Mountain olive groves.
Sitting amidst the ancient olive grove, I had an overwhelming feeling of coming home.
Not necessarily to the land here in Spain, although this place does feel familiar to me in ways I can’t explain. I am loving being here with Lizzie who is developing a creatively rich dwelling at Casa Verde in Lanjaron and on her mountain land, which is where I am today.
But the sensation I am speaking of has more to do with my sense of coming home to myself than the actuality of where I am.
This new emergent and altogether more defiant aspect has been growing since my all clear in 2022.
In this place, in this now, I feel the almost tangible taste of the life that is forging ahead of me. Do you ever get those sensations in your own life? Those curls and pulls of your future tugging you along with playful verve. It is satisfying to say the least.
Today I filmed a few mini videos of some Qi Gong that will form a part of the upcoming day that I am running with another lovely friend, Che, back in the Uk.
She has a very creative and interesting approach to meridians within her remedial body work and there feels to be a spacious place of possibility and delicious delight in this planning and development stage. I suspect for us both.
Collaborative joining of forces to unravel Traditional Chinese Medicine, or at least a small part of it. Though it is such a huge body of medicine and I can only touch upon tiny aspects of it.
Its the magic inherent in this form that moves me. The parts of TCM that have, well, healed me through my sojourn with breast cancer.
Five element theory, Qi Gong, yin yan, dan tians, acupressure, Wuji, Tao and more have all become second nature to my life. Some might say like a chosen family that pushes me to become, to understand and to be.
This body of medicine and the Chinese way of perceiving it is far removed from our Western ideology of living. Being a westerner I can but sumise, but it feels true to say that the incessant linear pull to cause and effect, or ‘how to’, and the accumulative mindset of the West, has little bearing on how TCM functions.
It is a literal different language. Pictogram forms instead of words written down the page instead of across. That in itself speaks volumes when one is to consider translation on any level.
A language that encapsulates the natural elemental phases and cyclical flows within and without each of us.
A poetry of health etched in fine lines and points across the body. Where the way in which you talk, move and sound, offers as much indication of your tendancies and imbalances as any diagnostic health protocol.
There is relevance in this ancient medicine now. And as I sit here today doing some preparations for this workshop, I feel happy in the knowledge that in my own small way, I may help to infuse others with the magic of TCM.
So, homecoming is here upon me. Bless the olive trees. The air is colder now and I need to move, so onward.
This journey of learning to live is spectacular!
To learn more about my workshop go to www.wildrelys.com
To find out about workaway at Lizzies place in Lanjaron go to Fb Lizzie Woolfenden
To find out more about Che Barnes my co-conspiritor in TCM go to www.cosmicteapot.co.uk