Written by: Hannah Kinderlehrer, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
In this Northern Hemisphere, winter and Omicron are resulting in feelings of claustrophobia, dissatisfaction, isolation, alienation, and some super serious cabin fever! And yet, all around us, social media and capitalism urge us to keep on producing content/products/posts at an ever increasing rate. The incongruity between what’s happening and the way we are trying to do business as usual is palpable.
Before electricity became part of daily life for first-world nations, winter was a time of rest. Meditative creativity and community happened around the hearth, we spent long hours turned inwards, mining the treasures of quiet, restorative rest. So how do we reconcile the over-culture’s push for faster, better, stronger, more…the claustrophobia of our current situation…and the primal need to spiral inward toward nourishing rest?
Surrender. Feel. Surrender. Feel. Repeat.
“Honor the space between no longer, and not yet,” offers coach and author Nancy Levin. This is a sacred place in which we can find solace. It is unnameable, unknowable, and yet we can tangibly taste it as we read these words.
I wrote a weekly blog for years, until Covid. As we all began to quarantine, there was a desperate scramble to create online content on every available platform. And suddenly, I felt as if there was nothing left to say, our inboxes were saturated. And so I got quiet. This is not the first time life has pointed me in this direction.
Almost a decade ago, life was moving faster than I could manage, but I was scrambling to override my intuition and wisdom, and keep up. I was receiving the message to slow down and take space, over and over, and I promised myself I would…right after a holiday trip East for a friend’s wedding. But I wasn’t going to get off the hook that easily. In a cozy B&B with all our friends, I fell down the stairs and broke my back. I was not heeding the call, and so I was taken out of the game, for months. And everything changed from here – I quit teaching cardio dance, something my body had been begging me to let go of for years, and I stopped giving everything I had to everyone, all the time. In my deep and forced surrender – I learned to receive not because I earned or deserved it, but because I am a human and that’s how we belong to each other, through the dance of serving each other and receiving it in kind. And as I let go of the constantly overriding my energy, my next offering bloomed almost on its own – a mindfulness-based ecstatic dance community that is accessible and nourishing for all bodies.
Life is not linear, and we cannot remain the production cycle indefinitely. We are being handed a pandemic, and some cold, wet, dark days, depending on where we live… to honor the space between and let the old ways die, so we can breathe some fresh life into how we serve the world and our own beings. Our next inspiration or creation must be born of the darkness of the womb, not the blue light of our computer screen.
Space can feel uncomfortable, unacknowledged feelings can arise, and we must take the time to compassionately stay present with them. “Real liberation comes not from glossing over or repressing painful states of feeling, but only from experiencing them to the full,” advises Carl Jung. If this is challenging or scary, I recommend finding a coach or counselor who specializes in somatic work to support you. I work with my clients to create the safety and capacity to feel, through the wisdom of the body. When you have created a relationship your capacity to feel, here are some suggestions for how to enjoy the richness of surrendering to space:
Aimless wandering: Go outside with no agenda or destination and follow your curiosity. Use your five senses to guide you and help you stay present. Don’t set a timer, just wander until you’re done.
Shavasana/Corpse Pose: A wise person once told me, if you don’t have time for ten minutes a day of this yoga resting pose, then do twenty. Lay on your back comfortably, let your back body gradually melt and surrender to the Earth. Enjoy.
Warm baths by candlelight: Our bodies find another level of surrender in water. Turn your phone and the lights off, and enjoy the dark and quiet. When your thoughts race forward into the future or backwards to the past, return to the sensations of your skin in the water, over and over. Meditative music such as crystal bowls may enhance your relaxation.
Staring at the window: This is especially lovely first thing in the morning with a warm full mug, or between meetings, errands, parenting duty, etc. Gaze out into the distance as far as you can and let your mind take in the larger view, the metta perspective, and as your mind wanders, return over and over to simply breathing and looking.
Mindfulness Practice: However you engage, drop out of the mind/brain space and into your heart. What sensations are here? What messages or needs are here? Using a stethoscope is amazing for surrendering to the comfort of your very own heartbeat.
May your winter’s rest give way to abundant creativity this spring.
Hannah Kinderlehrer, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Hannah Kinderlehrer believes we can all live an amazing, full life through the wisdom of the body. After learning to thrive with chronic illness and injury, she became a holistic coach combining mindfulness-based Hakomi Psychotherapy, embodiment, self-compassion, nervous system regulation, and more. She supports clients, dance students, and workshop participants to fall in love in with themselves and life, from the inside out. She created Awaken the Dance and Rise and Thrive Coaching, and leads an annual six-month womxn's journey called Homecoming, focused on belonging. She has taught internationally and leads regular classes online and in Boulder, CO. She holds a degree from Naropa University, the Peacemaker Institute and is a Certified Hakomi Practitioner. Hannah has studied dance for 40 years and has been a student of Buddhism for over 20 years. She believes wholeheartedly that is our birthright to live a joyful, meaningful life, and that embodied, mindful living will take you there.
