The Invitation
By Lisa McCrohan

There is a sacred moment
right now
when you awaken,
you open your eyes,
and you can answer “yes” to
the invitation of your soul
to freely be who you are,
as you are,
standing or dancing
in your power.
Because today,
today, you are honoring
your truest self.
You are answering the call to
live and speak and love
as your soul speaks to you.
And this is freedom.

Lisa McCrohan, © 2015

“I’m stuck” she told me. Any which way my client described it, she kept coming back to “stuck.” She felt stuck in each of her relationships, her professional life, her weight, and her dreams.

Her energy wasn’t freed up to answer the invitation of her soul. She wasn’t feeling or connecting to her inner vibrancy. When we feel such stuckness, the tendency of our culture is to try to “figure it out”, to make the brain work harder and be hyper focused/obsessive.  We might come up with a short-term solution that gives us a little “fix” but soon – like a rubber band that only stretches so far and then snaps back into its original shape – we find ourselves snapped back into the energy of “stuckness.” We try hard, hard, hard – and then crash. This can tax our system so much so that we get burnt out and eventually give up.

Rather than striving to figure it out in her head, my client and I opened the space for the possibility of organic healing through the wisdom of the body.

“Where do you feel that in your body?” I asked.

“In my throat,” she said as she instinctually brought her hand to her throat and swallowed. And here is where we entered the landscape of stuckness, where we met Shame and Grief, where we met Numb and Tiredness and Emptiness – and we slowly allowed them to be felt as sensations, holding space for the body to complete the “self-protective” stress responses that have been stuck for a very long time. We skillfully held space for the wisdom of her organism to “do what it knows to do.”

With little “doing” and much skillful holding, noticing, gentleness, and attention, her body – not her head, her thinking – could finally take the lead. I accompanied her, holding space for her as a skilled midwife does.

Yes, that’s what I’ve started to see my work as: midwifery for the soul. I’m a Midwife for Your Soul.

The wise midwife studies the body. She intimately knows the birthing process – the science, the art, and the mystery. She knows the importance of relationships in the birthing process. She knows how to respond in emergencies. She has honed her craft over many years of attending many births. And even after thousands of births, she approaches the body with reverence – she stands in awe of the Holy Mystery of the body. She knows that her job is to hold Sacred Space for the body to “do what it knows how to do.” She has intuition and skill, education and art, blending together so she knows when to intervene more directly and when to be only silent and present, witnessing and holding space.

This is my work, my calling. Almost 20 years ago, I came back from working and living in Guatemala and El Salvador with the crazy idea I would become a doctor. “But you can’t stand the sight of blood,” my dad told me. I enrolled in my prerequisite science classes anyhow. I thought I needed medical school to be the kind of “legitimate doctor” I wanted to be. In my mind, my business background, my ability to see deeply into the source of suffering and the “right path” to allieviate that suffering, my poetic soul, and my devotion to accompanying others were not enough to be the kind of “doctor of the body and soul” that I knew I was called to be.

And half way through chemistry, I had to finally admit to myself, “This isn’t me. This isn’t my path.”

Long, long story short: I applied to a dual graduate degree program at Boston College in social work and theology (with an emphasis on somatic spirituality and healing); left my friends in San Diego thinking I was crazy; moved across the country; landed a scholarship and graduate assistantship; met my husband; studied and trained in yoga, shamanic studies, and energy work; continued my meditation training and practice, and…finally weaved together the science and art of these healing modalities, forging my OWN path to “holding Sacred Space” for others to birth forth what deeply delights their hearts.

Today, people come to me experiencing all sorts of emotions, sensations and thoughts. They come to me experiencing all sorts of suffering – in the body, mind, relationships, energy fields, and soul. Everyone has their unique story and while the particulars of their storylines are different, they/we all have something in common: the desire to deeply embody a sense of peace, wholeness….to BE AT HOME within their own skin, to let their inner vibrancy shine, and to live aligned with the deepest delights of their Hearts/Souls/Spirits.

I’ve seen now over the years of birthing my children, witnessing the continuing birthing of my OWN self, and accompanying clients in Compassion Coaching and Somatic Psychotherapy, that there are times we need a midwife – a skilled, trained, intuitive, devoted midwife – alongside us, witnessing and holding space for the birth of our souls.

A Midwife for the Soul can hear your “no!” and “I can’t do this!” – and show you how to gently allow IT ALL to be here. She shows you how to be the Sacred Container for honoring your YES. She knows how to gently guide you into the inner landscape of your Heart and how to navigate the terrain of Doubt, Shame, Grief, Emptiness, Numbness, Joy, Delight, and Connection. She knows the “herbs and tonics” (“practices” and “meditations” and things like “gentleness, tenderness, self-compassion, connection forgiveness”) to take that are right for what you are experiencing. She believes that your body knows how to heal. She believes that your Soul knows what deep delight you must honor and it knows the path.  The midwife’s job is to “hold the space” for your soul’s deepest delight to be birthed into form and expression in your life.

** If it’s time for the birthing of your soul – into this next expression at this time in your life…if you feel stuck, if something within you “leans into” what you are reading here, please, contact me. Let’s work together – me as the Midwife for Your Soul and you as EXACTLY you are. In honoring your truest Self…

“…You are answering the call to
live and speak and love
as your soul speaks to you.
And this is freedom…”

* I work via Skype, Facetime, phone and in person with Compassion Coaching clients.  I see Somatic Psychotherapy clients in person in Frederick, MD.