My friend had asked me to attend a function with her called ~ Soul Spa A Day At The Table ~ a while back. She had to ask me numerous times because I don't love attending functions anymore. I feel awkward to say the least. However I decided attend and that happened yesterday. I brought my camera and wanted to share bits and pieces of what I learned and experienced there.
The event was held at the Inn my husband had taken me to for an overnight in April. It is a beautiful place that you drive through the forest to get to. There is an immense house surrounded by forest and even though you are close to town you feel like you have escaped to somewhere with all sorts of hints of magic.
I went in and sat at a table waiting for my friend to arrive.
The day started with some introductions and ice breakers. The sole reason for this day was for women to reconnect to themselves and to realize the beauty and value of their souls. I went there having just gone through a rather intense personal experience, and the birth of my nephew, and had felt quite anxious through the week and overwhelmed with the upcoming Summer and the change of our lives from homeschooling and all its' activities to almost nothing. We are a rather isolated family in many ways and the Summer felt a bit like a yawning chasm. I wondered if when I arrived at this function my body would react somehow as I felt like I was attending with a tired and weary soul and also a soul crying out for more.
Anyway the lady who pioneered this day, and who has a mentoring program that she runs, http://www.atthetablementoring.com/, spoke about doing a soul assessment and offered guidance from the Bible in assessing just where each one's soul was at. She mentioned that in the grind of life our soul can become so fatigued it can become numb and life becomes a blur. We are not really living just existing. This causes our body much grief and it manifests in many ways. In the end we can become bitter, painful, unhappy people with souls that are wounded and hurt and almost dead. She mentioned that our soul has a voice and that we need to make time to listen to it. This was exactly what the book, 'Let Your Life Speak' by Parker J Palmer had been saying!
After this first session we attended different care sessions. My first one was Body Care. There was the option of stretching outside in a shady spot to beautiful music, or to go on a prayer walk in a flower garden, or to soak your feet in warm water, or to sit on the grass and look at beautiful cook books...whatever seemed right for your body at that moment. I chose to stretch. Just moments into the stretching I felt an upwelling of tears and I wished to say sorry over and over. At that moment in time I didn't know why or to whom. Now I think maybe it was myself. So I stretched and felt all the pain all over my body I hadn't realized was there. I hurt almost everywhere! This whole stretching experience was new to me. I really really loved it. There were many thoughtful details throughout this day. In front of our mats were tiny jars with a flower in each one.
This was my view as I lay looking up.
After stretching I just lay down with my hands buried in the grass listening to birds and trying to quiet my soul.
The next session was called Soul Care:
We sat outside in a circle on blankets and pillows and were taught that every time we experience an emotion our body experiences a physiological sensation and our body carries that emotion and experience somewhere inside it. Often we don't realize this and our body cannot release the emotion and it is stuck. If we only process in our minds and don't recognize our body is connected as well...we don't release our pain. We then went through a relaxation sequence to try to connect with our body somewhat and then we also smelt three essential oils and tried to answer some questions surrounding our reaction to the smell. What an experience to take time to try to connect and listen to my body! After this experience was done I ended up talking to the woman who facilitated it. She is a counsellor who experience chronic trauma for twenty years. The way she talked about our bodies and how trauma affects us made so much sense to me. I have been learning about attachment, anxiety, trauma, and more ever since I became a mother but have not met someone in person who had all the theories that I have put together from different counselors, books, courses etc...It was so amazing.
After this talk we had lunch and then attended another session where the facilitator talked about shame and not feeling worthy. Shame is something I have been so affected by almost all my life in one form or another. Sometimes though there have not been the words to articulate that that is what it was. Just in the past week I had been examining some whats and whys in my life and had realized how much shame has affected me especially as a mother. So to have her talk about that really brought the desire to be free from this shame and to listen to the tender voice of my heavenly Father and press into His truth for me.
After this talk I had my last two care sessions. One was Spirit Care and one was Creative Care. For Spirit Care we walked into a room where you could choose to put on a pair of cozy slippers and then choose from all sorts of options. I chose to have reflexology and do a meditation. However you could get a neck massage, do face masks, read or nap.
My meditation was for night time if one is struggling with sleep and focussed on connecting with Jesus and asking Him specific questions about his thoughts towards me. It was really beautiful. Also I had never had reflexology before and had been wishing for a foot massage for years. It was all to brief but incredibly lovely.
My last session was Creative Care where we filled a jar with layers to remind us of the different types of soil our soul could have...and planted a succulent on top. We then had time to creatively journal in a journal that they provided us with and also to create a piece of art.
We then had one more session of teaching from the facilitator and were introduced to what the mentoring program is and then had dessert and the day was finished.
I went home to chaos and many mosquitos filling my house for the first time this year. It was a good pictures of what my life has been like for a long time and gave me a lot to think about. I have rested a lot today as my body is still in pain and have cleaned up little bits here and there. There is still a lot to be done to get the school year finished and the next one begun. However I am thankful that once again the Holy Spirit provided a way for me to learn more and open up my hear to more truth as He does so faithfully when asked.
And so ~ if after reading this you know that your soul has been silenced by your own self for a long time, or by others, and you know that it needs awakening and refreshing ~ I encourage you to utilize some of these ideas presented here and to seek quiet and connection with Jesus who loves your soul the best. I also encourage you to ask someone to be praying for you. You are worthy of beauty and love and peace and all that a connected fulfilled soul can bring.
xo
Tansy
Tansy, this is so beautiful - I'm so glad and grateful you said yes to going and got to experience this. Thank you for sharing and for the photos. I'll be needing to read this one a few times to let it soak in - again, thank you!!!
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