Tiniest of Seeds
"He told me all that I ever did." - the Samaritan woman in John 4:39
Yes, life is messy and integration of Jesus and faith with life often doesn’t look like what we thought it was “supposed” to or think it "should" look like. Are we shocked? We are literally told by Jesus that this life is full of trials. Yet we as we show up we can heal and grow in ALL God promises. He has after all, overcome. We can too.
He saved me. I can’t say it more clearly than that. Yes, Jesus has proven to me to be the ultimate answer. Has it been easy? No. It’s been 25 years of a winding road that he has made straight. As I continue to walk it out, I can’t help but testify - and to talk with others in their own unique places on the discipleship road. How amazing.
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21
Tiniest of Seeds
Wellness + Worship: A Chat With Janet Massey
The quest for soundness of mind and health of body is age old. These days, we are inundated by information that has gotten ever more vast and can seem ever more complicated. Be encouraged to know it can become more and more simple. Don't hear me say it is easy or that there are quick "fix-its", but after seeking to control our mind and health, today's guest, Janet Massey and I are learning the power of the Word of Truth in conjunction with kind movement and looking to Jesus. It has been absolutely transformational. Consider Hebrews 12:1-4 and Romans 12:1-2. In both scriptures, we are given keys to unlocking our well being!
With a doctorate in Physical Therapy and a whole lot of life experience with physical limitations and the connection of wellness and faith, Janet has knowledge and expertise that is encouraging and enlightening. In today's episode, Janet shares a bit of her story which is truly remarkable, and practical and simple thoughts about how to move toward more wellness in mind, soul, and body. We are meant to live in wholeness in Christ.
We chat a little bit about all sorts of things that you've probably heard about - somatics, lymph massage, meditation, breathing. We touch on a lot of things that can be overwhelming and can often put us into either an avoidant or over functioning state! Yes, there is a lot of good science, but the methods and opinions and information seem endless right now. We talk about how intentional stress exposure, such as the shock of cold-water immersion, can teach our bodies to remain composed under pressure, and how such practices, coupled with faith, can fortify our capability to heal and grow. This episode sheds light on the often-overlooked connection between physical discomfort, spiritual strength, and the art of remaining present through life's challenges.
Welcome, janet. We spoke a few months ago about wellness and today we're going to just take it another step, and I told you listeners last time that Janet quit her physical therapy business. She has a doctorate in physical therapy and she actually quit her physical therapy business to go into somatic coaching. She is practicing meditative coaching, praise and worship coaching, and she has both Christian and non-Christian options for people because she believes so powerfully in the healing of the Lord Jesus Christ. Whether spoken or unspoken, she has come to believe that it is the thing that transforms and renews, and the reason Janet and I reconnected was because I saw Janet and, like I said last time, I thought something happened to Janet and if you guys know me, I hope some of you say, hey, something happened to Lorraine, but anyway, it's hard to keep it quiet, and so I just hope I'm hoping to hear from you, janet, today some of the specifics. Whatever, I know you've given your testimony. Guys, you can check it out.
Laurine:Her business name is Janet Massey SpiritSoulAndBodySupport. Yes, so you can look her up on Instagram through my Instagram, or you can look her up on the internet, or you can text me and ask how to look her up, because she has resources. We're not going to tap into all of them right now. She also has her testimony posted. She has many YouTube videos and all sorts of stuff, but today I'm going to sort of let Janet speak from the present moment of today as to her journey and where she's at this moment with this broad, broad, spacious, expansive topic of somatic wellness and praise and worship and Jesus deliverance. So, with all that being said, I'm hoping she will do most of the talking and I'll do most of the listening, and I'm going to throw it at her and let her just dive in. So thank you so much, janet. I'm so excited to hear what you have to say today. That's awesome.
Janet:Thank you for that intro and I I was just kind of processing it does. It does feel like what I offer and share is kind of all over the place and yet it's all the things that helped me and it really. It started with learning to change my thoughts and neuroplasticity, but I learned really early on in that journey about somatics, although I didn't know that it was called somatics. Soma is just the, the Greek word for body, and but somebody had told me to, because I knew I wasn't present in my body. I knew I was dissociated completely.
