Listening to the body

‘Being present and curious with experience as it unfolds, is an act of unconditional love towards oneself’.

We all have a body, and we love it when we can move well. It feels good because movement is like medicine to our bones, muscles and joints. This is because the structure and the function of our bodies is completely inter related and because we are alive and adaptive creatures, we change ourselves and are made new from moment to moment, according to what we do and how we experience it.

So learning how move well is great in itself, but when self-awareness and movement are brought together, something else happens. The combination of both helps to integrate the systems of the body as we bring our attention to them.

Bringing attention to the mind and body as we move helps us to improve physical skills like strength, balance, co-ordination, control and flexibility. But also helps us train our minds to stay present and attentive, open and curious.

The body holds the physical patterns of our conditioning and past experiences. This means that the habits of thought and behaviour that keep us stuck in limiting beliefs are also all wrapped up in the way we move and hold ourselves.

The deeper self also holds the memory of the original blueprint of health. Our bodies came into being before the mind began to form ; first from raw experience and then tempered by the conclusions we made about the world we were born into.

In listening to the body then, we can hear the undertones and overtones of our history playing out in the way we show up in the present moment. It’s all there, available to us if we can be courageous enough to allow it.

Being willing to be present for your own pain and joy without running or grasping is an act of love and self love or self compassion is the beginning to healing the self and the world.

Image: Peter Drew