This News Drop series offers principles and practices for living in alignment with nature. For living osteopathically, in flow.

Each month I will share a story, the principle it reveals, and a related practice.

Ready to dive in?

Ever noticed that the things that make us better don’t always last?

The choices we make might help our symptoms for a while, but lasting relief comes when we give our body what it needs. Our bodies want our presence and attention and won’t settle for less.

These requests come most loudly to us through symptoms. This is a blessing—your body won’t give up on you! And, there are much lovelier ways to engage in the conversation.

I started to heal when I began to feel—really feel, with deep presence, and exquisite, nuanced attention

Like most humans, I started to learn about being in my body by not being in my body. Looking back there was a lot of learning the hard way — doing things one way before realizing . . . ouch.

The biggest wake up came in med school. I remember the very overwhelming first week and the pile of memorization that mounted on my plate by the end of it. I had so much anxiety I couldn’t study or sleep.

That’s when I decided to jog my anxiety away on the running trails, the way I did nearly every day after class for the many years that followed. Five, six, eight miles a day, it felt amazing to be out in the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains. Life was good until it wasn’t. I don’t remember when walking started to be difficult, but by my fourth year of school I started wondering if I would ever be free of pain.

I know now that I had been doing all the things that would have felt terrible if I’d been paying attention. I was sitting 8 hours a day in a crappy lecture hall seat, hardly drinking water, not noticing my posture on the trails or ever, and stretching in all the wrong ways. Oh, and let’s not forget the bucket seat car which I’m fairly sure sealed the deal on what would finally reveal itself as the collapse of the discs between several lumbar vertebrae.

I started doing everything you’re supposed to do to heal. Osteopathic treatment, physical therapy, injection therapies, energy medicine, rest. I’d feel better for a while, but nothing would last. All it took was one wrong move and I was back to zero. Imagine being in medical school surrounded by world class practitioners and wondering if you are ever going to walk without pain.

One gal I knew with my issues went through a painful surgery that left her worse off. I thank my body for the intuition that there are many, many avenues to explore before considering surgery. I owe a nod to the gods for the many seemingly random cues and clues that said, “If you want to heal, you need to get into your body.” At the time. I had no idea what that meant.

The guidance I received was energy follows attention, so I started moving my attention in. At first the practice of following responses from my body was awkward, even uncomfortable. Before long it felt like I was reconnecting with an old friend. The relief was so palpable.

I continued to deepen my attention, listen for my body’s response, and really feel what was happening at the subtlest level. That’s when my own attention began to feel like moisture going into my tissues. The more I infused my cells with attention, the more hydrated they seemed.

My body woke up. I could tell when my body wanted a bath versus rest versus a walk. I stopped asking others what I should do. I moved the shoulds and Dos & Don’ts to the back burner and began making tiny adjustments to my gait, fine tuning my stretches, and doing what my body wanted in the moment.

The more present I was with my attention, the deeper and more lasting the healing, including that which I received from others. I started to heal when I began to feel—really feel, with deep presence, and exquisite, nuanced attention.

Pause in stillness and feel your body.

As you move forward from this moment, pause and feel. Is there aa part of your body drawing your attention right now? If you feel something tight, take a moment, or a few moments to become even more present, to notice even more detail. This meditation could take moments, or minutes. Five minutes of exquisite attention is a lot.

Notice if you are breathing. If the tight area is breathing. It’s really that simple. We are all wired for subtle sensing, and although you may not have been aware of nuance lately, you were an expert at one time.

When we are present and our attention is connected to our cells, we’re in our body. We begin to come to life—to live in the moment, in flow.

Flow takes practice. You can always come practice with us. You can also find more videos for inspiration and support here.

To drop us a line, simply reply to this email. We’d love to hear from you!

In Celebration of your emerging Glow & Flow,

Dr. Michelle Veneziano

& the Flow is Medicine community