I love these questions you’re asking Betsy. As someone who lives much of the time in my head, I’ve found a regular yoga practice and hand-on-heart, hand-on-belly incredibly soothing when I need it. I’m becoming more in tune with my body and as I do so I swear I am becoming more attuned to others’ bodies (birds, spiders, plants, all the more-than-human world) - I’d love to know what that sensory connection is! ❤️
Aaaah, thanks Lynne... and how fascinating! I always found it strange that when my kids got hurt that I would find it very overwhelming for my own body (and brain!) almost like a secondary pain... I'm not sure if that's the same sort of thing. I love however that for you it shows up in the 'more-than-human' world! Incredible...
Also, I have to say, I'm not sure if you feel this is a ''gift' of tuning into yourself more? For me I admit it feels like it would be even harder to regulate, or at least sounds more complicated, which again for me feels like a lot? Or do you find that the more-than-humanness makes them more supportive co-regulators rather than dysregulating? Can you tell I'm intrigued? ;)
Sorry had to break off my flow to go into a meeting but I think i was trying to articulate the inherent soothing nature of connecting with the MTH world. It’s an idea I’m hoping to develop into a book actually, working on the structure now. I think it would be fabulous to have another perspective on this, so let’s keep talking! Xx
Wow. 🤩 just wow. Thank you for this. So many fascinating thoughts and wonderings. It fascinates me that the English language focuses so much on emotions rather than sensations, then bundles both words into ‘feelings’. I love the touch of the clay as it spins on the potting wheel and becomes something other. The focus on the sensation means that my thinking brain shuts right down and the flow gives me steadiness and centres me. Have never thought about that as my interoception~ until now 😊
Aaaah, the clarity you've just shared around why feelings have always felt so 'hard' to me is amazing!! Thank you for that refined reflection :) That's exactly why I love the flow of ideas and seeds that grow in these spaces... and I love that you find your flow in the earth and the force within the spin! x
It’s ironic how established and even cliched the ‘idea’ of tuning into our senses is whilst at the time being a practice so rarely undertaken. We do lean on language so much that it has a tendency to dominate both our external and internal dialogue, well for me anyway. It’s surprisingly novel to spend time without words to allow these other voices of ours a chance to be heard, or more crucially, felt.
Hmmmm, I feel that, connects differently.... I hope you find spaces in your week ahead for lots of those connections Layla... and thanks so much for dropping in! x
While reading the image of a violin with hundred string’s appeared. And how we are taught that it “should” be tuned in one specific way. Sounding like everybody elses.
And we try, try, try so so hard (especially if we are women) and never get there.
So we start to play on a few strings, the ones that seems to resonate with others.
Forgetting the ones that makes us unique.
And one day, they get so warn out they snap. And there we are - still with a lot of strings that we never learnt to know and be with.
(Have no idea how to explain where this came from - but your words usually nudges me into new territories. So instead of thinking “Anna you can’t post this”, I do as you do, add a bit of bravery and post.)
Oh oh oh… how I love it when it passes through you and comes back to me changed, and lighter / clearer somehow.
And how funny about the violin… I played for maybe a year when I was about 10 and made the most horrendous of sounds 🫣😂🤣😂
But yes, to the snapping, and the worn out notes… and the idea of a violin with a hundred strings… aaaaah, expansive, and inviting… thank you my love, always, for sharing like you do from these new territories… it’s always such fun to play with you there 🙌❤️✨🌱
I love this Betsy and this connection with senses and the question, what it feels like to write. I'm going to feel into this tomorrow when I write because this morning it was feeling pointless as I was, most probably overthinking and not getting into a flow state. But everything you write about tuning into the body, about how our nervous system is communicating with us resonates deeply and I still think I'm not listening to mine so these beautiful reminders of things like touch .... treasures. Thank you
Oh I hear you on the days of pointless too… the fog of unfeeling maybe? Possibly these senses are simply tiny little torches that can help us find our way through the dull / sensationless spaces 🤔❤️✨
I missed this piece last week, probably because of the Covid fog so I’m glad I’ve caught up! I absolutely love the felt-sense illustration- thank you for that it makes loads of sense. One practice I’ve started doing is taking my sketch book into the woods. I bring it out as I walk and capture moments - just a few minutes of sketching what I see, and it brings me to a place that is so very still. My mind switches off and just focuses on what I am looking at and what I am drawing. It’s part of my work figuring out about how creativity can bring you to that place, and then also not having to share what you have produced. Purely for a sense of self - and I see it that in a new number of different ways now reading this. Thanks my love x
And I missed this too it seems... I don't know about you sweets, but I still feel like I need to take a Skillshare class on Substack! ;) I massively appreciate the space it offers for words and shared reflections, but I'll admit I'm not yet feeling properly at home in here yet as there are still lots of nooks and crannies that I guess I need to explore.
