Are you like me? Do you observe body postures in other’s? Check out these walking postures….

by Renee Lindstrom, GCFP

Upper & Lower Rotation -locked Head

Upper & Lower Rotation – locked Head

Are you like me? Do you observe body postures in other’s? Even prior to being a movement specialist I focused my attention on people’s body language. I remember a cuz asking me why I was looking at a friend of hers as she was walking towards us. Only I was a teen and didn’t know the answer at that time, which as it turns out is how I take in information!! For me, what people say out loud sometimes and what their body story do not match up. Even at an early age I began listening to body postures, not words!

In this picture above this gal has a nice upper and lower rotation however her head is locked! You can see that her right leg is forward while her left should is rotated forward, however her head is locked in a forward facing position.  What does this mean?  Her movement is not efficient so she is using too much effort in her activity.  What can she do differently?  Unlock her head and let is swing slightly as she moves forward.  Why?  Well let me show you some outcomes of a locked head (securely placed in one position always).

Sitting Posture

Head falling forward – depression, pain & anger

PaperArtist_2015-06-05_07-49-59

Head falling forward – neck, shoulders, ribs, & shoulders frozen


Walking

Beautiful walking rotation posture enabling balance and ease in holding babies weight!

This posture is nice example of upper and lower rotation in walking. His head rotation is looking over his right leg to look at something on that side of him. However, for a more perfect alignment to support his babies weight, his head could be looking over his left leg.

Can you turn your shoulders left and right while turning your head in the opposite direction?

Learn more about your movement @ an upcoming workshop or class @ Monterey Centre – upcoming calendar. Movement focus events are on; Jaw, Balance, Walking, Breathing, Sitting and Self Awareness in Movement.


Copyright 2014 – 2024 Renee Lindstrom, GCFP,
Jaw Release Program since 2007, Authored  Achieving your Goals  31 Day Program, Sleep Sweet Sleep, Kid’s Peace Bus Calendar of Values  Educational Program & InTouch with Your Values Self-Actualization Program.  Feldenkrais® Practitioner since 2007, Communication & Empathy Coach since 2004, Art of Placement  since 2000, Labyrinths of Victoria since 2012, #yyj Peace Week Grassroots Calendar Founder, Vice-Chair of World Children

End food poverty by re-educating a community to harvest free & healthy food resources one garden at a time!

A food diversity re-education program close to home!,

Renee Lindstrom's avatarAwareness through Nature

by Renee Lindstrom, GCFP

_20170424_101328 Edible & Not Edible (Can you see the plastic forks)

DSC_1109 Edible & Not Edible (Can you see the plastic forks)

For educational purposes I have began putting out plastic forks, to represent the plants in my garden that are edible. and little not edible signs beside those that are not edible.  My hope is that those walking by may begin to notice and become curious about the weeds, flowers, plants and trees around them that they can consume free of charge, increasing their health and decreasing their grocery bill. Another hope I have is to encourage my students and clients to become more aware of their environment.  It is imperative to good health for one to become present in their surroundings.

In the Greater Victoria Communities mental illness and homelessness is increasing and there is an ever growing demand for food. Greater Victoria businesses, grocery…

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Phone Guru! Call from Tibet asking me if I am interested in Tantric White Light

by Renee Lindstrom, GCFP

On a cold night in the early winter months I received a phone call. It was on my house phone that normally I don’t answer when I don’t recognize the number. After saying hello the caller asks, “Do you know who I am?” My first thought was, “really?”  I said, “no!”  He went on to say, ” your number has come to me in meditation a few times so I am calling you.”

He goes on to say, “I am Sun and I am calling from Tibet.  I was in Victoria in the fall at the Empress giving a workshop and then he asks, “Did you come?”

