How to Love Your Body No matter How it Looks

Love Your Body, Mind and Spirit

Here are some tips for Shifting your Mindset about your body.  It takes time to Learn to Love Your Body.

  • Every morning before you get out of bed, bring mindfulness to your body and sense into it.  Forget any preconceived ideas that you have believed. Living in these bodies are pretty miraculous. The good news is that we have plenty of fresh new starts. 
  • When you get out of bed, feel into the Ok-ishness of your body.  This is the beginning of practicing self-acceptance.  Any perfection thoughts need to be put on the shelf!
  • Be mindful about how you speak about your body. You can change the patterning of your thinking.  Drive in a new lane.  The Love Your Body Lane. Eventually your belief system changes when you drop the old thoughts.
  • Every person deserves to feel love.  And we are all different and unique in how we are configured.  Realize that norms are group beliefs. It really says nothing about you.  The more you move inward, you self-realized your essence.  Imagine what it would be like if we all could appreciate the different skins in which we live.
  • Question your thoughts.  Byron Kate,has great free worksheet for this in the website The Work 
  • Receiving bodywork can bring a whole new awareness to you body.In our society, so much emphasis is placed on what is going on inside of our heads.  However, we are whole people, body, mind and spirit. For example, Craniosacral Therapy is great for helping you to embody.
  • Meditation is a great way to open your mind about your body.  It gives you a sense of understanding through neutral listening and understanding.  It also opens up the path to compassion.
  • Exercise.  Find movement that is comfortable and fun. Even basic walking can make you feel better.
  • Choose foods that are healthy.  Maybe start a garden for herbs or fruits and vegetables.  We feel good when we partake in the organic processes which sustanin us.

When you are alone, take off the clothes and get comfortable in your skin.  Turn off your computers/phones/ and TVs.  Relax and Breathe.  Know Yourself!

Our culture makes it hard sometimes for people to accept and love your body.  Yet, we have many choice points to make up our own minds about how we related internally.  You are the Captain of Your Own Ship.  Sail the seas of Self-Love.  Learn to be Ok with who you are- body, feelings, thoughts and all.   

It’s not always each, but choosing change is a great intention.

With gratitude-

Sharon Hartnett CST-D

703 509-1792

www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com

 

How to Find Joy Again:Walk Away For Your Own Wellbeing

How to Find Joy Again:Walk Away For Your Own Wellbeing

Wellbeing

Wellbeing is an Intention

I don’t know about you all. For me, growing up, life was quite often about others rather than my own wellbeing. How they were feeling. What they wanted or didn’t want.  Building up the other just so there was some peace. When things were settled, everything was great.  On the other hand, when that shoe dropped,  cater cater cater.  I learned to do whatever I could to make sure everyone was as happy as possible.  In childhood, I don’t think I even realized there was a “Self” who had real needs too. Neglect is a silent wound. Not until I grew up did I begin to realize the void.

For a kid, that’s a big burden to carry.  Too big really. In the order of things, it was never my place to try so hard just so I could feel secure in the family. As a child like this grows up, often in relationships, the young person doesn’t learn how to ask or how to receive openly and with trust necessarily. It’s a foreign concept.  Into maturity, this leans even further into supporting the “other” at a huge cost.  The cost being “Sense of Self”.  Sometimes, this could even move into agreement to abusive relationships.

As a Craniosacral Therapist and Healer for about 30 years, I have had to truly look inward to discover my True Self. To find my own sense of power. To Live in Integrity. Still, in my 60’s, there is sometimes residual clutter that causes my attention to move outward and about even now.  It takes a strong intention to learn how to stay “Present’ and in Service at the same time. It take a commitment and alot of compassion toward the Self, and towards others.

The biggest lesson I learned was to create a healthy boundary if I wanted wellbeing in my life.  I learned to listen and take in as much as I could in relationships. As long I made decisions that felt healthy.  However, when it was enough, my feet began to know how to walk away instead of leaving myself.  For a long time now, I know that I deserve wellbeing. I now embody that sense of Self.  When I take care of myself, I have more depth and space to be in presence for others too.

