016 – Mini Musings: Support for Spring with Therin Pohley

[0:00] Music.

[0:08] I’m Sarah Tacy and this is Threshold Moments, a podcast where guests and I share stories, about the process of updating into truer versions of ourselves.
The path is unknown and the pull feels real. Together we share our grief, laughter, love, and life-saving tools.

[0:27] Music.

[0:38] All right, so I’m going to have us take a moment to land, that we could take a nice deep breath in, and an easy breath out.
And I’m just going to notice my feet on the ground, and then I have the chair supporting me beneath, that I have the breath of life moving through, and that I’m with a dear friend.
A friend that’s been on her own journey and a friend that’s been part of my journey and me part of hers. And as we start this podcast today, we’re starting with a recognition of, of being a multidimensional being, the way that we have a need for touch, for sound, for taste, for spirit, and for psychology, for energy, for breath, for relationship, And that the skin itself can be one conduit, one mirror of the way these multi-dimensional bodies and this multi-dimensional life and relationship, is reflected and the way that we care for it.

[2:04] Can help to actually give us lessons of how to come into rhythm with ourselves, others, and nature. And so today we have with us Therin Pohley. Therin is a dear friend.
She and I share a birthday, which we didn’t know until later into our friendship.

[2:25] Therin Pohley is an esthetician who has a profound passion for self-care and whole body wellness. She takes great joy in sharing her experiences and her experience with her clients.
She has a distinctive and extensive knowledge thanks to her 20 years in the beauty and wellness industry. She keeps up with the most recent holistic and advanced aesthetic modalities, offering her customers a modern alchemy to reveal their most attractive and harmonious selves.

[3:01] Therin thrives on demonstrating to customers how intuitive skincare can be when we work to live in harmony with nature.
More than just a facial, a skin wellness session with Therin allows you to fully reset your nervous system and leave with the skills you need to improve yourself from the inside out.
And I’ll just add to this, for anyone who has ever had a session with Therin, it’s so great, we now share a space. And so I get to see people on the other side of being in your presence and being in your care.
And I hear the like, my life will never be the same in a really good way.
And just, I think sometimes the awe that people might experience of receiving care and perhaps what happens to their nervous system when they’re in your care.
And I know when I’m on your table, I’m often also moaning because of the smells of your products.
That you’ve said to me once.

[4:05] Isn’t it so interesting the way that our body knows exactly the smells it wants to smell, when the smells that we’re smelling are in season?
Absolutely.
Yes, things smell better during the season that you’re supposed to smell them.
Like for instance, when I spray purifying mist, sometimes people don’t like that at all, but when it’s the body needs that type of medicine, wow, they’re like, oh, what is that?
Ooh, do that one again.
So that really is it. Yeah, we are, we are very in tune with nature if we quiet our bodies.
Taking the time to lay on my table or any person’s table who does healing work, and finding that time to be silent, your body is so much more ready to receive, any type of intuitive tunings.
Yeah, and as you say that, I’m thinking, for those, I think like the majority of my listeners that aren’t in Maine, or people who have or don’t have access to getting this type of care, I recently have just been laying on the earth.
And so there’s something about the energy of the earth and the grounding.
So as you’re saying that, what would I come, what type of intuition might rise up if I were to lay on the earth.

[5:30] I don’t wanna say silence my mind, but just actually become an observer as I’m laying on the earth because I noticed that it’s easier to get out of my own way and just notice the trees and notice the feeling of the temperature on my skin, the texture of the ground.
I start to hear the birds. I notice animals that are showing in the spring that weren’t there in the winter.
And I get a little inspiration just from then being in nature.
Yeah. I think doing something like that, it’s like you’re clearing away the clutter or clearing away the muck in front of your eyes just by laying on the ground.
I don’t do this necessarily, but I try to walk with bare feet often.
I always see you earthing, as you call it. I love that. But yeah, I think it takes away a lot of layers of life just naturally, just by laying there on the earth.
I actually heard yesterday, it’s, we get that healing effect when we’re in nature, whether we’re taking just a walk through the woods or laying on the ground or at the beach, there’s negative ions in the air. And those are very healing.
And skin-on-skin contact has that same effect. So yeah, when I touch people, or when you even touch yourself or your children or anyone, I think it has a very healing effect.

