Renewing Yourself for Spring- A Personal Journey

I was asked to write about ways to renew yourself for spring. My first thought was, “Oh no, am I doing anything that would count as ‘renewal’ aside from chasing down my accountant to get my taxes straight (from 2007 no less)”! Or having the urge (I didn’t say I did anything about it) to clean out every one of my drawers. Then it hit me like a bolt of lightning, I have been on a personal journey of major renewal for the past 3 weeks.
I’m not talking about getting out more to walk because it’s lighter at the end of the day or trying to fit in a yoga class or two. No, I’m talking about radical personal transformation. I am cleaning out my body and my mind in completely new ways. There is nothing subtle about going to a new doctor thinking they might have some easy little trick that will leave me feeling so much better, and instead walking out with a treatment plan that includes overhauling everything I currently put into my body, flushing out the junk that has already accumulated with supplements and de-tox shakes, giving up my favorite food group: cookies, cupcakes, and brownies, and a total spinal re-alignment program. Yikes!!!! I left with an agreement to see the doctor 3 times a week for the next 4 weeks. That was just week #1.

Week #2 brought about a less than delightful, unexpected surprise. While at a conference for the current approaches to treating trauma, I was triggered emotionally, in a big way. All of my un-healed “stuff” came bubbling up to the surface and refused to re-submerge. I chose to reach out for help and asked my trauma-expert girlfriend, Barbara, for a referral. Sometimes it helps to have therapists as friends! In the midst of all of this, I’m trying to limit my gluten intake, take all these infernal supplements, gulp down the gritty “health shake” twice a day, and make sure I’m doing my neck -traction exercises! All the while moaning to my doctor about how difficult this is, and how I’m not doing it perfectly as I refuse to feel like I’m on a diet.

Week #3 I’m a little better at taking the supplements, cutting out bread when given the choice, but explaining firmly to my doctor that I WILL be eating anything I want for my birthday weekend. All bets are off! Besides, I’m sluggish, ill-tempered, and I have a headache everyday (caffeine withdrawal most likely). I’m back in psychotherapy with a woman who specializes in somatic experiencing and EMDR (eye movement deprogramming and reprocessing) which are the latest in cutting edge techniques for relieving trauma. I’ll admit that I used to consider EMDR nothing more than voodoo. But now I’ve had to eat my words since there is hard science behind its use. Then again, I also thought I had already “done my work”. So here I go…again!

Am I renewed? Well, all of the cells in my body soon will be. And while my mind and spirit are on the path to renewal, patience has never been my strong suit. In the meantime, I felt the need to be revived, inspired, and refreshed. My answer came in the form of a People magazine article.

Besides all the actio
I’m currently taking to “renew” myself, I’ve found someone who is doing something in the world that inspires me. Mickey Cassellas is a physical therapist for Children’s Hospital in Boston and for the dancers of the Boston Ballet. 7 years ago she started an innovative dance program teaching ballet to children with Down syndrome. With help from some wonderful dancers at the Boston ballet and physical therapists from Children’s Hospital the adaptive dance program has been giving children who otherwise would never have had the chance to dance an experience to blossom.

I finished the article and was convinced that “I can do this too.” I’m a psychotherapist with 17 years of ballet training. Although that training was many years ago, dance never leaves your soul. I’ve since been on a mission to secure a studio space, contacted the executive director of The Down Syndrome Association of Los Angeles who was absolutely thrilled with the idea, and am trying to find a ballet company that is committed to bringing dance to some very special children with some very special abilities. I was fortunate enough to speak to Mickey Cassellas herself this week and have her blessing to continue her work in Los Angeles. My advice on renewing yourself for spring is to try something completely new. I did, and I’ll let you know how it’s going.

Please let me know what inspires you and what form renewal is taking in your life. We all have different paths, but for me, walking hand in hand with a Down syndrome child who knows nothing but love and acceptance, is the path for me.