Thank You, Body: Moving Beyond Stress, Anxiety, and Trauma

By Shawna B. Neal

The Thank You, Body card deck and guidebook increase body awareness. Easy to use mind-body exercises incorporated into your day decrease mental stress and anxiety Thank You, Body helps you to cultivate a loving relationship with your full and authentic self, utilizing gratitude and self-guided practices. Decrease feelings of an

• Language: English
• Publisher: Giving Back Wellness, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 20, 2023
• ISBN: 9798987270011

Shawna B. Neal

Shawna began her professional career as an industrial engineer, focusing on left brain activities. While she excelled at this, she was missing a big piece of who she was. To the surprise of many, she left the field and got her master's in psychology, and licensed as a massage therapist. Continued training in Myofascial Release (Barnes), CranioSacral therapy (Upledger), Reiki, NES bioenergetics, NIA dance fitness, and Brainwork (Chikly) has helped guide her intuition to finding the most beneficial healing support for her clients. Working with women and children after leaving their violent homes taught her a lot about resiliency. Facilitating workshops for counselors, advocates and survivors of sexual trauma imparted a respect for the human spirit under extremely adverse conditions. And her own healing practice has illustrated to herself and others, many times over, the possibilities of healing mind, body and spirit while trusting our own intuition. Shawna's healing from own childhood medical trauma greatly contributed to developing the Thank You, Body deck. Only after incorporating body awareness into her own life and healing work has she been able to develop and reciprocate the deep trust for herself and others that has brought more meaning and more adventure into her life, and her life's work.

Book preview

One

Welcome

I am glad you are here, reading this guidebook and experiencing the Thank You, Body cards. Whether you purchased the deck for yourself, or it was gifted to you, I trust you have it for a reason.

Thank You, Body facilitates a loving relationship with your full and authentic self.   We are wholistic beings,  with our energy organized in  miraculous ways to shape our mind, body, and spirit. As we strive to make our best life, we often take our bodies for granted. It is only in the genuine awareness of all the parts of ourselves that we can be comfortable with our true uniqueness.

A persistent, passionate search for my own truth and healing is what led me to learning as much as I could about the intersections of the mind-body-spirit-emotions. Developing the Thank You, Body deck has deepened my own healing while expanding my revelations and intuitive work with energy, part of my life’s work. It is my sincerest wish that it will do the same for you.

The physical body speaks a language. We need time to hear its wisdom and understand what it is telling us.  Current mind-body research tells us that bringing in more body-centered therapies is a positive addition to one’s healing.  Calming the body’s nervous system in this way reduces stress and anxiety, which is much too prevalent in our current world. Practicing focused awareness on our body in the moment will help us feel supported, ease our stress, and calm our minds. It is as this happens that we can truly be in our own space of body, mind, and energy.

Like the peace you feel sitting in front of a fire or watching the waves of the ocean, spending time with Thank You, Body will bring you home. The cards are a tool to help translate the body’s information to a language that our minds can understand and that we can share with each other. You may spend a full 20 minutes in this listening practice, a quick three to five minutes, or two minutes several times a day. Any way you choose to use it, I hope you find the knowledge from within. In doing so you will become more comfortable with yourself and in your own skin. As you practice this more and more, you will start to naturally ‘listen’ and allow expression of your body more often.

So, let me be the first to welcome you to a new relationship with your home, your body. As you spend more time together and enhance this bond, your entire being (mind-body-spirit) will be calmer and more grounded on this earth.

"... and I said to my body, softly,

‘I want to be your friend.'

It took a long breath and replied,

'I have been waiting my whole life for this.'"

by Nayyirah Waheed

Two

The Wisdom from Within

I don’t need to explain what stress, panic, and anxiety are like, or the unsettling sensations we feel when we are discombobulated, over-stimulated, or have gone numb. None of us likes those feelings. We want ways to help us feel better, centered, grounded, in alignment, connected, at peace, calm, and productive – the list could go on and on. Thank You, Body cards will help you with these feelings. The latest mind-body research verifies that calming yourself using a body-centered focus calms the nervous system, reducing stress and anxiety. Thank You, Body invites you to make connections with your body in various ways, incorporating these proven bodily methods. Using this time to help find your inner peace and inner wisdom is possible. Trust that the answers are within, safely waiting to be discovered.

Getting Started with the Body Cards

Thank You, Body cards can be used in several ways. The intention is to bring full awareness to a portion (or two) of your body. Awareness varies for people, so we will use different modalities. Some people are more visual, others more auditory, and others more kinesthetic, sensing most strongly with touch. Developing an attitude of appreciation together with the body’s sensations will enhance the relationship as well as your entire being.

To get started with the cards, we will use a short process, explained in more details below.

Begin – Notice your breath; center and ground yourself

Pull a Card – Decide your method; ask your inner critic to take a break

Listen to the Body’s Language – Notice the body part on the card; read the statement; look at the artwork;  breathe;  notice  any  sensations, emotions, reactions; express gratitude for your body and the new awareness

A simple mind-body exercise will be explained in the next section

To Begin

It’s best to bring your awareness to your own being before you start. I like to hold the cards in my hands as I do this, but it is not necessary.

With eyes open or closed, notice your breath. Just notice. It may be easy and full or feel stuck somewhere. That’s OK. As you bring your attention to your breath, make it a bit bigger and a bit slower – deeper into your lungs, allowing your ribs to expand more. Beautiful. Know that your breath is literally bringing existence to you. Nice!

Now notice your breath down at your feet. Bring it down there. You may feel or sense or see it moving down there. Next notice the connection from your feet to the earth, floor, carpet, or bed that your feet are touching. Allow the connection between your feet and the earth to get stronger. Your feet might feel a tingle. You might see roots from your feet going into the earth’s soil, or extra ‘nerves’ of knowingness reaching down into the earth. Wonderful! If you desire, let the connection deepen even further down to the rock beneath the dirt, the strong, safe, solid foundation that is this earth. Now, you are powerfully grounded.

And with that, you are ready to discover more about you!

If you like, connect with the cards with a breath, a tap on the deck, or give them a squeeze.

Know that the way you begin might look different each time you pull a card simply based on your timing, your mood, or where you are. It will get easier. With time, a few breaths and feeling your toes in your shoes or seeing the soil and rock beneath you is enough to begin. And if you are not in that place at all, it’s perfectly okay to pull a card to help get you there.

Pulling a Card

You decide how you wish to pick a card. You may use one method today and a different way next time. Any of these methods will work.

Draw a card from the stack.

Hold them in your hands, cut the deck, and take one.