Listening To The Body
and how we can find inner harmony between body and mind through hearing it's traumas
For so long I allowed my mind to rule the entirety of my being. I would choose to identify personally with all the thoughts streaming through my head. Some to value, some to undermine, some to feel terribly guilty about—all because I thought them me.
The truth is more nuanced, I believe. There is something to our wholeness being rooted in the body. Something to there being more beyond this shell. Still, the mind is such a vital part. It’s absolutely necessary in every way to function as a human being. It should be nourished. Appreciated. Given the grace to learn in its own time, in its own way.
The mind—such a crucial part of the whole, that I feel we have built a cultural sickness around worshiping like an altar inside ourselves—does not have to rule us. By deciding instead to turn inward, and find the spaciousness within which observes the mind. We can find a healthier equilibrium.
There’s a stillness inside we can touch. Even when the mind is running wild. I’ve experienced these moments where thoughts were rabid, but a choice internally was made to not be the thoughts, to let them flow past, observing them as a witness.
Here, in this flow. The ability rises to listen to our body, find our intuition, connect with our heart, our spine, and our sore-ass necks. We can find all the places in our body we have stored trauma and grief and lies told to self. Then we can ask these places to tell us what they hold.
We can ask our heart, mind, body, and soul to work together in divine harmony to allow grace to these parts of our bodies. Allowing us to truly listen to the wisdom they have to share. So often the mind will see this happening, then hop in front of the knowledge which rise from the body, distorting what would otherwise be a pure truth—into a half truth, or a complete illusion.
In the process of learning to listen. You can reconcile these body traumas with your mind. Gifting a forgiveness towards your egoic identity for their dominance of self, and understanding that the mind deserves all the love it can get for this undue burden placed upon it. Here in this place of inner healing, you can feel your mind accept a healthier role in your whole state of being. You’ll still totally catch yourself slipping into subconscious routines which give your mind undue control. Slowly though, you will find freedom from these patterns. That’s the work.
I feel personally, somewhere in the middle of this process. So, I don’t have great answers on how to really bring it home, and live in a place of constant contact with that stillness. The way I understand it for myself, is that I hope to one day feel myself living consistently from within my heart, rather than mind, accepting that as my new center of being. Because when I am able to reside there, it just feels too good.
But I also think the path is different for everyone. That the path and answers for each of us lie only within ourselves. That this stuff I’m sharing is only my truth. Which I do hope reflects some of your own truth back to you, whomever might eventually read this. I do not believe there is any guru who can help you, unless they are empowering you to know the strength within yourself, so you can begin the journey on your own. Because no two people’s paths are the same.
I believe the ultimate importance, if you feel called to find this more expansive state of living, is in learning to love the process of self-growth itself, rather than pining after what you hope that growth will bring. Knowing great things will come in time, maybe just not how you imagined, and trusting the process—truly being in the moment, to learn the lessons within each day.
-Daphne
