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First UU Presentation:Being Self-Care Awareis a State of MindJuly 22, 2018

Words for Contemplation(Excerpted from Worth by Greta W. Crosbyfrom her meditation book, Tree & Jubilee)“If I could give you one key and one key only, to more abundant life, Iwould give you a sense of your own self-worth, an unshakable sense ofyour own dignity as one grounded in the source of the cosmic dance,as one who plays a unique part in the unfolding of the story of theworld Once we are sure of our own innate worth, something thatcannot be taken from us, we no longer need to prove it in elaborateways so often damaging to others and to ourselves. Once secure in ourown dignity, we no longer need someone to hurt, whole classes ofpeople to despise. Secure in the sense of our own worth, we can rejoicein the worth of others and love out of fullness instead of an inneremptiness that eats others alive.Let us affirm one another as ‘unique, irreplaceable’ persons.”

First UU Presentation:Being Self-Care Awareis a State of MindJuly 22, 2018(Spoken Notes)Good morning, I’m looking forward to sharing some of my learningjourney with you today. Having been a member of First UU since1975, some of you have known me for a very long time, and someof you may not know me at all. For those who don’t know me aswell, I’ll give a little information on my background to put mypresentation into perspective.

*Member of First UU, 1975 *Massage Therapist, 1990 *Acupuncturist, 2008 *Adjunct Instructor at WSU for Complementary And Alternative Medicine (CAM), 2016My Background(Spoken Notes) Building on Susan’s introduction, I have practiced therapeutic massage since1990. I have been practicing Traditional Chinese Medicine since 2008. I currently have an officein the Orpheum Center at 1st & Broadway, where I provide services primarily in acupuncture and Istill do some therapeutic massage.In addition, for the last few years, I have been instructing a fall semester class at WSU calledComplementary & Alternative Medicine, or CAM for short. This class has provided me with theopportunity to consolidate many years of knowledge and experience in the field of healthcare.One important aspect of many CAM modalities that I discuss with the class is the practice of SelfCare. It is possible for our bodies to naturally resolve certain functional problems with just a littleboost in Self-Care. As awareness of Self-Care techniques increases, we learn that it is ourresponsibility to offer our body every opportunity to achieve and maintain wellness. Our bodiesare doing the best they can with what we are giving them. The question is what are we givingthem?Though modern medical practices have offered many benefits to people, it relies heavily on twomodalities: surgeries and prescription medications. There tends to be a lack of information tohelp people help themselves heal as naturally as possible. Conversely, many CAM modalitieseducate about Self-Care for natural healing and especially for prevention and health maintenance.

Self-Care Recommendation #1:Empower the Mind-Body ConnectionSpoken Notes:This is the first of 3 Self-Care Recommendations that I will cover today. In myclass, I discuss 101 recommendations within the semester. I plan to introducemore in later presentations, probably not all 101, but I’m only discussing 3 todaybecause these are foundational concepts and I want to take more time withthem. The Mind-Body Connection is often ignored bc it seems intangible. I say it is ano-brainer! Textbook: Foundations of Complementary & Alternative Medicine, MarcMicozzi 2015. Certain people say the mind-body connection isn’t valid bcthere isn’t research to prove the mind body connection. This book has tons! Abundant studies confirm the mind-body connection in 100’s of differentways. I personally think it is odd to think the mind and the body are separateentities. Here is an example to prove my point:

Spoken Notes: ***Group Guided Imagery Exercise*** Close your eyes and imagine that you have a lemon in your hand. Look closely at it’ssurface. See the shiny yellow skin, the pores, the green stem on one end of it. Now imagine cutting the lemon in half. Pick up a lemon half and observe the sections ofthe lemon. There are a few seeds here and there. There’s some juice on the surface ofthe lemon half. Smell the fresh citrus scent. Now take the lemon and put it up to yourmouth. Bite into the lemon and taste the sour lemon juice. Wow, it’s really sour, even more sour than you expected. Take a breath and think about this. How did your body react to your guided imageryexercise? Did your saliva glands contract, did your mouth water? So, tell me, where is the lemon? Your body has reacted as if you smelled & tasted alemon. But there is no lemon in this room. What happened? You empowered your mind-body connection! You caused your body to change with asimple one-minute exercise. So think about this: what happens if you tell yourself youare sick or you are getting so old? Wouldn’t your body believe you and then manifestthat? Let’s cancel, cancel, erase that thought, & replace it with a more harmonious one. How about empowering your mind to improve your health? Either way and always, We ARE our own self-fulfilling prophecy—we become what wedirect ourselves to become.

Mind-Body Modalities offer nearlyunlimited potential for healing (I have a supplemental with all the details that can bedownloaded) Breathing, Centering, Grounding Meditation Guided imagery Journaling Tapping Hypnotherapy Biofeedback Reiki Breathwork Somato-Emotional Release (used with cranio-sacral therapy)

Free Meditation Apps are available on your phone

YouTube is a great resource for 5 -10 minuteguided imagery / meditations meditation for a light-filled body guided imagery for heart health guided meditation for sleep affirmations for anxiety Try guided meditation every day for a week toenhance your mind-body connection. See if youexperience any change in your life.

