A Different Kind of Reflection on the Surface of the Pond
Of the classical elements Earth, Water, Air and Fire, I have been pondering Water the most lately. Craniosacral Therapy involves listening with your hands and your whole awareness to the inner tides of the body, so this morning I went to the pond to pay it a visit.
I have been to this pond hundreds of times and always find it to be a meaningful interaction, like running into a friend. What would the pond have for me today? Well, the world is cold right now. The temperatures have dropped below freezing and the water element has taken on a distinctly different character. We now have snow and ice underfoot, and as I walk I want my skin covered, away from the chilly air.
I found the pond to be ice covered, no ripples on the water surface to watch. A beautiful smooth start to a covering of ice (I always have the possibility of outdoor skating in mind when looking at a frozen pond) that was pocked with star like, sea creature shaped imperfections.
It took a while before it dawned on me that the pond was doing a wonderful representation of being human. No matter how we try to keep everything together and “looking good”, life is hard; we all have weak spots and injuries small and large that are part of what make us our unique and beautiful selves. The pond showed me that weak spots can be beautiful and fascinating. And maybe that spot I am looking at is there because someone threw a rock through the newly formed ice layer, or maybe it is above a spot where warmer water bubbles up from the ground below. From the outside I can’t know, but what a difference that would be for us when we look at the beautiful weak spots in ourselves.
So where do we focus as we gaze on the pond and at ourselves? Do we see how nice and even most of the ice is? Or do we see how many weak spots/injuries there are? Can we hold both with equal love and appreciation? Can we heal the wounds? Can we strengthen our ice and minimize the relevance of weak spots?
Here is a somatic exercise you can explore if you choose:
(Credit that is due… this is a hybrid of two different exercises (The Pulley and The Press Back) I learned from Jaimen McMillan in my study of Spacial Dynamics®)
Stand upright and take a deep breath
Allow your head to tip forward slowly
Continue slowly, feeling the weight of your head, allow your knees to soften and notice where you feel any resistance or impediment to your spine smoothly bending
Notice, stay present with yourself
After allowing your head and arms to hang and feel their heaviness, when you feel ready, use the imagination of being inflated from your feet gradually upward. Slowly fill yourself with yourself until this inflating/swelling brings you back to an upright position.
End by relaxing with another deep breath
Do this sequence three times and explore your inner landscape. Can you notice any weak spots/injuries/places you tend to ignore? Add any imagery that enriches this. You might try inflating with a golden light, or with a loving presence. You can inflate beyond your body to vibrantly fill up your personal space. Feel playful and feel free to modify any detail to suit you in the present moment.