It’s colder today. I am cross legged on the sofa with my laptop, a big mug of tea and a blanket. I’m a bit sniffly, a bit achy, not ill, but not 100%, I want to be cozy.
I have my first gym session booked this afternoon, after six months of covid closure, I am excited. I miss the squat rack. But I also know I won’t be busting a gut today. I will ease in, do lots of warm ups, focus on my form and rest well between sets. This is one way I listen to my body, I don’t push it when it asks for ease. I work with what I have- the good feeling about training, the clear headedness I get when I focus, the pleasure I derive from lifting heavy things.
I think more people are familiar now with where to start with listening to their body, becoming more sensitive to our physical prompts- eat when hungry, stop when full; constructively rest when sick; sleep when tired; meditate and medicate when stressed and overwhelmed; get fresh air; move when stiff. These simple practices are all wholly underrated and entirely essential to our flourishing- how we improve our hormonal health, metabolism, immune function, sleep patterns, emotional resilience, how we recover from injury and illness, and learn to trust our body to communicate our needs.
The needs of the body are not separate and distinct from us, they are us. If we listen, trust and respond, the body will help us toward a healthy fulfilled life, but if there is something at odds between the body’s needs and our external striving, we have to learn to yield to soma, and reevaluate our environment, desires, responsibilities, relationships and lifestyle. While the body is remarkably adaptable and grows stronger under the right sort of stress, leaning too far into force will only leave us depleted.
When I am not at my peak physically, mentally, emotionally, in terms of confidence or competence, I listen to my body and I look for what resources are already available to me in the process of whatever I am doing. When I have a specific measurable goal and direction I want to take, I look for the resources that will move me in that direction. For example, today I have some promotional material I need I design for a retreat I am collaborating on this summer. The project requires me to pair down a lot of information in a way that communicates everything it must, in an engaging way, without overwhelming the reader. It is a very practical objective, with a tangible outcome. I could make myself sit down and approach it ‘logically’, but when I try to do this, my neurodivergent brain has a little spasm of overwhelm and refuses to play along.
Learning to trust my somatic practice, I know the best way to forward this project is to give it over to my body- the same way some people give things over to prayer- as an aside, I think giving something to body and prayer are the same thing, but that’s another post.
To begin, I look for the resources my body has already given me, the good feeling clues I am able to follow.
- I imagine myself designing- imagination lives in the body
- I remember the woods where the retreat is to be held
- I feel the warmth and big heartedness of the women I am collaborating with
- I imagine the ten other women yet to respond to this invitation
- I feel the satisfaction of finally stepping into my role as a professional Somatic Practitioner
From that good feeling place, I gather all my material, sit with it, examine it, allow the pictures to move me- figuratively and literally, pulling out the images and phrases that bring me most joy, resonance, inspiration. I hold them, dance with them, meditate with them, enjoy the intercourse of tangible and imagined, and let the design emerge from that interplay. I ask my body for a very specific outcome- a finished piece of marketing, and then conceive and birth it through embodied practice- dance, vision boarding, designing.
As a somatic practitioner, I have found the most compassionate place to begin asking my body what it needs is to look for what is already working. My teacher Miranda Tufnell once told us to be like Patch Adams, and to approach our client work by Looking for the Health. Rather than approaching somatics as a way of ‘fixing’ what might be hurting, or problematic, we begin by attuning and attending to what is already flourishing, joyful, pleasurable, insightful. Start from a good feeling place.
So much somatic work is geared around recovering from trauma, and this is indeed a noble cause, the body certainly keeps the score on that front, and has many stories it could tell us. But for me, in my own practice, I find the retelling of embodied trauma to be reactivating, constrictive, and limited in its potential for my own healing. The attitude of recovery or self-improvement more often than not, overlooks the simple signposts of safety, pleasure, ease, and the possibility of spaciousness.
Listening to my body’s prompts for well- being help me problem solve in everyday life. Whether that is overcoming overwhelm around a task or project deadline, how to relate to my son and be a better parent, how to refill my creative cup, connect to others, connect to Spirit, work on my personal finances, re decorate my home to be more beautiful, or free myself from the strangle hold of social media, I am learning to trust my body and the skills I cultivate through deeper listening and authentic response.