By Karen Angelucci
Life’s changes, challenges and uncertainties are front and center in our world with the current distancing protocols that are being mandated. The muddle that’s brewing in people’s lives, homes, businesses, communities and beyond show up more dramatically when our inner world and outer expression are thrust into circumstances out of our control.
Not feeling in control is certainly what is happening for many now because of the pandemic but many of you also experience this lack of control in your life when it comes to your body health. Do life’s control buttons in relationship to your body seem elusive or are you pressing the wrong buttons as a safety mechanism of protection and limiting your body’s ability to function fully? For example, if you’re holding tension in your muscles because of stress, worry, anger, fear this can cause physical pain or reduce your ability to move. If your answer is to avoid moving because of pain, other systems in your body will be impacted. Such as reduced blood flow which brings nutrients to your cells and removes wastes; or restricted lymph flow to help with your body’s immune fighting. Your ability to breathe deeply can be restricted hampering the flow of oxygen through your blood; or your digestive functions which are reliant on blood flow to take important nutrients to and from the cells in your body can be affected.
Because your body is a functional unit, when dysfunction occurs as in this case of long term tension in muscles other systems in your body are compromised. When your body systems can’t perform as they were intended, they start to struggle and breakdown leading to ill health and disease. The more areas of your body that are struggling or out of balance the less energy you have for moving, feeling and living well in your body.
What you’re doing and how you are coping now reflects the areas of your life that are in balance or in need of transformation.
Stop reading for just a moment …take a breath in and notice what areas of your body are holding tension. Is this a chronic tension for you…meaning you always feel it? Do you have difficulty even taking a deep breath in?
Do you feel pain areas in your body that concern you? Do you ignore pain areas? Are you so accustomed to them you don’t really pay attention; you think that’s just how my body is?
Just taking a few minutes to notice the signals your body sends you, the thoughts you have about this internal inquiry and the answers you have to the questions are enough for you to become conscious.
Being conscious about your body opens doors to thinking about choices and new possibilities. Becoming conscious about my life circumstances and a body injury I had over 40 years ago is what directed me on my path to becoming a body centered practitioner.
It doesn’t need to be an accident, trauma or virus to make major shifts, even the simplest form of self discovery can be very powerful in making transformational or radical shifts in your life.
The ability to say to yourself “I am Worthy of Health and Happiness” and mean it will also be a driving force in your body healing and life fulfillment. You might feel like you’re in a muddle or clueless in answering self discovery questions…saying to yourself it just feels too complicated, I don’t know what my body messages are, I really don’t feel anything. What if you take this complicated scenario, make it an opportunity to be curious about your own personal needs?
Have a WOW moment saying to yourself, I didn’t know that I didn’t know about my body. Or notice if your body holds so much tension that you have become accustomed to living with it.
Take a wonder moment now …. what would it be like to breathe deeply and not be in pain, feel tight or in distress?
Offer yourself the opportunity to explore some new sensations or ways of thinking that wouldn’t have occurred to you if you hadn’t taken a few minutes for yourself. This is a perfect time for self discovery, especially if you’re experiencing the isolation, work challenges or limiting activities as threatening to your well being.
Of course without question, If you are unsafe or your well being is truly being threatened, it is a must to reach out and get help, no if’s and or buts!!!! Life threatening circumstances require immediate support or intervention from a professional for any and all physical, emotional or nutritional needs!
For most of us in general, life presents all of us with our own level of muddle physically, emotionally and nutritionally. Yes, during times of muddle there is distress, discomfort, challenges and upheaval that occur.
Choices in these times are often to ignore the circumstances, hope it will go away; bury it, avoid it. Or it can be a clue to realize your skills to attend to the muddle are under developed.
A tip for you …Your body acts like an alert buzzer when you are in distress. Maybe you’re not getting enough sleep or eating poorly for example. Your body let’s you know by ramping up the signals in any vulnerable areas you have…such as you could feel increased pain in old injuries or old symptoms can resurface to let you know your body resources are depleted.
This tells you to get back on track or find a new path of better health choices. Such as going to bed earlier; finding out why you’re not sleeping; improve dietary needs; see a nutritionist to help you if you don’t know what food choices support your body. It’s always about the choices we make physically, emotionally and nutritionally.
The problem is if you don’t know what your choices are, you don’t know who to go to for help, you think there is nothing that will make it different.
Being curious about the signals my body is messaging has been my “magic pill” to learn self care skills, find out who to go to when I need help and understand what my unique physical, emotional and nutritional needs are to direct me back to well being. “I want that for you”!
Self discovery is the “magic pill” I’ve taken to make changes in life in my personal growth, absolutely in my professional career and most importantly in my health. But more importantly your body has the “magic” of healing!
How it works is your body heals from the inside / out! This is a physiological fact! Healing from the inside out also happens emotionally and energetically!
The magic pill dose of self discovery is dependent on your life’s experiences. Whether you take daily doses of self awareness or a big gulp when life challenges keep you lying in bed. The dose is whatever it takes for you to make choices that support your body, your values or your relationships. Your body is your “Birthright”. When you make choices that support the love and care of your body you are maintaining your “motor home” the home you move in and its job is to take you where your heart’s desires lead to enrich your life.
When is the time to take this magic pill? When you are bored, in pain, dysfunction, distress, fear, emotional overload to name a few cases.
Always remember taking self discovery is a personal choice and it does not mean you are required to dive deep on your own. As a matter of fact, some doses of self discovery can be very powerful. I’ve experienced this and it’s set me back, so I’ve learned there are times when I need to seek help to guide me or help me take the right dose. The right dose means I will be able to integrate new feelings or have help to guide me in new physical abilities or even help me regain physical function that I thought I lost.
Each of us knows we have our struggles maybe not consciously but we experience them as frustrations in our lives, constant struggling, physical and emotional pain and dysfunction. We may not think there is anything we can do about it, give it the excuse that it’s just old age or resign ourselves that’s how it’s always been and nothing can be done to make it different or better. That thought process is really you just saying you don’t have the resources, skills or understanding to make the changes on your own. Believe me don’t expect yourself or criticize yourself or bully yourself with self talk that says you should be able to make body or life changes on your own.
What I want you to know in order to make body health simple, the choices lie in these three areas physical, emotional and nutritional and each of you will have your own unique combination of making choices in one or all of these areas. Choosing one of these areas will automatically help improve the other two areas of your body health and well being so no need to get overwhelmed in what to choose.
What’s stopping you from making life changing choices is often self-imposed limitations, thinking you don’t have enough time, money, energy to do anything different and of course fear. One of which is fearing your body because you don’t know what’s going on.
This can all be simplified through body charting, taking a look at your body health history, possibly specific testing and the big factor is the willingness to make new choices.
In my case and in the case of my clients the life changing results are the ability to move, feel and live better in our body.
This occurs by knowing how to attend to your body whether that’s with self care skills or by going to the practitioner that meets your specific needs; with understanding that by looking after your physical, emotional and nutritional needs sooner rather than later you create the opportunity for your body to function better. This translates into healthy living in a happier body that you can look forward to enjoying for years to come. This has been my experience.
How you evolve, create or emerge out of the muddle is what I love helping you do. If you’re ready to create your health action path and want help to know who to go to or what to do. I would love to be your guide.
Karen Angelucci
Body Centered Practitioner/Owner
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