“They struggle to know what is a bodily sensation and what is an emotional reaction (do I really need rest or am I being lazy?). Without clear guidelines, the path to wellbeing seems murky.”
It’s like you wrote this for me. I’m giving better a tapping into the somatic wisdom, but I still have that little tug from the hard-core exercise days. and I still can’t always interpret the signals I get from my body.
That's so good, Kristi. I'm happy for you. Even though it's hard to unravel old habits, if feels good to feel your body, doesn't it? Honestly, I still love physical challenge. It's really satisfying to feel the strength in my body but I'm smarter now. I find appropriate challenge. Then I can enjoy to power of my physicality while reducing my chance of injury. But like you mentioned, it has been a long road.
It's wonderful to feel and to allow myself to feel. I repressed for so long. Reconnecting with myself, though I have so much further to go, feels like a much-needed homecoming.
What I particularly like is that you have highlighted here how people forget that their body, brain and mind are one. There is no real separation, but we have been so conditioned into even believing that the brain is a "separate" entity, or even the leader, from/of the body. '
I have always tried in all my coaching to also pay extra attention to just teaching movement. It is still fascinating to me how we can quickly find a whole lot of movement varieties that cause trouble even to some of the elite athletes are worked with.
Yes, although our articles start from a different vantage point, we're coming to the same conclusion. Datafication of our human experience isn't always helpful.
I'm curious what you meant by "find a whole lot of movement varieties that cause trouble even to some of the elite athletes are worked with". What movement are you referring to? I don't work with elite athletes so I'm not familiar with their challenges. I'd love to hear more.
My apologies that I missed your comment (back in January!). Sometimes, Substack's notification system is hard to keep up with.
Julia- This is very accurately put: "True wellbeing is not without discomfort." I love this sentence. Took me far too long to learn this the hard way. Did you learn this fairly early in life, Julia?
Hi Thalia! Thank you for your comment. It is freeing when we stop expecting life to be always comfortable, isn't it? From one perspective I could say that I learned this very early on but at the same time, I've been peeling layers off that truth my whole life. There are always deeper and deeper ways to understand it.
What is your experience? You mentioned learning this "the hard way." If you don't mind sharing, what does that mean for you?
“They struggle to know what is a bodily sensation and what is an emotional reaction (do I really need rest or am I being lazy?). Without clear guidelines, the path to wellbeing seems murky.”
It’s like you wrote this for me. I’m giving better a tapping into the somatic wisdom, but I still have that little tug from the hard-core exercise days. and I still can’t always interpret the signals I get from my body.
That's so good, Kristi. I'm happy for you. Even though it's hard to unravel old habits, if feels good to feel your body, doesn't it? Honestly, I still love physical challenge. It's really satisfying to feel the strength in my body but I'm smarter now. I find appropriate challenge. Then I can enjoy to power of my physicality while reducing my chance of injury. But like you mentioned, it has been a long road.
Thank you for sharing.
It's wonderful to feel and to allow myself to feel. I repressed for so long. Reconnecting with myself, though I have so much further to go, feels like a much-needed homecoming.
Lovely. 🌻🌻🌻
Such a good write-up about facing away from the over-emphasised rationalisation of physical exercise, or other wellbeing aspects.
Just recently I tried putting something together about what I think is a dead-end direction for mental health:
https://drmarcinlipski.substack.com/p/the-melodrama-of-measuring-mood
What I particularly like is that you have highlighted here how people forget that their body, brain and mind are one. There is no real separation, but we have been so conditioned into even believing that the brain is a "separate" entity, or even the leader, from/of the body. '
I have always tried in all my coaching to also pay extra attention to just teaching movement. It is still fascinating to me how we can quickly find a whole lot of movement varieties that cause trouble even to some of the elite athletes are worked with.
Yes, although our articles start from a different vantage point, we're coming to the same conclusion. Datafication of our human experience isn't always helpful.
I'm curious what you meant by "find a whole lot of movement varieties that cause trouble even to some of the elite athletes are worked with". What movement are you referring to? I don't work with elite athletes so I'm not familiar with their challenges. I'd love to hear more.
My apologies that I missed your comment (back in January!). Sometimes, Substack's notification system is hard to keep up with.
Julia- This is very accurately put: "True wellbeing is not without discomfort." I love this sentence. Took me far too long to learn this the hard way. Did you learn this fairly early in life, Julia?
Hi Thalia! Thank you for your comment. It is freeing when we stop expecting life to be always comfortable, isn't it? From one perspective I could say that I learned this very early on but at the same time, I've been peeling layers off that truth my whole life. There are always deeper and deeper ways to understand it.
What is your experience? You mentioned learning this "the hard way." If you don't mind sharing, what does that mean for you?