Who’s in charge? Body or Mind?
How to be embodied, centered, and grounded no matter who calls the shots.
Working on Pilates equipment means that you’re often doing new, unfamiliar movements.
Upside down movements. Scary movements. Movements with parts of your body you don’t typically challenge. Movements that don’t make sense. Crazy new combinations of movements.
In the studio, I watch my clients try a new movement and it’s fascinating to watch how you approach it.
With a very broad stroke, I can divide you into two camps:
Those who let their mind figure it out.
Those who let their body figure it out.
Each approach brings its own challenges and rewards. So let’s talk about them.
Your mind is in charge of all new challenges
In this camp, your mind is the ringleader. You have to understand what you’re doing, conceptualize the goal, and map out a plan of attack before starting.
You might ask “what muscles should I use?” or “what am I supposed to feel?”
You want to understand where you’re headed before trying.
The good news is that you tend to be very intentional. You like having direction.
The bad news is that you can be so in-your-head, that you forget that movement is about your body.
Your body is in charge
When your body is in charge, you tend to jump into physical challenges, even if you don’t know what’s going on.
You give it a try. You like the experience of it. You want to just get going. You might have a lot of kinesthetic information that doesn’t translate to verbal knowledge.
Your challenge is to go deeper into your movement patterns. When your body is in charge, it likes its default modes. You might move quickly and without intention. You don’t want to slow down to understand the nuance of how your body works.
Integrated movement
No matter what your default mode, integrated movement is always available to you. With or without conceptual understanding, with or without kinesthetic feedback, you can be embodied, centered, and grounded.
While embodiment is possible for everyone, you get to pick which tools work for you to get there. Here are some things you can try:
Visualize the movement, either anatomically or metaphorically. Even if you don’t feel anything, visualizations can help move you forward. Your imagination can access your body even if your understanding can’t.
Trust your body, even if you don’t “feel” anything. Sometimes your body understands more than your mind does. Sometimes you can move in ways that surprise yourself.
Challenge yourself physically (especially if your mind is usually in charge). Try something hard, uncomfortable, scary, or weird. Even if you don’t understand what you’re doing, just give it a try.
Take a breath before moving (especially if your body is typically in charge). Pausing to focus, to become aware, and to center yourself may help you go deeper into your body.
Relax. Sometimes all you need to feel more grounded is to stop working so hard.
Smile. Take a moment to appreciate the miracle it is to have a body that moves.
In the studio, you work so hard. You want a strong body that doesn’t hurt and a nervous system that’s less tight. It can feel like a tall mountain to climb.
Grounding into your body brings relief to all of that overwhelm. It takes the pressure off and let’s you enjoy the body you have.