One thing I have come to notice in my somatic body work and movement work practice  is the discomfort many people experience when they are asked to move into their body. While there often is a willingness or a knowing this is “what I need”  there is always resistance and a difficultly sustaining the connection into the body.  It can vary from very subtle to a great discomfort.

As the body holds all experiences and our emotions it can be quite daunting to “delve” inside ourselves and uncover the wealth of information that is held inside.  More often than not there is a sense of “falling apart” which makes sustaining the attention into your body even more difficult.

The sacred decent into the body means we are going to travel past the mind, the ego and the personality that “thinks” it has  us held together. Most people have been disconnected from a deeper awareness of their body for a long time, so it takes some unwinding to open up to the body.  Our sense of not holding it all together comes from the mind.  I have witnessed in private sessions, classes and workshops how uncomfortable and distressed participants become.

One thing I will say, and I have also noticed in my practice of supporting clients to reconnect to their bodies, is that those who access their courage, willingness, determination to keep working through what comes up, are richly rewarded.  The body opens up willingly to reveal the treasures and the joy inside. However, because of the resistance the mind has to letting go of control, we often have to go through some angst, upset, anxiety, frustration,  feel our fear and maybe even experience some depression, hopelessness, emptiness, or loneliness.  The good news is that all of this is temporary.

When we do “give ourselves permission” or “allow” ourselves to delve into our body and we meet the resistance, the angst, the contractions, the old way of being, we discover something amazing… these things fall away and underneath them we find the flow, the fluidity, the pleasure, the connection to the universe.  We, our mind, our ego, our thoughts, or whatever is in the way, gets out of the way and we “find” ourselves. In other words we wake up and start to feel what it feels like to be fully present in our body, on this earth, connected to all while doing our individual human dance.

We find our true expression, a new point of reference, a new way to veiw life, our vulnerability, our strength and we FEEL ourselves.  We know what we want, we can move through our resistance,  judgments and upset, we can express ourselves authentically.

Expressive freeform movement has been one of my greatest resources finding my way back to my body and to my Self.  It has been an exquisite journey as I surrender more and more to “letting go” and being led.  My life has become richer, more fulfilling, more delicious and I am aware of more love and support being present.

So, may this be a message of encouragement for those of you on this body-mind journey. Keep going and stay present no matter what shows up (especially resistance!), embrace what comes up and ultimately it will dissolve and open into greater connection and a peace you may not have thought possible.

I would love to hear from you and hear your thoughts on this.  What do you do when resistence comes up?  Drop me a note and tell me what’s going on for you.  I have lots of support information for you at my website so please visit it or be e-mail me.