I used to be completely disconnected from my body – I lived in my head and was really not present with what was going on below my neck for years. It was the appearance of a serious illness in my body that finally got me to stop and pay attention. I struggled with Lyme Disease for 17 years and on that journey, I discovered so much about myself and what I was doing that created all this. I found amazing tools that helped me to free myself of my illness and now live a happy and healthy life with a body that I actually enjoy and have so much fun with. Here's some of what I've learned:
There's you the being and you the body. Your body has a consciousness of its own. It is very aware of everything that's going on around you and it gives you all kinds of information that most of us don't pay attention to. For instance, I have different sensations in my body with each client who comes to my office. My body tells me about what's going on with them. Sometimes I sense a pain in my shoulder then the person tells me their shoulder is hurting. Or I perceive butterflies in my stomach and I get the awareness that the person who's about to walk in is very anxious. This can happen even when the person is halfway across the world. Have you ever heard those stories about when a mother gets shooting pains in her belly just as her son is having a gallbladder attack 3000 miles away? Awareness is not local, it's quantum. We are connected to everyone and everything.
So what does it mean when your body is experiencing pain? First off, don't just assume that it's yours or that something is wrong. Pain is an intensity of awareness. When you have a pain (that hasn't come from an immediate injury, like you just fell down and broke your leg), ask these questions:
- Body, what are you trying to tell me?
- What am I aware of here that I'm not acknowledging?
- What's creating this?
- Who does this belong to?
- Is it relevant to me? Return to sender whatever's not yours.
- How much space do I need to occupy right now to have ease with this? Expand your energy out to that space. When you resist the pain, contracting into it makes it worse.
Your body has incredible healing capacities. Have you ever acknowledged that? I teach people everyday how to work with those capacities to use them to their advantage, rather than to create pain and discomfort.
There's so much more to say about our relationship with our body, including how we judge our bodies, food and weight issues, trauma and abuse we've locked into our bodies and so much more, but I'll save all that for another blog post. I'll leave you with a few possibilities to ponder:
What if instead of always fighting against your body and treating it as your slave, you would work together with it to create something greater? What if your body could be your best friend and partner? What if your body is your greatest consciousness facilitator? What else is possible for you and your sweet body?