What do you trust more, your body or you mind?
Working with a client yesterday I had led him through a long body scan. We started at his feet and eventually worked his way up his head. After we scanned the full body I encouraged him to hang out in his mind for a few minutes. To see what was swirling around up there after spending a few precious moments of awareness focused on his body.
So what happened?
He told me that he noticed restlessness in his hands. They were fidgeting and he could feel the energy in them. That this restlessness was a sign that he needs to do something with his hands or body. He also told me that his mind was telling him to stay in the rest of the day and to just relax. So I asked him an important question.
“When your body is showing or telling you one thing but your mind is telling you something else, what do you listen to and how do you make a choice?”
He responded with telling me he trusts his mind. That the body has impulses and feelings which aren’t trustable but his mind is who he really is. That he can think with his mind and it is where his intelligence is so he would listen to it.
He identified more with his mind than his body. This doesn’t surprise me one bit. Many of us do and especially us men.
We are taught early that our body isn’t okay, trustable, acceptable and that if need be…we must sacrifice it to “be a man”. Maybe we were taught that we have to be an amazing athlete, fighter or soldier. Maybe we were taught that we must create financial abundance at all cost…even if it means 70 hour weeks in grad school or at work.
We live in a world where we are taught that the body can be sacrificed and the mind is who we really are. This brilliant and successful man was simply repeating what he was taught by everyone in his life.
I asked him to argue the other side. To let me know when his mind leads him astray and when his body is telling the truth. He was able to come up with some great examples.
Eventually he said, “Well they work together I guess.”
Here is my truth. It might not be THE truth but it’s my truth.
It doesn’t matter if we are looking to be better in relationships, more effective as a leader, lose 50 lbs or start our own business…
It will take shifting your focus and creating an awareness of energy, intuition, emotions and getting in touch with our true desires. We have to slow down to feel what is occuring in our lives, business and relationships. We must engage the body or we are disconnected from a lot of our power and core being.
We can’t be overly identified or focused on the body. Just like we can’t be overly identified or focused on the mind, spirit or our relationships. We need connection and collaboration between body and mind.
How do you change your life?
You create more awareness, love, understanding and excitement in both body and mind. You learn to make changes to both. You use one to access the other. You engage all of you.
In a world that teaches us to focus on mind over body, are you willing to be the person who integrates and values both?
Are you ready for that kind of superpower?
When you are ready to see what it feels like to integrate, transform and create…I’m here for you.