We are all familiar with body language. It is a real form of communication that is largely unconscious. Habitual use of the body creates a physical state of being. We see this all around us and within us: rounded shoulders, hunched backs, forward heads, clinched jaws, tension headaches, etc....
I believe we are all glorious souls having a human experience. The divine nature of each of us is housed within a human form which is here to serve us; we can exercise our will and use our bodies as we see fit. Weather we are aware of it or not, we are all using our physical bodies to aid us in whatever style of living we are doing. Before I began to practice yoga I was unaware of the physical manifestations of my beliefs about myself and life.
From as early as I can remember, life looked scary and dangerous to me. Surely, due to that view, I asked my muscles to close in around me in an effort to feel safe and protected. As I grew up and life became stressful, I became more concerned with self preservation than thriving; I asked my body to contract in order to create a firm armor in an effort to feel strong against a threatening world. By adulthood, I was stiff in my form, my head was forward and my shoulders were rounded. Of course, it is only in hindsight that I can see that I did all this with my body. At the time, my use of my body was unconscious to me and I was just trying to get through the day!
Recently I have been focusing in my practice on opening up and looking for length and space in my body. As progress has been slow, this endeavor has lent itself to a fair amount of that frustration, disappointment and even anger. Fortunately, with mindful practice I noticed the disparity between what I wanted and how I was feeling toward it. So, I decided to examine more closely my path......
How ungrateful I was being !!!! My body has done nothing I haven't asked it to do. My physical form has responded to the affirmative when I felt I needed protection and strength. How quickly did I think 40+ years of protection could let go? It finally occurred to me to first, offer thanks to my physical body for being of service to me and second, ask it to please retire some of the lifelong gripping it has so dutifully maintained.
My current meditation is: "Thank you for being of service to me for all these many years and I know there are many more to come. How about we all seek for balance now? How about some of us let go a bit and make room for full integration so that we can stand fully erect, bend fully forward, practice any asana and be in balance? Lets all be more concerned with thriving; I no longer need the armor...I am ready to open."
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