Micro Acts of Connection and Healing

5 minute practices to connect deeper with yourself.

Inspired by recent table conversations about how someone can learn to connect more with their bodies, aka feel the issues in their tissues themselves, I've decided to offer all of you a self care challenge for while I am away. And, just like any good challenge, I'll even throw an opportunity to win in here.

Now were going to go off the honor system here... by entering to win when you follow the link below, you are saying that you are participating in the Micro Acts of Connection and Healing Challenge. Even just one day, although it'd be great if you tried all 14.

Micro Acts of Connection and Healing

I challenge you to practice 14 different connection practices, one per day. The hope is that you discover a new way to add a little more connection and healing to your life. Not all of these will resonate with you, and that's perfect! One that fits into your life on a regular basis is the goal.

Where did they come from?

A whole variety of resources. I love learning and have read/listened to loads of books, watched videos, researched things (slightly), and tried a lot of things. What you'll find below are some of my favorite ones. Many of which I still do daily, to bring more awareness and connection into my own life. With awareness there is choice, and all that. I like to have a lot of choices, lol. And in my 16+ years of working with people, I can tell you without a doubt that the people with healthy connection with themselves have far better outcomes than people who don't. FYI, having a healthy connection with your Self is a LEARNED skill. That's where tools like these come in handy!

To get the most out of this challenge:

• Dedicate the 5 minutes per day to your wellbeing, maybe 10 minutes if it takes you a couple minutes to shift gears.

• Let things not make sense. Give your brain something to marinate on for a while. Let it simmer on the back burner, collecting more information and energy until the message is ready.

• Be open minded and pay attention to the messages you are given with each practice, especially when things feel weird, different, odd, or any sensation that is not "normal" for you. And if everything feels normal, be open minded to that too. Information builds awareness.

• If any of these practices sound odd to you but also feel right somehow, I invite you to be extra curious about it. I call that a soul tug. It's one of those little signs that a shift in direction may be needed.

These will be released as daily Facebook prompts from Feb 14 -28. If that format works better for your brain/life be sure to go to Ohana Therapeutic Massage's Page

Day 1

Observe your thoughts

The Practice: Practice this somewhere you won't be disturbed. As if you were watching your thoughts/brain on TV, what are you seeing? Where does your thought process go with that question? Allow it to be natural and organic, knowing that it will go "off topic". That's the point actually, to observe where it goes on it's own. No judgment or criticism needed, just a gentle observation. starting with just 30 seconds of this practice can help tremendously.

Day 2

Observe your body

The Practice: This practice is best first done in a quiet area that you will not be observed. With time and practice and repetition you can do this anywhere, anytime. Give yourself space to just be with your body. Allow yourself to notice the pattern of your breath going in and out of your chest. Allow yourself to feel the beat of your heart in your chest. Allows yourself to feel the micromovements of muscles as you shift into a more aware state. Our body is never as still as we think it is. And that's perfect!

Day 3

Slow down the stretch:

Pick your favorite stretch and hold it in a comfortable position that you will be able to maintain for 3-5 minutes. Set a timer if needed. You could try child's pose if you can't think of one.

The Practice: Once you have settled into your stretch, in your mind's eye, go into the area of your body that you feel the stretch. Observe the areas of tension, of awareness, of relaxation, of void. Allow yourself to be curious about if even a microscopic amount of tension was released,  would it feel different? No need to change anything, we're just observing here. Really be slow, soft, and thorough with this. Once the time is up, take a cleansing breath and let go of any thoughts before moving on with your day.

Day 4

Flip the Script

Sometimes we just need to put things into a different perspective. We get caught in our own heads, telling ourselves our versions of stories, and forget that each of us are living our own interpretation of the world.

The Practice: When you catch yourself get frustrated with someone else's behavior, be curious about: Why? What need(s) of yours is not being met? What does their behavior remind you of? What about that is your responsibility? Where do you need support? What's one small action step you can do to get there?

Day 5

Come Back to the Present

The Practice: This one is an expansion of Observing Your Thoughts. It is best done when you're performing a mundane task. Allow yourself to notice how you're talking to yourself as you go about the task. Are you on auto-pilot? Are you telling yourself what you are going to do next? Are your ruminating on the disagreement you had yesterday? As you find yourself drifting to the past or zooming into the future, take a breath and bring your awareness back into your body. Feel the motions of the mundane task.

Day 6

Gratitude, Gratitude, Gratitude

This is a topic that you hear talked about a lot, but practicing it regularly may be another situation. And while there are a million ways we can practice gratitude, for this practice, I would like to focus on gratitude for the gift of a tricky situation.

The Practice: Give yourself a few minutes to reflect on a rough situation in life. Something that you went through and got to the other side of. Allow yourself to be curious about what did you learn from that experience? Try to not be jaded if possible. What skills, tools, resources, knowledge, etc. did you gain by going through that? What connections proved strong? What helped you survive that situation. Take a couple minutes to be grateful for those gifts.