Hearing that my number came to him in meditation was suspicious as I believe spirit doesn’t give out phone numbers.  He went on to ask as though to confirm, “you are an energy worker, are you not?”  This is something I don’t announce loudly in my community.  It this is personal to me and woven in my work and teachings.  It is not a persona.   I have witnessed too many people create a guru self-image or persona they haven’t integrated into their behaviour.  My experience is that too many people have been unable to act in alignment with the self-image they portray.  Rather than be a guru, I am interested in each person finding their own guru qualities within themselves.

I reflected that this person did have a slight accent and the phone line did sound hollow in the background.  Hum, I ask myself, is this a new sort of scam? However I was curious and guarded.  This seems to anger him and he began demonstrating his frustration in how he spoke.  His way of speaking was abusive and his manner was power over. He was trying to put me in a victim position  to form of manipulative connection. I thought wow and wondered how many are falling for this?  Is this the direction scammers are going?

I had questioned the direction I wanted to go in the Heart Centered Coaching I do with regards to sexual issues in the week leading up to this call.  I have been the confident of a range of sexual experiences and actions of others and on occasion I reflect how this is for me.  I happened to be in one of these periods of self-reflection.   Listening to this man proclaiming to be a Tibetan Guru asking me if I wanted the Tantric White Light, I wondered if this by chance or was something else at work here?

I heard instructions that fit with ceremony that I was familiar with and in this context, I realized that who ever was speaking with me could see what I was doing.  I looked outside the windows and no one was around.  I could hear others in the house settle for the night and there wasn’t anyone in the house that I didn’t know. That is when I realized the person on the phone was using remote viewing.  He knew if I was doing the actions he was telling me to do.  He knew what room I was in and that I wasn’t obeying his commands.  At this point I was half in and half out of being committed, and now I wanted to know how far it he would go.  I stayed on the line and half heartily followed along.  Eventually there was silence.

During the ceremonial aspect, his instructions became absurd and, whether this was the form of a Tantric White Light Ceremony or not, I do know that in past Tibetan Buddhist ceremonies transmissions as he was suggesting he was preforming is preceded by meditation and extensive teachings that happen in a dedicated retreat.  At the end of such a retreat one is then given a transmission.  This telephone voice was trying to take me through a transmission ceremony with no connection to who he was or what his teaching were.  What was the commitment and responsibility.  Was he trustworthy?  etc., etc.

All the while my inner observer was alive and partly intrigued and partly in shock. Disbelief is how I would describe it.  My concern of course was that this trending tantric phenomenon was becoming a scam.  This man was not invited by me to enter into my space by phone or remote viewing and certainly he was not invited to be my teacher.

As I sensed my space during this phone encounter and his remote viewing, I experienced that his energetic imprint wasn’t strong enough to engage me on a physical, mental or emotional level.  I was intrigued, not convinced or committed but skeptical. Afterwards I had to laugh as the ridiculousness set in.

I did type Tantric into Google search and saw the number of professed Tantric Practitioners with western names in my area.  I thought about the lineage I studied and how the teachers were born into the cultural source of the teachings  that is a lifelong experience.  It was not a weekend, a week or even two.  It used to be a lifetime commitment.

In conversation with a mentor and friend a few days later, I was given a broader context. I heard and agreed with them that even if this person was a Guru from Tibet, they had a lot to learn about Western Culture and behaviour in relationships.  As far as my phone number was concerned, I heard the perspective that my number was given to him by someone here in the community.  I was told that my energy work is well-known here in the community even if I don’t focus on it in any particular way.

In August, 2020 I received a message that this person who calls himself Sun is still active.  I was given a link to a forum that shares posts of him going back as far as 2004.  The site is called Cult Education and the post heading, Sex Crime Alert: Fake Tantra ‘Master’ in Sedona AZ

What I manifested from this personal experience. real or not, was an answer to my inner questions of working with sexual pain people share with me about in our sessions. Whether it is a session for Functional Integration,  the movement releases held sexual tension, in Heart-Centered Empathy Coaching, or healing Personal Environments, sometimes sexual issues need to be witnessed without judgement.

