Saturday 19 October 2013

H.O.P.E

The word pain can have so many different meanings, so many different manifestations - physical pain, emotional pain, empathetic pain... yet its imagery is so strong, and just the word elicits such a sensory perception from you doesn't it? That alone proves to me the incredible power it can have over us. Why do we feel pain of any kind? I believe it is a signal. A warning. Our bodies are so much more intelligent than we often give them credit for and genuinely only want to do right by us. So if we knock back a couple of panadols or nurofens or continue to run through that twinge in our knee we are dulling our own intelligence. We are quieting that signal that there is something amiss. Pain happens when something needs to shift or change. When there is a blockage, be it emotional or physical (although personally I believe the two go hand in hand and our physical body has a direct correlation with our emotional body), and our energies are no longer flowing with ease. 

And if we suppress that pain or dull it with painkillers it gets stuck, and the longer it stays stuck the longer it takes to release and the more resistance it puts up to let go! As we are taught in yoga, we hold onto trauma in our physical cells and our muscles and ligaments can often become tight and heavy with past hurts and negative experiences we have not fully released. Our cells remember EVERYTHING. Gosh we are smart! It blows my mind! And these physical responses show us that we are REAL, that we are ALIVE, and not just walking zombies!


This year I feel like I have had a higher than usual amount of physical injuries and alot of them have been to do with my lower body - hips, pelvis, knees, feet. It has been incredibly frustrating and I have often questioned whether what I am doing in my life at the moment is right as I once again hobble to the chiropractor. I am feeling quite stable and all areas of my life seem to be flowing with ease at the moment so it puzzled me for a while to continually be presented with this physical pain. Speaking to Mum last night she gave me some interesting food for thought - that most of the time, we hold onto our pain and trauma in our bodies until we feel safe and supported enough to release it, when we feel we are surrounded by people to help us, and when we feel confident that we are strong enough to confront and move through it.


Because for whatever reason at the time of physical or emotional injury we couldn't fully incorporate all  that we were experiencing and so went into coping mechanisms and stored it away until we were calm once again. I know that you all know this- we witness it with our friends, family, and loved ones all the time but do we offer the same support and nurturing to ourselves? 


If you feel a pain, it is your signal to be still for a while. To tune back into you and nourish yourself with kind loving thoughts and words. Remind your body and spirit how incredible it is and give it the time and gentleness it is asking for. We don't need to be up and go all the time, and we certainly can't put a time frame on healing - we are all such unique and diverse people each with our own story. And most definitely I need to heed my own advice - we all feel pressure to make the most out of every moment ;)

But what I am finding and being guided to over the last few days is that if I dive into this pain and make a commitment to confronting and releasing it, I will have released it for life and I can make room for lightness and clarity. We always emerge out the other side, sometimes it just takes a while =)




Followers