How about you stop and listen to what your body wants to say to you? What does your body need now?
And what if it says stop and slow down, be kind to yourself…? Quite the opposite of what we are most of the time asked to do or what we choose to do. So many of us just got used to that be faster, do more, be a better version of yourself modes and forgot that there is also space for a pause.
In my Co-Active coaching practice, the connection with the body, embodiment, is one of the most important elements. So many times, we stay in our head only, in our private theatre where we watch so many different plays, sometimes dramas and sometimes comedies. We know the script by heart, or I should rather say by head. Our beautiful brain is processing a lot, and the running thoughts may be quite a torture if we don’t know how to manage them in a constructive way, let them be and let them go. Sadhguru, one of the spiritual leaders, made me smile when he mentioned during his lecture that many people come to him with a question on how to switch off their brain, get rid of their running thoughts, but no one have asked so far about how to switch off the heart, the liver, or the kidneys… Our brain is amazing, why would you like to switch it off? – he was rhetorically asking and laughing out loud.
The magic happens when we know how to use our mind so that it serves us rather than torture us. We are our own theatre director, and we can decide what play is on today and which actors we invite to the stage. Leaving our thoughts to flow and seeing them with curiosity, love and compassion, allows us to manage them as we want.
With the amount of the attention we give to our head, it seems that we are just a big walking brain. We forget that all other parts of our body, an amazing machinery, are equally important. Are you able to feel how are your hands, your chest, your legs and each small and big part of your being? Try to scan your body. Where do you feel heaviness, tension or numbness and where does it feel at ease? How do you take care of that?
Very recently I had a lot of conversations with my body and it clearly said to me: Stop! There was no other way but listening and looking after it. There was also a question popping up: freeze, fight or flight, in which mechanism am I now? And I got curious about what was underneath that question. I realised that once more, I went into the freeze mode. My body so many times went into that well-known space of cold paralysis that I became an expert in this topic. In the past, I was not even aware of it, but with the great support from my coaches I fully embraced this state and understood how it was protecting me. I finally realised that my body is my best friend, that it speaks to me even if I don’t want to listen, it takes care of me and it serves me as best as it can. My body remembers all those moments when my boundaries were crossed, when my values were stepped over and when I was not showing up to myself, pleasing others. That uncomfortable feeling of freeze is still kicking in from time to time but now I can catch this moment and more consciously stay there or not. I can choose to react differently than in the past.
Our body has a natural wisdom, and we are with it and in it 24/7. Trying to ignore that voice, making it small and without importance, may work for some time but eventually, it will end up with a very loud and clear scream. So how about you start listening to your body now?
I am grateful to my coaches and mentors who guided and continue to guide me in my self-discovery process. Migena Gjerazi – thank you for your magic and full permission for the embodiment you bring to our coaching space. Navin Pillay and Pamela Von Sibljar – you supported and guided me during the big changes in my life. Thank you for the impact you create!
I dedicate this article to my friends from Bellinzona: Magda, Renzo, Nina and Martino. Thanks for your friendship and love/ Grazie mille per la vostra amicizia ed amore!
