Being as an active verb…..

A ponder on Doing and Being came to me yesterday - one I'd love to share with you?

Consider these two ways…?

One:

She folds the laundry off the line, clears the dishes, answers the phone, drops her pen, types five emails, wrestles with the door handle, lets the dog out, trips over a bag, fills the washing machine, lets the dog in, knocks papers on the floor, answers the phone, checks a Facebook alert, types a reply, fills the kettle, sweeps the floor, opens the cupboard, takes a mug, answers the phone, puts in a tea bag, fills the mug, opens the fridge, takes the milk, spills it, stirs the tea, wipes up the spillage, feels rattled, sits in a chair, takes a deep breath, and thinks…..
"I can't do all this. That last hour has gone and I still haven't started what I ought to be doing. I need to stop. I need to be still. My back hurts. I need to find myself. My head is exploding. I need to relax. I need help. I'm going to stop for the rest of the day. I'm going to meditate and then lie down. Tomorrow is another day and I'm sure I'll catch up ok...."

Two:
She moves towards the washing-line noticing how the line is also moving towards her.
Her fingertips  oppose each other so simply to release the pegs, and the pegs release the clothing.
Her fingertips experience the texture of each of the fabrics as she takes the items off the line.
She relishes the folding of the garments, wonders at the precision the usually ignored wisdom in her that knows how to fold so nearly.
She layers the clothes in the basket.
She lets her hands attach on either side of the basket and stands herself up. Being attached to her, the basket simply comes up too.
She walks to the bedroom and places the basket on the bedroom floor, enjoys the moment her hands soften off its edges, stands fully, breathing quietly.

She walks lightly towards the kitchen where she sees the dishes and moves to put them away.
Her fingertips wonder at the smoothness of the china, the metal of the pans, the pattern of the cutlery - each item gifting her a sensory experience around weight, size, colour, pattern, texture, shape.
She stacks the items within cupboard, drawer, shelf as needed, enjoying the order that is being created by her service.

She finishes as the phone rings.
She pauses during the ring in which she remains still, letting the sound enter her ears, and then decides to answer.
She walks to her phone.
She takes in the caller's name as it flows towards her eyes - no need for her to take her eyes to the phone.
She extends her arm by leading from the fingertips which then wrap softly around the phone.
Her arm quietly bends at the wrist, elbow and shoulder to enable the phone to come up to her ear for the conversation.
The whole movement a gentle dance.

She ends the call and allows her arm to lower the phone to the table where her fingers uncurl and release it.
She breathes.
She sits at the table, present to the movements she makes in order for this to happen; the act is normally so subconscious, yet awareness gifts her the wonder of how much she can move without even knowing what is happening.
How much of life is being missed by not noticing….
A sudden rush of gratitude floods through her.

Her fingers leading, she opens the laptop.
Her eyes take in the screen letting the images come to her, rather than her eyes going to the screen.
She chooses which email to reply to first and breathes.
Within the breath come the words to type.
Her fingertips lightly meet each key as is needed - a light contact as they dance over the keyboard creating the music of words.
Her awareness taking in the words,
          the sensation of her fingertips,
               her bottom resting on the chair,
                      her feet on the floor,
                            the wind blowing outside,
                                  the music playing on the radio,
                                       her breath cool under her nostrils as it passes into her lungs….

So much information about the present that is usually crushed under the thoughts about the past or future…..

She hears the dog scratching at the door to go out.
She allows the image of him to enter her eyes as she truly sees him as if never before - his alert intention to his request, ears cocked, eyes bright, totally present to her moves to see whether she has got his message.
She stands to open the door.
Her soft hand, empty of any handle she has ever turned before, turns the handle….

Can you see what is happening here?
Rest is happening within action, not after it.
And time is slowing down.

In the first way there is a constant rushing to get somewhere, even if just to the end of the list.
The second way is the somewhere.
The typing and the folding, the kettle-filling and the tea drinking require action, yet her presence to the actions - her being with each touch, sound, sight, smell, and taste - is the somewhere.
And also the no-where; there is nowhere to get to; she's right there, in it all the time.

She feels no need to rest in reaction to a rushing and a doing; her doing is now her being.
Her being quietly births her intention she then finds to be done.

Body-Full-Ness.
                              Embodied Mindfulness.
                                                                        Mindfulness in Activity.
                                                                                                                  Wonder in Motion.

Try it now and tell me what happens?

Discoveries with Annie go like this…. Part 1.

You come in for your appointment and we talk a while. 
I invite you to sit - just how you would like, or are able to.
I ask you what your need is - how you would like to be.
I share a little about how your body is designed to work beautifully - 
I often use models and 'toys' for this - 
Bright colours and soft humour igniting your imagination.
You often smile in a quiet joyful recognition of what might be going on in your body.

I ask you if I might use a gentle touch - 
That my hands are my best 'eyes and ears'.

I ask you to stay just as you are - no need to adjust your shape,
That there is no right and wrong in my mind - 
That we are simply going to discover where you are right now;
After all, where else are we going to begin?

I place my hands on your back, maybe your shoulder...

And wait.

I let you come to a place of stillness from sensing that nothing need happen.
That I am not 'putting you right'.
That you don't have to try to be ok.
And often you will say, "I feel something change, but you're not doing anything?"
And I explain how the body has an innate wisdom, that it knows how to be free.
That we get in its way - pushing it into what we think it should or has to be.
That 'the body' is really you - it's just we're encouraged to forget this -
And just tighten ourself into who we think we ought to be.

Sensing my unconditional hands your body softly sighs in relief of being re-cog-nised.

I invite you to notice you from the inside - and physically, not intellectually. 
To go to your feet, your knees, your back - from the inside.
To the place where you make a soft print on the floor.
A footprint - your footprint - in gold leaf between your sole and ground. 
The print your knee and back make on the inside of your trouser leg, your waistband.

My hands assisting you, you wonder at the softenings and releasings taking place.

We ask others to 'put us right', 
Never stopping to ask if this 'right' is really right for us,
And never first letting go of the 'oughts'.
You and me, together, we melt them away. 
You are revealed.