The Wonderful World of SRI ~ The Beacon for March 23, 2012

The Wonderful World of SRI

There are a number of tools and resources that we offer here at The Lifehouse.  One of my favorites is Somato Respiratory Integration.  Soma (body) Respiratory (breath) and Integration, a way to use breath to  integrate our experiences in our bodies.  SRI is also a powerful tool to deepen our mind body and our body mind connection.  Many of you have discovered how powerful breath is in relaxing the body.  Taking in a big breath and exhaling out again helps to release, relax and rejuvenate.   But relaxing and releasing isn’t all that breath can do for us. 

We can also use our breath to connect, to integrate, to open, to expand, and to activate and this is just what SRI is all about.  Dr. Donald Epstein has outlined 12 stages of healing or of consciousness that are typical to the healing journey that we go through.  He has also developed and refined 12 different breath exercises that help us to deepen our connection into the stage and the rhythm of life that we are in.  Connection is the goal.  Where many of us want to get somewhere other than where we are, to truly grow there is a richness and depth waiting for us when we first connect with our current state of being. Harvesting the wisdom and energy of where we are, this becomes the fuel that helps us move forward. 

The first stage of SRI is the stage of suffering.  Most suffering is a result of a person’s resistance to suffering.  Suffering, in the East, is viewed as being one of the most sacred parts of the human journey as they see that at this time we are closest to God.  When we are suffering we ask the questions:  Why me?   Am I ever going to change?   Is this ever going to get better?   I feel so alone God please help me.  Words we all can relate too.  The goal and gift of this stage is for us to embody it fully, surrender ourselves, and ask for help.  This liberates our entrapped body-mind, allowing our energy to move forward.  This can be a very scary place to be, one that we try to avoid.  (Again most suffering is the attempt to avoid the scary place).   SRI helps people first find places of peace, of connection, of safety in the body, and then brings this into the area of suffering; bringing the light into the dark, the connected into the disconnected.  The simple act of first finding a place in your body that is safe to breathe into, that you feel connected to, often is all that is needed to bring you deep enough into your experience, which allows it to transform.  Here is one good practice for you to try for yourself: 

First find the place that is open, connected.  Where is it that you feel good, where is it that you feel most connected in your body?  Put your hands there and breathe it; feel the openness and connection.  Then bring this open and connected felt sense or feeling into the place that is closed, the place that hurts.  And then go back into the place that is connected and breathe with your hands on that place again.  Repeat this, going back and forth a number of times, bringing connection and safety to the places that aren’t, staying longer in the open, connected place.  A wonderful resource for you to use through your day, especially useful when you are suffering, overwhelmed or want to bring healing energy to places that hurt.

From this first stage, the journey continues to help you find the different parts and polarities within, accessing your stuck energy and perspectives, then building your energy and your power getting ready to make the change, then facing the old, releasing the old, and then being in the awakened state connected with the one and the everything.  I truly look forward to helping you embody all of these stages, helping you get deeper into your healing journey, harvesting the wisdom from exactly where you are at throughout your visits in our office and at workshops such as the one below.

We are hosting our next SRI workshops in the studio:

Wed, March 28th - Level Two-Intermediate     7-10 pm - $30 registration

Thurs, April 12th - Level One-Introduction     7-10 pm - $30 registration

For those of you who want to develop your own self facilitation tools, who want to accelerate your healing journey, and want to deepen your own mind body connection this workshop is for you.

Yours on the healing journey in all of the stages,

Dr. Norm and the outrageous Lifehouse Team.

(The 12 Stages of Healing by D.C., Donald M. Epstein is available for purchase at the Lifehouse or online)