Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3
When you go from a sedentary job to a whole-bodied one
The last two weeks I have been testing out life as a practitioner to see how my body can handle organising itself to be at the service of others. Just a half day in a treatment room that I’m renting, once a week.
1. My process involves constantly asking people to notice their weight shifting, their connection to the ground, and their breathing. I do this with my words, but also with my hands.
At the same time, I do these things for myself. As I prepare my sessions, and as I deliver them, I notice where my weight is, if I’m comfortable, how I’m moving in space and where I’m contacting the ground through my feet or pelvis, and check that I’m breathing and have a freely moving neck.
2. In my work as a book coach I ask people questions about ideas, and they tell me their answers in words - verbal, or written. In my work as a budding Feldenkrais practitioner I ask people questions with my words, and my hands too. And the body knows the answers. Sometimes people can articulate what they sense, sometimes it is hard to put into words. That’s okay. I see what they feel, as they leave the room.
Yesterday I managed to work with 2 people in a 1:1 practice room, back to back. It was purposeful and present work and we were in flow.
We had time to chat and laugh and share some insights about our lives. I told each person that I believe in their potential to learn and to reach their wish.
The last 25+ years I have done laptop-based work (talking and typing). I won’t stop doing that because I love books and words and authors. But it is demanding work, to be in the same shape a lot of the time, and sometimes flow means that you hold your breath, or forget to eat or visit the bathroom! Having an embodied practice connects me to life, and reminds me to take care of this temporary body of mine.
3. I will build in moments of system to system connection of my wellbeing with another person’s - whatever I do for a living. I want to be in sync. This, to me, is a habit worth cultivating. Well, in most situations. Sometimes someone is uber disregulated, in which case I would choose my own state of being and not mirror them. The rest of the time I aim to nurture connection and the sort of trust you want when you are showing up as you really are. If I can do it, then the other person can do it.
Whether you show up as a person with injuries or questions about their body, or as a writer, I’d be happy to meet you.
Write to me here with your question and I’d love to help you find your answer to it. It’s somewhere in there. In you (or behind you, beyond you, through you - you might need to reach out and grasp it).
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I’m Jane. I am a nonfiction book coach and a functional movement practitioner. I helped a lady understand that the pelvic floor muscles move when she moves certain ways, and also an awareness of them when she isolates them. I also helped a normally very independent man get his neck and his pelvis talking again. He was so chuffed when he realised I was “doing all the work”. It felt unfamiliar but he accepted it for an hour. 😆
I felt so lucky to help these people and really witness them simply being who they are.
When it comes to coaching you to write your book, the privilege for me is no different.
I know I leave every opportunity for contact with another human, with this sort of smile on my face.
