Getting Through The Hard Times
When you manage to get through the hard times, ‘normality’ can feel so precious. Finally, after a long break of several months, we have been able to get back to teaching the Pantarei Approach training program, again. Even the weather played its part, and we were lucky enough to enjoy 5 beautiful days of warmth, sunshine, and blue skies while teaching.
But can we simply move on?
Our training program includes a variety of exercises, demonstrations, and exchanges of sessions. Truly a great mix. And when our students started to connect more and more to their own bodies, they could feel the excitement and joy of being present and of being back in class. Nevertheless, when you connect to your body and to your emotions, you can feel the depth of your experiences.
Unsurprisingly, when our students allowed themselves to feel all of what their bodies had to say, they also started to feel the effects of recent months. They felt their tiredness, their sadness, their concerns, and their loneliness. Some felt their anger and frustration. Some felt overwhelmed by all the human contact after weeks of deprivation. And many felt the immensity of all that they had missed out on while having to deal with these Covid times.
The topic of this particular module that we were teaching, was: dealing with past experiences. And this is exactly what we found ourselves doing – dealing with the past so that it doesn’t become a burden in the future.
When we acknowledge our past, it can nourish us
How can you get through the hard times?
Acknowledgment and acceptance are the first steps. And receiving sessions that include a hands-on element, allows this part to happen quite naturally. What we witnessed so clearly again in class is that the body knows how to process and digest all that we’ve been through. Breathing allows our emotions to flow, and the hands that touch us, help reduce some of the accumulated tension.
More than anything, receiving sessions, is a reminder that you are not alone; that someone can touch your pain; that somebody sees you and supports you to get through hard times. And later, once the challenge is over, sessions help you digest the experience and direct your focus towards your future once again.
Let your emotions guide you
Your emotions can connect you with your past. And when you are trying to get through the hard times, your emotions can often be negative and heavy. However, your emotions also connect you to who you are as a person. They connect you to what you need, to what you feel, to the ways in which you are developing, and even to what you need in order to heal.
Many students in our class expressed their frustration that their modules needed to be postponed so many times. Frustration per se is not a pleasant feeling. But at the same time, they were expressing how important the training program is for them, how much they wished to graduate and work as certified Pantarei practitioners. When they managed to connect to what their frustrations really represented, their suffering reduced, and they could connect back to their own strengths, vision, and wishes.
Own your story
Brene Bown wrote so beautifully: “Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it”. Just like any other difficult times, the months spent dealing with Covid were tough. Yet, if we manage to embrace all that this implied, we can see how all these challenges have shaped us, have made us grow, and ultimately bring us closer to who we are. We are sure you have grown over the last months and that your unique path in life, while challenged, will find its direction again.
Challenging?
If this all sounds like too much for you to handle alone, and you would prefer to get some support and guidance from a Pantarei practitioner, just reach out to any one of them through our website. They would all be happy to accompany you and to help you get through the hard times. In class, we had hands-on session exchanges and supported each other in the individual integration of our past. And what a pleasure that was.
And, in case you are not yet ready for a session but would like to have a go at using your recent past to strengthen you in your present, we have an exercise that might help:
Ask yourself the following questions:
- What has been particularly meaningful to you over the last few months? What were you satisfied or dissatisfied with?
- How have you developed as a person? What are you grateful for?
- What have you learned that is important to you and you would like to take with you into your present?
Let us know what strengths you have built up over the last months. We would love to read your responses, in the comments below.
Written by Claudia Glowik