As for your sketching in the woods... I bloody love it... I haven't done anything like that since wolfie was younger and I tried (for a very short while in the arboretum ;) to start a practice of nature journaling. It was another that didn't last, but one I might feel inspired to start again one day... ;) x
I, too, love the invitations you often end your writing with. I find the flow of your words easy to sync with. I also love how you write visually. What I mean is your words form easy images in my mind and it all just makes perfect sense. Which to me is the signpost of a great writer. I loved getting to see your hand write in the little clip you shared. I also loved the links which are delicious little side quests for my own learning. I think as I digest your thoughts I am mostly allowing the idea that I spend much of my time disassociating from my “felt senses” and I’m unsure why that is. Perhaps because I’ve spent much of my life trying to “tamp them down” so as to make them palatable to others. I do believe I naturally experience big sensations and sensory input if left unfiltered. And that expression whether it be squeals of delight, big tears or loud voice tends to cause problems for others. I suppose that’s part of why I may be trying to tune in to gentleness (my word for the year) so as to smooth the path to more acceptance of my body’s natural way of encountering and interpreting the world. So I shall ponder what it’s like to write and see where it takes me. I know for certain I prefer typing to handwriting when I have something to say. I can type much faster than hand write and the sensation of my fingers flying over the keys combined with the satisfying tap of the keys on the keyboard is quite conducive to feeling in flow for me. It’s like I access the jet stream and can let my thoughts flow freely as opposed to have to work to get them out by pushing them through the slag of graphite on paper and the physical formation of letters and loops can sometimes be distracting. Visually my handwriting makes shapes and patterns that take on art forms I get interested in and then lose track of my own thoughts or what I want to say. Anyways. (Lol) I do suppose I have more to say on the topic and will go off to explore and get back to you, perhaps. Love what you are doing here on Sub-stack. Thank you for sharing.
Oh Amy! Morning my love... I am sorry it's taken me a few days to get around to sitting with your words. Thank you... for all the love, and appreciation (I feel it sparkle on my skin) but also for acknowledging the scale of your senses... and how you have felt a need to shrink them. This also makes so much sense to me as to why we struggle to feel them internally these days. As for writing on a keyboard and the tapping sounds, and flow... yes please to all this too. Sometimes when I type it feels to me like I don't even have to think before the words that just appear... a soft subconscious flow for sure.
Thank you, for sharing, and making my online worlds feel extra sweet and soft these days x
I love these questions you’re asking Betsy. As someone who lives much of the time in my head, I’ve found a regular yoga practice and hand-on-heart, hand-on-belly incredibly soothing when I need it. I’m becoming more in tune with my body and as I do so I swear I am becoming more attuned to others’ bodies (birds, spiders, plants, all the more-than-human world) - I’d love to know what that sensory connection is! ❤️
Aaaah, thanks Lynne... and how fascinating! I always found it strange that when my kids got hurt that I would find it very overwhelming for my own body (and brain!) almost like a secondary pain... I'm not sure if that's the same sort of thing. I love however that for you it shows up in the 'more-than-human' world! Incredible...
Also, I have to say, I'm not sure if you feel this is a ''gift' of tuning into yourself more? For me I admit it feels like it would be even harder to regulate, or at least sounds more complicated, which again for me feels like a lot? Or do you find that the more-than-humanness makes them more supportive co-regulators rather than dysregulating? Can you tell I'm intrigued? ;)
Giant love x
I definitely see it as a gift. Nature has ceased to be an abstract thing, and become more personal if that makes sense.
Hmmm, I love that for you, and I think so… I’m going to listen more for this connection now that I hear what it offers you… x
Sorry had to break off my flow to go into a meeting but I think i was trying to articulate the inherent soothing nature of connecting with the MTH world. It’s an idea I’m hoping to develop into a book actually, working on the structure now. I think it would be fabulous to have another perspective on this, so let’s keep talking! Xx
Wow. 🤩 just wow. Thank you for this. So many fascinating thoughts and wonderings. It fascinates me that the English language focuses so much on emotions rather than sensations, then bundles both words into ‘feelings’. I love the touch of the clay as it spins on the potting wheel and becomes something other. The focus on the sensation means that my thinking brain shuts right down and the flow gives me steadiness and centres me. Have never thought about that as my interoception~ until now 😊
Aaaah, the clarity you've just shared around why feelings have always felt so 'hard' to me is amazing!! Thank you for that refined reflection :) That's exactly why I love the flow of ideas and seeds that grow in these spaces... and I love that you find your flow in the earth and the force within the spin! x
It’s ironic how established and even cliched the ‘idea’ of tuning into our senses is whilst at the time being a practice so rarely undertaken. We do lean on language so much that it has a tendency to dominate both our external and internal dialogue, well for me anyway. It’s surprisingly novel to spend time without words to allow these other voices of ours a chance to be heard, or more crucially, felt.
'time without words', now there's the title for the VR immersive, meditative 'game' / experience I'd like you to make me one day my love!! x
Love this. Grounding, expansion, relief, time is different, the world connects differently.
