this morning i found myself having lost a sense of confidence. 

last week, when it became evident that i had really done the thing with the sciatic nerve,   by "done the thing" meaning something more than i'd perpetrated on myself ever before,

i sat a long time trying to sense what i should do.  i have no connection at all with the medical world.   i have never needed that.  having worked in a hospital for many years, and having educated myself, i have always been able to heal myself.  this was different and i understood that part of it was that i simply have some wear and tear of normal aging of a physical body.  and that this time was different in that i had gone over some invisible line with too much too close together.  it had begun with the basting on the ladder of the Daughter cloth, then needing to split and haul wood inbetween, then hauling those heavy oak pallets across a half acre of land and stacking, re stacking.  and finally, not wanting to surrender to it all, going to daughters and helping shave 6 goats.  so…there i am, finding it so hard to even stand, and what do i think of???? 

i remember there is a woman in town who teaches Tai Chi.  to make a long story shorter, i went twice last week.  the first time was completely ify.  it hurt.  the second time, on thursday, better and then over this last weekend, better and better still.  but then i worked Monday and again, that nerve glowed  with pain.

this morning i woke, just NOT WANTING TO GO.  it took everything i had to drag myself there.  but i did.  and          ~a small or not so small miracle….as i went through the exercises, then through the forms, everything softened.  i found myself breathing as suggested, instead of holding my breath.  home again and i am very very good.  so…now i learn.

and i am taking this as a Sign.  this morning i was feeling a real lack of confidence in my ability to intuit what was happening in my world.  maybe everyone was right.  maybe it Was something that i needed to seek "professional" help with.  but i have such faith in listening to my self.  not just about physical things, but also about the last post…just in general, how to live this life. 

as i stood on the porch late this afternoon/early evening thinking,  i saw that the Apricot tree has begun to leaf.

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and then i looked  up and saw the wooden lizard…komodo dragon 

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i take these as    signs.  they are still coming.  i just need to have a certain kind of faith. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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30 responses to “intuition…kinds of “signs””

  1. helen salo Avatar
    helen salo

    I gave a synopsis of that letter and typed the unbelievable ending paragraph yesterday, but it didn’t get posted don’t know what I did sorry. I’ve dealt with a siatic nerve probelm since 2006 off and on and massage, chiropractic and acupunture work for me, acupuncutre being the best. but it is not cheap. Perhaps it is all that is unsettled in your world one tend to take what is in their minds and it manifests itself somewhere else in the body as a injury. Come to peace in your head and perhaps your siatica will heal.I know (or believe)the worst of mine was a mental turmoil I had to starighten out.But I know it’s no picnic!!!

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  2. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    helen…it DID! and it is beautiful and i will go back to it now.
    THANK YOU SO SO SO much for putting it there so i could read it.
    the Tai Chi will work. i think in different ways. just in and
    of itself, but also in a more esoteric way, of how to be a
    “warrior”. a peaceful warrior, but one who will stand and face
    what needs to be faced. this for me, applies to everything.
    part of all that i did in those few days had a lot to do with
    trying to keep too many people happy. that isn’t working anymore.
    i have known that for some time but keep trying to work around the
    reality of it. so…now’s the time to get real with my Self. ok.
    tonight it’s a picnic. feels
    fine.

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  3. KaiteM. Avatar

    grace dear, i have been a Physiotherapist (in your language a Physical Therapist) for many years and altho i don’t like to assess and treat over the net, let me just say that for most cases of sciatic and other back pain gentle movement is the best treatment, whether it be walking, swimming, tai chi, gentle stretches, etc. So you are on the right track with your tai chi. Oh, and Time – sometimes a lot of Time.
    It’s not good to sit or rest for long periods, it’s best to move around but without any strain or pressure. I hope this helps just a little. Also try not to bend and pull at things such as pulling weeds out and similar efforts. k.

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  4. stitchinglife2 Avatar

    I think, in the case of intuition, the only person you can really listen to is yourself. Maybe it’s more about trust than listening.