Conclusion:

Don’t wait too long to claim your own sense of power back.  If something inside hurts inside because of the person you are with, or the current circumstances in life are overbearing, walk away.  Don’t let the narcissists and the bullies win this game of life.  Instead find out what you are made of. Sometime wellbeing means walking away and being in your own space.  By gifting yourself this, you will be surprised how incredible you truly are indeed!

Exercise:

Mindful centered Meditation is a great place to start.  This practice involves focusing on the present moment without judgment.  A daily meditation routine can reduce stress, increase concentration and improve overall mental health and wellbeing.

Joy to you!

Sharon Hartnett CST-D
703 509-1792
www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com

 

 

A Brand New Way of Thinking about Your Health

A Brand New Way of Thinking about Your Health

Proactive Health

Life Style is a Choice.  But it’s not always an easy choice. Most people are working so many hours that they feel stressed.  They don’t spend enough time outside, having fun, or exercising because they are tired.  In relationship to food,  much of our maketing is aimed at pushing us to make unhealthy choices.  For example, we hear eat vegetables and lean meat, but the grocery stores are filled with sodas and processed food with who knows what is inside.  We hear it’s important to make friends for healthy relationships.  What if you are an introverted person?  Or facing mental and emotional challenges and there are no resources available?  Our choices may seem to have limited answers.

As a Craniosacral Therapist and Healer for about 30 years, I have worked with many people.  I listen.  Often people blame themselves for ending up not feeling well.  I have noticed this with women in particular. But honestly the society we live in  contributes to making the choosing confusing.  So many mixed up messages. 

I believe it’s important to first acknowledge where you are right now in your health journey.  Accept yourself as you are with some compassion by going to your heart. Next, take some time to consider the changes you want to make.  Being with your own Truth is a Powerful Beginning. Self Awareness helps us to make proactive choices in our own best interests.

The next and most important key in my opinion is to get to know yourself.  We are complex human beings. We have conscious thoughts and we also have patterns steeped in shadow.  It’s important to take the time to get a sense of your own sense of power and core abilitites.  That’s where you can start to make internal changes which are long-lasting.

Set your intention for proactive and positive health.  Once this is clear. take action:

1.  Set up health goals

2.  Meditate to awaken self awareness 

3.  Choose someone to help you find deeper clarity and a health sense of Self.  

4.  Become friendly with your own body.

5.  Find healthy activities which you enjoy, and do them!  Start small but stop make excuses.

6.  Prioritize your health because nobody else can do it better than you!

7.  Reach in to find your deeper resources, and then reach out to connect with others in your own comfort zone.

It’s best to be proactive about your health.  Also, it’s never too late. Ultimately only you can make the choices to return you back to your center and healthy embodiment.  

Breathe and be the best you can be.  That is enough!

Sharon Hartnett CST-D

703 509-1792

www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com

6797 N. High #333 Worthington, Ohio 43085

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to Relieve Tension Headaches?

How to Relieve Tension Headaches?

The Steady Ache of Tension Headaches

Find Relief:

  1. Stay Hydrated:  Dehydration can cause tension headaches.
  2. Get Rest:  Headaches can worsen without enough sleep.
  3. Meditate: It focuses and clears your mind.
  4. Scalp Massage helps to loosen the soft tissues on the head.
  5. Ice Your Tension Areas
  6. Cognitive Therapy can help you to Sort things out.
  7. Craniosacral Therapy-deep support for motion in the cranium.  This supports better motion and fluidity in the head.

If you are feeling that tightening pressure around your head, change what you are doing.  Tension headaches are usually patterns.  The good thing is that tension headache patterns can be broken.

As a Craniosacral Therapist, there have been times when I have worked with a person for 5 minutes and a 7 year old headache finally disappeared.  This isn’t always the case, but motion and nourishment can and often shift you right out of pain.  

Quite often, clients who come in once a month after initial sessions end up feeling pain free.  It’s all about the fluids, the softness and giving the head and neck the ability to stay connected to the body.

If you’d like to find out more about how Craniosacral Therapy can work for you, contact:

Sharon Hartnett CST-D
703 509-1792

www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com

6797 N. High St. #333 Worthington, Ohio 43085

 

I Don’t Know How to Feel

I Don’t Know How to Feel

Do You Know How to Feel?

