I was taking a walk today in the wind and was listening to a podcast about how our body’s adaptation to life challenges can result in pain.
And it makes me think. This past year we have been dealing with high levels of uncertainty that our clever bodies have been preparing to deal with all the time. Tension is also our readiness to act that is thwarted. It accumulates and sometimes grows into pain. And I have been observing it pulsing in me and in people around me. And no wonder. The invisible threat of the virus. The constant nagging feeling that we know nothing about it and are generally helpless and definitely not in control of more aspects of our lives than ever before. So many factors have been contributing to the tension build up.
It helps when we notice the tension just there where is first arises, in the very material physical part of us. This first step is maybe the most important one. We have (more often than not) been conditioned to ignore our bodies and its low level signals.
Somatic practices like yoga and massage help bring us back into our bodies.
Moving in new ways, taking the time to notice the ground beneath us, paying attention to the breath in yoga. Touch and assisted stretches in massage. We become aware of our bodies, learn to appreciate them and listen to them. And we begin to reclaim them.
Massage is off limits just now. But if you haven’t tried yoga or you want to start again, come practice with me. I teach with the very deep belief that the most important thing in our yoga practice is not achieving the correct prescribed shape of our bodies but the felt sense of our own physical self that is developed through movement, breathing and relaxation.
