Talk about joy in the moving body !
Often we hear that our bodies and our minds are one. But what does that really mean? How do you actually experience it? We live in the body, breathe in the body, move in the body and for me, I particularly enjoy and benefit from remembering in the body. To fully experience and connect with the body while doing something new or having an Aha! moment is to remember that experience internally, in a way that offers real growth and healing. The body is home to all of our inner wisdom and can be a valuable resource, a trusted friend, in making day to day decisions or responding to major challenges.
This relationship we form with our body is just like any other relationship - it takes work, and love, and understanding. What if listening and communicating with your body could make a real difference?
So how do you have a conversation with your body? I connect internally through meditation, dance, walking, feeling the body move and respond and breathe. The San Francisco Buddhist Center is home for my meditation practice and also I have been fortunate to work with some amazing body gurus who have passed their wisdom onto me and now I will share it with you. Wisdom that is about the body and then so much more! Lizz Roman - "Balance is a place of motion." Augusta Moore - "The breath is the music in the body." Marianne DeSassise - "Working with your polar opposites allows transcending the blockages in the body."
Whoa, there is a lot there! Balancing life and body is a juggling act and it is the act of juggling that brings us balance whether it is adjusting how we sit in our cars by a 1/4 inch or conintually practicing awareness in noticing what body parts hold our tension. Each calibration, each choice does make a difference. And the breath as music? Can we really listen to that tune? Is it flowing, rasta, or somber? Can we dance with it in this breath that happens every moment of every day? And knowing the extremes of the body, how stretching the left side calls for a responding energetic motion from the right side and what is that central grounded space in the middle?
This may sound a bit esoteric, so where to start? How about getting out and walking around the block? Really feeling your muscles and skeleton as they push off from the earth and glide forward, rhythmically coordinated. Or perhaps turning on some music as you make dinner and gently, almost absentmindedly, swaying to the beat, letting the music be the breath, the breath the music. Conversely finding the stillness in meditation and befriending the spaces that the breath moves through, around, and creates.
Whatever will get you out of your head away from the old patterns and words and into the body space, without judging and without expectations. Only looking for what is there and how it feels. This experience of really being in the body is the secret for learning and acceptance, and ultimately happiness. A world where your body is your friend, that imperfect friend that we love so much.
Where do you want to start? How do you want to redesign this age old relationship between your body and your mind? And I would love to hear about how you best listen and communicate with your body. Just hit the comment button below....