There’s something sensationally delicious about sinking into a good book, letting characters replace my reality with theirs. I breathe deeper, fuller. Expansive inhalations. Pauses become paced exhalations. I submerge, eyes first, into the depth of the white expanse, then trace black printed shapes etched in a linear fashion. The lines, lockstep, herald the bell ringer’s message lodged within my no-nonsense brain: diversions are not allowed. I embrace the simple grace that comes with letting someone else’s words take command, their pace now my pace, their depth now my depth. I flow in synchrony with what is and allow it to simply be. My mind fashions thoughts, tags after sensations in-between blank spaces. My intention is to be with the text without an agenda, without expectations or preconceived notions or definitions of what is to be read. I clear my essence, become a human tabula rasa as I avail myself to what comes from the inner reaches of my knowing and the outer reaches of all-knowing. My energy synchronizes with that emanating from the text, words once static on paper are now alive flowering within me, through me, developing meaning within the context of my being that enables me to learn, grow, share, release.
Sitting with Cherionna’s masterful weaving of science and wisdom, I watch as she unveils her mystical process of embodiment from preconception through pregnancy, birth, bonding, even into death through pictures, words, experientials. Her pacing, word by word, page by page, chapter by chapter, matches her belief that when we, as therapists, are working with ‘little one states’, it is essential to slow down, to stay in the present time, and connect with resources available in the here and now. In a present time, safe relationship, we can differentiate between then and now. Slowing down the tempo is useful in working with any kind of trauma, Cherionna notes, adding that emotional healing can happen more readily when we de-accelerate and avoid knee-jerk automatic reactions. In this place of peaceful mindful pause-filled presence, we have more possibility to perceive and access options that allow us to heal and grow (adapted from pg. 53). She offers a treasure trove of data with a first-person familiar voice—it’s an academic book that reads easily, no tripping on oversized words or floundering with a distant/disconnected authorial tone. Cherionna is present on the page as details are fleshed out, time and time again. Each thought is stretched as far as one might in a taffy pull, the materials sticking together yet thinning so one can almost see through it, capture the once imperceptible grains creating the whole, resulting in a clearer picture of what some might consider ungrounded, unsubstantiated, perhaps even shadowy concepts.
Cherionna lives and breathes this text. The stories are hers. The knowledge hers. The interweaving of all she has gleaned from others, acknowledged, she is clearly grateful. She is one woman comprised of many souls, her energy tapping into the universal abundance that is available to all if we resonate with the fields surrounding us, embracing us, supporting us. If one reads this book slowly, methodically, with an air of open curiosity and willingness to explore, one avails themselves to the chance of a lifetime, to experience a cleansing rebirth starting from one’s cellular beginnings through conception, gestation, developmental phases, birth, bonding and beyond.
Deepening movements into the essence of being, beginning with the smallest cell to the largest sense of differentiation, Cherionna explores, expands, presents our creation for reflection and experience. Nothing is left to chance. There is no guessing. All details are presented with the invitation to be open, curious to consider what you might at first think strange, unmentionable, outlandish. She invites room for our spirit to coexist in science, not an either-or but a merging, a weave, a space for all that exists to truly exist as it is without distortion or contortion.
According to Cherionna, “This book attempts through words, images and guided experiences, to share aspects of my own efforts to answer the question, “Where did I come from?” My intention is to help soften the journey for others who have been as haunted and fascinated by the question as I have” (pg. 15).
To read Nancy Eichhorn’s entire review, please click here to access the PDF
Photo Credits:
Aaron Burden from Unsplash
Andrew Martin from Pixabay
