This month's musings are about embodiment and our relationship with the natural world around us.
In the northern hemisphere, we are entering into the winter months, where the world around us slows down and becomes dormant. However, no one gives us permission to slow down as well. I feel so much pressure to keep working, to keep hustling, to keep grinding on as the natural world around us slows to a halt. As someone who works for myself, I feel this pressure deeply. It feels so misaligned, and to be honest, I'm sick of it.
I would love to slow down, to take a month off, but my bills don't slow down, and my lease doesn't take a month off. My frustration at having to constantly force myself forward rears its head at this time of year. I'm taking the week off between Christmas and New Years because I want to really stop and rest. In a culture that will never tell us that it's ok to rest, we have to give this permission to ourselves instead. One week seems like a slightly sad amount of time to give myself, but with the pressures we're all under, I figure some is better than none.
This has gotten me thinking about the many ways we push through, and the ways we have to dissociate from our bodies' needs in order to keep going. I despair about the number of people moving through their lives dissociated from the experience of their bodies. We've been taught to think of the body as something to control, something to conquer. The old adages “No pain no gain" and “Mind over matter" illustrate just how insidious this belief is in our culture. We idolize people who force their bodies to do incredible things (like Olympic athletes, contortionists, mountain climbers or ballerinas, or the folks who work insane hours and prioritize the hustle above all else), but we rarely talk about the cost. We're disappointed when athletes take a step back from training or competition because of mental or physical health concerns. We scoff at the concept of burnout and say, “They just weren't cut out for it.” We rarely stop to consider the lifelong effects of bullying, depriving, neglecting and abusing our bodies. We force our bodies into thinness because our culture and our medical institution are drenched in fat phobia and diet culture. All of this teaches us that ignoring our bodies' hungers, desires and opinions is the way to achieve belonging, love, adulation and success.
But I know that what is good for the body is good for the whole, because we are, in fact, whole. We are not separate from our bodies. We are not a control center up top with a passive, unruly object below that we have to coerce and control, lest it misbehave. We are all connected, and the way we treat our bodies matters. It matters to ourselves and to the people we love, and it matters to the planet. The way we treat our bodies is the way we treat the earth.
Our bodies are the earth. They are the earthly, physical manifestation of us, and by dissociating from our bodies, we dissociate from the earth. We ignore the natural cycles of our bodies, and we ignore the natural cycles of the planet. We pretend that our bodies' resources are inexhaustible as we push through pain and exhaustion. If we have a menstrual cycle, we've been taught to power through with pain killers and caffeine, rather than rest when we need it. The truth is neither our bodies', nor the earth's resources, are inexhaustible. Living in a disembodied state encourages us to dissociate from the natural world around us. And look what it's given us: A planet that is screaming out for help. A climate in crisis. This insatiable fixation on "More" is harming our bodies, and it's harming our planet.
I know this sounds pretty dire, and to be honest, it is. I don't bring this up to make us all despair. I want us to talk about this so that we find a new way to move forward. I want to validate the experience of the body, and the true state of the planet. I want us to come home to our bodies and come home to our earth. If we are going to find a sustainable way to live on this planet, we must also find a sustainable way to live in our bodies.
I do the work that I do because I want to help people feel embodied. I want to empower women and girls with knowledge about their bodies, so they can make choices that align with their whole selves: Their minds, their bodies, and their souls. I want girls to know the power of their menstrual cycles, and that it's not just about bleeding and pain management. There's a whole cycle for us to understand and be guided by, and I can't sit by and let our culture erase this knowledge for the sake of productivity. I want to help women in perimenopause and menopause understand the phase of life they are in, and find power there, rather than defeat.
I want people to feel empowered and centered as they move through the world. I want us to live in loving relationship with our bodies because the world would be a better place if we all loved and respected ourselves more.
If practicing embodiment and learning to feel and advocate for your body sounds like something that you'd like to do, please come join me. Spend some time in my sweet, peaceful, little studio, where I will validate your experiences and help you find the tools and strength to come home to yourself. We do not have to do this alone.
I'm sending lots of care to you all, and if you need some presence and grounding, I'm here for you.
