Agreeing to fear and pain: Those who suffer well, suffer less

Topic: Agreeing to fear and pain: Those who suffer well, suffer less

Time: Thursday, 11th of January, 6.30pm – 8.30pm (snacks are provided and hang-out from 6pm possible!)

Location: Wild Life Ranch, 14208 W 96th Ave, Arvada, CO (Type “Skyrose Stables” into google for most precise location)

Admission: $15 (digitally via @mo-wildman, 8135 or Paypal)

I remember lying on the massage table as my teacher was pressing intensely into various tight spots on my lower stomach. Flashes of a bright round light above my head as I’m lying on an operating table rushed before my eyes. I felt nauseous, sweating all over, the smell of a sterile hospital room in my nose. All despite lying in a warm room in a secluded hotel and retreat center in a remote part of Spain. “You may want to run away right now and yet I recommend you let your body do what it is designed to do and agree to your fear.” he told me. I relaxed back and let my body wriggle and contort. For the first time in over a decade I began feeling sensations other than numbness in that part of my belly. My digestion improved considerably, as did my ability to stay present when I got afraid in conversations. And the surgeries I had long forgotten taught me a valuable lesson about how my body indeed keeps the score.

Whatever it is that you are suffering from, I’m convinced that your lack of ability to be with fear and pain is contributing to it. And don’t worry! What we will do at this evening will not be as intense as pressing into some of the worst and most impactful trauma spots in your body that I described above. And yet, we will play with the same concept that my teacher Avi Grinberg taught me: Paying attention to where we tighten and constrict in our bodies. And then putting even more pressure and even constricting against the tension and then, finally, agreeing to it and letting the body move how it may.

I consider my practice of agreeing to feel fear and pain in my body as one of the most valuable skills I’ve picked up over the last 7 years. And what another teacher of mine by the name of Thich Nhat Hanh told me as I was living at his monastery rings more true than ever: Those who suffer well, suffer less. You can’t escape suffering in your life on a regular, even daily basis. Yet, learning how to suffer well can make the biggest difference in developing a happier and more content life.

So come, learn how to suffer well and then, together, we will suffer less! 😀

At this meetup we will practice a simple pressure point massage game in pairs, finding tight spots and noticing what it’s like to fight them and then release. We will also practice in dyads, talking about how fear and pain shows up in our lives and pay attention to how this is serving us, so we can become more intimate with it. And most importantly, we will have fun as we witness each other in vulnerable and authentic states, which often makes me wayyy more relaxed, and embodied afterwards.

About me, your host, Mo: After retiring at age 26 from founding a tech startup (Buffer) I fell into an empty space of nothingness, disorientation and confusion. Over the last 7 years I dedicated myself to get to know myself in all the ways I was avoiding my inner experience. I learned how to orient myself less around money or success, and more towards becoming powerful and alive. The biggest support I received in this transition has come from learning to notice the sensations and experiences of my body. Through living in Buddhist monasteries in the Thich Nhat Hanh tradition, I’ve become a full-time student and sometimes teacher of embodiment practices, specifically training in Somatic Experiencing, studying the Grinberg Method, studying with and then becoming the CEO of the Radical Honesty Institute and learning various meditation techniques that helped me tune into what I’m experiencing in my body. Since I lived most of my life from the neck up, this shift has transformed me in so many ways and remains my biggest ongoing practice and is what I’d like to teach you. I’m also the founder of an intentional community in Arvada wildliferanch.co