When did you feel a rumble in your soul?

My closing ceremony speech for the MindBody Therapy practitioner program

[Note: this is the speech I gave to my 80-some classmates today, on the final day of our MindBody Therapy certificate program. We did not become therapists (thought some of us already were), but we gained a broad set of somatic practices that will help all of us grow and heal as Selves so that we may be light bodies in the world.]

Thank you for your presence. Allow me to just breathe a moment, to find myself in this space of community, to forget that I am nervous and to re-member my Self into you all, this group of kinship and growth.

When did you feel it? When did you feel the calling to... something? . . . Something beyond you, beyond what you knew, and something that just fit, like a key in a lock. And maybe that something in you wasn’t calamitous or stop-in-your-tracks powerful but perhaps a softness that absolutely still wanted your attention. You could have felt that sensation when you signed up for this adventure, finally pushed the button to confirm your investment in something new.

Or, that sensing could have been in the middle of one of our classes when all of a sudden your soul was moved by words and how they landed or by an active demonstration of bodily presence. And for some of us, it was during our practice sessions. There, in that place where we were holding space for another being and allowing their process to unfold between our guide rails. 

But wait, let’s rewind a little.

It was clear to me as a kid that I saw with different lenses, and it made me feel excited but groundless. No one in my life had the “self in presence" to help and witness me plant my seeds of weird, so I stayed a little bit normal, a little bit constrained. I found communities that welcomed me over time: hot yoga, trail running, book nerds, foodies, ethical non-monogamists, spiritual pirates, and on and on. 

As far as, “when did I feel it?” you could say I have had a few moments, but one stands out. I had a big “something” snap into clarity when I looked into the face of a practice partner, glowing on a screen across thousands of miles, and saw how they were beginning to heal some parts of themselves right in front of me, helped by the container of our space together. 

And that is what this program delivered: many seeds planted, many ways of being with the body, many ways of exploring healing and somatic connections, so that I might identify something sprouting inside. Whether you connected with interoception skills, bodyfullness, parts work, inner relationship focusing, somagrams, the spiral blend, Eastern traditions, gender and cultural inclusivity, non-violent communication, the moving cycle, polyvagal theory, attachment styles, group work — or all of it — I hope that you found the seedlings that are meant for you. 

Our MindBody Certificate program was meant to nurture a felt sense for what’s possible. To better equip us to grow as transformation guides. Now that we’re ending this stage, I can see how our growth is communal.

We heal in relationship, and this relationship has indeed been a healing journey. Congratulations.