Here in Arizona the experience of autumn is still a foreign one to me. I grew up on the east coast and even after ten years my internal woodland creature looks for the cooling of the days and the crispness of the air that heralds the onset of fall. Every year come September and October that little creature finds itself confused and turning around in circles trying to avoid the continued heat and seek the brightly colored leaves and harvested squash and apples. Luckily Tucson has mountains, and if I really need a dose of autumn I can drive to it and sit in the smell of deciduous trees.
My internal schoolchild wants to gather up books and buy back-to-school outfits and sit at attention waiting to learn and perform. This year I have embarked on a master’s program journey to get a degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. As suits my lifestyle and temperament, the program I have found allows me to maintain my life here in Tucson while pursuing the degree. I am fortunate enough also to have found a program that puts the lion’s share of the work in my hands, from determining due dates and class focus even down to the textbooks and resources I use for each class. It is for me a dream come true, as well as overwhelming.
I can hardly fathom how within just a few short years I will gain the skills to be a qualified counselor, permitted through education and licensure to assist people who find themselves stuck in all the various ways in which we find ourselves. But I can’t help but be drawn here. In both yoga and massage my focus is on gaining skills at navigating discomfort, maintaining a clear mind in the midst of the vicissitudes of everyday living, and utilizing our whole selves in the process. With only body and breath we miss out on the oceanic depth of the emotional and spiritual. Though these are in some senses less tangible they are no less important. Even now research is being done on the interplay between emotional and physical health, between the power of belief and the ability to survive, even thrive.
I am so excited to be here and doing this. I am excited to share it with you and grow in the process. I am excited to be overwhelmed and confused and unsure. I look forward to being exposed and learning how to be more vulnerable and humble. Feel free to come along.
