Your Body

May 12, 2023 Nancy Paul

"The body is the mirror where the secret world of the soul comes to expression." ~ John O'Donohue, from Anam Cara

In another part of the book Anam Cara, John O'Donohue writes "The body is in the soul." Not the soul is in the body. I agree. I don't distinguish between the spiritual and material, myself. It's all One. What does that mean other than that I'm a pantheist? ;) It means that your heart is God, as is your kidney (both of them ;) and your aorta, and your tense shoulders. I honor each part of you as sacred and as ways of knowing you.

Magic

October 12, 2019 Nancy Paul

"One thing you should know about her; she never explains anything." From "Mary Poppins"Image from Polygon.com — "One thing you should know about her; she never explains anything."
From "Mary Poppins"
*Image from Polygon.com*

Mary Poppins is a conjurer; when she is around magic happens. The results of CranioSacral therapy and EMDR can also seem magical. Come experience the magic! But if you'd like an explanation, here are some links: https://www.emdrconsulting.com/what-is-emdr/, https://www.upledger.com/therapies/index.php, http://www.lyricalhealing.com/services.

Your Light

October 12, 2019 Nancy Paul

Let your light shine!

My news -- I finished the first of 2 levels of EMDR trainings and am thrilled to have joined Spring Practices part time!

EMDR is a powerful body-centered tool for processing negative emotions, sensations and beliefs, and accessing our right brain/frontal cortex/Inner Wisdom. By using bilateral stimulation, the EMDR therapist helps the brain heal itself, using the same mechanism that happens during REM sleep. I think of it as a dialogue between the right and left brains, the limbic brain and the frontal cortex, or between our "lizard brain" and our Wise Self. Come access that Wise Self ~ either in my Oak Park office or at Spring Practices.

Touching your Soul

October 12, 2019 Nancy Paul

"The strongest, surest way to the soul is through the flesh." Mabel DodgePhotograph by Edward Weston — "The strongest, surest way to the soul is through the flesh."
*Mabel Dodge*
*Photograph by Edward Weston*

Dr. John Upledger, founder of CranioSacral Therapy (one of my favorite modalities), talked about placing hands on the body and touching the soul.

This photograph hints at the poetry, beauty, and wisdom of the body. Through CranioSacral therapy, empathic listening, inner dialogue, and other body/mind approaches, I access, and help you to access, the wisdom of your body. You might consider that wisdom your soul.

Experiencing Healing

December 9, 2018 Nancy Paul

Tina_Modotti_with_her_arms_raised_-_Edward_Weston_restoration.jpg

"Healing...depends on experiential knowledge: You can be fully in charge of your life only if you can acknowledge the reality of your body, in all its visceral dimensions."

Elvin Semrad as quoted by Bessel Van Der Kolk, in The Body Keeps the Score

Photograph by Edward Weston

It is important to me to give my clients an experience of themselves, and an experience of awareness and acceptance. I want to enable clients to feel their feelings, accept the parts of themselves that have felt unacceptable, and know their own wisdom and strength. An integral part of this process is tuning into the body.