Holiday Traditions: Recovery Edition

I know everyone thinks of holiday traditions as something that happens before or during the holidays but I've found TWO new post-holiday traditions:

This is myself and the fam (although Rue isn't in the photo) sledding down my brother and sister in-law's front yard in WI. It was a brief but delightful escape to decompress from what feels like a holiday grind.

And now, after 4 successful years of the Observatory membership program, my second holiday recovery tradition is kicking off the new year with a free 4 Day Healing Reset.

Each day next week, I will guide you through "Snow Globing", one of the four Craniosacral Zones to process and dissipate, reveal and heal the chaos that prevents you from feeling relaxed, calm and focused in everyday life.

1. Mark your calendar to join me next Monday through Thursday. You don't have to be live with me but schedule 15 minutes in your calendar to follow along with these guided self-care exercises that looks like meditation, releases like bodywork and heals like therapy.

2. Click here to sign up for the free program.

3. After you sign up, you can also grab my free 30 minute workshop to get started and feel better now.

Do you have holiday recovery traditions? Post in the comments below and share how - you do you.

Stay awesome,
Aimee

PS - This 4 Day Healing Reset is free next week but will be turned into a paid product the following week. I'd reeeeeeeally like to give you this reset for free so I hope you'll join me!

I really want you to click on this.

Can you do me a favor real quick?

Click here and let me know what you think?

If you don’t have a comment, I’ll take that as a “It’s fine, Aimee. Stop bothering me.”

I promise I’m not bamboozling you. It’s fun.

Until next time, stay awesome.
Aimee

PS. Okay, if you must know…these are CST zone images a graphic designer whipped up so clients can go deeper into the work on the table and in online group sessions. I’d love to hear your thoughts on it - shoot me an email.

How to feel better on every level

Last week, we talked about how your stress wants to get out of your body but that isn't always easy. Despite your best efforts, sometimes it can feel like there's a tension "residue" that you can't quite put your finger on and don't know how to fix. Enter Craniosacral Therapy because that is it's specialty! Craniosacral Therapy treats the elusive, unseen layers. Take this moment to connect inward, as you find out how some Observatory students describe this hard-to-describe process:

"I feel like the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz - I keep losing my straw from daily physical and emotional struggles. But Craniosacral self-care enables me to replenish what is lost and to retain more and more each time. I feel less stressed everyday just knowing I this self-care will always come to my rescue." - Sue Y.

"When I had an in person CST treatment with Aimee to help with TMJ issues, I came out with less jaw pain and feeling 20 pounds lighter on an emotional level. She explained the TMJ will always be there or come back if I don't deal with how my body is holding the tension patterns. So I signed up for The Observatory - my first time ever trying meditation. That is when I started to feel like me again! Healing the TMJ became a gateway into layers of relief I didn’t know I needed. I’ve become a different person – a much better version of myself. The shift in my mindset has been life changing for not only me but my family too. They noticed the change in me within a couple months. I am happier, kinder, fun again and it was all due to the self-healing classes and the work I was putting in between classes." - Jo R.

"Your comments in class are often so timely and validating! While I don't always keep up with every aspect of the awareness exercises, just having you acknowledge one thing I’ve been feeling always makes a huge difference in my stress. It helps me to “unlock” where I’m stuck. Thank you for holding the space for me to process." - Deb T.

"Practicing Craniosacral self-healing has helped me be a calmer person. When I start to feel pain/stress in my neck/back I’m more aware that it’s time to mediate - or at least take some time for myself. It’s easier to not get as frustrated over things and am much better at forgiving myself for not “getting everything done” on a daily basis. A big part of that is taking the time in these classes to see the whole picture, learning to make a more reasonable To Do lists and to prioritize things to help achieve long term goals." - Eileen S.

If this sounds like something that could transform your everyday stress too, then you need to sign up for the free 7 Day Beginner's Challenge happening in March - in the new app!

For good health and happiness,

Aimee

What your stress and tension really wants for Valentine’s Day

To understand what your stress and tension really wants, we must first be honest about what your stress and tension really is.

Stress is your reaction to life - unreacted. Stress is your reply to what happens around you but is stuck within. Your physical tension, mental chatter and emotional irritability are the compartmentalized responses to the day that have not been allowed out. That said, I probably don’t need to tell you what they really want for Valentine’s Day…to get out - completely!