[6:57] Oh, that’s so interesting. I knew about the negative ions near the ocean or the mountains, but it would make sense that that would also be in the woods.
It would make sense that oxygen availability would be higher in the woods near trees.
And then skin on skin, there’s so much research about what that does for oxytocin, which is a love hormone.
And the way the oxytocin really calms the nervous system and that it’s very hard.
My understanding, it’s hard to have adrenaline if you’re feeling oxytocin.
So to have skin on skin.
Which triggers the oxytocin that then it’s going to bring the adrenaline down, and help us kind of balance those out.

[7:40] Yeah, something that just happened yesterday, I gave June, my four-year-old, a facial.
She asked, we were at my office, and she asked if I would do that for her.
I think that’s so like, wow, children are so intuitive to what they need.
And most children don’t know what facials are, but I’m her mother, and that’s what I do.
And I had my set up in the living room for a while. So, yeah, but she, it’s like her body knew, ooh, I need some touch right now. And she asked me to do that. Yeah, absolutely, I will do that for you. And it was so fun just to see her lay there and relax. And of course she giggled and wiggled. But she also, you know, took deep breaths and just closed her eyes and enjoyed it.
That was really cool to see a youngster tuning into what they really need without the layers of life weighing them down yet as we tend to as we get older.
CMH Yeah, for sure. The way things stack and the way our perception can get construed due due to like past history, but as we’re young, it could be so much more clear what we need.

[8:50] And in the spring, so, you know, we were thinking that perhaps quarterly we do these touch-ins of what the seasons mean.
And I’m hearing you talking about like clearing away layers and we’ve heard about spring cleaning.
What does it mean, maybe both with the elements, I know that you’re very into Chinese medicine as well.

[9:11] As well as what we might be experiencing in our skin and our life in the spring.

[9:18] Yeah, I really like the seasonal shifts the most because there’s more things we can do and reach for in nature to help support us. Spring in particular, what happens physiologically in our bodies is our blood starts to flow more, starts to thin and come closer to the surface.

[9:39] Our lymphatic system starts to flow more freely. So because of that, we get a little bit of a detox in the spring. So what we held on to in the winter is surely to come up and out. So it’s a good time to tune in to, okay, maybe I’m getting some more breakouts this time of year. And instead of like, oh my gosh, what’s the next best product? I got to scrub this away. Kind of tune into that. Like, oh, my skin’s just releasing. Something’s coming up and out of my skin that I no longer need.
This is a good thing. But then, okay, what can I do to support that? I love lemon water in the morning. I do that year-round, but particularly in the spring because it’s really good for liver support and our liver goes into this natural cleansing cycle this time of year. So lemon water, such a simple thing to do. Other things I do externally are, well, I guess this would be internally drinking seasonal tea. So right now I have some nettles and dandelion, which I’ve served you before. It’s very earthy.
But those are two of the first green sprouts that come up out of the earth this time of year. So, you look at that and like, oh, look at what nature’s providing me and oh, it has really good medicine for what my body needs right now. Like, nettles are really rich in iron, so they’re like a blood builder, but they’re also a detoxifier at the same time.

[11:07] I think that’s really cool because at the end of winter, we’re like pretty much done. We’re just as depleted as we can be. But we have all this kind of stagnant stuck energy that wants to come up and out. So we’re replenishing our bodies with nettles, but we’re also cleansing. And then dandelion as well, just very good and supportive for that liver. So if you get spring allergies, great thing to do, drink nettles, dandelions, but I’m always looking at it for skin being not faint. This is not vanity. This is health. When your skin is healthy, that shows that your insides are healthy. So by taking care of your insides, your skin will hopefully radiate that if in balance.
BT. As you’re saying this, I’m loving that you’re talking about just kind of the tides of.