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  5. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    grace, one of the things I have loved and love most about you is that you have always had faith, in yourself, in the land, in the global connections that circle our lives. Living by our touchstone, our intuition, is a daily rhythm and like rhythm, it can be irregular at times; frantic, smooth, or slow. When something comes along that is impossible to fathom, speaking for myself here, as in the state of the world in this moment of such universal pain, loss, uncertainty, rage and helplessness, our instinct is to do one of two things: yield to the helplessness of the situation (which I found myself doing last week) or step through it as best we can, which you have done with your quest to educate yourself re nuclear energy. Am I making a connection between your sciatica and the world’s pain? Well not in the literal sense. What I am saying is that our intuition, our confidence is always present, but sometimes not always apparent. When we are momentarily weakened, whether in the physical or emotional sense, we need to dig deeper to bring it forth and trust in ourselves. You have shown us how, peaceful warrior.

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  6. jude hill Avatar

    my dad was a chiropractor. and over the years he came to embrace other forms of gentle non invasive intuitive healing. tai chi, walking, swimming, dancing, even nutrition…. i miss his advice and his practice, i have never been to doctor for anything except childbirth. probably, i am lucky enough not to have needed more than intuition. but i think we need to embrace prevention and self healing to keep us from crossing the line into needing a doctor or any sort of medications. this is what interests me most. my dad came to believe that this is the essence of what he called intuitive evolution. this is the gift he gave me. don’t let it go he would say. know your body and what it needs.

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  7. ateliercolore Avatar

    its a painful thing, sciatica. I had that during pregnancy 30 years ago and then it went away as it came, slowly.
    Now i think Thai Chi is a wonderful way of moving meditation. Wouldn’t do without it anymore.
    You’ll be allright again soon……….
    XXXm

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  8. Cristina Ortega Avatar

    good morning grace,
    i am sorry to hear about the pain
    you are going through. sounds like
    tai chi is the path to follow, so follow, sister.
    the fiber art sale is this weekend. i had been
    looking forward to attending on friday but
    family ( my mom) appointments need my attention.
    saturday (3/26) will be the day i go . . .
    sitting in a car for a very long drive is probably not
    the best treatment for you at this time.
    i was however so looking forward to meeting and
    visiting with you in the midst of cloth!
    happy new mexico sunshine to you!

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  9. Penny B Avatar

    Sciatica is no fun. No fun at all at all.
    You are so wise in your approach.
    Stretching and time.

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  10. Cheryl Razmus Avatar

    Grace, I had a ruptured disk from a car accident that caused pain for many years (sometimes so bad I would nearly faint.). It would seem to be healed and then too much stress (mental and physical) would cause it to return. For the last ten year I have been practicing pilates on a regular basis, and the pain is almost entirely gone. Pilates seems to be a sort of “self chiropractic” in it’s lengthening and strengthing of the spine and surrounding muscles.

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  11. jennlui Avatar

    breathing, and actually not holding our breath in when we have the tendency to, is a miraculous thing. I used to teach yoga, a few different styles, for some years and was always drilling into everyone’s head to “breath”… breath through the postures, breath through the blocks, breath through the “healthy” discomfort… breath. i carried this to my meditation practice… breath. but that was then. by then i mean pre-toddler, pre-responsibilities, pre-paying all the bills by myself… ya know. now, with my irregular personal yoga and meditation practice, the stress, the real job, i forget… but then i remember, then forget. sometimes it takes a bit of a crisis for me to remember… a bit of a personal meltdown. but i guess in the end i remember.
    i am with you one hundred percent with the capabilities for healing ourselves. i don’t like doctors or mainstream medical stuff. i do believe that we know deep inside what we need. i think we just forget how to listen sometimes. maybe sitting and breathing can help us remember… i am experimenting with that this week.
    xox

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  12. deanna7trees Avatar

    with all the sage advice right here, i bet you are already on the mend. i have nothing else to add.

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  13. helen salo Avatar
    helen salo

    Grace, If you’d like to read that “letter” in it’s entire India flint has it posted on her sight in her Tuesday post, the link that says “letter from Sendai”. Helen

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  14. Susan Avatar

    oh grace. so sorry for your pain. I have the same sort of thing – began with lifting my first boy and became awful during second pregnancy. the one thing that has helped the most is yoga. I would imagine the tai chi will have a similar effect. they are wonderful practices to begin with – I see them as serving so much more than one purpose – healing in many ways. I spent some time in physical therapy for the pain while pregnant with my youngest and realized several years later when I started yoga – all of the exercises I was taught during therapy were yoga poses. When I skip yoga too many times the pain does sneak back.

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  15. Cristina Ortega Avatar

    that letter says so much more than what
    i’ve seen on the news.
    the words are huge, so descriptive,
    so moving.