Now, sometimes you can discharge stress with a good workout, venting to a friend or detaching with screen time. However, while these can help you cope with the superficial intensity, it doesn’t always heal the more subtle charges in your mind-body (nervous) system. And as a sensitive, intuitive, mindful person, you know this superficial relief isn’t usually enough. You know you need to be able to fully let go – physically, mentally, emotionally, consciously and unconsciously. More importantly, your stress and tension wants that too! It wants to be released from all your layers for a relief you can feel on every level.

Curious, what that feels like? Next week, you’ll hear about it from a few folks.

For your health and happiness,

Aimee

PS – I am so very excited to be launching an app where you can easily access all this Craniosacral self-healing goodness and the like-minded community in one easy (non-social media) spot. Stay tuned for the exact timing as well as the free 7 Day Beginners Challenge happening, in the app, in March.

My word of the year is REGULATION.

I sat in my car with a blank gaze. I must have looked like a nut, sitting there motionless with messy hair and wrinkle lines across most of my face. But you know what I’m talking about – the post massage buzz.

I just had a wonderful 90 minute treatment that squeezed away the back pain, the results of breaking up the sidewalk ice last week. Because I was having trouble forming a thought, I knew I wasn’t present enough to drive the car. So I grabbed for my planner (yes, I still use a written one) to pull myself back to earth. As I read through my very aspirational to-do list for the week, I could feel my chest get heavy and panic resettle into my jaw. I’m happy to say that my back remained loose but as I chased away the mental fog of the treatment, I also chased away the false inner peace of my massage.

You see, massage is wonderful at squeezing tight muscles into submission, which can allow you the space to catch your breath. However, your mental and emotional discomfort hasn’t changed. How you feel about life circumstances remains the same. How you view, or can’t see, your next best step hasn’t changed.

This is why my word of the year is regulation. Relaxation is nice but regulation opens the door for lasting change. While the two concepts are indeed related, they are not the same. Basically, regulation is being able to relax your mind-body (nervous) system while functioning, carrying on in life. There is co-regulation and self-regulation. Co-regulation is why people love practicing meditation in groups. It is also what your children need from you in order to learn and master their own self-regulation. And of course, self-regulation is where you need to be in order to offer co-regulation to friends, family, co-workers and everyone around you.

Here’s the thing…

You must first master relaxation to be equipped for any kind of regulation. Most meditations out there can help you build your relaxation skills, just like a good massage. In our Craniosacral self-care program, we call this level of meditation - settling. At the beginning of every class we settle before moving into revealing, healing and regulating. More on those other three another time, but if you are ready to give the first step a try - click here for this month’s free mini-reset. This three-minute guided awareness exercise features our Space Decompression Settling.

For and with you in healthy and happiness,

Aimee

PS – Next week you’ll have limited time access to one of my regulating resets. So be sure to practice this settling reset a few times this week. It will prime your nervous system to get the most out of the next one.

The worst New Year's intention you can have when it comes to self-care.

In the quiet, cold Chicago air, all I heard were the synchronized rhythms of shovels stabbing at ice. My neighbor and I looked up and laughed because we realized we were making our own musical hybrid of Stomp and Frozen. When we finally made our way to where the property lines met, we got to talking about the new year.

While we both don't do resolutions, we discussed how we do enjoy the refreshing new outlook of the new year. But then she made the terrible statement I hear from people all the time about self-care, "I'm definitely going to meditate more. I know it would be good for me."

Obviously, this intention breaks all the rules of a SMART goal (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound). A SMART version of this could be, "I'm going to meditate for at least 5 minutes every week to relax my body and get out of my head."

But even this SMART goal is missing key components that could prevent failure or another year of falling off track. This intention is missing the support system that will help you succeed. Here is how I would rewrite that New Year's self-care intention:

I'm going to learn a self-awareness framework that I can use to self-regulate in everyday life as well as to guide me through the life changes I'm experiencing. I'm going to sign up for an ongoing program that supports ongoing success. A program with real time support so I can easily overcome getting stuck, feel accountability without guilt, as well as evidence-based content that keeps my practice interesting and practical.

But even if meditation isn't your goal, I invite you to first consider identifying the right support system. It is really hard to consistently maintain a self-care practice by yourself when you're already exhausted.

In health and happiness,

Aimee

PS - Did you notice I used the term regulated instead of relaxed? There is a very important distinction here and I'll talk more about that next week.