Day 7

Connect with your body

The Practice: Place your hand on an area of your body that is asking for attention right now. It could be the ache in your shoulder, the tension in your jaw, the kink in your neck, or the pressure on your head. You could also connect with the issues in your tissues, or the places you hold your emotional/mental stress in your body. Gently, softly place your hand(s) there and just be with it. Maybe even thank it for letting you know something was going on. Breathe and allow yourself to connect deeply without effort for 3-5 minutes. Just be.

Day 8

It's all a message - Pain

In my experience, the less we discern the types of pain in our body, the more our relationship with pain is distorted. For some this is extreme detachment. For others this is hyperviligence. Many are somewhere between, depending on the day and our current state.

The Practice: If you are having pain or discomfort in your body, allows yourself to be curious about it. What could it be telling you? To slow down, do less, or do more? What does it need to feel heard? From whatever distance is appropriate for the situation. This practice could also work for feeling nothing in your body by just replacing the words pain for void/detachment/numbness.

Day 9

It's all a message - Emotions

This one goes hand-in-hand with the Flip the Script. But it goes a bit deeper into the "Why" of the reaction that we do. Also, just like pain, our society tends to skirt over the nuances of emotions (If you haven't seen Inside Out yet, a kids movie, then I recommend you do so. It's a great, light-hearted way to talk about the complexity of emotion.

The Practice: The next time you find yourself having a strong emotional reaction, I recommend you sit with it a little bit. The good, the bad, the otherwise. If you're doing this as a daily morning practice, think back to recent time that you had a strong emotional response. Allow yourself to be curious about the reaction. What is causing it? Where do you feel it in your body? What does that feel like? Is it a "valid" response to what's going on in your life and the world at large? If so, allow yourself to feel it, process it and release it. Or as much as you can in that moment.

Day 10

I'm in ____ stage/season of __(life/this project/etc.)

If you're in a busy season of life, have had a loss recently, or are in the midst of global unrest, it's perfectly normal for you body to response and produce symptoms. It doesn't necessarily mean that you're doing anything wrong. It just means there's a lot going on and your nervous system is processing it, even if you're not aware of that.

The more grace you give yourself, with self accountability, the less stressful life becomes. Acknowledging the stage or season of life you are currently in is key for reducing the affects of this stress on your body.

The Practice: Take a minute or two to assess where things are at in your life. What experiences or situations has your personal life been through in the last couple days/weeks/months. Then zoom out a little bit to assess your family and social life. Then your local community, and then the region/state/world. Notice how one might be impacting you more than others. Remind yourself that this is a season and it too shall pass. Even if it feels like a kidney stone at the time.

Day 11

Take the Sting Out.

We tend to be our own worst critics. Or at least I know I am. So how we talk to ourselves matters a lot. Hence why most of these are surrounded around internal dialogues and awareness.

The Practice: Throughout the day today, give yourself permission to pay attention to a time that you're being critical of yourself. It could be that you're late, you messed something up, or you forgot something. First just pay attention to what you say to yourself when that happens. Do you guilt yourself? Dismiss it? Etc.? Then gently remind yourself that you're doing the best you can with the knowledge, resources, and time that you have. And that's perfect!

Day 12

Redirect yourself

The Practice: When you catch yourself wandering down the mental spiral today, call yourself on it! Call a duck a duck, no matter how sparkly or shiny or full of 💩 it is. It's a duck. It could be something like "There I go, worrying again." (said in a gentle, teasing way). This pause gives your brain a chance to do something different.

Bonus points if you then practice of the other techniques that we've discussed or whatever you need to do to give your brain something more healthful to think about going forward.

Day 13

Space to take the mask off.

Use this as an intuitive imagery practice. Best done in a quiet and uninterrupted space.

The Practice: Physically, mentally, energetically, and/or in your mind's eye, become aware of the mask you are currently wearing. This means, the persona that you are presenting, the part you are playing, if you will, or the image you are trying to measure up to. Allow yourself to feel all of the current mask. Whatever that means to you today, in this moment. Feel it for a moment or two. Imagine it's shape and design and color if that helps. Then, allow all of the feelings of that mask to lift. In whatever way feels right in this moment. It might melt off, slide off, chip off, break off, simply dissipate, or anything else that feels right to you today.

Day 14

Bring yourself into yourself

Now this one you could spend 5 minutes doing or do 5 x 1-minute practices. It's a combination of several techniques I've learned over the years. Initially I recommend you practice where you won't be disturbed, but once you get the hang of this, you can do it anywhere anytime.

The Practice: Sit in a comfortable, relaxed position. Begin to slow your breath. On an inhale, imagine you are bringing all of your energy, your you-ness, back into yourself. Imagine it filling your spine from your head all the way to your tailbone. On your exhale, allow anything that doesn't serve you anymore to be released, through your feet and back into the planet to be recycled. Keep breathing slow and steady until you feel like you're fully back in your body, or 5 minutes.

Thank you for joining me for this Micro Acts of Connection and Healing Challenge. Don't forget to enter to win HERE.

The legal stuff: The information provided here is for educational purposes only, does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment, and does not create a professional-client relationship. Consult the appropriate healthcare professional before acting on any information. Paula VanBaalen and Ohana Therapeutic Massage are not liable for what is done with the information provided.