Learning to Listen to Our Body
Our own physical body possesses a wisdom
which we who inhabit the body lack.
We give it orders which make no sense.
—Henry Miller
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It’s Tuesday night, and I haven’t got a post ready for you on Wednesday morning. This is the schedule that I’ve set for the Liberated Life Project – my goal is to share a new piece of writing every Wednesday, and to write the very best post I can for you each week.
That’s the idea anyway. On this Tuesday night, a week after I’ve come home from a month-long journey in Thailand, my body is feeling weary and my mind fuzzy. I’ve started to write several posts this past week, but none of them are in shape to share them with you. Not just yet.
Any time I try to force myself to work on them, something inside me resists mightily. I’m pretty sure this is all the lingering effects of jet lag – your body can feel very strange after moving through 14 time zones in the span of one day.
I believe that living a liberated life means that we let ourselves off the hook once in a while. We realize that we have limitations, and it’s not always a good thing to power through them.
So, I want to be a role model here. I could try to overcome this feeling, to over-rule the exhaustion I am feeling. But rather than toughing it out and coming up with what would probably be a mediocre piece, I’m going to let this be sufficient, right here, right now.
I realize this is not the most inspiring or creative piece of writing, but it’s what is true in this moment. And I hope that the lesson embedded in it is one that speaks to you.
We live in our bodies… we come into this world in a flood of liquid and love, being born through our mother’s labor. Each day we move through the world enclosed in this sack of skin that we’ve been given, feeling sensations of heat and cold, pain and pleasure. Some days we feel awake and strong, other days it’s a struggle just to stay upright.
Our bodies have a certain rhythm, and when we can find a way to live our lives in alignment with that rhythm, something inside gets freed up.
So try this with me today… see what happens when you allow yourself to take a nap when you start feeling sleepy, or go for a run around the block as your energy starts to rise… follow your body’s lead instead of trying to fight it.
And thanks for bearing with me : )
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5 Comments
Dearest June, Kate, Natalie, and Aysha,
Thank you for your kind words here and for your support. I’m glad that my post touched you all and helped to give permission to ease up on yourselves. As for me, I took a very long nap after writing it! And am finally feeling like I’ve landed in New Mexico, only two weeks after I actually did. Here’s to honoring the wisdom of our bodies!
Maia
February 28, 2011
It’s wonderful that you/we don’t have to push to create a “great blog” (or a great anything!) but rather, in just telling our truth, it is exactly that. I am enjoying finally stopping all the doing and allowing my self to receive. It’s an amazing experience for this do-er. Thanks, Maia!
February 23, 2011
Maia, what perfect timing! Man, I woke to my body saying, “please, give me a break!”. After moving my residence yesterday which was both a physical move and emotional, the idea of doing my physical NIA practice tonight seems like an outrageous expectation and I know my teacher would agree. After all, NIA is all about the Joy of Movement and right now the only movement I will get joy from is to lay down and rest. Thanks for giving us all permission to “pay attention”….
February 23, 2011
Ah, Maia…….I actually love this post and feel very supported and nurtured by it. Here I am at my desk in Wisconsin, suffering from the ill effects, literally, of pushing too hard for too long. A rather nasty cold and cough has taken hold of my head and my chest, and yet still I feel that I have to keep going. Finish writing things that need to be written, order Meals on Wheels for my elderly mother, make medical appointments for everyone in the household (including the four-footed one), and on and on it goes. Nap? Really? I hardly ever even seem to sit down…….and your words help me to remember that my body also needs my love and care and tenderness. Ah, yes, that’s it……all those lessons about non-violent communication. What WOULD it be like to apply them to the dialogue between me and my toes, me and my nose, me and that patch of skin on my right hip?
Often when I take a (non-leashed) walk with my dog, Kinsho, I attempt to let him take the lead, and it’s always such a delight to watch the choices that he makes about which path to take, which bushes to stop at, which beings to go off to greet. What would it be like to let my body do the same?
Yes, your words do speak to me. Thank you for writing them.
Gratefully,
Kate
February 23, 2011
Right on Maia! Naps are a wonderful thing to do – listening to the body is an art that we can always practice. Like any practice, it continues and continues….welcome back!
February 23, 2011