Laurine:I can only see things from afar, and me too and I'm curious I probably will interact to hear now, curious, were you ever an exercise addict? I because I was, and I was never present in it, that's for sure.
Janet:Seriously and actually this is probably skipping way ahead, but I think it could go right here. I still that is one of the areas that I'll still find that I'll notice that I started to get just totally separate and I'll feel great. I'll be running in the woods and like, feel like I know I have the energy to do it, I'm not in that old way of like doing it regardless of whatever right, but like.
Janet:I actually do have the energy and it feels great, and I'll start realizing that. Like I don't feel great, though, I feel kind of like jittery and what is going on, and it's like I see it as my body, just suddenly remembering the old way I did this and don't you think I that is so true, janet.
Laurine:And don't you think Bill and I were talking about temptation earlier, and as we get more in tune with ourselves, it's so interesting because often temptation comes in the form of something that actually is good, in that the world esteems like, oh, motivation and wanting to do more and be stronger. That's a great thing. But as we start to recognize our internal responses, we look back to Jesus and he can anyway. So I so agree with that, because I'll actually like stop at 19 minutes now or the second. I realize I'm starting to get that high, independent from what he's telling me. Yes, I'm getting better at saying, you know, I'm going to push the pause yeah, well, I so often like I've even had it happen where.
Janet:I'm, I love just. I mean, sometimes I'm singing and play songs and stuff and I'm praying and everything in the woods and I, I can even be doing that. I feel like, how am I still? What is going on right now? And I've just practiced enough that I can just set my hands on my heart and remind myself I'm actually here. I'm here now. My body's not in the. You know the time I did this, however many years ago. I'm right here right now and my spirit and soul reside in this body, where I am now.
Janet:I'm a new creation in Christ and it's like because I've practiced it enough. Honestly, usually it takes a second, like it used to take longer, but now it's like whoa just, and I catch it so much quicker. It's like what is going on? I was, I was fine, what is happening?
Janet:oh yeah, okay, it's okay, it's fine, I'm okay, I wasn't actually doing, because sometimes it's like, oh yeah, I actually feel just really tired, not in like something seriously wrong, but, like you know, I've just been pushing really hard and I feel really tired and I'm still pushing and it's okay to just slow down today. So sometimes it's just that, but a lot of times it's not. It's like no, I actually feel fine, still going really faster right, pushing in the physical, as long as I'm present in this body and not in some past version of who I was and I'm not future tripping over what's gonna happen yeah, I'm right here right now.
Janet:And so to me, that's what it became, that this person it was just some random person on the internet that I don't know or remember, who had just kind of suggested. It's not about because I I had tried to force myself into my body and I could do it for a little bit, to then be utterly exhausted, and she was like you just need to let your body know that you're, you're here now, like look around and notice you're not in the past version of your bedroom, even because that's where I was doing this, just like in my bed, and so I just took in. I some people have heard me say this a lot that there was a plant above my bed and a leaf hung right over my face so I didn't have to turn my eyes or head.
Janet:I didn't really have much eye movement or anything, or and no neck movement, and so, thankfully, I just didn't know that the actual exercise is like looking all around you, but it would be within your training zone, but I didn't know how to do that, so I would have forced yes, and I just want to interject and say listeners, some of you know Janet, some of you don't, but Janet was very immobilized by her physical body, to the point of it being really debilitating and extremely painful, both physically and, I would say, spiritually.
Laurine:And I don't think saying pretty much debilitatingly immobilized is too strong. Yeah, and that's why it's remarkable and where I knew something was different, when I saw you swinging that kelp around on the beach and saw the joy, yeah, it's. I mean, first of all I saw the joy, but first I saw the manifestation of the joy and the peace in your face and then I saw the manifestation in the physical realm. Yeah, so I just want to pause for those of you who don't know Janet and say that. And then I also was wondering, as you probably know, now, somatics the word somatic is everywhere. Now, yes, would you?
Laurine:describe it though, because because, honestly, would you just describe it? Because many people are like what the heck is?
