“I struggled to stay in Presence because something in me wanted to ignore the rolling of the sea…”
This week we have a “guest columnist” – my friend, Focusing teacher Michelle Habington.
Michelle tells the story of how Focusing changed her experience with seasickness. I find this an inspiring and hopeful story, and one that could be applied to other experiences as well. It also shows that Focusing can take patience and that spending a fair amount of time being with something can be worth it.
Focusing with Seasickness
We have just returned from a 28 day cruise to South America from Argentina, around Cape Horn, Ushuaia up to Valparaiso, Chile. My husband loves cruises and I go along. One of my favorite pastimes on the ship is to study, read and do Focusing.
In this particular case, the sea was very rough, and I found myself taking refuge in the lowest and middle part of the ship in an effort to calm my stomach and avoid taking pills for the queasiness as those pills have side effects.
On this particular day when the sea was rough and I was struggling, I wondered if Focusing could help me with nausea. I still found my spot, low in the ship and said hello to something in me. I first sensed the part that didn’t want the nausea. It let me know that it was afraid I would get sick or incapacitated by nausea. The “something” that was afraid came up in my chest, very strong. Then it showed me a picture of the rough seas and I sensed it was afraid of the sea. I sat with both the not wanting to be sick and that “something” that was afraid. There was no way to get off the ship at this point. I struggled to stay in Presence because something in me wanted to ignore the rolling of the sea. Something in me didn’t want to feel it.
I sat with all of this for most of the day until it showed me a memory of being on a small sail boat over 30 years ago. We were caught in a storm offshore and the storm kept pushing us further away. We were finally rescued by a fishing boat that had been sent out by our families to find us. I remembered that as darkness came that night I felt that we were going to die. Mostly I was worried to leave my son who was quite young at the time.
I stayed with the memory of that incident letting that “something in me” know that “no wonder” it was afraid. For days after, I checked in to see how it was there inside.
Gradually, over the next few days, the nausea passed and I could move around the ship with confidence even in the roughest seas.
I am still amazed by Focusing and what a great tool it is to take on a holiday.