Unbound

1 Mar

For years now I have had this feeling… like I have been bound up as if tied up with tape… perhaps gagged and often unable to move very freely, let alone breath. This feeling expands and contracts. Sometimes very noticeable. Other times less. If you would like a mental image for it, you can refer to the tarot deck. The 8 of swords… there she is. Tied up with seemedly no place to go. In my years of reading the tarot she has shown up more than once in my own readings. “There she is again”, I would think… never quite sure what to do with her.

My experience with the 8 of swords and being in “bondage” is that it usually takes someone besides yourself to get out. Kind of like that game where a bunch of people join hands and make a human knot… and then often an outsider is required to coach the group as they detangle. When detangling oneself, it helps if that external person is someone wise who you can count on. With that in mind, I have started back seeing my therapist from New Orleans. We are meeting every other week via Skype. She has a good eye for detangling… and can see things and offer suggestions in ways that just would not occur to me. She is resourceful. In my work with her, the theme for me is “softness”… learning to explore and be with the challenges I feel and face in my being and my body in a way that is soft. Holding them, as she says, in a way that is loving, patient and compassionate. It is a good practice for me. I have a habit of being a bully with myself. It is also a practice for which I need… support. And an external eye to see things that I cannot see.

The past few days in Wettenbostel my host seems to be coming out of his winter sleep. No longer frost on the ground but still a good bite in the air, he has a fiestiness to his energy like a bear coming out of hibernation. He has recruited me to be of assistance in his latest project… chopping down trees. Here in Germany, or at least in Wettenbostel, the local Forrester goes around and marks all of the trees that are suitable for cutting. Then those trees can be cut down by, I believe the end of February. So these past few days, chop, chop chop…down they went. I made myself useful by pulling the cut off branches out of the farmers land and into the clearing of trees. “You did that must faster than I expected…” he said. Always nice to receive a complement. And what can I say, I thought, I just moved… and dragged the trees. And then it was done. It was good to be out in the fresh open air and doing some physical work and I may have had little vigor myself in my movement. Sometimes its nice just to work and not have to think.

Today we continued to clear out the trees and loaded the trunks which my host cut with a chainsaw into his trailer for chopping. He tried to recruit me to use his smaller chainsaw the other day… but even it felt “heavy” to me. Not quite what I wanted to be doing… holding something that felt “heavy” that happened to be a chainsaw! He teased me and said I am a physical wuss. Well, perhaps so… but in that moment I did not see using the chainsaw in my immediate future.

He intends to teach me how to chop wood. Something I am open to and willing to give a shot… yet, of course as a physical “wuss” I will not push it too hard as I imagine those are musicles I have perhaps… never used. As he is also a martial arts teacher, I imagine there will be some technique to the chopping besides swing the axe and hit the wood really hard. We will see.

But no chopping for me today. Instead I departed my work with my host and went to give a reiki treatment to the queen of the Seminar Haus. They are both Reiki Masters and enjoy receiving treatments. It is not quite a regular thing around here, but Reiki is readily used to heal physical wounds and also help smooth over and move through challenging times and emotions.

I have been spending some time lately on helpx.net…a website for international work exchange. It connects hosts who have a room and board to offer to travelers in exchange for some work in their home, business, farm…castle… I am taking some time to see what else is out there in other countries and perhaps someplace or places new to stay. It is an amazing website and resource. Some hosts welcome travelers for shorter visits like a week. And other are seeking “helpers” as they are called to be with them for months. We will see what unfolds.

And otherwise, just another quiet evening in Wettenbostel. Some good energy in a little outdoor work. A skype appointment with my therapist today. And practice, and experience in being kind, patient and compassionate with myself… with the intent of being unbound.