Summer 2006

Life presents us with many challenges. Recently, I chose the quote on my email signature to convey some of my thoughts on this: “There are two ways to meet difficulties: you alter the difficulties or you alter yourself to meet them.” Phyllis Bottome. Someone once asked me what the goal of Continuum is. My response was, “If there is a goal (having difficulty with the word “goal”) it would be adaptability, enhancing your ability to respond to any situation that presents itself to you. In Somatic Experiencing, we refer to resiliency – enhancing and restoring resiliency in order for self-organization and coherence to flow throughout our body systems. In order to do this, we sometimes have to deal with what Michael Meade calls the Second Agreement, i.e., our adaptations (for survival & to fit in) to our families & culture. In his recent talk in Vancouver on Fate & Destiny, Michael stated that in order to arrive at and reclaim our First Agreement, i.e., our true destiny, the one we were born to live for, we must clear out what is getting in our way in terms of the Second Agreement, which is where therapy and growth processes can assist. Of course, there is always the danger of getting stuck there & exiting out of our lives, still clinging to issues in our families. I bring a Balinese statue of Saraswati to my teaching altars as a Balinese healer told me that she is the one who helps you find your own true path.

During my 12 days of a Continuum retreat in January, I finally got that even though difficulties present themselves both to myself and to others in my community of family & friends, no matter how challenging, it is still possible to maintain a hibernative state within oneself. Yes, at times, I flip out, get hooked into associative memories from the past, yet I return to that place within of peace and calm. It feels like I am pregnant with that inner hibernative state and the more I attend to and nuture it, the more it grows and I carry it with me. Cultivating this state within, I am about to undergo surgery for my other hip replacement this coming Monday. I have been advised to allow one year for the soft tissue & nerves to heal. So, I am planning to have a 70th Birthday celebration in June 2007. We will rent a hall & DANCE! I am so looking forward to that. I ask for your prayers and heartfelt thoughts to be with me on Monday. Practically speaking, this means that there will not be any Continuum teaching in

Vancouver this summer (possibly a retreat day in August if all goes well with my healing). Penny Allport has Continuum classes & workshops in the summer (www.swarainspiritations.ca) so please check into her offerings . I look forward to moving with you again in the fall.

With love & blessings for a glorious summer,   Doris May 14th, 2006