Go Beyond | benefits

Breathe

Back to basics, the importance of being in our body

Many years ago a healer told me that I was not in my body and at the time it sounded quite mad to me, yet part of me knew it to be true, I thought I am here I can see my body how could I not be in my body, if I can see it physically in the mirror, what do you mean?

It has taken a lot of practice for me, and takes consistent work, to be fully present in my body with all the thoughts and feelings, to stay present and to find the peace behind the madness. For me that's really what my personal practice is all about, undoing and unifying the mind, body and feelings in the physical body.

Working within rehabs and clients with substance abuse, see how people are constantly trying to avoid being with themselves getting out of their heads using chemicals, it seems to be a national pastime these days avoiding being with ourselves. However, it is not just those using substances that are avoiding themselves, we all have avoidance tactics and mechanisms in place in order to survive.

Through the different processes we can get in touch to see how and why we have had to use these survival strategies to cope with the trauma in our own lives, as well the past pain that is passed down unconsciously along the family line. This pain shows up in destructive patterns that we keep on repeating in our lives. When these patterns are revealed, when it appears in front of us, when the unseen is seen we can start to heal, go beyond them and bring about changes.

Whatever the practice, whether it is Family Constellation, dynamic dance, bodywork, breath work or meditation we need to have a reference point a point to come back to by being in our body, to feel what is going on in that moment before we can see it, feel it and acknowledge it in order to let it go.

I am constantly reminded in my own practice how important it is to have time and space with a gentle yin practice of stillness as well as the dynamic yang movement practices of action to release and let go. When I show willingness to be with myself fully, the breath knows what to do in order to help undo the ‘stuff’ we have been holding on to. I invite people to share the experience of being in their body, to be still or move, to feel what is going on in that moment, to stay present to what is, before trying to shift it through any of these practices.