When the Body Speaks
A subtle communication
Like most, I grew up using and working with the Gregorian calendar system and even though I don’t think or know yet how to ditch it entirely, it ain’t working for me. Even more, I’ve heard other people having the same issue.
What am I talking about?
For me, the “new year” starts with Spring Season. This is the time nature starts to wake up, when energy increase and everything grows. During the transition from winter to spring I also start to feel these changes. And because I want to create a more intentional way of living with the cycles of nature, I try to flow with nature and cycles as much as possible.
And so, Spring Season is the time I think and feel about my intentions for the year, the new year’s resolution if you will. The thing is, this is a work in process. We are so accustomed to adapting ourselves to the way we were taught, and that includes thinking what we want, instead of feeling it. Thinking is from the head, the mind, the place we mostly are used to being around. Feeling comes from the body, which most of us, including myself, are most disconnected from.
So this is my challenge: getting out of my head and coming down into my body. Feeling what I need and feeling what I want.
Intentions for the New Year
Around the beginning of Spring, I started to feel the uneasiness of Spring energy and so I began to put into words and brainstorm anything that was going on through my mind on paper.
I included also the signs and synchronicities I was getting around that time. Soon I discovered that one of my intentions was to work with the Nature elements - Air, Fire, Earth, and Water - and mostly dedicate a year of exploration to each element. But which element should I start with? came into mind. Everything in me said FIRE element and one of the ways I felt most appealing to work with the fire element, was to incorporate movements that would awaken that inner fire in me and that is through nature walks and dancing.
And so, I began doing many physical activities, like decluttering, walking in nature, and dancing. During this time I was enjoying myself a lot but then something happened.
When the Body speaks
Not soon after, I woke up one day with tremendous pain in my left knee. I’ve had something similar happen years before, and back then I needed plenty of rest. Because I wanted some professional advice I spoke to my physical therapist about it in our weekly session, and indeed she recommended lots of rest. However, I could go on bicycle rides, which I was very happy to hear.
Yet, I felt sad about the fact that I could walk and dance for a while and wondered what was my body telling me. Did I do too much? How was I supposed to work with the Fire element without being able to move and ignite my inner fire?
Or was the Fire element, not the one to start with? And if this was the case, what element then?
After a period of a week, it came to me like an a-ha moment: the air element!
The Air Element
When looking at the elements in the seasons, we see the air element being part of the Spring Season. However, that doesn’t mean we all have to start with the Air element when we want to work with the elements, nor doesn’t it have a static order. We have to look and feel which element is coming forward to work with us.
As it happens to be in my case the Air Element. In Astrology, this is also the element that rules my Sun sign, Gemini. And it also rules communication, language, and words. Hence, my presence over here.
What better way to work with the Air Element than by writing?
Of course, I have other intentions regarding the Air Element but for now, I will leave it here.
In short, my body was telling me that the Fire Element wasn’t the element to start with right now and this came to happen by making me not able to do the things I was planning to do ( from my head). Instead, it asked me to dig a little deeper and really notice what energy needed to express itself.
When we are so disconnected from our bodies, we need to take the time to listen.
How to start listening?
What is working for me right now, is to sit down quietly alone, with myself for at least 10 minutes, and try to pay attention to my body and its language.
Often, I don’t “feel” anything or my mind goes elsewhere back into the head and wanders around. As soon as I’m aware this is happening I go out of my head and back into my body again.
Like I said, I’m still very disconnected from my body and this is still a work in process. However, this is a practice and works best - or will have to start having more results - the more I incorporate it into my daily life as mini daily rituals. I don’t call it meditating, because I’m not paying attention to (just) my breathing, but I’m trying to be with myself from another point of view; my body.
I do, however, like to start with a simple grounding meditation and then I do the body work connection/communication.
After that, I write in my journal - my book of mirrors as I called it - what I experienced. In this way, I hope to align with my body better so I don’t have to be surprised by it screaming at me = in pain.
I hope this method may inspire you if you too have difficulty listening to your body.
Ps: 🙏🏻 Feel free to click on the ❤️ button on this post so more people can discover it on Substack! 😍
🖊️ Tell me what you think or your experience with this Summer Season in the comment!
Warm hugs,
Vane
Image from Ron Lach, Pexels