On Tuesday, I had the privilege of participating in the Massachusetts State Action Day held by the National MS Society. As the current Chair of the Government Relations Advisory Committee in the Commonwealth, I was able to meet and talk with fellow MS activists and legislators. It wasn’t the first time I’d had a speaking role at the event, but this year it was very different for me.
It was a number of years ago when I first had the opportunity to speak at the event. I remember being very anxious about it, asking many people what they do to curb stress right before speaking. I did a short breathing exercise, but I can tell you I was still pretty anxious. It was the same thing for meetings with my state senator and representative’s offices – even though I knew the issue and my story all too well, I was still nervous that maybe I wasn’t doing it right since the bill didn’t get much traction that session.
This year – my first back in person since the pandemic – I had a different feeling. I was planning to do an introduction of our legislative champion in the House – thank you Representative Ted Philips – and also a send off for the group. It was excitement, but it was peaceful excitement inside of my body.
Part of the send off I did was leading some intestine exercises. The video, which is on the Facebook page (I crashed the site trying to add a video plug in, so stay tuned until I figure it out.) shows how to do the exercise.
By focusing on and moving your intestines, you are helping to activate your second chakra, home of your body’s energy source. Putting focus where you are moving does something to your mind too – try it, and it 50 times. How is your mind when you are done?
It was an honor to lead the group of MS Activists in the intestine exercises, and some focused breathing. If you have questions about the exercises, let me know.
Hope to see you in class soon!