Ease is Available
One of the most remarkable things about the somatics I continue to learn and practice is how it takes me directly to a state of ease. It happens for the clients I work with, too.
There are sensations of relaxation that occur:
More relaxed and free breath.
A sense of being rested inside oneself.
An experience of being more filled out in the whole body.
Feeling connected to the ground and aware of space and sky.
And, there is a felt sense that arises as part of these sensory experiences, this place of ease. That there is a calm that is naturally there. That there is a surround of ease that softens actions to arise from a more neutral impetus. This is my attempt to describe some of the aspects of this state of ease, as I experience them. My teacher, Kathy L. Kain, describes ease as “calm abiding.”
How would you describe what a state of ease feels like for you? What sensations do you notice?
With each session I give, I am reminded by my experience and by my client’s experience, that Zapchen Somatics’ combinations of movement, breath, sound and touch support us to open, as whole bodies, to this place of ease inside us. My teachers tell me that this place is always there, always available. The more I do this work, the more I begin to experience this as true.
A lot of times ease does not feel easily accessible. Maybe ease feels impossibly distant. Elusive. I get into the spin-cycle of, “If my thoughts would just chill out I could experience ease.”
But the magic of Zapchen Somatics (and some other body-based practices) is that when we do them we move closer to a felt-sense of ease, or we even rest in ease for a time. Even if our thought patterns are holding tight when we begin to do some Zapchen Yawning practice, for example, after 5 or 10 minutes we begin to experience some sensations of ease. Even if those thoughts had been thoughts telling us (unsuccessfully) to relax.
Another benefit is that if we practice, then take a break and then practice again our state of ease spreads out, goes deeper. If we practice some each day the ease that lives inside becomes more available to us, even during stressful times.
From a physiological standpoint, when we do these movement-breath-sound-touch combinations we are supporting neurochemical rebalancing, fluids to pulse and flow, adaptation and change processes to occur. All of which are necessary for balance and well-being as a human body.
Why else does this matter, being in ease? For me, the power in it keeps unfolding and revealing more and more as a physiological-emotional-energy-mind experience.
More recently, what I notice during the times I am being in ease, is there is a felt-sense of safety, a sense that all is well. And that just is. It is ‘beingness’ itself. And that this sense that all is well is not dependent on someone else or external circumstances. There is an inexplicable freedom and kindness and spontaneity in all of that.
From my heart, to yours…
