“Create Empowered Choices & Step into 2023 with a Deeper Connection to You” with Katherine Porter — Sol Health Yoga
— Read on www.solhealthyoga.com/blog/katherineporter
I’m so excited to share a piece I wrote for the Sol Health Yoga blog.
My experiences have been building and as I look back on other blog posts I’ve written, I’m reminded, this learning and the connection I have with Jack, my JRT, is the catalyst for this more expansive and deeper ways in how I show up for you.
I dove through my self doubt and used the messages it was telling me to reconnect with my purpose.
I navigated my own trauma and I actively use the power of this learning to move forward in my life and business.
I’ve created a new way of how you get to show up for yourself and within the relationships you care so deeply for which also includes your dogs!
All of our experiences are woven together and what you choose to glean from one area of your life, you can cultivate new awarenesses for yourself overall.
Take time to reflect on your journey, where ever you are and find the themes that show up for you and see how you can harness the power of your own wisdom to create the life you want.
The theme of responsibility is showing up constantly for me and the people I serve.
What does responsibility even mean to you?
Some of the commonalities of what others shared with me are things like:
“Doing all the things at once, so I can get to the next item on my to do list.”
“Sacrificing myself for others (kids, spouses, dogs, friends and family).”
“Doing what I was told or taught to do because it’s what everyone else expects me to do.”
Sacrifice looks like giving up on a dream.
It may also look like choosing a different job because the decision was made with the focus on money versus what would bring someone more joy, contentment, ease and freedom (I’m speaking from my previous personal experience here lol).
Or staying in a job for the money while it leaves you feeling burdened, frustrated, limited because you’re looking for safety and security (I’ve been here too lol).
Walking your dog because it is what everyone else is doing, but your dog doesn’t enjoy this and this leads you to becoming angry and resentful of your dog over and over again.
What all of this leaves you is experiencing pain in your body and heart.
You may experience digestion issues, shoulder pain, constant headaches, the feeling as though the energy is sucked right out of you.
You feel constant dread or resistance doing the things because you’re chasing after something that doesn’t feel right to you.
The paycheck is never enough, the dog isn’t behaving perfectly, there is no end to your workload or no relief in sight and your supervisor piles more on top of you. You missed attending a function because you have zero personal bandwidth to even make it there.
Then you’re led you into being flooded with guilt and shame.
Feelings of guilt and shame bring you right back to what you’re doing. Repeating the same things over again trying to prove how responsible you are to yourself, friends, family or the larger society.
My next question, how can you even achieve something when the goal posts always move, the goal isn’t tangible or it never leaves room for growth to happen?
What my clients get to receive from working with me is how they can choose to live more authentically.
One client described the contrast to responsibility is being brave.
For her, being brave looked and felt like:
Taking things slower.
Learning how to do something differently when something doesn’t work out perfectly.
Creating more ease and comfort for herself, her dogs, her kids by giving space for everyone to have more freedom to do things they want to be doing.
This looks like setting up doggie dens and play areas when she’s unable to actively supervise or when either the dogs or kids are becoming more rambunctious.
They can express themselves in a way that gives the other space to do the same.
This also gets to look like working in shorter and calmer interactions between her resident dogs when everyone is present and actively supervising them.
Presence is about observing body language, asking questions about how the interaction is going, what to look out for and to listening to their own body.
Being connected to oneself is listening to what their bodies are telling them and taking action when they feel the situation is no longer bringing them ease, comfort and peace.
My client’s family member did this beautifully. When she felt she and her dog received enough of what the interaction was designed to give them, she walked with her dog calmly into his doggie den and spent time with him foraging. She listened to herself and took action to bring her more of what she desires for herself and for what she wants her dog to receive too which is feeling relaxed.
If you’re curious about how BodyMind connection can serve you in how you show up for you, your dogs, your family or how it can transform your life, let’s chat!
There are other ways we can work together, check out the Community Connections Membership Group-we start on 14 January. Join Us!
I remember as a young child, I would dive into tackling something new without minding the directions of how to play a game or put together a new toy.
When I struggled in figuring it out on my own, my dad would meet me with saying, “read the directions of how to play the game or put the toy together.”
His rules wasn’t how I inherently operate.
I chose to explore how to do something and figure it out while my dad looked to make things “easier” or minimizing frustration in finding a solution.
Maybe because he believed “he knew better”, he was in charge because of his role as a parent or he was passing down his life lessons and stories because he believed it was “the way.”
In his own way, my dad was guiding me in the way he would figure out a problem rather than seeing things from my perspective and my motivation.
I followed the road map he tried to provide me when it was right for me to do.
I asked him for guidance on how to fill out student loan documentation, he taught me how to open a bank account, but when it was time in pursuing my own professional goals, I followed my purpose.
I spent years of being an AmeriCorps volunteer and obtaining degrees in social work. My focus was on heart centered work which he didn’t understand at the time because in his eyes it wasn’t practical.
What I discovered for myself, my motivation for taking action was never about what a profession looked like. I value the connection of living compassionately and ethically with how I serve others. Creating a role for myself that gets to express this purpose rather than fitting myself into position description or expectations of others gives me freedom.
Each of you have your own internal compass informing you where to go and your purpose in life regardless of the lessons and stories from others who think they know better because of education, life experience, age or whatever else shaped the stories they live by day in and day out.
Their story isn’t yours and when you move from a place of how you get to live your life, what it gets to look like, how you raise children and even how you nurture your companion animals, you get to create a life you desire. You aren’t bound by the rules others follow.
Trusting your inner knowing rather than blindly following how others are trying to shape your experience allows space for you to grow and learn in a way that is aligned with your values.
By filtering the choices you get to make through your inner wisdom, you do come up with creative ways of living your life. When your choice doesn’t link up with what others say or do, doesn’t mean you’re wrong or it’s a problem.
Living a life in alignment with your values and how you design it to look like and feel like is solely up to you.
What do you want in your life? What does it get to look like for you? What do you prioritize? How can you live heart centered and grounded by your internal compass of the direction you get to take?
I have a few spots open for 1:1 support in January 2023!
Four Paws & You Dog Training 