Issue link: https://www.ascpskindeepdigital.com/i/1263242
80 ascp skin deep july/august 2020 Having studied various modalities of dance, massage, and skin care for most of my life, discipline was (and is) required to meld all my training and experience into a practice that delivers outstanding—and even transformational—treatments for my clients. I find my spiritual practice and journey to be the same by practicing mindfulness. I often practice a mindfulness technique found in the book Taming Your Gremlins by Rick Carlson. 3-Step Mindfulness Technique This mindfulness technique uses three steps to access a window of opportunity for making conscious choices, rather than allowing the brain to default to tired, old, automatic responses. All three steps are done in the span of one single breath: • Step 1. Simply notice. Take a breath and focus as a neutral observer on what is going on in your physical body. Every single thought we have triggers a physiological response of some type. It could be a tight jaw, neck pain, an ache in the abdomen, a twitch of the eye, etc. Do not judge, blame, analyze, or try to fix it. Simply notice what you are feeling. Accompanying thoughts should be treated the same. • Step 2. Choose and play with options. During the breath and the corresponding action of simply noticing what is going on in the body, choose a response to the situation at hand, and let your intention be to play with options. You may choose your automatic response, or you may not. The purpose of choosing is to be intentional and purposeful in your response. • Step 3. Be in process. As you continue to play with options over time, this mindfulness exercise will uncover and create new ways and habits of responding rather than reacting. Who knew every breath contained an opportunity to create something fresh and new? Become a Self-Healer Self-healing will make you a better communicator. Practicing personal care and enlightening disciplines allows access to a sense of peace and calm, and builds these self-care habits into a form of muscle memory, making the benefits easy to access at any moment. If you're feeling tense and emotional but need to see a client, or a wound is triggered in a session and you're tempted to react, you can call on your mindfulness work and apply it to the moment by simply listening and being present. Self-healing through mindfulness will allow you to manage emotion, which will benefit your clients who want to share their own personal stories with you. RITUAL 2: NOURISH A COMMUNITY OF PERSONAL SUPPORT Invest time on intimate relationships outside of your professional practice, as they are part of the foundation of life. Some of us may have discovered, since being home, that we often look to our clientele to meet needs of ours that they cannot and should not be expected to meet. I had an aha moment one day during a service with a beloved, longtime client: I had a UPS driver at my door and I asked him to place the package by my desk. He asked, "Can't you do that yourself ?" He then put it down and walked out. Having partially witnessed the exchange, my client commented that she had "never seen me like that." She experienced me in a certain way while I was serving, attending to, and accommodating her needs. Seeing me annoyed was new and seemed out of character. What this experience told me was that clients, no matter how close, don't know all sides of you, and they should not be expected to. Your clients are paying for—and expecting— you to provide a healing, safe, and even sacred space for them. Clients want a professional who is outside the drama of their personal life, choices, and outcomes—a neutral observer. RITUAL 3: EXPLORE AND IMPLEMENT BOUNDARIES Ask the client what their intentions and expectations are for the service, and briefly share your intention. I often practice one of