eff you, Delta.

Storytime!

A couple of years ago, I was separated from my husband during an international journey. They wouldn't let me on the plane, couldn't explain why, and blamed the partnering airline. The partnering airline blamed the first airline- something about a bit of code that was wrong. No one had any interest in helping me, or seemed to care that they were leaving me stranded in Chicago during the winter, at 1am in the morning as the airport shut down around me.

Because we had purchased our tickets separately, for Manflesh to stay with me would have created 5 more expensive, stressful problems rather than solving one, so we decided he had to continue as planned. Then I was alone in the middle of the night, as they shut the door to the jet bridge behind them. No one answered the phone calls to either airline, obviously, and the robot chat turd on the app was completely useless.

We all know the feeling of being helpless at the hands of a faceless corporation, with not a single human being to help you. I trundled my belongings over to a corner to promptly give in to the pit of self-pity that was waiting for me. My plan was to sob quietly until the counter opened in 6 hours.

I came very close to executing this plan.

Then, I changed my mind. Because, fuck that.

To change my circumstances, first and foremost, I needed to feel better. Despair would not serve me. I needed to be able to respond to the situation instead of being a victim of it. I searched my memory for a tool and found one that I had stashed in the bottom of the moldy gym bag that was my brain- somatics.

I had used somatic exercises before to try to tune into my body's oft-ignored sublte messages. What if I could use it to change the way I felt in this shitty circumstance?

I thought about the best possible way the situation could work out. I pictured arriving at the familiar destination with Manflesh there to greet me. I thought about the immense relief of that moment. I FELT the relief. I felt it in my body. I located where "relief" lived. I focused on it; it's shape, color, movement, as a physical sensation.

I felt better.

I opened my eyes and saw a woman in a red Delta coat walk by. I approached her and calmly told her what had happened. She sorted me out in 30 minutes. It did not escape me that if I had been huddled in a corner having a well-earned cry, I would have missed her.

Some people would say that situation wasn't "magic." Some people say that magic is difficult and requires years of study and sacrifice and for the stars to be in the right configuration. My lived experience says they are wrong.

Magic is easy. Magic is everywhere. The body is the key.

It was another year before I learned how to apply this same technique to cutting off gremlins at the source when they were stealing an important moment from me, or my students. I learned I could use it to take back my brain, and take back the moment.

I'm going live on Wednesday to teach this technique in a one-time, one-hour workshop, called Overcoming the Imposter: Somatic Witchcraft for Artists, some. I'd love to share it with you.

Click below to join:

and hell yeah there will be a replay.

You have SO MUCH power. More than we even know.

Go on with your bad selves, and don't go back to sleep.

xoRachel