Janet:somatic it really is just in the science of understanding that we need to be present. In our body we have a nervous system. It can be in rest and digest, or what people call parasympathetic other people call it ventral vagal.
Janet:That's where we want to be and we can be in fight or flight. We can be in freeze, which is kind of this shutdown, and fight or flight together. So you which is where I was for many years like you can't move. But it's that feeling like you have to mean all of the things of fight or flight, that the emotional, the physical, the yuckiest emotional and physical things you can experience, like you're experiencing that and then immobilized. And so there's our nervous system goes through all these different states and it doesn't mean we're designed. People will often say, okay, I want to learn how to just be calm and in rest and digest every second of every day, because that's where we heal and it is when we're in rest and digest, or parasympathetic, or ventral vagal, all the same thing are we're building up connective tissue faster than we're breaking it down.
Laurine:Yeah we're.
Janet:Our immune system is is ramped up and functioning. Yeah, our lymphatic system is is working like everything is is kind of building and growing. We're building bone tissue, not breaking it down. So that's where we want to be, but we're not actually designed to stay there every second of every day.
Janet:If there's a loud noise behind us, we should react right, but then be able to come back down and so it's building resiliency in our nervous system, yeah, being present, how we're designed to be, and being able to have our baseline and be, rest and digest, but be able to jump way out of it and calm back down, and I think that's. That's a lot of what we're doing, but I feel like so much of it just comes down to being present.
Laurine:Totally and that so resonates. I shared with Bill earlier About how tough yesterday was for me, and if you want to hear more about it, you can go listen to the podcast from last week. But I went through some serious things on Sunday which I had the stamina and the peace of mind to show up for in presence, because I'm learning new patterns and new ways of being. I'm learning, I'm rebuilding those connections, those neural pathways to know that I'm safe in my body, even when I feel like I am gonna freak out. And yesterday, janet, I told Bill I felt like I was gonna jump out of my skin. I was everything I good to do.
Laurine:To stay present in the discomfort was different for me, as I didn't use food or alcohol. I didn't run away emotionally. I stayed present in those very terrible, uncomfortable. People could call it whatever they want, who knows, and I frankly don't care. All I know is I felt absolutely Horrible and I'm learning to stay present in it, partly because what I've been practicing, as has Janet, being present to myself in my body, the somatic piece of you will, you know, meditative praise, worship, intercession, prayer, all the things that we are called the Practices believers, but which are so difficult to practice, because everything in this tells us number one it doesn't work. Number two, I mean, we don't even want to do it half the time, we don't want to be legalistic and all the all that. So I'm just so, yes, like we do have to be In flight sometimes in order to continue to heal. That's where we develop our resilience and tolerance.
Janet:Mm-hmm. Well, the cold water is a good example of that. I want to go back to the. I move in a second.
Laurine:Yes, the cold water.
Janet:You know it's right now. It's like 43, 44, between 42 and 44 degrees Fahrenheit out here I had built up and it really helped me. I had built up by just walking in waist deep water like in the summer and then building through the year and eventually swimming. But my body wanted to tense up and stay in tension.
Janet:Okay and that caused a lot of symptoms early on. I couldn't, I couldn't walk, and so it was like I need to be able to do this and stay relaxed. And so you get in, especially if you're gonna like full on, just like jump in and swim in this. The initial is I mean, it's pain, the body's screaming. This is dangerous right If you stayed in too long. Yes, it is extremely.
Laurine:I'm not recommending anybody. Do this Please right, talk to your doctor. You know all that kind of stuff.
Janet:Yeah, yeah but um, so the body's screaming like get out, and I I actually, right before I get in, I'm like this isn't going to be comfortable, right, but it's okay right. I'm okay, like I actually know how long I can go. I know, yesterday, when I asked people to come over, yeah, it's, it's like, you know, so I, so I go in and, and, but I'm alive and I have this amazing body that's able to do this, and so I feel all these things, but I'm like it's okay, it's okay.
Laurine:I'm here.
Janet:I'm really present and you can just feel because I, because I did train this that I can feel my body like go Whoosh into full fight or flight and then calm right back down and that's how my body temperature can stay higher.
