Today a client asked "what am I supposed to feel?" She was asking specifically if the work we were doing was "supposed" to feel different than other modalities. It got us thinking about the expectations or preconceived notions we bring into our practices. We have often heard clients new to a mindful movement practice that is more investigatory in nature say “this is so hard, but in a different way.” These reflections seem to indicate that many of us have been taught to think about movement in a narrow way. It's only when introduced to new concepts in movement that we can illuminate the spectrum of feeling that’s possible beyond merely “feeling the burn.”
Approaching a movement practice beyond purely aesthetics allows us to evolve in our body, mind, and spirit with more integration and harmony. We are able to maintain better joint and bone health for sure - aesthetics lose much of their value when you’re injured all the time. But beyond the physical long term health benefits exploring the practice of feeling gives rise to a better understanding of ourselves. Understanding of how we literally and figuratively move through our world right down to how we move through our emotions, and either allow or don’t allow our emotions to move through us.
Jack Kornfield says, “when we are not mindful of what’s going on in our bodies we can be driven by sensations rather than having the freedom to pause and make wise choices.” Our body is so often trying to tell us something, maybe “poor” posture isn’t just because your chest and shoulders are tight and maybe you don’t just need to do more “back” exercises. Perhaps it’s an indication of fear or sadness about a particular situation in your present or a memory reemerged from your past?
Many of us walk around carrying worry, sadness, or fear stuck in our bodies and unaware. Have you ever seen a picture of yourself, or caught your reflection, and for a brief second not recognized yourself because you didn’t realize the way you were holding your body? It’s definitely happened to us! We can also move through the world letting those emotions flow through us, rather than shape our physical bodies and interactions, so that we can also carry joy and pleasure.
We live for this exploration in everyone we work with! The more we move away from formulaic aesthetically motivated movement towards helping our clients (and ourselves) dive into a deeper awareness of how we are living in our bodies, the more joy and pleasure we feel. We don’t have all the answers and we aren’t a one stop shop for set and forget solutions. We instead hold space for exploration, investigation, and experimentation.
In a season that has the potential to be full of joy and simultaneously full of grief, we invite you to move your way through that full spectrum of feelings with an open heart and mind.
Call to Action in the Name of Change
As mindful movement practitioners, we are in the business of supporting and guiding our clients through change. That change does not happen in a vacuum, but instead has ripple effects. In that way, we are in the business of change in the individual, the community, and the world.
We recently learned about a project, aimed at bringing more childlike joy into the world, imagined and brought to life by a group of elementary school students from West Side Elementary School in Healdsburg, CA. Peptoc was born out of the observation of children approaching difficulty with joy, and discussions with their teachers about art as a social project. Since it's launch the hotline full of positive affirmations delivered by students has thousands of callers each day. The popularity of the project is a "testament to arts programs in schools".
With arts programs continuing to be single out in budget cuts please consider donating to this joyful project and all its positive ripple effects.