My commitment may have not been to Sun,  however it is to experience sexual healing in a unique Western Way.  Remember,  I am interested in the person becoming their own Guru, not in being their Guru!


by Renee Lindstrom

Awareness Through Living Mentoring Programs Available:

 1st Level – Getting Started (Introduction & Pattern)
 2nd Level – Getting Intouch (Experiencing & Connection)
 3rd Level – Integration (Embodiment)

 

Follow the journey on TwitterInstagram or Facebook

by Renee Lindstrom, GCFP @ Inside Awareness,  Living in Natures Love Blog
Renee Lindstrom Live
Copyright 2014 – 2020 Renee Lindstrom, GCFP

Recent Comment: Thanks very much for your wonderful classes and the way you teach us. I really appreciate that you have given the class a bit of extra time at the end to allow everyone to have their turn. I look forward to truly learning this technique of communicating and experiencing richer relations with people. R

Experiencing Presence through Left Brain, Right Brain Movement Awareness

As I consider today’s Self-Awareness through movement workshop I am searching for a focus point of motivation.  Recent Feldenkrais students have deepened the connection between left and right brain movement actions.  I recognize that this is the intention for today, the balance of the right and left brain in movement that creates  presence in action.

Babies are the most present and aware beings on the planet.  They have to be to be able to teach themselves to roll over, sit up, crawl, stand, walk, run do somersaults and cartwheels.  This will be a good place to focus the workshop participants.  Not on doing cartwheels, exploring babies first movements!


One segment of society that I have consistently worked with this past decade is seniors, men and women.  This includes those with diagnosed conditions and those without.  As my experience of theirs and societies behavioral patterns become more recognizable, I find an urge to begin to write a series to share some aspects that I am discovering that influence false believes of  aging.    If you are interested in learning more, check back in to explore this series!


Recent Comment:  Thank you for the amazing session which helped me to better understand the pain and anxiety issues I’ve been dealing with. Very insightful experience. I felt way more relaxed Friday evening and I’m monitoring myself to help ensure I’m releasing tension and breathing properly. Am impressed by it and by your skills. D

Renee Lindstrom, GCFP,
Jaw Release Program since 2007, Authored  Achieving your Goals  31 Day Program, Sleep Sweet Sleep, Kid’s Peace Bus Calendar of Values  Educational Program & InTouch with Your Values Self-Actualization Program.  Feldenkrais® Practitioner since 2007, Communication & Empathy Coach since 2004, Art of Placement  since 2000, Labyrinths of Victoria since 2012, #yyj Peace Week Grassroots Calendar Founder, Vice-Chair of World Children

Parent – Child Relationship Transformational Cycle transcends species

by Renee Lindstrom
A year ago this month I received a call for help from one of my own kids.  They no longer lived on Vancouver Island so it wasn’t as though I could go and rescue them!  In the ongoing telephone calls of support I learned of a cat that this kid found solace with.  I loved that cat sight unseen!

As plans were made to helicopter this kid out of this situation, I realized the cat would be left, however, I knew that she would be visiting me at some point.  Two to three months later this kid came to stay with me and we made plans to pick up the cat.

The arrival of this small cat was interesting.  She entered as a warrior and strutted around the house like she owned it even though she had never seen it before.  Her tail stood straight out for days and was hard and inflexible.  She behaved like a feral cat.  After two weeks I stood looking at her and told myself that I had to let her go.  I told myself I couldn’t tolerate this and that I had given her enough, yet she hadn’t changed.  Then another inner voice questioned me and said,  “Really! What about the empathy that you have for your students and clients that help them experience transformation.”

Hearing that question I committed to not labeling this cat and to become more empathetic with her.    I realized that her behavior was scaring me.  I had expected a warm and loving cat and what came was a distant, cold warrior! So I became warm and loving.  I anticipated her needs until she began asking for things that she needed. They was an immediate shift!  One day she came up to me at eye level and searched my eyes for a long time.  I can only imagine that she was seeking reassurance.  Over this year I have witnessed and experienced  a complete  transformation as she settles.  She still has a wild nature however I am learning that means she needs to play!

