time out

I arrived home today from taking time out, to this sweet arrangement of Sol's rainbow shoes resting atop of Pete's big boots. While I was away, they had time together climbing sand dunes and laying amongst the clovers.

Despite all my wholefood, health loving ways, I am not great at making time for looking after me. Ouch. That was hard to confess. I tend to push myself to the edge of the line before putting my hand up and saying, "hmmm I think I need a rest". I am a task master when it comes to myself, always wanting to do more, be more, give more.

While some of you may be just at the start of your wholefood journey, slowly making changes, less takeaway food, more taking stock and so on; I am working on swallowing my own advice, to be gentle, go slow, one small bite at a time and trying to let go a little, cut myself some slack. Given, I'm nearly 40 I feel like a slow learner with this! We all have to start somewhere.

I started today with a shiatsu massage. Have you ever had one? I first had one about fifteen years ago when a neighbour friend was a shiatsu student and looking for people to practice on. That massage was an incredible experience. I slept more soundly that night, had energising vivid dreams and woke with an amazing sense of mental clarity and feeling of complete calm. I'd never had that from a massage before.

So, what is shiatsu? Shiatsu is a Japanese form of massage that works on moving the energy (life force) in the body by applying finger or palm pressure on acupressure points. It is incredibly effective for moving stuck or blocked energy helping to clear fatigue, release emotion and restore balance in body, mind and spirit.

If you are not into having a massage because you don't like the idea of being semi-naked, covered in oil and rubbed down by a stranger, shiatsu is the answer as you remain fully clothed and lay on a futon mattress on the floor.

From my first experience of shiatsu I loved it so much I began studying it at the Australian shiatsu college when I lived in Melbourne. It was just before knowing I was pregnant with River and I vividly remember one of the women in the class on the first day as we went around the circle introducing ourselves and explaining why we were there, she was very softly spoken and answered, "I've spent the last 20 years raising my three sons and now it is time to do something for me." At the time, having not had children myself, I was in my late twenties, and was really taken aback by her answer. I thought to myself "how could that happen? how could she have not done things she was interested in for 20 years? I vowed to myself then and there that when I have children I'm not going to let that happen to me. I am still going to maintain my sense of self". Ha! I laugh at my younger self now.

I am so enraptured with my sons, my husband and being a family and as my natural way of being is to do more, be more and give more I can now so easily see how my sense of self can go missing in action.

I took the first step today to restoring balance. Where are you at? Do you need to make some changes? What do you do to restore your internal harmony and take care of the 'I' in family? I'd love to hear. Oh and I can't recommend enough - have a shiatsu!