to Know YOUR Body
What is needed to know your body? A simple answer, awareness. Attention. Care.
We may think it comes from studying and books, or is knowledge obtained by those who study anatomy and go to school medical careers.
While medical professionals have an important place in the world, they can never know your body more closely than you can. Since it is unlikely you’re going to take 8 years of schooling to obtain physical well-being, what can the average person do to improve their quality of life by knowing their body just a little better?
A previous blog post I talked about how directing yourself is a two way communication. Body to mind and mind to body. To communicate clearly both need to be explored, understood and made healthy. It can be done all on your own. All the information we have about humans, came from humans just like you. Buddha studied his self extensively, Patanjali and B.K.S. Iyengar, Jesus, the list goes on. The greatest of them discovered, that when a being is whole, all aspects of it cooperate fully. We are so lucky to live in an era where we have all of that previous experience to learn from, so we can avoid some common pitfalls.
So how did they do it? Scientifically of course!
Life in the Body is not only a result of science, but is itself a simple detailing of the science used to get the result. It’s an attempt to be the very two-way communication you will develop between your mind and body. The important part thing about it is the experience of the process. If LIB were here to give you the results of the process only, you would wear it like a costume and never develop the ability to make further progress on your own. As un-capitalist as that is, I really want each of you to obtain a skill that you possess independently of me or LIB. A skill you can share with friends, or they with you. As Buddha says, a good friend is 100% of the path, we trust them, and they care for us, so its more likely we will try new things with them or heed their advice.
When you get to know your body in this way, you not only establish an internal two-way communication, but you are able to communicate better with the medical helpers you may need at times. You will know yourself more and recognize clearly when something is wrong or beyond your personal capabilities. You will trust and be able to apply the knowledge of your body, to your physical therapy exercises, or sometimes you may be able to handle minor situations all by yourself. This overall, is an effective way to good health.
A way that empowers you towards well being always. A recent example of how, comes from a recent cold I had. A sore throat and some throbbing head congestion work me at 2am. While my mind wanted nothing but to go back to sleep, the pain wouldn’t allow that. So I listened to my body, I massaged my head and jaw, did a short practice of the techniques you’ll learn in LIB, and within minutes i was back in bed dosing off again. Had i not done that, I would have tossed and turned for who knows how long, wanting to be better and doing nothing to help my body along.
I’ve been there and done that too, there’s no shame in it. Being unwell is no fun at all. Its hard to muster the strength to take action and even more to know what action to take. Life in the Body is a path towards being able to hear what your body is asking of you and to be able to give it. It works, and it doesn’t take getting a degree in anything, just a little paying attention!