Every single thing we take in during every moment of each day needs to be processed.
Whether it is food, drink, air, ideas, energy or information of the sensory and/or cognitive variety, everything that enters us needs to be tended to by our body.
Fortunately for us, the body is designed to process all of these things I listed. It is the body that helps us absorb what nourishes us and to expel what no longer serves us. The body is designed to have sensory experiences in relationship with these things I’ve listed and then to move in ways that support the absorbing of and the letting go of whatever it is that is being experienced within our skin container.
Unfortunately for us, we’ve created a world that tends to overwhelm our natural capacities toward health.
This blog was inspired by a trend I have noticed recently: people with discomfort in the stomach. Quite a few clients I’ve seen recently have needed somatic support in session to safely explore uncomfortable stomach related experiences. I have also had several people in my social circle reporting unexpected, intense gut distress with no easily identifiable source. I, too, have woken on several nights in the last few weeks with a sense of queasiness in my mid-section that I know was not food related.
When this sort of synchronicity happens - of noticing a common theme across so many people and over more than 24 hours time span - I pay attention.
I’m curious: what is causing all this gut distress?
Here are my thoughts:
We are all trying to process and digest a lot. While it is always important to tend to your whole system, it is especially important right now to allow yourself time to slow down, notice and allow movement that will, in turn, allow whatever might be causing you distress to be processed and moved through. Take the time to be present with whatever comes up when you allow yourself to gently give attention to this area of your body. Help your body know it is safe to absorb the parts that are nourishing and to let the parts which are no longer of value pass through and out!
This is such a simple biological process of acceptance and letting go that we have developed the ability to thwart it in all sorts of ways!
Please remember:
You can choose to notice or ignore your bodily sensations.
You can choose whether to tend to or override uncomfortable information in your systems.
You can choose whether you allow your Self to move or to become rigid.
You can choose what parts of your Self to move.
You can choose how you move.
We can all choose to gently learn about the patterned movements of our physical, sensory, emotional and cognitive bodies.
We can learn to slow down in a way that allows us to notice what patterns succeed in helping us to be more selective, to support the taking in of what is nourishing and letting go of what is depleting. We all have the capacity to also notice which of our patterns we are using that fall short of supporting this biological process of health.
We can learn how to move ourselves to expand and deepen our capacity for seeing diverse options and making conscious choices that increase the quality of what is entering our body, with each breath, in each moment.
And as humans we have the capacity to choose to limit our ability to move. We can choose to inhibit ourselves, sometimes for important social reasons. We can also choose to shrink our capacity to notice, to react rather than respond, to resist change, or to believe we are helpless to choose something different, which all serve to undermine individual and social functioning.
The body is designed to live life fully. To live life fully involves learning ways to move yourself in diverse ways with more ease and integration as well as to discovering and exploring what challenges you from doing so.
Processing IS not simply a cognitive exercise. Processing IS a whole body activity of movement.
If you notice a sensation of discomfort in your gut or you feel like you are trying to absorb and process TOO MUCH of something or perhaps even find yourself thinking “This is all too much”, I invite you to do the following:
slow down your activity
take at least six minutes to Check-In
allow yourself to truly and fully process throughout your whole system
support some part of your physical body to move in a way inspired by the speed and quality of the act of digestion
Processing. Movement. Self-care.
We are all in this together. Blessings, folks.
(If you’d like support in MOVING with these ideas, please check out the video support HERE!)