Pathways by SANAS: I’ll take care of that later. (Sound familiar?)
Pathways, a weekly newsletter by SANAS Holistic Wellness
Exploring the Elements Within & Without
A brief pulse from my journey + what’s unfolding next.
Join us for the first Holistic Happy Hour
The Longest Relationship You’ll Ever Have ...
(the one with your own body)
🌑 🌒 🌓 🌔 From the Mat 🌕 From the Heart 🌖 🌗 🌘 🌑
On touch, tenderness, and learning how to care for the body you live in.
We spend our entire lives in relationship with our bodies, yet many of us know how to criticize, improve, discipline, or ignore them better than we know how to care for them.
While Danielle and I were preparing for Touch Yourself this week, I literally asked myself, “Why don’t I do this every day?”
There's no need to turn it into some elaborate two-hour ritual, but just some of this. Why don't I take a few minutes with a massage ball and pay more attention to the places that have been asking for it?
I teach this stuff. I have the tools. Literally. And yet...
Often I seem to waffle between “I’ll take care of that later” and getting so caught up in what I’m doing that I genuinely forget I have something available that might help. I don’t always stop long enough to ask, What could I offer myself right now?
Apparently, owning the tools and actually using them are two separate activities. Who knew.
In the last year, I have been dealing with a cervical spine condition, and there was a period when I was much more proactive about caring for my neck, including using the Dennerol as part of that care. Lately, I haven’t been as consistent, and subsequently I’m noticing more discomfort now.
It’s not that I don’t care. It’s that “later” is remarkably easy to keep moving.
After this appointment. Once I finish this project. When things settle down a little. After I cuddle my kitties...(some priorities do need to be established)
Like at some point there will be a magical time when nothing else needs my attention.
Preparing for this event has been a reminder that I am very much a participant in what I teach and that I need the reminders too. Sometimes I need to get a tool back into my hands before I remember why I wanted it there in the first place.
Last week, I wrote about listening to what my body is asking of me. This week, I’m noticing what happens after I hear it. Do I respond? Or do I say, “Yes, yes, I know,” and keep going?
That is part of what I want to share through Touch Yourself. Practical ways to care for ourselves, and a little time together to actually practice them.
Because none of us need another thing to feel guilty about not doing. We need to make room for a few things that we already know can support us.
Preferably before “later” becomes next week.
This months thread: Touch as a Language
In these fuller editions of Pathways, I’d love to explore the themes behind our Holistic Happy Hour gatherings. This month: what touch can communicate.
So often, when someone we love needs care, we respond. We reach out a hand, rub a shoulder, make a little room. Somehow, when it’s our own turn, we’re more willing to let it wait.
But our own hands have something to offer, too.
Touch can say:
I am listening.
You are safe with me.
You do not have to perform right now.
I notice where you are tired.
I am not asking you to do anything else.
I am here.
Self-touch isn’t a second-rate version of care. It has a place of its own alongside the massages, classes, and professional support we make time for. It doesn’t replace that support, but it means care doesn’t have to wait until our next appointment.
Sometimes we can begin with our own two hands and a few minutes of attention. No booking required. Just remembering that we have the capacity to offer ourselves something kind, right here.
And, importantly, touch doesn’t feel the same for everyone. It can be comforting, complicated, welcome today and unwelcome tomorrow. Even our own touch might not feel soothing. There is no particular response we’re supposed to have.
Our boundaries are part of the conversation, too.
If you join Danielle and me for Touch Yourself, every practice is optional. Try it, adapt it, pause, or simply watch. Change your mind halfway through. You don’t owe us an explanation.
We’ll offer guidance. You decide what feels right for your body.
“Not this,” “less, please,” and “not today” are also ways of caring for yourself. And they absolutely belong in the room.In these fuller editions of Pathways, I’d love to explore the themes behind our Holistic Happy Hour gatherings. This month: what touch can communicate.
So often, when someone we love needs care, we respond. We reach out a hand, rub a shoulder, make a little room. Somehow, when it’s our own turn, we’re more willing to let it wait.
But our own hands have something to offer, too.
Touch can say:
I am listening.
You are safe with me.
You do not have to perform right now.
I notice where you are tired.
I am not asking you to do anything else.
I am here.
Self-touch isn’t a second-rate version of care. It has a place of its own alongside the massages, classes, and professional support we make time for. It doesn’t replace that support, but it means care doesn’t have to wait until our next appointment.
Sometimes we can begin with our own two hands and a few minutes of attention. No booking required. Just remembering that we have the capacity to offer ourselves something kind, right here.
And, importantly, touch doesn’t feel the same for everyone. It can be comforting, complicated, welcome today and unwelcome tomorrow. Even our own touch might not feel soothing. There is no particular response we’re supposed to have.
Our boundaries are part of the conversation, too.
If you join Danielle and me for Touch Yourself, every practice is optional. Try it, adapt it, pause, or simply watch. Change your mind halfway through. You don’t owe us an explanation.
We’ll offer guidance. You decide what feels right for your body.
“Not this,” “less, please,” and “not today” are also ways of caring for yourself. And they absolutely belong in the room.
Practice Portal: Listening through your hands
Pause
Rub your palms together until they feel warm.
Let one hand land somewhere on your body without overthinking it.
Notice whether your first impulse is to assess, correct, or change something.
Soften your hand and simply feel what is there.
Ask: If my hand could communicate one thing to my body right now, what would I want it to say?
The Magician's Table
Currently on my table: from L to R
My deep blue muscle rub from Dōterra. I freaking LOVE this cream. For me, there is no better muscle rub. It really works and it smells yummy too.
My cork massage ball and roller set that I got from my friend and bodyworker, Andres Batista. Plus the one hot pink lacrosse ball that hurts so good,
The aforementioned Denneroll that really helps my neck
My yoga practice. I'm so grateful that it is part of what I DO because I know that if it wasn't, I wouldn't do it as often.
and the ongoing realization that owning the tools is not technically the same as using them.
Walk with me: Touch Yourself
If you have been meaning to take better care of yourself, but aren’t always sure what to do once your body starts asking for attention, come join us.
This Friday, September 4th, Danielle Olson and I will guide you through approachable self-massage techniques using massage balls, gentle pressure, and your own two hands. You’ll leave with practices you can actually use at home, after training, between appointments, or at the end of a long day.
And because this is Holistic Happy Hour, there will also be ritual, a signature mocktail, connection, laughter, and probably at least one moment when you realize the title was worth it.
Touch Yourself Self-Massage · Ritual · Release Friday, September 4 Doors at 5:30 p.m.
Experience 6–8 p.m.
Part woo, part wow, 100% worth it.
Weekly classes in San Juan:
Wednesdays: Sunset Hatha Flow, 6-7pm at Isla Verde Beach, (in front of Condo El Girasol) $15
Thursdays: Heated Slow Flow, 7:15-8:15pm at BodyWrk in the basement of Cobian’s Plaza, Santurce Saturdays: Essential Yin, 10–11:15am, Pahi Studio, Calle Loiza — $20 drop-in / $15 with class pack
A small ritual of acknowledgment:
Place both hands somewhere on your body that has carried you through this day.
Feel its warmth, its effort, its aliveness, or whatever else you may sense coming thru.
Say quietly:
I am learning your language. I am listening. I am here.
Until next Wednesday, may the care you so readily offer others find its way back to you.
Hit reply and tell me: How has your relationship with your body evolved?
With steadiness and warmth,
Rhiannon Wynn SANAS Holistic Wellness
Follow Me
Hato Rey Norte, San Juan, Puerto Rico 5035160809
www.sanas.life
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