Friday, January 6, 2012

Setting Healthy Intentions for 2012!

When a new year rolls around and we are are looking to set New Year's resolutions it can be helpful to look at the places in our lives that give us the most trouble or pain. Some of us will look away from these challenges, feeling that they are too painful to address. I suggest letting our pain or troubles be our guide as we set our intentions for a healthy and happy 2012.
How do we do this? When we come upon a person, situation or physical manifestation (such as a back ache or headache) that we perceive to be painful or stressful, take a moment to feel whatever emotion or physical pain we have, and I mean really feel it. Sitting quietly and taking a few deep breaths will help tune us in. This will take practice because most of us will have immediate reactions to these things, mostly aversion or clinging.These are habitual patterns of behavior that we have developed over the course of our lives to "help" us deal with the pain or stress.
When we have taken a few breaths, let the mind be empty.The empty mind will create the space needed to preform the next step; trying to turn the problem or pain into an opportunity for growth and change. The idea behind seeing pain or a problem as an opportunity is that every person, situation or pain in itself neutral or empty. An object or person only becomes good, bad, or painful based on your perception of it. Viewing things as a problem makes you nervous, mentally defensive and squashes your innate creativity. When we use our energy in a reactive way, we have less space to think positively and creatively about the problem or task at hand. When we have habitual reactions to things, we can not see how we could change things for the better. Tuning in and listening to our bodies or our internal dialog can give us clues to what may need to shift in our lives to be healthier and happier. Acupuncture is a wonderful way to support both emotional and physical health and when needed, helping us let go of old patterns that no longer serve us. Acupuncture treatments are able to do this by giving you the space needed to be creative about your problems and helping to shift the bodies perception of pain. I hope everyone has had the experience of lying on the acupuncture table and feeling very relaxed, this is the space I am talking about. Toning down the internal chatter or dialog that clouds the mind and keeps us stuck in old patterns and allowing the body to reset during your treatment is an incredible gift to your body and mind. Together let's set our intention on creating more space for creative problem solving and using pain and problems as our guide to where we could use some work.
I am creating a Y.A.M. workshop with yoga instructor Cathy Mandrioli in Mid January 2012 to help facilitate this very important transformation. Y.A.M. stands for yoga, acupuncture and meditation. The work shop starts with a yoga class especially suited for stretching meridians and getting the energy flowing.Then you will lie down comfortably on your yoga mat with pillows and blankets for support and I will walk around and do a quick acupuncture diagnosis and place a few needles in each person, we will relax for about 20 minutes with the needle in. I will then remove the needles and we will all sit for a brief mediation to solidify and integrate the experience. I expect this experience will be profoundly moving for many people, and will hopefully allow for shifts to occur where people are looking to make changes.
Please visit my website to contact me.  http://www.nccaomdiplomates.com/deirdrekelley
Happy 2012!

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