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| Category: Life Coaching |
Date published: October 14, 2004 |
My acting teacher prefaced our assignment with this note:
"I have always HATED this assignment. Whenever I heard
THIS exercise was coming I groaned."
I had no idea which direction he was heading. I was flat on
my back with my eyes closed. What could be so horrible
that made my respected teacher lament like that?
He continued: "For the next 15 minutes, I want you to go
from as you are now to standing. I want that process to
completely fill the 15 minutes. If you get up too quickly,
you will have to start over again."
I heard other voices in the room lamenting this thought.
I remained silent, breathing deeply, thinking it sounded
remarkably curious. It was a chance to tune into my body:
always valuable.
My teacher intoned, "Keep your eyes closed the entire time
and listen to your body, follow the lead of your muscles,
your breath, your skin."
I continued to breathe deeply before rolling my body to
my side, feeling my knees and hips balancing my being.
I breathed, I stretched, I paused, I listened to my skin
and my bones and my muscles and my heart.
My movements were slow and intentional. I had no
concept of time passing at all. I did sense the moments
as they passed only they were no longer separate from
me, they were a part of the process. They were a component
of me standing up.
As I got closer to rising straight from the soles of my feet
to the top of my head, I felt myself being more limber than
is the norm. My hands rapped around my ankles as I
balanced with my head down, waiting peacefully to rise
until it felt right.
When my teacher said, "You have one minute left" it felt
almost like an intrusion.
I could have taken another 15 minutes from there.
What was hard about the experience, I wondered?
It felt heavenly.
It sounds so simple: listen to my body tell me how to
get to standing. Trust my body to give me cues and
then just settling into listening and acting in alignment
with that listening.
I realized this exercise was not only about taking 15
minutes to stand up. After all, we normally stand up as
a matter of course in rapid fire pace, especially if we
are in a hurry and have "places to go and people
to see."
I am also not saying to take 15 minutes for each
movement every day for the rest of your life. Hear
what I am saying.
I am suggesting is that through coupling our movements
with intentionality, we will be able to hear more fully the
messages that our bodies are trying to tell us. The
body continually, ever last and always speaks the
truth through it.
I spent the weekend continuing to work out some
muscular kinks after a deep massage on Friday. I know
for sure I have not been heeding my body as would best
serve me. I also know that as my body doesn't best
serve me, I am less able to best serve others.
Rather than continue to berate myself for this
shortcoming, I am choosing to remember my lesson
from acting class. I am calling myself back into those
heavenly fifteen minutes. I am listening more carefully
and recognizing that this process may be an ongoing
practice or exercise to continue on a regular basis as
a "creativity unsticker" or "body focuser".
Mostly I remember the heaven. The divine connection
through the body in those 15 minutes and from its
continued echo in my life.
How are these words being received by you today?
What might it be like for you to take 15 minutes to move
from lying down on the floor with your eyes closed
to standing?
I encourage you to try this, perhaps with a partner so that
each of you try it and you can support, witness and be
with the beauty of someone else's process.
Experience heaven.
15 Minutes to Heaven
© 2003
Julie Jordan Scott
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Julie Jordan Scott is the Creator of the Passion Crafting Method
www.5passions.com email julie@5passions.com
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