We generally entrust our mind to be our guide in life: to process information, assess how we feel and determine what we need to do. The mind is a wonderfully powerful and refined tool that enables us to make sense of the world we live in and to understand the person we are. Yet the mind is not the only resource we have to make sense of the world. It is, for sure, what makes us distinctly human, but it is also what at times separates us from our deep-seated instincts and intuitions. Being cut off from the instinctual and intuitive domain greatly jeopardises our ability to maintain a healthy state of balance and to cope with the many sources of stress that occur daily.
Instincts are rooted in the body: in our organs, in our bones, in our skin, our nervous system, our flesh. The body expresses its needs which are processed by the mind so we can figure out how to adequately respond to those needs. Intuition speaks to the mind through subtle bodily expressions, such as a flutter in the stomach, a faster heartbeat, an undefined sense of estrangement. The mind then attempts to translate these signs so they can inform the decision or action to be made next. If we were to live without access to the core information carried in and through the body, the mind’s ability to guide us safely would be far more limited. We need the body to live and, more so, to live well.
The difficulty lies in that the mind and the body do not always speak the same language, nor do they follow the same logic. The mind aims to create and imagine, the body is concerned with sensing and feeling. The mind wants to expand or deepen, the body seeks to maintain and nurture. One needs the other, but they are not always communicating harmoniously with one another. Most of the time, we use the mind to make the body yield to our conscious will: staying up at night when the body begs for sleep; starving when the body expresses hunger, or eating when the body is resting and still digesting previous sustenance; pushing ourselves further, at work or in our recreational activities, even when the muscles ache, the eyes strain, the heart pumps too fast or the breath becomes extremely shallow. Other times, the body imposes its needs despite the mind’s will: when we feel too sick to even move, when the pain is so strong that we give in to rest, when we have exhausted so much energy that there is no option but to pause.
More often than not, we are quite judgemental towards the body and we tend to misunderstand or under appreciate its needs. This happens because we are not in tune with the body’s language, instead relying on the mind’s own logic to scan and process what happens to us as we go on with our day. We tell ourselves that the right path is for the mind to shape the body according to its ideals; that mind over matter is evidence of superior development and proof of self-mastery, and that the mind knows best. But the body’s needs are there for a reason, and listening to what the body expresses in its own language enriches our self-understanding and well-being.
This, however, firstly requires a re-education into the body-mind connection. We need to re-discover the language of the body, take the time to understand the body’s own logic instead of immediately imposing the mind’s judgement onto the sensations and feelings perceived, and respect the body’s unique integrity. For example, when we instinctively experience anxiety or fear in a random situation, rather than immediately rationalise this reaction or tell ourselves to ‘relax’, we could stay with the body to try and understand the embodied experience: where is the anxiety or fear located in the body, and is there a reason why this or that part of the body is the one reacting in this situation? What form, depth, shade does the fear or anxiety take? How does it evolve when we bring awareness to it and allow it to ‘be’ without any judgement? What does the body want to do in response to this experience? What resources does the body draw upon to bring itself to a state of balance? This does not mean we have to submit to every demand from the body, but that we need to become more conscious of bodily instincts and intuitions, and find in those the wisdom to enrich our understanding and appreciation of the self.
[to be continued]
How often do you listen to your body and what it expresses in its own language?
How judgmental does your mind become when you notice bodily expressions – sensations, feelings, intuitions? Could you withhold judgement for a while to stay with and explore what the body expresses in its own way, through its own language?