[11:57] Experience, which would be that there’s going to be a rising of the things that we’re ready to get rid of and I know many people do spring cleanses. There’s spring cleaning, but the spring cleanses might be more of a nutritional to probably try to help those out. But I love the idea of not just what are we going to get rid of, but how are we going to support ourselves as our body is naturally ready to get rid of things. So I love this. Again, I’m like, I’m so, you know, just coming from a a place of not now, but in the past depletion and saying, I love the idea of how can I offer you support as your body will naturally want to, detox itself at this time?
Yes, and that’s exactly what it is. We never want to force anything.

[12:47] Like people might think, oh, I have to cleanse. I’m going to do a bunch of smoothies, but we don’t necessarily want all that raw food right now. We still want to lean into the cooked foods of winter that are easier on our digestive system, but then add in some greens in particular, bitter greens, like spring onions. I always look at, all right, what does Green Spark Farm have? That’s a farm down the road for me. What do they have right now? Okay. That’s got to be something. It’s local.
It’s fresh right now. It’s from half a mile down the road. That’s probably got to be really good for my body right now. So looking into nature or finding anything that’s local, if it can be locally grown, most likely it’s good for us this time of year.
BT. Yeah. It seems like a miracle the way that works, but it just makes a ton of evolutionary sense too.
CNEY and BT. It really does. CNEY and BT. That, oh, of course, if our ancestors evolved at this time, and this plant grew at this time, and therefore this was medicine.
And if you didn’t have, like if there wasn’t a fix for the thing and there wasn’t a plant for a thing, then maybe it makes sense that we would, that nature would have what we need, during the season we need it.
Totally. Because that’s how we survived. Yeah, I think that’s so cool and it’s so simple.

[14:06] But most people don’t know that. I mean, a lot of people do.
Think I’m surrounded by people who are kind of into this way of life. But I didn’t really learn it until my mid-twenties when I took a wonderful Chinese five elements class from a woman named Ann Willis. And she’s, I would say my mentor when it comes to aesthetics, but like, oh, this is stuff like we kind of already know deep down, but she just sort of tapped it awake. Like, hey, kind of makes sense, doesn’t it? So then the, yeah, the more you kind of listen into that, the more you kind of like…

[14:42] You find that it’s already within you, that knowledge of leaning into the earth, leaning into what’s available to us.
Right, and that comes into, you know, part of your bio talking about the intuitive skincare, the intuitive healthcare.
If it’s at Green Sparks, an organic farm down the road from you, it must be good for my body at this time of year.
Yeah. nature is clearing out and popping up new things, that must be part of what I’m gonna experience too.
And you- To me, that just makes sense. Like, oh, cool, yeah.
I don’t know if that’s scientific fact or not, but I think we’re onto something, you know, for sure. Here’s the thing.
If there’s something that’s happening in nature and my teacher, Bridget Vixens will say like, and if I can copy and paste that, if I can say like, oh, nature is stable, nature is not in a rush, could I try that on?

[15:42] Oh, these things are popping up, but everything isn’t in full bloom yet. Can I try that on?
Where like I get to pop up and try a few new things in my life and some of them may die away and some of them may stay for a season and it’s not in full bloom and that’s okay that I’m not already in full bloom.
So I think the idea of experimenting with trying something on, I’m gonna experiment with being in relationship to nature, using nature as a teacher.
I’m gonna experiment with the smells that I use, with the oils, with the foods, with the friendships, with what I’m letting go of.

[16:21] And just see if it works. Like when you said, I don’t know if it’s science, right?
I feel like science is just always trying to catch up to what we are experiencing and what we intuit, and then we feel better about ourselves if science can back it up.
Oh yeah, science says like, a hug is good for you, it’s oxytocin.
It’s so real, yes. And like, oh, okay, then, okay, then now we’re valid.
But to just try on, you know, anyone who’s listening, As you know, the mini musings are more about, how do we layer in support as we go through thresholds, as we go through, in this case, seasonal changes.
And I think the invitation here is to possibly go lay on the ground, observe nature, and will my nervous system relax seeing that something else is surviving with less effort?
When we can say to our brain, I wonder if it’s possible to slow down.
I wonder if I’ll survive if just part of me comes forward and much of me can stay quiet for a while.