Hmmmm, I feel that, connects differently.... I hope you find spaces in your week ahead for lots of those connections Layla... and thanks so much for dropping in! x
While reading the image of a violin with hundred string’s appeared. And how we are taught that it “should” be tuned in one specific way. Sounding like everybody elses.
And we try, try, try so so hard (especially if we are women) and never get there.
So we start to play on a few strings, the ones that seems to resonate with others.
Forgetting the ones that makes us unique.
And one day, they get so warn out they snap. And there we are - still with a lot of strings that we never learnt to know and be with.
(Have no idea how to explain where this came from - but your words usually nudges me into new territories. So instead of thinking “Anna you can’t post this”, I do as you do, add a bit of bravery and post.)
Never played violin 🎻 ☺️
Oh oh oh… how I love it when it passes through you and comes back to me changed, and lighter / clearer somehow.
And how funny about the violin… I played for maybe a year when I was about 10 and made the most horrendous of sounds 🫣😂🤣😂
But yes, to the snapping, and the worn out notes… and the idea of a violin with a hundred strings… aaaaah, expansive, and inviting… thank you my love, always, for sharing like you do from these new territories… it’s always such fun to play with you there 🙌❤️✨🌱
I love this Betsy and this connection with senses and the question, what it feels like to write. I'm going to feel into this tomorrow when I write because this morning it was feeling pointless as I was, most probably overthinking and not getting into a flow state. But everything you write about tuning into the body, about how our nervous system is communicating with us resonates deeply and I still think I'm not listening to mine so these beautiful reminders of things like touch .... treasures. Thank you
Oh I hear you on the days of pointless too… the fog of unfeeling maybe? Possibly these senses are simply tiny little torches that can help us find our way through the dull / sensationless spaces 🤔❤️✨
I missed this piece last week, probably because of the Covid fog so I’m glad I’ve caught up! I absolutely love the felt-sense illustration- thank you for that it makes loads of sense. One practice I’ve started doing is taking my sketch book into the woods. I bring it out as I walk and capture moments - just a few minutes of sketching what I see, and it brings me to a place that is so very still. My mind switches off and just focuses on what I am looking at and what I am drawing. It’s part of my work figuring out about how creativity can bring you to that place, and then also not having to share what you have produced. Purely for a sense of self - and I see it that in a new number of different ways now reading this. Thanks my love x
And I missed this too it seems... I don't know about you sweets, but I still feel like I need to take a Skillshare class on Substack! ;) I massively appreciate the space it offers for words and shared reflections, but I'll admit I'm not yet feeling properly at home in here yet as there are still lots of nooks and crannies that I guess I need to explore.
As for your sketching in the woods... I bloody love it... I haven't done anything like that since wolfie was younger and I tried (for a very short while in the arboretum ;) to start a practice of nature journaling. It was another that didn't last, but one I might feel inspired to start again one day... ;) x
I, too, love the invitations you often end your writing with. I find the flow of your words easy to sync with. I also love how you write visually. What I mean is your words form easy images in my mind and it all just makes perfect sense. Which to me is the signpost of a great writer. I loved getting to see your hand write in the little clip you shared. I also loved the links which are delicious little side quests for my own learning. I think as I digest your thoughts I am mostly allowing the idea that I spend much of my time disassociating from my “felt senses” and I’m unsure why that is. Perhaps because I’ve spent much of my life trying to “tamp them down” so as to make them palatable to others. I do believe I naturally experience big sensations and sensory input if left unfiltered. And that expression whether it be squeals of delight, big tears or loud voice tends to cause problems for others. I suppose that’s part of why I may be trying to tune in to gentleness (my word for the year) so as to smooth the path to more acceptance of my body’s natural way of encountering and interpreting the world. So I shall ponder what it’s like to write and see where it takes me. I know for certain I prefer typing to handwriting when I have something to say. I can type much faster than hand write and the sensation of my fingers flying over the keys combined with the satisfying tap of the keys on the keyboard is quite conducive to feeling in flow for me. It’s like I access the jet stream and can let my thoughts flow freely as opposed to have to work to get them out by pushing them through the slag of graphite on paper and the physical formation of letters and loops can sometimes be distracting. Visually my handwriting makes shapes and patterns that take on art forms I get interested in and then lose track of my own thoughts or what I want to say. Anyways. (Lol) I do suppose I have more to say on the topic and will go off to explore and get back to you, perhaps. Love what you are doing here on Sub-stack. Thank you for sharing.
Oh Amy! Morning my love... I am sorry it's taken me a few days to get around to sitting with your words. Thank you... for all the love, and appreciation (I feel it sparkle on my skin) but also for acknowledging the scale of your senses... and how you have felt a need to shrink them. This also makes so much sense to me as to why we struggle to feel them internally these days. As for writing on a keyboard and the tapping sounds, and flow... yes please to all this too. Sometimes when I type it feels to me like I don't even have to think before the words that just appear... a soft subconscious flow for sure.
Thank you, for sharing, and making my online worlds feel extra sweet and soft these days x