PERSONAL GROWTH

SURRENDER

By Brenda Grosenick

Waking up with a heart of gratitude from the grace of yesterday is always my gift to myself. Spending a few minutes in the sacred space between the worlds of subconscious and conscious awakening, invoking blessings

“TENSION IS WHO YOU THINK YOU SHOULD BE.

RELAXATION IS WHO YOU ARE” - Chinese Proverb

for the day ahead, is often my source of strength.

It’s truly a magical place…. but then, my feet hit the floor, and all the left-over things written on my yellow sticky note from the day before start filling my mind. Fear creeps in and I am reminded of the reality that the world is in chaos. There is an unprecedented level of anxiety, families are in despair, people avoid each others touch, businesses struggle to survive… I’m sifting through conflicting information that’s constantly tugging on my brain and my heart.

Surely, I am not alone – surely, you’ve felt it, too - a dreadful and unwelcomed presence. One that triggers shadow pieces. One that always brings us to a pause point. A choice point. A canvas to paint our day on. It’s here, in this sacred space that I remember who you and I justly are: innocent and free, alive and awake in the moment, eloquent creations of Divinity, powerfully

In the Presence of my Feelings

It’s all too easy to fall into panic and hopelessness, allowing myself to feel overwhelmed by the literal heaviness of helplessness, uncertainty and vulnerability…. this is not the experience with which I choose to shape my day. I understand how vital it is to accept the presence of all my feelings, without censorship, even the uncomfortable ones. Denying them only puts me in a perpetual state of inner conflict. Bypassing my emotions is akin to imprisoning them, like stuffing a genie in a bottle. This has only ever taken me to a deeper sense of disempowerment and disengagement from my true self. My “undesirable” emotions are not optional experiences, but I can be a genius at avoiding them. Emotions that I deny a voice or a playground, become embodied, truly captured in my tissues. Over time, they demand their release, creating the perfect pressure required to pop the cork…liberating the genie….only… it’s not here to do my bidding, it’s here to create some pandemonium to get my attention, often showing up as reoccurring, unexplained aches and pains.

The Language of the Body

The language of the body is beautifully symbolic. The lower back is a common place for pain to appear if we have been “sitting on resentment” and storing repressed anger. Pain in the chest area can arise from deep sorrow, loss, or a broken heart. A headache can manifest to warn us of burn out, reminding us to let go of the illusion of control, and tension in the neck and shoulders can be telling us that we are shouldering too many responsibilities.

“The cure for the pain is in the pain.” ~Rumi

The Cure for Pain

We’ve got to feel it to heal it! So, after I accept and feel what’s showing up in my emotional landscape and my body, and practicing a few of my clearing rituals, receiving a relaxation massage is my favorite way to usher out the residual energy of emotional debris.

“In every culture and in every medical tradition before ours, healing was accomplished by moving energy.” Albert SzentGyorgyi

My body and yours keep a physical memory of all our experiences. They never forget, but given permission, they can graciously heal and thankfully release.

Falling onto the massage table, we surrender. Tension, resistance to letting go - we get out of our own way, allowing the energy of all that no longer serves our highest well being. To release. An inner state of peace and calm begins the transformation, from the inside out.

As a practicing massage therapist, I surrender my ego, and bringing a deep experiential wisdom to the table. I lead with intuition, aware that I can facilitate the clearing of emotions for my clients. My own lifepath has brought me to a richer knowing of the language of the body and the spirit. My hands see through flesh and tissue. The power of human touch is at the heart of mending, and our world needs it now, perhaps more than ever.

Brenda Grosenick is a co-founder and co-owner of Edwards & Holloway Health & Wellness and the Alberta Institute of Massage, both established in Red Deer for over 26 years. She is a visionary and considers herself to be a healing artist, bringing different modalities together to best serve her clientele.

Release is Daily Work

How can we bring ourselves back to that place of sweet “surrender” when we are not on the massage table?

Meditate to become more present and conscious of muscle tension as it arises, soften around your pain, investigate it. REALLY feel it, surrender, honor it and release it Draw a bath, add some Epsom salts and essential oils, such as, lavender, bergamot, frankincense, or eucalyptus. Light some candles to create a calming, sensory experience and wait 5 minutes to allow the salts to dissolve and the oils to release their magic State Affirmations, with feeling… signaling your body that it is safe to surrender.

I ALLOW MY BODY TO BECOME AN ENVIRONMENT FOR PEACE AND HEALING.

I AM ABLE TO PROCESS, METABOLIZE, AND RELEASE ALL EMOTIONS THAT NO LONGER SERVE MY HIGHEST WELL BEING.

Kneel at the altar of not knowing, surrender, and let the universe handle the details.