2012: Blog Rebirth & Little Lesson from the Day

Woah....last entry 2009, August. Back-burnered blog begins anew. No shame, I understand this beast of procrastination well-enough now, and the God's Honest is that I have been working, and healing, and working on healing. There has been an attempt at launching a website (bradleylenz.com) which has stayed under-construction since it's inception, finish line hangs elusively o'er the horizon. I endured an almost major injury now mostly mended; found the love of my life; enrolled in a graduate school and withdrew; found another place of learning and enrolled; got into a jeep-totaling accident and received my first substantial whiplash, on my way to a Mana Lomi II workshop with my kumu. Nice to have these hands on me 2 hours after that impact! Mahalo Barbara Helynn! So yes, a lot has happened.

Still with all of that, my business grew. Thanks in no part to my feeble efforts to advertise (or blog), but with the help of many wonderful folks who believe in this work and continue to convince their friends, coworkers, clients, and loved ones to try the experience on my table. It is indeed a ride worth taking! THANK YOU ALL. I feel incredibly satisfied with my life and yet I am still impatient to share this work with so many more people. Anyway, keeping it slow and steady out the blogging gate, just wanted to share a story from today.
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Intuitive Lunch

Often times when I get the rare opportunity for a lunch break, a bonafied hour long one, I will exit the my lovely office in the heart of downtown and ask my intuition to lead me to where I need to go (btw it definitely helps that there are amazing eateries on all directions from my office). I will feel a sensation on a particular side of my body and I will head in that direction until the bigger meaning is revealed. In case you are skeptical, it is always revealed. Today was no different. I first found my-intuitively-guided-self walking into the New Haven Free Public Library (not sure why "free" is in there, but I surely intend to keep it there), and found that they have a local history section! Recently, I have been researching my family roots in New Haven and have gotten back to 1892. Thank you Hall of Records! While this was great, it doesn't feel like it is the end of this adventure, as I didn't intend to eat books for lunch. Stomach overrode my intuition (or did it?) long enough to lead me out the exit just in time to see a young client of mine.
She looked very disoriented at 30 yards away and taking what I correctly guessed was a wrong turn. I caught up with her to say hello, and she greeted me with a mixture of elation and "forgot to reschedule"-apprehension. **For the record, I don't worry about past clients returning or not; if they are meant to they will.** She said how happy she was to see me; how time has been flying and how stressed everything has been. So stressed, in fact, the stress fractures had "flared up" in her shins.

"Stress" as we refer to it here in Connecticut, in New Haven especially, and most especially when it is referred to by a young Yale undergrad, is not just a vague emotion used when you have more items on your list than you have hours to complete. No, no, we have painfully persevered to the point of elevating "stress" to something as intense as "panic" just longer-lasting. I could see this stress vibrating in her eyes the way this kind of stress vibrates, which is to say, erratic and unsettling. Her story of this stress flailed at me like a drowning person inches away from a life vest. I knew that she had little time and resources available to dedicate to an hour massage, let alone the 3 hour massage she probably needed.
What to do for this highly capable human literally in the middle of taking a wrong turn with only seconds to spare? First off, like any good-hearted local, we did her a right-turn and steered her back on track. Secondly, I reminded her of the same thing I remind myself everyday... when I remember to remind myself. **Meditate**
10 minutes a day. No music, no words to read, no agenda, just breathe. Just catch your breath, a clearer path will emerge. We can have an intention, at the onset, but once we take our first inhale we are committed to whatever path our breath carves out for us. If we vow to continue to sit and breath, regardless of what distraction comes, we make our way down that path, or bushwhack at times. Whatever comes up, we take notice and keep breathing. That is all, for 10 full minutes. Even though certain breathes will provoke a thought or emotion inside of this 10 minute eternity that may seem uncomfortable,we stay in our integrity and keep breathing.
Afterwards, we revisit our intention and see if the meditation showed us something, bundled up in imagery and metaphor so tight we couldn't recognize it in that moment. Sometimes we get an "uh huh" revelation and sometimes....we just breathed through all distraction for ten minutes. As this student said, "I always feel better when I breathe; thanks for the reminder!" It's miraculous, trust.

The rest will come as it needs to, in blogs, in breathing, in life; all the reminders & inspiration you will need are there. Ask to receive. Say please and thank you, however extravagantly and honestly as you can. Carry on, in faith, in beauty.