“You are a being so vast, so complex, with amazing capacities for self-regulation and healing.
Let me be one of the harbingers that lead you to the mysterious core of your being where insight and wisdom are naturally available when called upon with a sincere heart.”
From: A Felt Sense Prayer, author unknown shared by Tara Brach
https://palousemindfulness.com/docs/felt-sense-prayer.pdf
23 July 2025
The “me” in the above quote does not refer to a person or practitioner but to our own “Felt Sense.” It is a sense that might lean on other senses, like touch, smell, taste. It is input that can show up to illuminate some truths about our current condition. Including a tuning into ourselves on multiple levels, such as physiological, emotional, mental, spiritual or physical. Working with our felt sense can encourage really deep bodywork that doesn’t leave bruises. It doesn’t reignite old wounds. It finds the inherent healing qualities inside ourselves to stimulate long-lasting shifts and changes.
I absolutely love the phrase, “lead you to the mysterious core of your being…” because maybe it speaks to the part of us who feels that a bit of mystery surrounds our core, or our being, and maybe both. With so much emphasis on the external – other people’s opinions, outside destinations, imposed deadlines, it is no wonder that the inner core of our being might hold wonderful mysteries. Our inner core may become similar to a favorite vacation spot. When we finally take the time from our daily lives to visit, it can enthrall us in delight. Some of us might say, “why don’t I spend more time here?” Or, “how can I start to make visiting here more of a priority.”
As the saying goes, life (and healing) is about the journey not the destination. Mid-journey is where each of us resides – whether young or old, experienced or naive. I wrote earlier about the benefits to staying fluid, curious, and adaptable in our healing journeys. And talked a little about mastering a pivot when faced with obstacles. So I choose to interpret the “natural insight and wisdom of our core” as something already alive in us. Mysterious as it may be, our inner core and all its wisdom can be visited often.
As we journey together into the mysterious inner core of our being we can utilize pivots and pauses to aid our bodywork process. A pivot can support us in moving with the flow of life, meeting challenges with softness, resourcefully. I’m picturing a professional kayaker adeptly navigating river rapids. Before we run away, self-protect, or try to fix an obstacle, we can also pause. Like a wise and seasoned inner-warrior we can linger in the stillness within that barrier. One with the rockface, a skilled rockclimber can slow the momentum and use slowing down to move onward and upward in the trickiest of passes. The simplicity of a supported pause carries with it some beautiful benefits.
Patience and trust in our ability to heal after years of swirling turbulence can be tough. Sometimes our highest available health lies on the eddy line. Or the other end of an exposed ridgeline. Navigating our way into, or out of turbulent territory takes a willingness to show up for what arises, and many times requires reverence and self-love for what wants to emerge in the afterwards.