Janet:If I stayed in fight or flight, I wouldn't be able to stay out there, right All, but because then I can calm back down, I can stay out and maintain my body temperature and it's just like this awesome, like I can just say I'm present on my body. I have this amazing body that's been created able to do this, like there's so many things. But I feel like it's also taught me to Be okay with, with a little struggle and stuff like and I'm okay and God's still with me, he never leaves me.
Janet:Nor takes me keep my eyes on him and it's just really helpful. But even the eye movement, like I use that try to actually, you know, not be like absent, kind of just Looking at my own eyes but really taking in my surroundings, staring down at the rocks and the crabs and whatever, because the orienturing I would call orienturing looking around which again.
Janet:I started just a leaf above my head because my eyes didn't move much, but taking in my surroundings. And then I I learned it from somebody who wasn't a Christian who just said you know, taking your surroundings, let your body know you're here because science is brilliant.
Laurine:God created science.
Janet:I love learning things from that.
Laurine:I love that you learned it from somebody that wasn't, like I always say, the Bible's original CBT manual like God thought of it like, let's utilize everything good and perfect is from him. So I love that. Someone that was not Christian taught you that. Yeah, anyway, so then I go ahead.
Janet:No, I dove into it more and it was like okay, but I started adding, because they just talk about just neutral, just taken details, just noticed things. But I think it goes to just a huge better level when you start. I started thanking God for the design of the leaf, for the beauty of it, for how it could nourish from the, you know, the water we added and the dirt and the sunlight, and it was just so helpful and it makes me think it. Well, what keeps coming to mind is my dog that if she is invited into somebody's home and this is any dog, I'm sure, but my dog is really sedentary.
Janet:But if she's invited in, and I promise it, oh, she'll just lay in one spot, she'll be fine, right, and that's what they're comfortable with. But I learned I had to say but she needs to just sniff the house first and then she will be fine. But if you don't allow her to just kind of check out where she is right, she's not going to feel safe, so she won't ever settle. And then you'll think that I lied. So I've learned. I learned to say, like is she allowed to take one? Like just sniff perimeter of the space she's going to be in and check it out, and then she'll settle down and feel totally safe. And it's like okay, let our body, let our eyes take everything in where I'm like oh, yeah, okay, I'm here. Now I'm not in some memory that maybe my brain is right to me, to that I'm not even aware of. So watching her has helped, and watching babies and cats and things that aren't maybe socially trying to change the natural, Because you know they want to not be whatever.
Janet:Yes, they haven't learned to fear, yet yeah, so if you drop whether it's a baby or a cat, whatever you want to think about if you drop a broom or something, they're going to react and their eyes are going to freeze. They're going to become really narrow focused. They're going to lose peripheral vision. Sometimes it's a fast start around, but not like a control taking in your environment, and so they're going to just freeze in. But then they're going to kind of realize that it was just me dropping a broom, it's okay.
Janet:And you'll see them maybe kind of shake a little bit and yawn and start moving their eyes and taking all their surroundings, like this choice to look okay, we're all, we're all right. And so you're just getting the information through your body. But I think what it's come to is like in like the first four verses I think of Matthew, chapter 8, the leper comes to Jesus and it just says I think meals before him or meals before him in worship and says you know, if you will like, if it's your will and desire, you can make me clean.
Janet:And he's saying you know you can write. And Jesus says, yes, it is my will and desire. But the, the, but, the, he, where it says he meals before him. It's like he prostrates himself before him in worship Like he full, like he involves his body and I was just thinking of the woman with the issue of blood like it doesn't say she prostrates herself before him, but she goes up like she's involving her body A lot of the some people are carried to him.
Janet:But even that the body's present in the in the thing, and there is this like I.
Janet:I need to be present, not often past some past memory or in some future prediction, in order to communicate with God, because he's here, his spirit is in me, I'm sealed with the Holy Spirit. I know I can't actually separate from him, but it turns into like this massive distraction and confusion, and so I feel like what has happened is, as you learn through, just like touch and muscle contraction. I mean, it's not anything weird, really. It's definitely learned in PT school. I just didn't know how to use it Right.
