Listening To Aliveness
In preparing to speak at the Listening Summit in Prague this weekend (May 24-26) on "Listening to Wisdom Through Illness and Injury", I've been reflecting on what it means to listen to your body. This is a phrase that is thrown about in natural health practice a lot.
Over the years I've noticed that what is meant by "listen to your body" varies a fair bit. And then to make it more interesting, how people interpret what is meant varies as well. And so unsurprisingly; results vary. Clients very often express to me in frustration "But I've been listening to my body and I don't know what to do!" or "The more I listen, the more it hurts!".
I paused this week to wonder what is it that I'm listening to when I "listen to my body". I was surprised and at the same time not surprised to discover that I'm not listening to my body at all! Even when I would have said that I was. No, I'm not saying that I'm ignoring my body. Quite the opposite.
What I've noticed most people do when attempting to listen to their bodies, is a judgemental hyperfocus on unwanted sensations in order to make a specific outcome happen right now. It's as if we are an angry parent telling a 3-year-old child that they are wrong and bad for smearing jam on the wall while yelling loudly to stop immediately. And to clean up your own mess immediately. Then we get confused when the pain or symptom doesn't stop immediately.
Our bodies are amazing, elegantly constructed and divinely inspired marvels of biological wisdom that allow us to play in the world and experience sensations and stay alive all the while. Think of what it takes for us to unthinkingly run along a beach with our dog, jump in the lake, get cold and start shivering, constrict the lens of our eyes when the sun comes out from behind a cloud, and taste and digest the moose tracks ice cream from the beach front stand. And all the sensations and emotional experience along with it.
We are truly marvels.
There is a basic principle that all life is animated by intelligent energy. It's the difference between an alive person and someone who has passed away. It's what intelligently beats our hearts our entire lives. It's what grows oak trees out of acorns when no one is looking. This principle is often called Universal Mind or simply Mind. We can feel it when we are quiet and look within. Some describe a rising energy; others a sweeping tingling across the skin. I often tune in and feel bubbles playing along the outside of my arms and then a warmth blooming out from the centre of my chest. A dropping down into the ground or my seat.
We often feel the intelligent energy of life when walking in nature or looking at a gorgeous sunset. After eating ice cream at the beach, of course. I feel it often when my cat comes to sleep beside me and gives me kitty kisses with his eyes before curling upside down and snoring softly.
"Mind is the formless energy and intelligence behind life - the life force that animates our world. It is everywhere and ever-present, and it brings with it a feeling of being alive and a knowing that regardless of what's going on in our head or in our world, all is well." - Michael Neill
When I focus on that energy of life there is a spaciousness and a silence. In that feeling (maybe a slightly different similar feeling for you), there is often an experience of just knowing. An experience of knowledge rising up from the depths of a lake. A bit like when a fish comes up to nibble your toes at the end of the dock. And you just know. All of a sudden there's that fish. Many people have the experience of "It just came to me" or "It popped into my head".
What I realized about when I "listen to my body" is that I go to that space of aliveness and wonder about my body or body part without a specific agenda. Might be a question; might be a connection only. When you get quiet and listen, what comes is usually quiet and undramatic. Take a rest. Drink some water. Eat lunch. Often there is nothing new to do. Sometimes a fish of insight comes and nibbles your toes.
Pay attention to that feeling of being alive and the quiet knowing rather than what's going on in your head no matter how compelling or urgent seeming.
In the next installment, stay tuned for how symptoms are an expression of our bodies' health.
With Love,
Sara Joy
Listening To Aliveness