Bodies

Let's discuss something particularly basic: bodies. And our
relationships to bodies. There's a mind-body relationship which I find
particularly fascinating: what we think we can control, or "should be"
able to control. I am no expert in the subject of bodies and the only
body I am particularly familiar with is my own. I am intrigued by what
my body does and how much happens within my body which I do not
control. While by no means accurate, I often imagine the great
communication patterns which our cells must emit in order to make some
of the most basic parts of my body function correctly: breathing, my
heart beating, messages transmitting from my brain to my fingers
through a good one-third of my body even as I type this, the bouncing
of my toes, the sniffling of my nose.

So much which goes on to which I become a witness and never am quite otherwise in control of; in fact, I tend to respond more to
my body than I do control it. I realize a few things: my body is my
body and it is mine to care for; I do the best I can to listen to it
and to be responsible for it. As it ages, I sense its changes and I try
to honor its needs, to encourage its health, its vitality, its
flexibility. I also realize that while I have been brought up with a
basic understanding of the power of my mind and thoughts that there are
somethings I cannot do which others can: I am no athlete, I am no yogi,
I am not double-jointed, and I require basic food components on a
regular basis to feel good about myself. Additionally, I certainly do
require movement but am not obsessive about it. My relationship to my
body is unique in that it is part of my relationship to myself and
understanding it is, in part, understanding myself.

So, when my body does certain things (and here we get into the things which many of us never
discuss and certainly rarely acknowledge) beyond my control, what am I
to do? We're mammals on a very basic level and so we do things like
fart and burp. Over time, our bodies begin to smell if we do not care
for them or they creak and groan if they do not get enough nutrients,
exercise, rest. Our bodies are phenomenal communicators! To begin to
list the many incredible messages they send us and how quickly we often
ignore their messages is remarkable; when did we start ignoring the
fundamentals so much? Our bodies have the ability to fell us, to
empower us, to amaze or mystify us. When they want to, they can raise
the level of awareness (in many ways), increasing exhaustion, causing
our bodies to ache, sniffles to sound, as a means of saying, "If you
don't watch it..." and, in fact, this mentality of "we" is critical for
we are, in fact, partners with our bodies.

Few of us can, in
fact, control our bodies all that well but we can listen and, more so,
we can honor our bodies. Our bodies will tell us when we need to care
for it; we must all hone our skills more in listening to the needs of
our bodies. That we are all partners with our bodies is quite the
concept...half-hatched, still to be worked out but, honestly, still
intriguing.