[17:27] You know, just the, I wonder, and just see what happens in our lives when we try on the curiosity of matching nature.
Here’s a great little example. This is kind of going back to skincare, but a lot of people think we want to exfoliate the skin a lot more this time of year.
Oh, let’s get rid of that dead winter skin. But you think of a bud on a tree, it’s very delicate.
We want to gradually reawaken that bud, let it bloom on its own and not force it.
So that’s kind of what spring energy is all about, is just gradually coming awake. I love that.
Yeah, and there’s another quote that comes to mind. I won’t say it quite right, I imagine, but nothing in nature is hurried, yet everything is accomplished, which sounds like kind of what your teacher Bridget was saying. What if we just slowed down? I feel like I would thrive a lot more if I didn’t get caught up in trying to keep up and trying to accomplish, if perhaps I just kind of, flowed a little bit more. I do, I think.
Well, I mean, I think this is also the beauty of having things to be mirrors. So for you, having the skin as a mirror of.

[18:49] The season of the way you might want to attune to the season, to what herbs you might wanna take in, that the skin can be, you said it’s not about vanity, but in the same way, like the side effect is glowing, right?
Is glowing skin possibly. Or it might even be that you have a breakout, but the side effect of this practice would be, and I can stay calm about it because I know that this is the tidal nature of my skin and it’s cleaning itself, and how can I support myself?

[19:23] Oh, maybe I do need to do a little bit more cleansing. Maybe I do need to support my lymphatic system a little bit more. So that was, you know, a breakout is like a way to tune in to, oh, what might I need a little more support with?
Yeah, I just re-listened to Eliza Reynolds episode that I think is gonna come out right after this episode airs either right before or right after.
And she talked about going through the threshold and how important it was to have women, that would be with her, that would be by her side, that would act as an example of what’s possible, a safe place where she could crumble relationally when in the past relational things hadn’t been safe.
And as you’re saying this, I am again thinking just about support.
So as you go through into spring and you see the breakout.

[20:22] Yeah, what are your safe sisters of support? And it might be, oh, lymph. And then also, how do I support lymph? I’m thinking of Ray Castellino with his two layers of support.
Like if a woman were giving birth and she had her partner and the midwife, and then her partner had two layers of support and the midwife had two layers of support, this idea of many, many layers of support. So as I’m listening to you about supporting the lymph, which maybe you could talk to us about a few movements we could do to support lymph. I’m imagining like, oh, a layer of support. And then the lymph needs two layers of support, which might be, us learning how to move lymph through exercise, hydration, or certain manual movements.
I’m thinking back to that tree and the bud that you spoke of. And I love that from the outside, it’s getting sun and from the inside it’s getting those layers of water starting to flow through the tree more and nutrients that are coming in and through the tree. Obviously, I’m just like harping on this idea that we could have so many layers and that often the layers of support that are there we don’t see and what happens if we start to recognize what is actually already there for us as we appreciate a resource, does its benefit grow?

[21:45] Not sure if that was proper English. Do the benefits grow?
I think so. I’m leaning into how people talk about singing to plants. It’s kind of like that.
So I think if we start paying attention to our lymphatic system, just in terms like, oh, maybe I need a little more lymph support.
I’d like to think it’s going to listen to us, but in terms of what we can do physically, that’s so easy, so easy at home is simply tapping on the chest.

[22:16] I kind of go back and forth, but guiding it out to the armpit. Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. It’s just activating the flow.
For anyone listening, I’m watching Therian and she’s starting, if you were to take both of your your hands to your heart and your fingers come up towards the top of your sternum, kind of where the clavicle or the collarbones meet, like that little V at the bottom of your neck.
Are you starting at that high, Theron?
I’m just anywhere on the chest. Yeah, it doesn’t even have to be specific.
Yeah, and you’re going from midline out. Yeah, just tapping out, yeah.
And I think breathing while you do any sort of self-care is really important.
So when our nervous systems are in that state of rest and digest, the body will receive any sort of treatment that we’re doing so much more readily.
But for a little bit more lymph support, besides just the tapping on the chest, that’s just kind of a start. But going to right above the collarbones, there’s a kind of a little triangle, a hollow.
And we just wanna gently pump, pump, pump, pump, like hardly any pressure.
You’re just kind of slightly stretching the skin.
And if you’ve been in for a facial before, I’m guaranteed I’ve said this to you, but it’s like clearing the hair on a shower drain and then all of a sudden you get that suction effect.
So this is where the lymph goes back into the bloodstream to be recirculated, but we We want this area to be clear.

