Many lives in one: synthesis

I had an interesting insight recently, on the bodywork table.  I want to blend all of my lives into one.  Allow me to explain.

I seem to lead multiple lives.  And somehow I mostly do it in a healthy manner.  There are very few people in my circle of friends who know all that I do.  For instance, from 2004 to 2007, I taught astrology classes and I continue to see astrology clients to this day – although school is keeping me quite busy and it is rare to do many charts in a given year.  But that could be considered one life.  Another life is my bodywork.  This feeds me, this is my self care, my rock, my foundation.  I have done so much work on my body that somatic information is the clearest, purest, no-strings-attached information I can possibly access.  When my autonomic nervous system is activated, I know it pretty quickly – just check in with my digestion or my skin (or my brain stem if I am near the verge of overwhelm and shock).  And I have tools to resource my ANS to come back to self-regulation and if I need assistance, I call one of the many great practitioners Charlottesville has to offer.

Meditation and Dharma practice are rewarding, insightful, grounding and enhancing for the intuition and clarity.  However I am constantly surprised by how it is possible to have spiritual experiences on the bodywork table.  It is as if emotional-process-oriented and resourcing bodywork get us in touch with the source of life.  The source that we come from before we are born and then we swiftly forget.  It can be very powerful stuff.  So bodywork is yet another life – there are people who only know me as a bodywork teacher / assistant.  And my Dharma practice and supportive sangha is yet another life.  That is three so far…

I mentioned school.  I am in nursing school at the local community college.  This is by far the people who know me least.  I rarely, if ever reveal my astrological knowledge to them.  I do mention the bodywork from time to time, but only if it seems particularly poignant.  But this is definitely another life – my first semester of nursing school had me studying, going to clinical and labs for close to 40 hours a week.  And for a few weeks this current semester, I will go over 40 hours!  And I have not even mentioned my primary job.  I wait tables at an elegant restaurant in a beautiful resort in Charlottesville Virginia.  This is where I spend 30 – 50 hours a week, year-round.  And this is definitely another life.

I am slowly getting into the PPN birth process work with Myrna Martin (and Kate White and Janet Evergreen).  And the group I was a part of in British Columbia, Canada was about the most supportive sangha (without sharing a common religious path) I have ever encountered.  The energetic container up there was so potent, so juicy, so safe and supportive that my nervous system calmed down to levels of relaxation and ease I had not felt in years.  I would love for my life to be able to support more time spent doing this type of work!  (And this could be yet another life to add to my list.)  I am still in touch with several people from that group and if I had the time, I would check in with all of them on a monthly basis.

So that is five (or six) lives right there.  My intention, is to blend all of these lives into one.  I want my work to be who I am, to be what I love, to benefit others, to facilitate healing.  Hopefully when I graduate from nursing school, I may get a glimpse of what I am meant to do.  Because honestly I think that if I were to work in a hospital, that would be a waste of my skills and my brain.  Unless I can work with mothers and infants – perhaps being a certified nurse midwife?  If I was to take nursing to the next level, I would want to do research into the cutting edge area of trauma research.  To look at how early childhood adverse experiences lead to future disease.  The A.C.E. study has flung these doors wide open and I want to explore this area further.

If I don’t go in that direction, then I’m not sure where I will land with the trauma resolution bodywork.  Somatic Experiencing is a great modality.  And blended with the PPN knowledge and polyvagal resourcing, is an incredibly potent combination.  Maybe I will walk in similar footsteps to Janet Evergreen – my main bodywork mentor and teacher.  She is a profound spiritual healer in the Charlottesville area and I am extremely fortunate to be one of her senior students and friends.

Right now though, nursing school plus work are keeping me on my toes.  It is my intention to recognize the value of time, to treasure a day off and not waste it.  If anything, nursing school teaches time management.  May all beings do virtuous activity with their free time.

Hopefully soon I can start to blend all my lives together into one.

Thanks for reading!

Kirby moore