This last weekend I unexpectedly left for a four day workshop. One of those things where the timing was right and my intuition told me to say yes and I dragged myself kicking and screaming the entire way. Even though it was decidedly not my scene.

But it turns out that I bring my belonging with me, and that my intuition is always right.

All in all, this workshop was one of the most powerful, beautiful things I’ve done ever (up there with my first Rally) and now everything is different. In many many good ways.

So….now what?

Re-entry can be one of the hardest things. Whether from a life changing workshop or just a mini revelation. Even re-entering the day after Shiva Nata can be tough sometimes.

This is my recipe for myself, at least right now:

1.) Naps! I’ve slept more hours than I’ve been awake the last two days (some of this is from being pregnant, of course). Sleep is one of the best times to integrate new understandings at all levels.

2.) Yoga! Gentle body care, powerful energy clearing, and a lot of intentional time with myself to let things settle into new configurations. Yesterday, my one priority for the day was getting to yoga class. And it was the one thing I did.

3.) Food and water! During workshops I find that I eat about a third more than usual and drink about twice as much. I don’t keep up that much consumption once I’m back in my old habits but I do try to pay a lot of attention to what my body wants. Learning is hard work, and releasing is even harder. Good food and plenty of water are important tools for the job.

4.) Walks! Slow meandering ones. In beautiful places.

5.) Journalling! Gently retelling my stories, exploring implications, opening to possibilities, and soothing old pain. What does it mean to be the new me? What do I know about this?

6.) Permission. This is the most important, I think. Permission not to answer all my hundreds of e-mails right away. Permission to be mad that I can’t answer all my hundreds of e-mails right away. Permission to feel a little fuzzy and unclear for a while. Permission to hate feeling fuzzy and unclear. Permission to have no energy. Permission to wish I were ready to jump into everything. Permission to be where I am.

I don’t know how long it’ll take, but I know that this way the reintegration is a lot faster and deeper than when I try to push myself right back into the same old things, only to find myself, months later, still reeling from changes I didn’t process.

Plus the babylet is completely gleeful that I’m lying down so much, because it means she has room to kick me all the time. Parenthood: I already rock at it.

What are your re-entry recipes?

Love love!
Rhiannon