From where I am listening, Billie Eilish is taking music to the next level.  Her songs are helping the younger generation to know how to feel. However, it’s not just Gen Z and Gen Alpha, but truly anyone can appreciate the talent she brings forth through her music.  I am in my 60’s, and her albums call me inward.  I am amazed at her mindfulness,  talent and the messages in her music.

Most recently, I have been listening  to her songs a lot. “What I Was Made For” is just one of the many songs that has touched me. An artist, she creates a story about self- discovery.  She takes us through a journey of healing over and over again through her delicate, gentle, and soft storytelling voice.  My guess is that so many people are awakening to feeling through her sound.

I think about the work I do with Craniosacral Therapy. So much of it is about Healing.  Listening to the music inside of each person, there is a symphony waiting to happen.  An expression.  A Happening.  We only need to tune in and blend into the wave and the rhythm. Although it is a very physical process, it’s similar in that it is a mindful dance with life.  Billie is fortunate, in that she delivers on a huge scale exploring how to feel.  Open minds are fortunate in having life teaching through voice in such a courageous and talented way.

I admire the vulnerability in stating the collective human challenge right now in , “I don’t know how to feel”.  So much of the violence which is happening in the world today is because beliefs get in the way of our protected emotions.  We really are at a stage where it is worth the risk to open up more and be our own artists.

I hope that Billie and more young people catch this groove and continue to expose and be transparent and honest.  We need this in the world today.  As a soon to be grandmother, I enjoy seeing the world change, and the people in it.  Let’s move forward for freedom of individuality, but also in love and acceptance for ourselves and for others.

Break the cycle.  Be open to Learn How to Feel!  Open the door.

Sharon Hartnett CST-D

703 509-1792

www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com

6797 N. High St. #333 Worthington, Ohio 43085

How to Sense Your Body with Somatic Gentle Touch

How to Sense Your Body with Somatic Gentle Touch

What is Somatic Bodywork?

It is a form of body centered therapy that focuses on the living experience of embodiment.  The term, “somatic” comes from the greek word “body”.

There are different schools that teach various approaches to Somatic Bodywork.  Some of them are:  The Hakomi Institute,  The Upledger Institute, The Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute, and Peter Levines’  the Trauma Healing School.

In my past experience of studying Hakomi, SER Therapy, and Trauma Therapy at SPI, I have learned Somatic techniques with both psychotherapists and also bodyworkers.  The boundaries are a bit tricky from both ends due to licensing in each state around touch and therapy. Generally, manual Bodyworkers use somatic-emotional type of therapy to support any type of emotional or spiritual arising that occurs while working with the body primarily within a session.  On the other hand,  psychotherapists focus on the mind body relationship more from a distance.  Yet each state has different laws that must be checked to keep within the license of practice.

Hakomi uses mindfulness as its key to developmental issues and to “heal attachment wounds”.  At SPI, my training was more directed toward supporting any type of trauma that shows up on the table in a session.  While I have not studied the SE Work, my understanding is that is similar to SPI’s focus on trauma.

Basically, what we are working with  is an emotional response to distressing events.  Some call this cellular memory. It is usually something that has not processed all the way through,

All of these modalities, help to release stress, tension and sometimes trauma from the body.  I tend to focus most of my work on the table with gentle Craniosacral Somato-Emotional presence. When something deep or painful arises while I am melded with the person’s body, I may delve into my other techniques to help my clients come to their own deeper inner resources for completion.  Often the healing response comes from sensing within.  Working from a bottom of approach can help to integrate things that are not as available as in only talk therapy.

Remember, that if you are looking for a therapist to help you to heal deeply,  that most programs and schools teach us to create a safe and trusting environment first and foremost.  Still,  it is important to interview and ask your therapist about their experience and backgrounds.  Find the person who fits your needs best.  All therapist have unique approaches.

Somatic Therapy is very helpful because it integrates the mind and body beautifully.

If you have any questions, contact me, and I offer free 10 minute phone sessions.

Sharon Hartnett CST-D

703 509-1792

www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com

6797 N. High #333 Worthington, Ohio 43085

 

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