​The heart is protected by the pericardium, a tissue that surrounds the heart.  It protects the heart muscle from infection, physical trauma, prevents friction as the heart beats, and it keeps the moving heart in place.   Between the two layers of pericardial tissue is pericardial fluid, which acts as a further buffer against external insult. 
 
In the work that I do, the pericardium has two main functions.  First, as above, it is protective.  Second, I perceive that the whole body can be mapped onto the pericardium in much the same way that reflexology maps the body onto the feet or hands, and acupuncture maps the body to the ears. 
 
In practice I find that the pericardium can hold a pattern in place that has otherwise been released from the body… or that a pattern will refuse to leave until the map onto the pericardium is addressed.  Generally, that means that the pattern has some kind of protective power for the client and that either needs to be released or redirected to a more appropriate place in order to release the pattern.
 
The prescription of the pericardium is connection.  There is a deep longing that can get held within the pericardium for deep and meaningful relationships with others.  Being on the outside of important relationship can be held in the pericardium as tension which in turn can affect the heart muscle itself. 
 
Our social atmosphere is far more important than we give it credit for.  A nourishing social environment can map itself onto the pericardium as well as a traumatic one.  In my opinion, our most radical form of self-care is choosing carefully who we spend our time with... and what we do in that time.  

What could the world be like if we considered all of our interactions with others to be a form of self-care?

I’m still knocking around with the effects of our pilgrimage back to Flagstaff where I set down the unfinished PhD I’d been carrying in my emotional baggage for years.

And here’s what’s happening now that I’m home.

I’m shedding… not just skin… not just layers… but a whole way of relating to the world. 

I often think of myself in relation to nature, and I understand this relationship in terms of totem animals.  I’ve been aware for more than a decade (no, it’s been almost 2 decades!) that I’ve been walking with Turtle.  She has been a lovely companion providing me with safety, slowness, processing, and the ability to take my internal journey to my soul.  I’ve been in and out of my shell for a loooonnnnggg time. 

But, now it’s time for her to move into a secondary role.  She has happily taken up residence in the north of my medicine wheel where she can be part of the foundation of truth, safety, and support for the gems I received on that interior journey. 

I shed my shell… my too-tight jacket… in ritual with sisters recently.  I am trusting that the tools that I have learned to protect my heart (that don’t involve shells) are working for me.  I now have a capacity that once I did not.  And that is empowering.

Turtle has joined, eagle in the east, coyote in the south, and spider in the west, to support me for the time being as a council.  I don’t have a primary totem anymore, and not sure if I will get another or not.  I’m learning how to take what I’ve learned on my interior journey and to apply it to my relationships with others.  I’m learning how to speak my truth, my way of seeing and being in the world, and sharing it. 

May each of you travel gently with your guides, may they support you in your journeys.  May you find trust and help with them when you are struggling to see where to place your feet.  The forest taught me that once upon a time… that you must trust from your heart that your steps are the right ones… and then go.  Adjust later if you need to… but take that step.

And, if you want to take those steps with others, join us for the July Body Wisdom Healing Circle call (Sunday morning at 9am Pacific) where we’ll talk more about relating to others from your heart.  You can sign up for the call number here.