Janet:But it's like you get present in your body and you can connect with God, the spirit in you, because there's not this thing that I've added that separates us. Even though nothing that anybody else can add can separate me from God, I can just get distracted and focus on totally.
Laurine:It makes me think about how it says to set your mind on things above, how you added in the piece of praise when you were noticing a leaf. And I also started practicing somatics, if you will. It's been about two and a half to three years ago when I felt like God told me to start bowing and and I was like, well, that makes sense. He tells us to bow in the Bible. So, and you know, and I really was not thrilled about it, it didn't feel real, I didn't feel connected to it, I just knew I was suffering from overuse of food and alcohol. I had come far enough from my discipleship journey to know God was faithful, but I still wasn't often feeling he was faithful. I knew had come far enough in my discipleship journey to know prayer was beneficial, but I still often didn't feel and still sometimes don't. But I'm learning an increasing measure and it is transformational, combining that, what the science says to do, because that's why we all should exercise or meditate, or because we're close, supposed to breathe what box? Breathe and breathe in and breathe out and get present, calm ourselves down. We're still still all these things and they can get you so far. But then that extra piece of setting our mind on things above. And so it was maybe three years ago where I'd literally started bowing and it was real short, because I couldn't tolerate much. Now and this is not to pat myself on the back or be holier than now, but I cannot help I've added all these little practices to keep me present, like when I grind my coffee I jump up and down and say I look to you, lord Jesus, author and perfect for my faith. And it's not. It doesn't feel like routine. It started out as some practice, but now it feels like such a joyful present, grounding, shaking it out.
Laurine:My friends know I talk about stomp on things in the spiritual realm, you know, and that's essentially somatics in many ways. You know it's I don't know, I don't know. Did you even actually say what the real definition was, or you don't have to, but you know. Essentially it's like okay, and then I started seeing all this stuff like science says to shake. I'm like we'll go doing that. You know people. You know I've said before people think I'm weird sometimes, but science says to do it resets your what do you call it? Your vagal, what is it?
Janet:Oh, the vagus nerve, yeah you know, so I mean the the vagus nerve is most nerves kind of take in and give out information. Equally, the vagus nerve is like 85% is taking in. So it's which means that, like, we have all these little proprioceptive cells on our skin.
Laurine:I'll say that too, but it I don't even know all this stuff.
Janet:I love it, but it just they're designed to tell our body where we are in time and space proprioceptive cells.
Janet:Okay, the proprioception is like the ability to know where you are in time and space, like, yeah, so that you don't fall down right, constantly right, we, we, we have them on our skin and stuff, and so the vagus nerve even just touching your skin I mean, if you do it roughly and not carryingly, that's different. But just gently touching your skin and being present with it and thinking about it, is stimulating the vagus nerve in a positive or neutral way. Either one is fine. We just don't want negative, and so often there's just this tension and roughness on our body.
Janet:Like our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and it does. It deserves gentle care.
Laurine:And I spent most of my life honestly treating it very roughly. Yes, I mean, I didn't even realize I wasn't present till I was well into being a disciple of Christ. So the sanctification road it is, it's a road. So wherever you're at, you know you're uniquely designed to listen to. So don't be discouraged. It doesn't mean you're not a disciple of Christ. But there's more. Anyway, janet, and I know how much more there is.
Laurine:We were in fact praying it before this to say, lord, we want everything you have to give us. Help us receive it, because we know there's more that we cannot imagine even now. And so we show up with the best that we have in the moment and say, lord, show us, show us how to move, to live, to have our being. And going back to what I said, like I really think I practiced being in flight and causing my body to raise its cortisol, and some of you guys know I've lost about 50 pounds in the past couple of years. Actually, it's been about three since I just started gradually, when I started bowing and what we see and saying I'm, you know, practicing that, the kind that presents to my body in new ways. I think that I have come out of that flight and that panic, because people will say, what have you done? And I'm like, do you really want to know? I started bowing before the Lord and it's gone from there.
