Movement medicine

My wife, partner (in crime and love), and homey lover friend, Jodi Lopez (pictured above), invented Movement Medicine as a healing modality. Or at least she came up with the phrase “Movement Medicine” to describe part of her practice, and it hits hard af. She’s the dopest healer I know. Learn more about Jodi and her practice at https://www.dirtyfootyogini.com/

“If you’ve seen the present then you’ve seen everything—as it’s been since the beginning, as it will be forever. The same substance, the same form, all of it.”

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Marcus understood that we can only access Presence from the eternal present moment, which is all we ever have.

Life happens in the present. The past and the future exist in the imagination. Only the present moment is real. As Albert Einstein wrote in a letter to a friend, “This separation between past, present, and future is only an illusion.”

When we dwell in the past or future, we cut ourselves off from inner peace, which is only available in the present. Dwelling on the past leads to depression. Dwelling on the future leads to anxiety. Only the present moment leads to love and peace. 

Diverting our attention from the present moment fragments our minds and siphons our energy. When we stay present, we free up massive amounts of previously wasted energy and make space for Presence.

∞

Recently, loved ones shared with me the brutal trauma they suffered as children and the bleeding edge things they’re doing now to heal. I’m learning about healing modalities that I didn’t even know existed, and some involve intense, months-long programs where you delve deep into past trauma, sit with it, and process it.

I experienced an accelerated version of that sort of healing journey during my Dark Night of the Soul, where my deepest fears and insecurities played out in supernatural ways over three frightening days, and I almost lost my mind. I didn’t love the Dark Night experience when I was going through it, but one benefit I see now in light of my friend’s long healing program is that the Universe and I covered so much ground over those three days, it freed up months of “me time.” In this regard, my stress-induced mega Dark Night shares a nature with some plant medicine-induced mini ones.

These days, I don’t spend much time delving into past trauma unless I’m experiencing negativity that I can’t shake. Instead, I’m intentional about staying present in the here and now. I could stay stuck on old stuff and process it until the cows come home, but that’s not healing, that’s dwelling. When we dwell on the past, we allow it to define us, and eject ourselves from the present moment.

We’ll never unpack and analyze all the negativity we‘ve got festering inside us. If I tried to do that, I’d never leave the house, given all the past, painful lives I blurp into on the daily. At some point, we’ve gotta get out there, take our lumps, and live the lives the Universe has gifted us in this three-dimensional experience we’re sharing.

But sometimes that’s hard to do, because it’s way easier to dwell in the past, the known, than dare to be bold by stepping into the present and the unknown. Most of us humans make the spiritual misstep of staying stuck on old stuff all the time. This is what Stevie Wonder was talking about when he sang, “They've been spending most their lives, living in a pastime paradise.”

My go-to modality for healing past trauma is living my best life in the present moment. My medicine is keeping it moving, being my best self, and unlocking fun, new experiences that replace memories of past trauma. 

I know the body always remembers trauma, but I got way too much living to do to dwell on it. I know negativity is still in there, stored, but not suppressed, in the vault. I get that no vault is impermeable, so I’m building up my spiritual bag with the tools I wrote about in my second book, Good Vibes. Almost anyone can get good at noticing and managing negativity when it leaks out, and regulating emotions when pain inevitably strikes.

I’m honored my loved ones were vulnerable with me about sharing their trauma, and I’m sending love and healing vibes their way as they embark on their healing journeys. As for me, at this time, I don’t feel called to dig deeply into my well of negativity and bring the bad vibes out to play. My life trends chaotic, and enough weird stuff pops off without me rolling out the red carpet. 

I know powerful wizards and witches who can call in dark energy and perform tremendous feats of transmutation. But at some point even the most amazing alchemists should put the past in its proper place, and step into the power of Now, the only portal to peace and love.

This is what Red from Shawshank meant when he said, “Get busy living, or get busy dying.”

Always gotta keep moving and loving.