08: Mirror of Body Movement
Much of my world revolves around the body. As a massage therapist, intrigued by systems, I stay curious about how parts of the body connect and influence each other. As someone who enjoys moving my body for pleasure, health, and fun, I stay active as much as possible. And as a somatic coach and (almost) Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner, I regularly talk about bodily sensations and explore body-mind awareness. I even use movement in consulting with organizations as a form to explore how it functions.
It is fascinating for me to observe patterns through the ways I engage with the body – both professionally and personally. I love to play with ideas about posture, beliefs, and physiology. For example, when someone feels pain in their upper back, it might actually be caused by tightness in the chest or somewhere else, not where they actually feel the pain. Or when organizations move about in a space through a Social Presencing Theater Village practice, there may be clear leaders that emerge or it may be a room filled with followers. This could represent leadership change, lack of clarity, or it could be tiredness from overworking. Or it could be something else.
Really, my experience reminds me that making an assumption about movement and what it means is not always useful. It’s all just data and how I interpret it can perhaps say more about me. It is far often more interesting when I let the data show me something I don’t already know.
I’m most interested in my own patterns, since I live with them every day. Lately what I have been aware of in myself is paradox. Even though I enjoy movement, I’ve been simultaneously feeling constricted, like the feeling of trying to run in a dream, but not really getting anywhere. And yet, even with this feeling, I continue to move and even surprise myself. This week I didn’t think I could run a mile very easily because it had been a few weeks, but I ran one of my fastest miles in the last few months. And last week, I didn’t think I had time for a morning hike, but I managed to squeeze in a short hike before an all-day event.
The times I let movement happen show me that the constriction can often just be an illusion (though there have been times when there is a real physical limitation). I always feel better for having engaged in movement rather than bowing to the constriction.
The satisfaction I receive through movement and choosing expansion over constriction makes me wonder what might happen if I leaned into possibility and curiosity even more? And not just in physical movement, but in other areas of life. What if body movement is a metaphor for life?
Acknowledgement:
Terri: I’m grateful for your presence. What an unexpected gift to be on three calls with you this week. You immediately interrupted the state of constriction I was feeling and invited me to bring more movement in my business with practical action. Through your encouragement, I not only created momentum with my business, but was also able to get in a long walk and bike ride while making new connections. Thank you for standing with me and inspiring me to take action that keeps me moving with my body and with my business.