Janet:Yep With the vagus nerve. People will often talk about somatics as just vagus nerve stimulation exercises and I bring that up, even though I feel like maybe it didn't fit right there because I wanted to lead into something else with even the self lymph massage that. So we were talking about the proprioception and being present in our body. We have all these things on our skin. You move your skin and it's if you're being kind to it and thinking of it as the temple of the Holy Spirit and being in gratitude, and if you're not there yet, starting neutral and inching your way there and knowing that feelings aren't good or bad, but they shouldn't rule us and determine our actions.
Janet:We're led by the spirit. So you were saying I didn't feel like bowing, it didn't feel good, it didn't, it felt like this, this routine that I was making, but keep going, because it's not cognitive dissonance, the truth yeah. God's word. It's true. Right, it's not like you're just stating some fact. It could be true or not Like it's the truth of God's word, so we're speaking it, and it's obedience to do it even though it doesn't feel real and it doesn't feel all soft and fuzzy and warm and lovely.
Janet:That can come and great, seek it, ask for it, but it's not about like. God's love isn't a feeling, it's an action. Absolutely, he acted. We don't need to feel love to say God, I love you, thank you for your love. I don't need to feel his love I get to know that it's true and I get to speak it, and so that's where I kind of started in understanding that, and then it was like, well, maybe I should be nicer to my body.
Janet:Yeah, I know, it's this temple of the Holy Spirit and it's loved. I don't need to feel loving toward it Like I need to just choose to do this. And so I had learned and I was doing self-limp, self-limp massage or self-limpatic massage. So I was doing lymphatic massage on myself and it was helpful. As you're, when there's severe chronic illness and not a lot of movement, the lymphatic system gets sluggish. So the lymphatic system, it goes through it's fluid throughout the entire body, so like I used to call it the sewer system. But it's so much more beautiful than that, it's not the best word, but it doesn't have. Like the cardiovascular system has the heart pumping it, the lymphatic doesn't. It requires you to move and your skin to move and your muscles to contract to move it. And so I knew from helping clients with chronic conditions that it really helped to work on it. So I was doing it on myself and so it was helpful. But then I learned to be caring and I learned about somatic and I learned about, you know, I knew about stimulating the skin and the vagus nerve and all of that, but it was like just in a very fix-it mindset. And then it's like wait, no, jesus has already paid for all of this. He's already set me free, he's already broken the chains of sin. I'm not doing the work, I'm honoring and stewarding my body that he's given me as a gift and that's the temple of his Holy Spirit. So my whole mindset toward a tool I've been using for a long time that had been helpful, changed.
Janet:So I started doing self-limp massage really same technique, but with this mindset of I'm not in a panic, I don't desperately need this, jesus has already paid for all of it. I'm taking care of, I'm loved, I'm seen. He's given me his Holy Spirit. You know, I have the fruits of the Spirit. You just go on. I get really excited about that. So I could go on for 20 minutes right there.
Janet:But I want to come back to this and say it started helping so much more. And I realized like, oh, it's the same as semantics, which I guess I still have it. I don't it's challenging to define in so many ways, because it's just movements like touch to help us be present in our body and release the, the energy it takes to stay in, fight or flight, freeze or shut down. Yeah, and so then I realized like, okay, self-loan massage is orderly and in an exact pattern because our body is designed to really intricately, and there it flows in an exact pattern and so there's an order. It's very orderly and kind of rigid in that way you could say, but it's so gentle and it's this light touch and it's really repetitive. And it was like, oh, when I changed my mindset and I'm just caring for my body, but Jesus has already done the work.
Laurine:Yes.
Janet:Then it became this really soothing, calming thing. So that's why I, when I started leading somatics I also are shortly after I started leading self-loan massage because I thought I had been working with some people individually and they found it really helpful but found it stressful to do on their own because I couldn't remember the pattern and they wanted to just be guided and have accountability and so I started doing that.
