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What It Means To Listen To The Body
NON-STOP CACOPHONY
Our bodies, truth be told, are chatterboxes. Whether its random thoughts, twinges of aches and pains, or emotional sensations, there is a non-stop parade which begins upon arising and doesn't fade until we slip back into slumber.
While many of the impressions our minds receive are reassuring and pleasant, plenty are triggering and painful. Reflexively we favor the former, however, yoga is a practice which can ask us to sometimes favor, even initiate, the latter.
SEEING BEYOND DISCOMFORT
We yogis have accepted the idea that enduring unpleasant sensations can be positive, at least lead to positive results. Whether its simply remaining in a posture beyond the point of fatigue, feeling like we're suffocating as we draw out our breath to complete a pose, or holding a position that takes a joint into territory it hasn't visited for a long time--if ever!
In our practice we'll likely find ourselves facing psychological discomforts as well. Whether its overriding our desire to remain in bed, resisting the urge to quit practicing due to an injury, or to stop patronizing a particular studio because of a personal conflict. Dare I bring up that we must also occasionally battle boredom? I mean, yoga can be rather repetitive.
A BURIED TREASURE
Why do we persist in a practice that extracts these types of demands from us? While there can be a myriad of motivations, I think there is a near-universal one, one that I think is the ultimate objective of yoga. There exists an element within us, which yearns to be heard. This element is very soft spoken. It can only be reliably received after we have tamed the louder voices of physical pain, psychological distress, and logical conclusions.
This more subtle voice offers messages which are of an entirely different quality than the louder ones. It is not reflexive and capricious but rather steadfast and discerning. Its navigational parameters are not calibrated to avoid discomfort. Rather, it directs us towards meaning and purpose.
Listening to the Body is the practice of withholding our responses until all of our sensations have been fully received, both the superficial and the profound. The practice of yoga, in addition to promoting more flexibility, increasing strength and balance, and improving breath control, enhances our ability to "Listen to the Body."
OUR (b)ODY VS OUR (B)ODY
You may notice that in the prior paragraph I capitalized the word "body." The voices of hunger, tiredness, pain, and distress are generated by the body I spell with a small "b." When I am referring to the subtler element of ourselves, the one which can be ignored and requires attentiveness to hear and courage to respond to, I use an uppercase "B."
The aim of this column is to explore the value of subtle impressions and be able to receive them with more confidence. In other words, to better enable each of us to "Listen to the Body."
While this new publication has yet to post a digital version, their website can be accessed here: www.vegasyogi.com |
