Leaving town

I leave on Sunday morning for two weeks in Berkeley, California where I'll be studying craniosacral therapy at the fabulous Milne Institute. I'm excited, afraid, curious, hungry, and stunned to think that my "work" for the next two weeks is going to be staying present, listening, having people put their hands on me, putting my hands on other people, getting good rest, eating well, and then doing the whole thing all over again.

I've written a bit before about this - studying massage and bodywork. A friend asked me the other day if I was nervous about the training. With her question I realized that it isn't the training I'm nervous about. Instead, it's what happens after I get home. How do I make sure that I integrate this into my life - remembering to practice, to set up my table and lay a few people's bodies down on its fake leather surface? This is what frightens me. My day to day work life is so left-brained, so strategic and analytical. It always startles me how frightening it can be to set the analytical aside and just take space, just breathe.

I will probably blog while I am there in California, away from family. Rocki and Luca will be in Brazil, being in Portuguese, hot sun, Carnaval, and family. We've not done this before, this distance like this. When we had a kid, we said to ourselves, there will be times when our work and travels will take us in different directions. We said this would happen and honoring it would be a good thing. But three weeks away from them? I'm excited and scared.