Self-Care Recommendation #2:Practice Emotional HygieneSpoken Notes:Just like we need perform personal hygiene by cleaning our ears and trimming ourtoenails, we need emotional hygiene as well! While we may all agree that this isimportant, how many of us actually practice it regularly?There is a huge need to get in touch with our emotions, so guess what we are doingnext?Yup, that’s right. Get ready for a deep dive into the abyss

The First Step for Emotional Hygiene is to ask:Do you love yourself?Do you feel worthy of being loved?

Spoken Notes: To be able to give love and to be loved by someone else, you must first loveyourself. I heard this concept at a UU service when I was very young. I didn’t get it. Ithought, ‘well that just means we need to love that person MORE.’ I now understand, all too well, that If a person does not love themself or feelworthy of love, there will be an unfillable void of insecurity within them thatcannot be filled by anyone else. This is why feeling worthy of self-love is the first step for emotional self-care. If you do not love yourself, Don’t panic! It’s more common than you mightrealize, and it does not need to always be so. Professional therapy is highly recommended to gain understanding of thecore issues involved. And I’ll be describing some resources that could alsoassist in this healing journey.

Dr. Brené BrownQualitative Researcheron Human EmotionsTitles of some of her talks available on YouTube/TED Talks: The Power of Vulnerability Listening to Shame Self-Awareness, Self-Love & Self Worth

Dr. Brené Brown Quote:from The Power of Vulnerability TED Talk“We are the most in-debt, obese, addicted &medicated adult cohort in U.S. history [Because weare trying to numb our emotions].”(Spoken notes) The big problem with that, as Brene explains it, is that youcannot numb just the bad emotions. All the emotions are numbed. Thenwe feel disconnected and we feel more bad emotions. Then we want tonumb those. In addition, numbing is not making emotions go away, theyare ever-present in the subconscious.

Dr. John Sarno’s Life’s Work:(he’s been learning about the mind body emotion connection since the 1950’s)His Theory of Tension Myoneural Syndrome (TMS) is mind-body-emotion based. Mind Over Back Pain, 1984 & revised edition 1986 Healing Back Pain, 1991 Mindbody Prescription, 1998 The Divided Mind: The Epidemic of Mindbody Disorders, 2006(YouTube: Full Interview with Dr. John Sarno 36:16) also Dr. John ESarno 20/20 segment)

Dr. John Sarno Quote:from The Divided Mind: The Epidemic of Mindbody Disorders“He works hard, tries to do everything perfectly,and tries to keep everyone happy that is enraging to the unconscious.”

Dr. Sarno’s TMS Theory:Repressed Emotions Trigger Physical Pain Emotions are repressed Brain causes mild oxygen deprivation of tissues This causes tension in local areas Tension causes pain & dysfunction Over time, this can become debilitatingWhy the heck would our brain do this?

The Brain does this intentionally . To distract the conscious brainfrom becoming aware ofunconscious feelings like rageor emotional pain.Why does our brain do this?

Because we are a Society of Emotion-Avoiders

(Spoken Notes)When I read Dr Sarno’s book Healing Back Pain, I was astonished at how subtleyet pervasive emotional repression can be. The first thing I thought was, ‘I’m apeaceful person, I’m just not that angry.’ Then I explored my mind, and hello, Ifound it; a little anger warehouse in there. So, I have emotional hygiene topractice. I would guess most of us do. We all could benefit from angermanagement techniques bc internalizing it does not make it ‘go away’ it is stillthere, and it still acts upon us from our unconscious.My Best Self-Care tip ever is: the thing we least want to do, is the thing we mostneed to do. This is what Emotional Hygiene is about. In many cases there is acrippling fear of the lurking emotions. This fear is often much worse thanactually doing it. I have told myself, Forgive the Fear & do it anyway! Thegreat thing about it is, after doing the work, I feel much better. Lighter,relieved, unburdened. It is very therapeutic to release emotional baggage.But how? How do we channel emotions in a healthy way?

Use resources to build skills to manage emotionswithout repressing them.

The Dance of Anger by Harriet LernerUntying the Knots of Anger by Thich Nhat Hanh(google essay right now :)Healing Trauma by Peter Levine

A Sampling of Resources for your perusal: Psychotherapy Hypnotherapy Journaling Forgiveness Exercises Write it, Surrender it, Burn it, Release it (1of my favorites) Reading/watching Dr. Brené Brown Reading/watching Dr. John Sarno Learning Non-Violent Communication (NVC) Do an emotional check-in every day Assessing & modifying our thinking patterns which cancurb emotional reactions in the first place.

Self-Care Recommendation #3:Release Psoas Through Mind-Body-Emotion Connection

The Iliopsoas Muscle:Psoas attaches to each lumbar vertebraeand to the inside of the femur

Over-contracting Psoas Musclescause a number of problems:*(low) back pain*hip/groin pain*leg pain*abdominal pain/tension*bladder & bowel problems, etc*could cause upper body & neck pain

Causes of psoas-related problems?*Running (a lot) because psoas moves legs to propel forward*Climbing stairs (a lot) because psoas is responsible for lifting the knees*Sitting at a desk (a lot) because sitting keeps the muscle shortened butactivated for posture, which inhibits its normal range of motion.*Brain Repressing emotions because it is the most core, protective,sensitive muscle in the body. It feels vulnerable bc there are no ribsprotecting it. Also it is in the same area as the small intestine and bothcan react viscerally.