Christine is lying on a mat on the floor of my studio, her hands covering her eyes. Our session has just started. She’s quiet and I wait patiently. Her breathing deepens; she seems more relaxed than when she arrived. I ask her to pay attention to her body and to let me know if she notices anything. “My eyes are tired,” she tells me. “What does it feel like?” I ask. “It feels like they are very, very heavy,” she says.

2023 is almost over, and I know that for many of us this wasn’t the easiest year. For me it was definitely one of the most challenging in a number of ways. I can share that by November I felt absolutely defeated. I wasn’t sure how I was going to move on, but I knew that if I didn’t, everything and everyone I cared about would be affected.

The whole reason for being free is to bring the gifts to the world that you came here for.

~ Clarissa Pinkola Estes PhD, The Power of the Crone

Free-form work is something we can all do naturally. It is the ability we have in us to express the wisdom of our bodies and minds to achieve balance, harmony, and self-healing. All we have to do is to allow it to happen. Free-form work is so versatile and broad that it allows each person to change movement, thinking, and behavioral patterns in a way that is spontaneous and often (though not always) enjoyable.

I looked at Jacky while he was drawing and was stunned to see the expression on his face. He was having fun like a kid in an amusement park. With a wide smile on his face, he drew my daughter’s portrait. He giggled as he asked my daughter to recommend colors for her dress (he was color blind).

It’s sea turtle nesting season here in Florida.

On Mother’s Day, my mom and I took a night walk on the beach.

I pointed at some sea turtle nests and explained that some of them get marked the next morning with white sticks. I looked for sea turtle tracks in the sand to show her, but on that evening, after crowds of people had spent their day on the beach, there were no sea turtle tracks to be found.

Although the Paula Method was not originally meant to treat eye issues, the last eighty years have shown us that, in fact, it is highly effective in improving eye health. There are nearly 50 eye exercises in the Paula Method. Some activate the sphincters of the eyes, some are movement exercises, and others are so gentle that we mostly just imagine them.

One of the things I like about teaching groups is that when someone asks a question, everyone else can learn from it. Often students have similar thoughts but don’t dare to say anything. Recently, a student of mine asked if what she was doing when she practiced on her own was “Paula”.

There's an old stable in my back yard. It has six stalls with tall, wooden Dutch doors. The ground is covered with soft, gray sand, and giant spider webs stretch from the ceiling. The roof is broken and rain comes in, giving the sand a constant fresh scent.

The Paula Method is a holistic approach to healing that was developed in Israel in the mid-1940s. The woman who developed the method was Paula Garbourg who discovered an interesting thing regarding the function of the ring muscles in the body.

When teaching the Paula Method to new students I often find myself debating whether to teach another exercise or direct them towards free form work. You see, the exercises feel like an anchor. They are more predictable in a way. There’s an action and an outcome of that action. In contrast, free form is abstract; it’s completely unpredictable. It requires establishing trust, developing self-confidence, and allowing self-expression.