I would have never thought I would become that person who talks about her cat. Well I do!  My other kid who still lives off the island, which means our visits are by phone and on-line,  receives many pictures and stories of the latest heart warming moments with this cat  I experience!

As the anniversary date approaches I have become aware that the kid that came home has also gone through their own transformation.  Prior to coming home I gave some consideration to their status as my kid.  I wondered  and worried if it was my job to tell them everything they were doing wrong and what they needed to fix.  You know,  being mom!  Well I quickly threw that thought into the rubbish!  I decided to accept, empathize and to love unconditionally.  However, what I did decide to do is ask for my needs to be met as they arose in the present!

I began to listen for their needs more closely.  As the kitty cat transformed, so did this kid.  There is more confidence, self-respect, self-assurance and self-love demonstrated. Rather than impart my wisdom on what I think they should be doing, they approach me when they are ready and ask for empathy and/or advice.  The story that unfolds in front of me is of how they are managing their relationships differently and being more assertive in creating their own boundaries in a non-violent or abusive way.  They are also addressing the abusive nature of others reactions in a clear more productive way!

Don’t get me wrong, I do ask questions way about some things that are important for me and that I think could benefit them, however it is not in a way that they feel I know what’s best for them.  It is simply a check in to find out what is important for them.

As my youngest left home, I had four months on my own without kids.  Having this one move back was a no-brain-or for me however, I wondered what it would mean.  You know, what would I have to give up?  Well I am happy to admit to you and myself that I have gained a loving and supportive relationship with a kid that I thought I had lost as they went their own way.

One of the ways that deepened this relationship was their observation of how I was with their cat, believe it or not.  Many times I saw them look at the two of us, the cat and I, in a funny way.  They had left home with a perception of mom that was based upon their own experience of wanting (not getting their needs met).  Now they where actually witnessing a different pattern than what they interpreted in their teen years when we had opposing needs! As they started to recognize the loving connection between the cat and I, they allowed themselves to experience the loving connection that they didn’t know or forgotten was there!

This cat has created the experience that I imagine most moms and kids experience with grand-babies!    Taking care of my own children gave me the opportunity to have empathy for my own parents and now I wonder if grand-babies would also enhance compassion and understanding!  My parents were gone prior to the birth of my children so I will have to experience it with my kids, kids!

What about your parenting experiences?  Are you letting your children have autonomy?  Are you building relationships with your young adult children or are you still trying to parent them?


I began a personal practice of Nonviolent Communication in my home in 2001. My children where five and 7 and one – half years old.  I believe those studying Nonviolent Communication in the Greater Victoria Region all began in around 1999.  For me, I believe my children and others whose parents began studying at the same time,  have been immersed in this communication through the modeling of the parents through out their life. Therefore it is in their behavior and apart of their cultural understanding.    I have observed a huge difference in their behavior and that of  myself and those I grew up with.
Renee Lindstrom

Transitioning from Language of Conflict into Language of Connection (based on Nonviolent Communication)

Recent Comment:  I love your cogent analysis of emotions = energy + story. So, emotions – story = energy freed. Yeh! thx, pat zzz
Recent Comment: Thanks very much for your wonderful classes and the way you teach us. I really appreciate that you have given the class a bit of extra time at the end to allow everyone to have their turn. I look forward to truly learning this technique of communicating and experiencing richer relations with people.
Lifescapes (Landscapes)
Learn more about Nonviolent Communication by author Dr. Marshall Rosenberg

Renee Lindstrom, GCFP,
Jaw Release Program since 2007, Authored  Achieving your Goals  31 Day Program, Sleep Sweet Sleep, Kid’s Peace Bus Calendar of Values  Educational Program & InTouch with Your Values Self-Actualization Program.  Feldenkrais® Practitioner since 2007, Communication & Empathy Coach since 2004, Art of Placement  since 2000, Labyrinths of Victoria since 2012, #yyj Peace Week Grassroots Calendar Founder, Vice-Chair of World Children

If something is broken in your relationship how does it affect your family?