[23:45] And then taking our scissors, fingers on either side of the ears, like make, like pretend like you’re cutting. I’m doing it with double fingers. Hard to explain. I don’t.
LSG So she has, if you imagine your four fingers and you just divide, LSG Divide them.
LSG Pointer, yeah. LSG And then just kind of cup around the ears like that, scissor around the ears and just gently pump down and breathing while you do that and relax the muscles.
If our muscles are constricted, lymph cannot flow.

[24:23] Right. And so the breathing supports the relaxation of the muscles.
The relaxation of the muscles supports the flow of the lymph. And as we’re doing this movement, and maybe it was just last week that I was in session with Bridget and I was asking her to lead me through a guided meditation of the vagus nerve, and this point behind the ears that I think that we’re tapping on, pumping gently. Activating it.
Activating. Waking it up.
Yeah, I believe is an area that we’re also tuning into the vagus nerve or activating the vagus nerve, which brings the possibility of more relaxation and safety into all of our organs, when the vagus nerve is stimulated that it’s going to give more wholly to our parasympathetic, our rest and digest.

[25:21] And then as you’re working with lymph, then it’s like, oh, we’re working with a nervous system.
We’re working with the lymph and the fluids, the multi-dimensional, yeah.
Everything is interconnected.
And I think if we’re relaxed, first and foremost, everything else in our body will function more optimally.
Before we close out, can you speak briefly on the idea of two steps forward, one step back?

[25:49] Oh, yeah, story of all of our lives, I imagine. But in nature, the perfect example is the, crocus popping up and blooming and they’re purple and vibrant one day and then it rains and it’s 30 degrees and they kind of recede back into the ground. And then the next day they might come up again and a little bit more and then it’s cold again. But they persevere they keep coming. And I think how I relate that to my own life is you feel this energy and like, oh, spring, everything’s awake again. I gotta go, go, go. I gotta make all these things happen, changes for business. Spring sports are starting for kids. It’s just this, almost a big rush of pressure, but we can’t do it all yet. It has to be a slow awakening.
Maybe we can get some ideas spinning and maybe start to plant some seeds, but it’s going to take a while for them to come to full bloom. And I think leaning into that for me and understanding that we’re not in full bloom yet, we’re still in that transition phase helps me to kind of ground back down and not get overwhelmed with all the new changes.
I’m such a big fan of permission. Right, just like…

[27:11] Another layer of permission to not make a beeline from A to Z, not have to get it all right the first time. I think I was celebrating with you yesterday when I was like, and you won’t believe it. I called the physical therapist and I got an appointment. I haven’t done that since like my parents did it for me in high school. I wrote it down in my calendar. I wrote it in my calendar and I looked up the address and I’m aware of how much time it will get me from A to get from here here to there and I called insurance ahead of time, like just all these steps that felt very adult for me.
I tend to be more of like a go with the flow person.

[27:51] But then I had gotten a thing or two also wrong with the schedule that day that I- We’re doing our best.
Yep, I texted you like, oh, let’s go for a walk at nine o’clock and you didn’t text back.
But in my mind, I was like, that’s what we’re doing. So I was like, oh, I’m coming over.
And you’re like, are we doing something? And so you reminded me.
Did we have planned something planned that I’m not aware of?
Yeah, you reminded me. Two steps forward, one step back.
I have not suddenly become like an ace scheduler or totally on top of my days or aligning things, things but that I get to have.
A few steps in which I can see the progress, in which I can see that I have the capacity.
I mean, for me very much like on a serious note, scheduling is about growing my capacity, that there might be something I can rely on and something I can respond to in a timely manner that is showing me that my nervous system is healing and that my brain is working better and then permission to not like suddenly be fully healed and capable in that way.
Anyway, two steps forward, one step back. Love the permission.
Some, I think it’s really interesting, some emotions that come along with spring, are anger and frustration.
I think because we want everything to be happening and frustration, that’s a big part of what I’m feeling lately.