Laurine:So I want to tell you listeners, check out Janet's stuff because it is very overwhelming for people and she will be instructive and guide you in it. She does have a doctorate in physical therapy, a scientific background, and also really tenderly holds the gospel and the Lord God most high, and so I would encourage you to check it out. She will guide you through how to do that lymphatic stuff and I resonate with so much that she has said and also the somatic stuff, without needing to put a label on it. It really is as simple as moving your body, and for Janet and me both and why I'm interviewing her right now is because the key for both of us has been that praise and worship component and that is where, when I do my lymphatic stuff, I'm pretty faithful about it. I've got a routine now, not a rules and regulation. I've got to practice and I do speak the truth of the Lord over my body every day. When I do it, I do it in the shower and I speak the truth of the Lord and it's a very present grounding place to have the identity of Christ.
Laurine:Some of you guys might remember what got me into the bowing to begin with was I had my daughter's wedding coming up. It was about a year away or something, and I realized I still hate my body. I didn't care so much that I was overweight because I'd come to terms with that and really there's no judgment there, so it's not even. I even hesitate to say that, because even that puts a label on something that's not accurate. But it was more that I was hating my body and I couldn't come to peace with my lumps and bumps, my imperfections, even though I had come to peace with my weight, if you will, and God had freed me to a large degree in that. So when I began the Breathe-in-Him journey, if you guys viewed any of my videos, you will remember that I did look different in my weight, and so it's just a fact.
Laurine:As I'm learning to release more and more, my weight has become less and less important. However, as I'm speaking, the truth and the release of the Lord Jesus Christ over my body, over my lymphatic system, over my I jokingly call him my bat wings. I mean, we're all getting older my friends and I and I had a friend say no, they're your angel wings, but you know what, listeners, I actually love them now and I was able to dance in freedom at Searle's wedding. Yeah, because it's not about what we look like, it's not about who we think we are, it's about who we are in Christ, and so I would really encourage you to check out some of Janet's stuff. She's got free offerings that she just shows up out of the kindness and generosity of her heart to lead in some praise and worship stuff. There's other options. She has some laugh with me things, because laughter is the best medicine and well with Jesus and good like medicine.
Laurine:So I wanted to push the pause on you on this and say please check out her stuff if you're overwhelmed, because there is a scientific flow, there is a right way to do lymphatic massage, because there is that flow. Our God is a God of order, just like our hearts beat. Yes, we can have the ability to participate in that flow and in that release.
Janet:I did the live because for me it took so much effort to do that. Be kind, not be rough on myself okay, I'm gonna start gently rubbing my stomach. Well, I could start judging it and attacking it, right?
Janet:or I get really rough in certain areas because the skin doesn't feel right or whatever and I feel, or I could just rush, because there's certain things that are just really slow and I'm like, well, I have to finish it. And, as I'm telling other people, it's like so, this isn't about finishing or getting through. Like, if you're just rubbing some of the things, it's like kind of really slow, mo rubbing your skin along certain spots in your body to just allow the fashion to release under your hands.
Janet:It's not deep or anything, but it's just very slow and it can be so easy on your own to just rush and so that's why I do it live and not just I mean, and people can listen to recordings, but I know myself, if I push the recording I'm more likely to walk away from it or rush through it, fast forward it whatever, speed it up, and so if it's live, it's like there's that accountability. So that's why and I feel like I can, you know, I'm just always trying to remind people hey, you know, be nice if you've just hit a body part that you tend to not be nice at too. Too, this isn't judging like you're describing soft, hard, you know, you're describing neutral things and if you can have gratitude, yes, but if you can't even go there yet.
Janet:Just bring yourself back to neutral stuff when your mind goes to attacking yourself so well, let's.
Laurine:I want to hear we're gonna have to have another conversation instead that last time. The time is always way too short with Janet. Because, well, because we could just go on and on and on. So, but I want to hear any other little and I need to come to another one of your classes, because you know what we all. We all need to continue to learn and grow. And just because I've come a certain amount of way, does that mean I don't have a whole lot more to go. And the cool thing is it's a joy. I know I would benefit from slowing down and in fact, if one of you listeners would please text me or call me, say, hey, let's go to, would you go to Janet's live with me? I will do it. So I hope that I have some will take. I keep telling people to reach out and you know so if any of you have fills, a little conviction, I'm gonna be praying that anyone that listens might have a conviction to reach out and go to a class with me.