Are you doing this:

by Renee Lindstrom

because you want this:

couple-814825_960_720

Six months ago a caravan parked on our local street.  It was a young family; mom, dad, two kids, two cats and a dog,  arriving to set up a home planning to rent a  house temporarily until finding their own dream home in the Greater Victoria Region.  Dad had grown up here and wanted to raise his young kids on the West Coast.

The reason the husband shared his story is they wanted to block access to my home with their vehicles for a few days.  In speaking with him I had deja-vu. Some friends had traveled with him and his family and you could tell they had partied and enjoyed their travel time.  I wondered how it would be for them to move into a home where the earlier occupant also loved to have a good time with a revolving door of visitors that enjoyed a good drink or two!  The previous occupant was a friend and  hung around for a few weeks in party mode as they unpacked and settled.

With the previous tenant’s lifestyle influence and one partners love of partying   it wasn’t a happily ever after experience for them.  By December, 3 months later, a house had been bought, however not in the Greater Victoria Region.  One was purchased in the town they had recently traveled from.   When he told me he wanted to block my access to load up again, he shared a bit of his story.    He said it was important to move for the kids and to stop partying.  I could tell he was hung over.  Wow!

I felt empathy for him and his little family.  Being on this side of some life similarities, and with my training, I recognized his move to Victoria was a strategy to full fill something that wasn’t working for him in his lifestyle. He is travelling back into that same environment and states this choice is more important than his needs.   As he speaks his mannerisms tell that he isn’t convinced and not in agreement with this decision.  It’s been made for him. He says that it’s been a six month party and it was time to get serious.

I wondered if her intention is to be close to family and set up a home for the kids to meet her needs for safety and support in the event that they can’t resolve their differences.  I know as a mom that would have been my priority if my needs for shared values were not met in my marriage.  Hell, that happened to me!  We didn’t have shared values and I raised my kids alone!   My hope, for this young couple, is that they find a way to work through the reasons for travelling across the country in the first place.   Was it to try to find the aliveness that may have gone out of the relationship?

Three things I would have suggested once they arrived in Victoria:

  1.  Be aware of how an earlier occupant of a house can influence your experience.
  2. Choose to clear a house by setting your intention for the home you want to create.  Don’t fall into an earlier pattern.
  3. Take ownership of the space and set boundaries!

Three things I  would recommend for them now setting up a new home as they arrive to their new house:

  1.  Each of them check in and write out what is meaningful for the in  three areas:  1.  Relationships, 2.  Family & Home, 3.  Community
  2. Each of them take turns and honesty express what these are with a  willingness to hear and create new ones together.
  3. Follow the above three steps.

I hope they will take the time to do the above however they will not be arriving together.  One has gone ahead to set up the new house while the other is closing the other.  It may be one’s already claimed the space and the other will be a visitor!  I hope not!!!!!

This  story stimulated reflection of my earlier post:  How a previous murder influenced my marriage!  As I write this one a raven is calling and the snow is falling!

 


Transitioning from Language of Conflict into Language of Connection (based on Nonviolent Communication)

Recent Comment:  I love your cogent analysis of emotions = energy + story. So, emotions – story = energy freed. Yeh! thx, pat zzz
Recent Comment: Thanks very much for your wonderful classes and the way you teach us. I really appreciate that you have given the class a bit of extra time at the end to allow everyone to have their turn. I look forward to truly learning this technique of communicating and experiencing richer relations with people.
Lifescapes (Landscapes)
Learn more about Nonviolent Communication by author Dr. Marshall Rosenberg

Renee Lindstrom, GCFP,
Jaw Release Program since 2007, Authored  Achieving your Goals  31 Day Program, Sleep Sweet Sleep, Kid’s Peace Bus Calendar of Values  Educational Program & InTouch with Your Values Self-Actualization Program.  Feldenkrais® Practitioner since 2007, Communication & Empathy Coach since 2004, Art of Placement  since 2000, Labyrinths of Victoria since 2012, #yyj Peace Week Grassroots Calendar Founder, Vice-Chair of World Children

 

How a previous murder influenced my marriage!

