentioned book, The Pelvic Floor…, was such a great and empowering way for me to research a topic. I want to keep that momentum going by continuing to learn and write about topics people want to know about.
Have a question or suggestion for a topic–submit it to the question box here!!