By Mary Reis
Why do we love the things we love? Or the people we love? My son, before he could even talk, LOVED earth moving equipment. When we drove by construction sites I would hear him in the back seat, grunting like a chimp, “Ooo, ooo, oooo!”. He would point at the machines, turning his body to watch them until the limit of the car seat straps. We would even ride the bike to construction sites so he could get a good view and watch for as long as he wanted. He came into this world with his own personality, his own set of likes and dislikes, and as it turned out, backhoes, bulldozers, front-end loaders and tractors topped his list in the early days.
I was an athlete for the first half of my life. I loved to play most anything with the kids on my block when I was growing up. I joined youth sports early, and played on school teams all the way up into college. Something about the physicality brought me great satisfaction — I just loved playing. And I was completely absorbed in whatever the activity was. There wasn’t anywhere else I would rather be when I was playing. And to this day, if you are throwing a frisbee, I will want to join you 🙂
There is something to these early attractions & loves that teach us about the realm of the heart. By allowing ourselves to immerse in the pure enjoyment of whatever it is, we come to know the state of pure absorption — our True Self. Dr. James Finley, a student of Thomas Merton and clinical psychologist, calls these states “graced absorption”, and describes them as contact with the divinity in our own hearts.
I think this connection with our True Self (or divinity) that emerges when engaged in something that we love, helps tether us to the realm of the heart. I think we come into this world with a strong connection to it, but it gets lost in our culture In these states of graced absorption, we steep in it. Whether it is earth moving equipment, athletics, or whatever your “thing” is, the feelings of unadulterated love, curiosity, joy and satisfaction that then show up as beacons later in life. We come to recognize the familiar feeling tone that emerges with new “things” or new people, and it becomes a pathway for our life.
For me, the new thing was (and still is) craniosacral work. The study of anatomy, the history, learning to sense the subtle rhythms, the impact of the work, and the deepening into our sensing nature… I love it all. I have studied different styles over the decades, but after more than 13 years studying and practicing the Biodynamic Cranial Approach, I have found my home. When we feelingly sense into the heart, we find a doorway to the qualities and characteristics of all that is around us. We find another way of knowing in the creature of our bodies, a way that is not of the head or the intellect — it is in the realm of the heart.
You have 2 opportunities to join me in an exploration of this field in the first half of 2025:
- February 8th & 9th: An Introduction to Craniosacral Work: History, Foundations, and Distinguishing the 3 Main Approaches
- May 2nd — 4th: Biodynamic Cranial Approach Introduction (through the Touch of Presence® School for Biodynamic Studies)
Then Giorgia Milne will return with the Touch of Presence® School for Biodynamic Studies in August of 2025 to offer an advanced course in Navigation Skills ~ Presence and Tonality of Verbal Touch. This course is ideal for graduates of the Biodynamic Cranial Approach Intensive, but anyone who has attended the BCA Intro is also welcome.
Hope to see you in class!