[29:13] But knowing that it will come and remembering that it’s two steps forward, one step back.
Eventually it will be summer and things will be blooming.
Yeah, summer is the time to be out and doing. Right now we’re still planning.
Thank you for that. Anger and frustration. For me, it’s just, yeah, even naming some of these things and having friends.
This is the thing you’ll hear throughout the podcast is just this idea of building a community and friendships where people can remind you of these things.
Like, of course you’re feeling frustration right now. Of course you’re feeling anger.
And look, you took two steps forward and one step back and oh, that’s so normal, that’s so normal.
And that that in itself can help to, ah, okay.
Yeah, it’s such a good reminder to not get swept up in it.
Well, thank you so much for coming on and- Thank you. So just a little recap, that there can be some movements that you can do to help with lymph, that if you see things arising in your skin, it’s normal that we can support the liver with dandelion and nettle, and see what’s at your organic farms if you have any around, or even look that up.
Thank you so much. Thank you for coming on, and thank you for being you.

[30:30] Music.

[30:38] To end it, folks. But on the other side, once recording ended, a few things came up. And so in the spirit of two steps forward, one step back, allow us to make a clumsy edit into an addendum, an addendum about preparation. So when we talk about the five point sequence, and there is a podcast on this idea of preparation, it’s not just that we’re in spring, and that spring is preparing us for something else. But how do we also prepare for summer and and Deryn was sharing on the other end some of these things.
And I thought you might like to hear.
Yes, I think it’s really important this time of year to make sure we’re actually exposing our skin to the sun a little bit without sunscreen.
So our skin can kind of acclimate.
So when summer is actually here and we’re in that full strength sun, our skin will naturally react better because it hasn’t been blocked constantly.
So my idea is get out early in the sun, expose your skin, sunscreen-free, and also start applying topically supportive plants that help your cells react better to the sun, such as red raspberry, sea buckthorn, cranberry.

[31:54] All these oils topically do a really great job of protecting your skin from the sun, filtering harmful UV, where you can still absorb vitamin D, which is so important for every mechanism in our body.
But yeah, get sun exposure. Get it now before you go out in late June, early July.

[32:15] And fry your skin. Start now, build up a little bit of a tolerance.
Sun is good for us in moderation.
So as it becomes sunnier, get out there, soak it in.
There’s a reason you intuitively want to go out in the sun this time of year.
Yeah, part of me is like, oh, well, the listeners be like, Sarah, please stop with the analogies.
But I’m just thinking, coming out of COVID, I went to kind of a large gathering.

[32:44] And my nervous system was like, like, I didn’t know how to be with that many people.
And then I gave myself permission over a year long period, if I could think of like, concentric circles of friends in which I might, okay, I can hang out with my five closest friends.

[33:03] And let my nervous system kind of get used to it. Okay, this group of 10 who I know, and maybe there’s this one new person.
And just really as I am building, my window of tolerance, my range of regulation, healing, and then also coming into healthier relational patterns now, that can expand.
So I might now be ready for the summer of my life where I’m seeing tons of people.

[33:30] And now you’re saying skincare wise, very much the same if the sun is representing the more and the bright and the scene that we might start with little samples perhaps earlier in the day without the block and deciding where is the boundary and where will I let it in and having practice of now I will let it in. And so you sell day bomb and sun serum, but you also told people the elements, I think you said raspberry, What else?
Yeah. Red raspberry seed oil, broccoli extract sounds weird, but it is very good for anti-cancer of the cells.
Reishi mushroom is a pigment regulator, but yeah, red raspberry, cranberry, sea buckthorn, colorful things generally are good for the skin topically to help protect from the sun.
Yeah. So that as we do move into these brighter, lighter being more seen that again, we can and even then have layers of support.
So it’s not just the pacing, but also the support we give ourself as we paced into things.
Yeah. Thank you for that addendum.

[34:39] Music.

[34:52] Thank you for tuning in. It’s been such a pleasure. If you’re looking for added support, I’m offering a program that’s totally free called 21 Days of Untapped Support.
It’s pretty awesome. It’s very easy. It’s very helpful. You can find it at sarahtacey.com.

[35:33] Music.