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  16. Lorna Avatar

    I’m sorry to hear of your Scatica I had this recently and it was the most painful depressing pain but massage and visits to my osteopath helped and so did swimming so all the good advice has been given to you already …I hope you recover soon ..x

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  17. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    Kaite…you have done EVERYTHING!!!!
    and i guess that is a big part of it all for me…i don’t
    HAVE a lot of time for Not Doing. it’s a very labor
    intensive life here. and things not done become compounded. also…it’s food growing time…oh…WHAAA.

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  18. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    Karen…that’s the thing with this. suddenly, with
    multiple things, my body just one, it seemed like the
    floor fell out

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  19. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    Marti…that’s the work…weakened. even, broken.
    and that it was SUDDEN and so unexpected and took such
    a toll

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  20. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    i love to find out that your dad was a chiropractor. how
    so Great…a sailor, painter, healer.
    in town we have a chiropractor who is just the most
    excellent…he travels to three areas of New Mex. He
    has kept the Old Cowboy i take care of on his feet and
    moving for the last 15 years. and i mean that very literally. if not for him, the old guy would be in a
    wheelchair. so, i always know in the back of my mind
    that this is available. and i need to continue looking
    at why it was so disturbing to think that i’d been caught
    by surprise and then facing the possibility that i couldn’t
    fix myself. that’s something important to know more about.
    still working on it all. but also what i realize is that
    i need to look again at how i spend my time, my life force.
    and do i just ummm, push and shove my way through what i
    think i need to accomplish, or do i work at fine tuning
    how i move through my days?

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  21. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    am finding that learning the forms, doing the pre and
    post excercises she has us do is very eye=opening…
    am surprised to find many things about my body that i
    hadn’t noticed….
    You do Tai Chi then? how long have you? do you do it
    daily?

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  22. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    well…there will be another time. but i am sad too. it would have been a perfect place to meet. soon, though.
    xoxo

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  23. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    this is what is amazing me…what i am learning about
    my spine…

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  24. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    yes…that’s IT. remember/forget/remember/forget and
    depending on a meltdown. well….this was so intense a
    meltdown that i will NOT forget. will incorporate whatever i need to into my days.
    and it’s interesting…i have SO taken my physical body
    for granted, having been strong and able all my life.
    i need to honor that vehicle of the soul as it moves
    further into the ageing process.

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  25. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    Helen..THANK YOU. yes…i did go there to read. and
    YES.

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  26. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    susan…i have done yoga for short periods off and on
    since my 20’s but for whatever reason, i really really
    feel drawn to the Tai Chi. and that’s funny too because
    i tried to learn when i was younger. had a friend who
    studied continuously and she tried her best but i was
    awkward and i just couldn’t seem to coordinate everything.
    didn’t last long trying to learn.
    the woman who teaches this class is VERY good and i just
    follow along and am determined. i will get it. i think
    a lot of it now is that i’m not dragging much Ego around
    anymore. if i look dumb, i look dumb. … a so what
    thing. a happier way to be.

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  27. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    Lorna…thank you for coming here again…and swimming…
    yes…i can see that. i think swimming would be great, but
    alas…not a possibility here….and it IS a depressing
    kind of pain, isn’t it….interesting. going to think
    about Why.
    xo

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  28. Martine Avatar

    i’m doing tai chi allmost daily since i took a 6 week course with a chinese docter 10 years ago.
    I agree with Jennlui about our body having the capabilitie for healing ourselves. i don’t like doctors or mainstream medical stuff but i believe strongly in TCM an i do believe that we know deep inside what we need.
    Writing this i feel the need for fresh air, going for a walk and shutting down my pc.
    I hope you are feeling better?
    XXXm

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  29. Tam Avatar

    I am here reading your beautiful writing and experiences with sciatic nerve problems and how lovely to have such strong loving connections with so many women. I suffer from this also .. although I tend to hide into my own. I have tried various treatments the most effective being chiropractic and massage. I sit way too much. The pain at times can be insidiously unbearable. I had a treatment yesterday but I am still tender and hope to dance tonight. The best part about dancing is the motion and movements which are not too much for this old body to bare. Either way .. I am taking the hearts thing with Jude and found everyones introductions and blogs from the Sew blog. It’s a bit overwhelming .. so many people .. so many words.. so much to read and contemplate .. to much time to sit .. but you are all so fascinating and wonderfully creative. Hopefully, I will have something to offer but most definately I will gain much. I hope that your sciatic problems are alleved and I hope to read your soothing words again soon. 🙂

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