The Temple – Tapping into Body Wisdom and Flow

The more we feel connected  in our bodies and accepting, dare I say, delighting in them the more erotic aliveness we can feel.

Most of us have a complicated history and relationship with our bodies with much we don’t like and not much we feel deeply connected to. Even if you happen to be happy with a well sculpted and toned beach body – you might ask - on what rigorous terms and conditions are you happy with it?

Loving our bodies doesn’t mean we have to like them. Not liking is usually because they don’t measure up to some standard of looks, capacity, or comfort.

Loving is about suspending our judgement for a moment and approaching our selves and bodies with an openness to feel. Initially, feeling can be numb, painful, or just awkward and uncomfortable. However just staying with our feeling is an act of deep loving and overtime it will change to a more glowing sense of inhabitation.

I have worked with many people over the years with extremely difficult and complicated relationships to their bodies. Some people have had very difficult relationships created early on by trauma. I worked with a woman who had a serious accident when she was young leaving lasting spinal injuries. She was also very wilful and determined not to be held back. Unfortunately, without the right supports and limited access to care, she developed an antagonistic relationship to her body. She experienced it as a limiting enemy and frequently pushed herself beyond her capacities and overriding her limits. Youth was on her side in the first half of her life but in her second half she developed chronic and debilitating illness. In our sessions she was gradually able to get in touch with her ‘bodily memories’ all the tensions, contractions and compensations she had developed. Lots of feeling, tension and energy was released over time and she was able to develop a better relationship with her body trusting and listening more instead of getting into opposition.

Although it seems obvious fighting our own bodies isn’t going to lead to favourable outcomes we all do it! I have spent several decades developing my capacity to listen to my body through Chinese Medicine, Martial Arts, Process Oriented Psychology and Indigenous Wisdom. I still get into conflict with it all be it less often, less intensely and for less long.

Sometimes our bodies are aligned with our wishes, but frequently they are not, due to our imposed schedules and habits. We are constantly challenged by micro and macro conflicts with our bodies. The key is to have less overriding going on. Often we override our bodies and then they override us. It’s a tough gig listening, connecting and working with our bodies in this day and age but the more we do the better we will feel and flow in our lives.