Real Mindfulness
There is a lot of talk about mindfulness and mind-body connection, both in general and concerning exercise. It sounds great and surely is something we all want, right? Tell me where to buy it? Many articles say buy it at Yoga, Pilates, or tai chi studios.
Even as a teacher of Yoga and Pilates, and meditation, I hate to say, you cannot buy it. I say that in part to say, just because you're doing yoga or pilates or mediation doesn't necessarily mean you are discovering what people refer to as the mind-body connection, or that you are being mindful.
So what is mind-body exercise and how do you know if you're doing it or not? Let's start by breaking down the words. If we take “mind-body connection” - we can see that the mind and body should connect, so mind telling body what to do, body listening. This is often how it is looked at, but it is incomplete. We ALWAYS tell our body what to do with our mind. I'm doing that right now typing. Weirdly, unconsciously, because my fingers know the letters so well, all I do is think and my body moves, and it gets it right. It is quite amazing honestly. If this is always how we operate, then what is so special, and why is it such a buzz word these days.
This one way street of Mind telling Body what to do is breaking us. Having a mind body connection is reciprocal. The body needs to also tell the mind what to do. This is a piece that is largely lacking in our society. The body tries, and after a long time of being ignored, it numbs the communication lines, and next thing you know your body and health are in such dire states it is quite an ordeal to remedy. We have lost this connection. We have lost this relationship.
Our top down authority over our body is subjecting it to the minds and societies whims at the sake of its health and well being. This is what a reciprocal relating looks like.
As I sit here typing, my body signals that my right shoulder is getting tense because I'm experiencing discomfort, my mind notices it, and I use my mind to make my body shift and change how it’s operating, and I know I resolved it when the pain improves. Now if I want it to remain improved, my typing must become a mind-body activity I must feel my entire body all the while doing the activity of typing. When I do that, I notice my shoulder continually trying to get tense and I repeatedly release it. Each time my attention reverts to a mental imbalance, my shoulder will creep up and hurt more. Another answer I may make to my body’s call is to put typing aside for now, return to it later. (Herein lies the cause of our disconnect, because the economic priority, the top down system does not allow us to choose the care of our body over the minds or the companies or the countries economic demands and priorities)
Ignoring a body's communication is not a mind/body connection. Telling the body to endure the pain is not a mind/body connection. They are connected, they benefit one another, they rely on one another. So if the mind is dominating and forcing the body to be ignored, it is the mind that is ignoring it. So both are suffering imbalances in that action or lack thereof.
Even the fitness industry talks about this connection as a perception of spatial awareness. To which I would say is still a top down. We THINK about where we are in space, we THINK about our alignment, we THINK about our movement and muscles, and if we are doing that, we THINK we are doing mind-body work.
It is time to start FEELING again.
Part of that process is undoing all the ways you’ve shut off the body’s signals and for that you would benefit from a little help.
The entire structure of Life in the Body is the process of establishing two-way communication between mind and body and vice versa. It is noticeably different than movement that does not lay that foundation. The results are noticeably different and the effect on your overall well-being above and beyond just your physical condition is great proof of why it matters.