Every morning, I get on my mat, get still, and find the rythym of my inhale and exhale. I start an ascension from my toes to my head - expanding, contracting, flexing, pointing, folding, inverting, revolving, balancing, arching, holding, releasing, and resting down into the earth. All along the way, I pause, listen and feel what my body is trying to tell me.
The information I collect each day is my body wisdom and it is invaluable for my journey to heal and live life to my highest potential. Using my body wisdom, I find right relation to my ancestoral grief and align to my soul's true desires.
If you sense that you are here in this life to learn lessons, heal yourself, and fulfill a greater purpose I recommend you too, develop your body wisdom. This subtle body practice uses body wisdom to heal and transform.
1. Tune in to your pain.
After moving a bit on your mat, find rest and begin to scan your body and create a mental map of where in your body you are feeling pain, discomfort, and difficult emotions. The sensations and emotions I have felt during my yoga practice are diverse and include feeling heavy, bloated, tense, inflamed, weak, stuck, strained, cloudy, void, sensitive, deflated, sad, scared, and angry. Become genuinely curious about what you are feeling and lean into your feelings. If you feel sadness for example, take some time and honor that sadness by being present with it. Do not push these feelings away. It helps me to head over to my sketchpad at this point, and create an expression of what I felt in order to keep a record of my growth.
2. Set a compassionate tone with your pain.
The body and emotions do not do well when you take a tough stance on them. Any effort to forcefully cooerce your feelings to feel better will not work. It does help though, to be compassionate during this process. Try to remind yourself that pain is part of the human experience - everyone has it and everyone is in need of healing. You are not alone. Try saying sweet and kind things to yourself like you would to a child. Imagine yourself holding or hugging yourself and saying things like, "It will be ok," and "I will care for you." Taking this tone softens and opens your physical and emotional bodies up for healing.
3. Ask your pain what it needs.
Scan the body once again, stopping at each site of discomfort to ask the body what it needs. I have heard my own body ask for release, for space, for softening, for power, for connection, for creativity, for expression, for stability, for love, and for clarity. It may be a good idea to document your harvest in your journal.
4. Conjure up the antidote for your pain.
Go back into the body and ask , "if my body and emotions got what they asked for, what would it look and feel like? What would you see that was different? You may see colors and shapes or you may feel an energetic shift. This is the antidote for your pain. Let's say your body emotions are in need of clarity, you may see a starscape projected in your minds eye. Or if you are looking to feel empowered maybe you see a brightly colored fire in your solar plexus. Feel free to focus on one local area or a web of many. Drawing what you have seen after the exercise in your sketchbook can be nourishing as well so, get some inspiring art supplies together.
The practice has completed a loop but the sensations of pain and the image of health you experiened in this exercise should inform your next practice. I like to study and research what is coming up for me so when I next get on my mat, I move in certain ways and include certain postures and breath work to focus on healing certain places and spaces. I like to use this practice with each new moon to set intentions.
In addition to these practcies I recommend that you be sure to reflect constantly on where are you feeling healing and how your body is moving towards experiencing its needs. Be sure to ask often
What is showing up for me now?
What do I want?
What do I need?
Please share your experience in the comments.
Comentarios