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On Feb 24th I wrote about conflict in neighbors relationships and boundaries.  I mentioned how sometime previous to buying one of  the houses I wrote about, the neighbor next door murdered the owner of the house.  The house had been let go from rental occupancy and that is what thought we were getting.  A rental fixer upper!

On the day we were moving in, the neighbor,  now living in the murderers house, walked over and told us about the history of our two properties.  I come from a family of tall people and this person didn’t have quiet their height, however the body posturing was massive.    My partner and I felt uncomfortable.  We found out this person was R.C.M.P. and I remember thinking I should feel pleased as it would be safe, yet my instincts didn’t match up.  Thinking back,  this was an experience where someone is trying to have power over me.

Hearing this news was unwelcome and it changed my expectations, hopes and dreams for this house.  I thought it could be our forever home.  It had that much potential.  First of all not knowing where the owner was shot in the house began a personal obsession.  I never knew if I would find anything each time we pulled up an old floor, baseboard, carpet or wall panel.  Finally it got the best of me and I did some research.  I found out it was on the front steps coming into the house.  This was the worst news possible!  I know this news had my  full focus of attention.  It was disturbing and I did not have the skills to understand what needs were not met or how to process it!  The front door is the entrance to the house and where life enters.  Here a life had been taken!

Even for a short time living in that house I can say it was never  a home.  Living in this space actually brought out unethical behaviors in both myself and my partner.  Not obvious at first.  It started off with small issues and experiences and was the catalyst for our break up!  In that house we stopped trying to process our differences and began meeting our needs in other ways.  We experienced conflict, violence, unethical drunken behavior and  sexual betrayal, depression mental, emotional and physical pain.  All in a short space of time!

When the house sold my partner and I had already found separate living arrangements and had split up our assets.  Had I known then how a space can define your experience. who knows, perhaps there could have been something that could have been done to support resolving our differences more ethically.  We resolved them, however with  struggle, pain and deception.

How are you resolving your differences?  In the above experience, I would now focus on a process of speaking honestly and listening with more empathy.  I would also process my pain at hearing someones life had been taken in the space I was living in with my partner. I would extensively cleanse the house energetically and spiritually.  I may even bring in the local aboriginal elders to bless the home and support a shift in the space.  An unconscious intention had been created by the violent action and the cleansing would create a new intention for the space.


Transitioning from Language of Conflict into Language of Connection (based on Nonviolent Communication)

Recent Comment:  I love your cogent analysis of emotions = energy + story. So, emotions – story = energy freed. Yeh! thx, pat zzz
Recent Comment: Thanks very much for your wonderful classes and the way you teach us. I really appreciate that you have given the class a bit of extra time at the end to allow everyone to have their turn. I look forward to truly learning this technique of communicating and experiencing richer relations with people.
Lifescapes (Landscapes)
Learn more about Nonviolent Communication by author Dr. Marshall Rosenberg

Renee Lindstrom, GCFP,
Jaw Release Program since 2007, Authored  Achieving your Goals  31 Day Program, Sleep Sweet Sleep, Kid’s Peace Bus Calendar of Values  Educational Program & InTouch with Your Values Self-Actualization Program.  Feldenkrais® Practitioner since 2007, Communication & Empathy Coach since 2004, Art of Placement  since 2000, Labyrinths of Victoria since 2012, #yyj Peace Week Grassroots Calendar Founder, Vice-Chair of World Children