Be Present - December 22

“Layers of the Onion”

Hey friends, we are nearly at the end of this challenging year. I know this year has not come without cost, change, and wrench on our inner fortitude. But hopefully we’ve learned a thing or two about our capacity to take on these challenges and come out the other side, still smiling.

Life is an ongoing learning process, and often the most challenging times and people are where the greatest opportunities to grow lie. It may begin for you by the metaphoric peeling away any layers of historic buried tension. More on that further below.

This is the last newsletter of the year, the next one will be in February. My very best wishes for the festive season. I trust you come back in the new year recharged and hopeful for an exciting time ahead!

Contents:

  • Pro Bono Days

  • Layers of the Onion

  • My CranioSacral Training

  • My Birthday

  • Difficult People

  • Music Corner

Pro Bono Days

Pleeeease tell your friends that I am running Pro Bono (free) 25-minute sessions once each month at each location. This has been really well supported so far in the last three months of this year, and man what a year this has been.

I’m grateful that new people are discovering the power of bodywork to help them balance physically, to release any body-held trauma, and begin to find peace deep within. What a beautiful thing that is!

Next ones:

Ngaio Tuesdays 13 Dec, 24 Jan, 21 Feb and 21 Mar – 9am-12:30pm

Upper Hutt Wednesdays 14 Dec, 25 Jan, 22 Feb, 22 Mar – 9am-12:30pm

Go onto the paxbodywork.co.nz/bookings page to find the link for Pro Bono days.

Layers of the Onion

I came across this YouTube interview with a Zero Balancing client in the UK, sharing her experience of how ZB helped her release buried trauma, that she didn’t know was there, but had been inhibiting her life. The results have been very liberating for her. Like many ZB clients she’s not able to describe what ZB is exactly, but that is less important than the outcome.

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/lw7oWlPVqWM

Not every client will have earth-shattering releases of buried trauma at every session. In fact once that stuff is flushed out, so to speak, releases are more subtle. Then it is more to do with letting go any tension that has built up from daily life, relaxing, balancing and being refreshed, as most of you regulars know!

My CranioSacral Training

I’ve recently returned from another CranioSacral training course in Christchurch. Wow! This is going to be really helpful, and already many of my clients have been keen to experience the new skills. These include:

  • Locating held energy cysts in the body and releasing these.

  • Locating and treating hyperactive places along the spine, indicating nerve entrapment. This can cause dysfunction for any tissues that may be served by those nerves. For example, entrapment at lower thoracic nerves may impede stomach, pancreas and liver function. I’m learning that it is quite unusual not to find these local areas of entrapment!

  • Mouth work to release the facial, maxilla and nasal areas. Most of us have experienced blows to the head in our lives, from sports, accidents, and some of us have had dental treatments that have place a strain on these bones. This work helps gently rebalance the bones in the face. I didn’t realise how much tension I was holding in my cheek bones (zygoma) until I had one side released. When both sides were released it noticeably changed the shape of my face. (Luckily my phone still recognised me! lol) Deeper bones like the palatines, if out of place, can impinge nerves that stimulate fight-or-flight, thus increasing anxiety for example.

  • And a lot more work on the skull to rebalance the bones, and remove tension on the dural membranes around and between the brain hemispheres.

My Birthday

I’m writing this newsletter early since we will be away next week. Twice recently at venue admission windows I have had young servers ask me nervously if I am of a certain age. They weren’t being rude. They were just hoping to offer me a discount in my dotage. I am happy to say that from the 30th of November they would be right lol.

I’m not into big parties so Miriam and I are heading away to the Bay of Islands for a quiet celebrate. Watch Facebook!

Difficult People #$&@!!!

We all experience difficult people from time to time. Rather than dreading these interactions, they can actually be a great learning opportunity for us. Briefly:

  • Regardless of how egoic the difficult person may be, how much they might try to elevate themselves by criticising you, for example, you have to first PARK YOUR OWN EGO. Make sure your own stance does not feed the antagonism. This is their issue, not yours. Don’t become DEFENSIVE, because that is buying into their conflict strategy.

  • Second, you have to become extremely PRESENT and turn up the COMPASSION dial for them, even more than you would for a friendly person. I know this is difficult, but it is essential. We don’t know what past conditioning in their lives has led to them acting this way. An antagonistic attitude is almost always an indicator of buried pain and fear. And each person is the star of their own movie, but it’s their movie, don’t let their movie become yours. You have your own blockbuster to manage here!

  • Third, don’t be a doormat. Just CALMLY point out that there may be several ways of looking at an issue, each has their own PERSPECTIVE, based on their own experience. So each has certain validity, and there may be greater buy-in for the team if they can reach a consensus that acknowledges disparate views.

Eventually the boxer will stop boxing if there is nothing to hit. Be consistent with these techniques. Whether you bring about change in the other person is way less important, than managing your own state. I promise that you will GROW and become more confident as a result.

Finally, from the point of view that difficult people can help us to grow, please now try to see them as a BLESSING in your life, lol. This is the theme of my music choice this week.

Music Corner

I’ve chosen one song this month, sung in Jai’s hauntingly beautiful voice. The theme is that through rain, through pain, through the tears and the anger - through and out the other side lies Grace, lies growth, lies opening and freedom. It’s the natural cycle of grief, the way out is through. So welcome the rain!

Jai Jagdeesh – Here Comes The Rain

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/1RXi9ng9ep2FEAks7rKEJy?si=e3ad28248df0462e

YouTube: https://youtu.be/raLg7p3PCAg

With caring and kindness,

Rhys Dwyer

If you know anyone, from kids up who maybe struggling with body-held tension, energy levels, stress, anxiety, choices, or seeking more meaning in life, then please ask them to check me out. Bodywork and present moment awareness may just make a big difference.