meet nancy. Finding the “spark” in Body. Mind. Story and finding a new way to express her beautiful self....
At MBS, we share connection, support, insight, and hope - and are best known for delivering this mission through our adaptive yoga program. As we continue to grow, we’re finding new ways to deepen our impact and one of those efforts was last year’s launch of Body. Mind. Story - a transformational storytelling workshop. One of those in the inaugural cohort was Nancy Glass from Michigan. Nancy explains that she’s actually been following MBS for a long time, beginning back when Matthew Sanford’s memoir, Waking, was released. She heard Matthew speak on Krista Tippett’s radio program and immediately connected with his story and insights. “I got his book and read it, and I was just really moved... The doctors were telling him one thing but his experience was different. He knew what he was experiencing. And that really resonated with me.” Nancy says that her history with healthcare was a similar story. “[Having been] through that process, it was almost like the doctors owned my body. It didn’t feel right but it was just kind of what it was.” After Nancy read Waking, she found ways to connect with MBS from afar, through the Transforming Disability CD and becoming a newsletter subscriber. Even then, she was already (and unknowingly) weaving
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herself into the community. When the Body. Mind. Story. workshop was announced, Nancy remembers that persistent feeling when you know you have to take action. “I just knew I had to do this. I can’t really say why, I just did,” Nancy says. When registration opened, Nancy made sure to set an alarm, knowing that if she didn’t take the leap then, she may not at all. She made the call, registered, and just like that became one of the first brave participants of Body. Mind. Story. Once she signed up, Nancy’s next feeling was one of being terrified. She explains that while she had traveled alone in her life, particularly when she lived in Germany in the 80s, she hadn’t been independent in long time, especially when her health issues meant relying on family for support. When she looks back on the workshop, Nancy recalls the powerful experience of being led into the body, an important and unique aspect to this storytelling workshop. The frustration and challenges of her health issues made her push her body away, something that many of us have a tendency to do, without even being aware that we’re doing it. “A lot of my journey has been getting back into my body… For the first time my body got to express what I wanted to say. The body hadn’t had a chance to express [itself] and it
was just incredibly healing.” When it came time for her to get up and share her story with the group on the last day of the workshop, she realized that she could tell her story and doesn’t need to rely on others to do it for her. “My mind or brain stepped out of the way and my body got to express itself.” Nancy says, “It was empowering and it was magical.” Nancy credits the workshop for being a catalyst, or more specifically in her words “the spark.” This spark has inspired her to continue cultivating a deeper connection with her body, for instance, returning to Minnesota for Opening Yoga Level I/II earlier this year, explaining that she felt like that was something she needed to do and the experience brought her continued healing. This spark also moved her to apply for a scholarship to attend the On Being Gathering, a retreat in California, which she will be heading to in the new year! Thanks to this spark, Nancy has taken back her body and her voice. She is empowered and also interacts with the world on a different level, with greater embodiment. “When I’m more present, the more present I am with others. I come from a place of integrity or wholeness. It’s a very different way of interacting, interacting from a place of wholeness.”