Laurine:Janet, come to one of your lives we'll see but if not, I definitely want to come to one again. I love being instructed by you and I love the time that we have been able to even spend in prayer, or, you know, before the podcast, we got to sing together and do a little glory, hallelujah, yep, and it's so fun and delightful and connected. Yeah, and that's what transforms our minds, you guys, and our bodies is connection with God and connection with others, and I know for me the reason.
Janet:Well, I said that for somatic and self-limpicide.
Janet:I started it for accountability and everything but the the laughter and especially the praise and worship and what I call praising through God's word which is kind of just a prayer group, but I changed the name because I really wanted to be where it's focused on the word of God and praising him. But I didn't find it easy to do that on my own with things going on in the brain and the body and everything and just so many distractions, yeah, and so the more time I know it's important to do it on your own.
Janet:Yes, I mean yeah takes practice, but it's okay if you get help with that accountability. Need that accountability for a while and so that's the like we're going to be on together and you know you don't have to come on screen, you don't have to speak. I think it helps people. Actually, if they're on screen, then they didn't walk away from their screen. It's really easy to just kind of like oh, whatever, nobody knows I'm going to do something else. So, but there's no requirement because everybody's in a different space.
Laurine:And when I did it with you, I did. Janet had said that, so I was felt so slightly self-conscious being on screen, but I did. I was on screen and when she was encouraging us to praise or dance or whatever, I did step aside so that people couldn't see me praising or dancing, which because I just felt can feel private. I mean, I'm now not ashamed and you guys, a lot of you have seen me do that or whatever, but wherever you're at is where you're meant to be. So I did step aside and I did notice other people on screen. Most people had their screens off, but there were a few that had them on and I wasn't paying attention to them.
Janet:Yeah, yes, and that's what it's like. And, like I said, everybody's different. There are days where it seems like there's lots on screen and there's days where it's just me on screen.
Laurine:And that's.
Janet:OK too. I actually used to struggle with that because I thought I'm not trying to be on display. God, this isn't about me. I don't want this to be about me.
Laurine:But our freedom is worth it, and so if you're feeling that you would like more freedom in the Lord, more movement, more release, more truth, check out Jan at Stuff Online and don't even turn on your screen if you don't want to.
Laurine:And say no to any condemnation If the enemy wants to say but you can't dance, you say so what I can in the spiritual realm and I'm going to show up to receive what is there for me today. I want to go back to something Bill said earlier and I remember he said it to me when we were doing junior high ministry Actually, janet was also doing, oh my goodness, while full circle.
Laurine:And I don't know if you were there when he looked at me and I was in the midst of a lot of pain and suffering myself it looked different than Janet's. Janice was more externally evident. Yes, mine was very intrinsically tormenting at that time and internally tormenting at that time. And Bill looked to me and said Lorraine, we see you. And I don't know if you were there when he said that, but it pissed me off and I got defensive and I got angry. But you know what? There's a beauty, because we cannot hide we, we are seen and we are loved right where we're at, whether you can move or not move. I have a dear Christian sister who's in a wheelchair and can move very little. She can still dance in her soul, yeah, and we are free in Christ and right where we are at.
Laurine:And off camera on camera Right yes, so that's my prayer and challenge, and Janet and I are going to close out here. We may do a little who knows what we'll do off camera. But anything else you want to add before we close, would you mind closeness and prayer, even Janet, no that sounds lovely I got.
Janet:I just thank you for Loving us. That it is an action of your love and I ask you to help us fully receive your love, that it perfect us, which doesn't mean we're being perfect right. It's your love getting completed through us Like we fully receive it, we fully get to receive it so much that we can give it to ourselves, others and back to you. That's that, perfected by your love. So help us Acknowledge and receive your love so we can do that. Help us be present in our body so we can be where our spirit and soul reside. You have filled us all in all. We are your body, you are our head. Help us submit to you and trust you, and I just praise you for this time and I thank you that you are going to use whatever words we spoke for your glory, because we handed to you to do that.
Janet:So help it be whatever it needs to be for each individual person who listens, and help each of us just turn to you and trust you, because you are trustworthy, yes, in.
Laurine:Jesus name amen.