Lean Back

"If I never explore my limits, my bodymind will gradually tighten and become unconscious. If I regularly explore my limits in a caring and adventuresome fashion, I will expand and grow in a vital fashion. But if I try to push myself past where I am honestly able to go, I will no longer be practicing 'yoga' but instead will be practicing 'greed,' and I will probably be met by pain and disease. Stated simply, it is the difference between ignoring your self, making love to yourself, and raping yourself."        --Ken Dychtwald, Bodymind

After I read Ken Dychtwald's book, Bodymind, a few years back, I became entranced with the relationship between body type, personality, and experience. I pratcially highlighted every word in the book because I felt like every word, every idea was important. It was the information I greedily ingested through that book that spurred me to get 10 Rolfing sessions and explore my own body patterns and armoring. Afterwards, I began to ask the question that Dychtwald poses in his book: Did my body shape my mind or did my mind shape my body?

It was my curiosity about and desire to rediscover my body that played a hand in my decision to try yoga years before. Yet my practice had been more about "greed," just as Dychtwald mentions in the excerpt above. I pushed rather than relaxed; I dictated more than I listened; I efforted more than I let go and allowed the yoga asanas to be in me. I got tired of forcing myself to be what I thought a yogi should be and began to relax, listen,  and let go. Then I read Dychtwald's book and my love affair with the curiousness of body's patterns began.

At first I didn't like noticing all that I did. After all, once I noticed it, what could I possibly do to change it? After reading this in Dychtwald's book, my discomfort connected to my discoveries abated -- " I have given up on the notion of the 'perfect' bodymind or the 'ideal' life, for there are no such things. Rather, I have been allowing myself to become more aware and enlightened about my own potentialities and by so doing have begun to discover the unique life and bodymind that is 'ideal' for my specific needs and dreams. I notice that when I approach my growth and self-explorations from this perspetive, they become pleasurable adventures rather than tedious chores." And with these words, my perspective shifted and I began to look at my discoveries as adventures rather than something that I need to change and/or fix.

When I switched yoga practices over a year ago, I embarked on a complete and total bodymind adventure. I discovered things I had no clue about in all my previous years of yoga practice. As Dychtwald says, "When you are being loving to yourself and are without chronically painful conflicts, your bodymind will manifest a state of health...be as mindful and as aware as possible, all the while being respectful of self-limits and appreciative of continaully regernerating expansiveness." A little love turned things about for me, made me more conscious, and better equipped me to recognize when I became greedy in my practice and pushed myself beyond what my body was capable of (or cared to do, for that matter).

I recently picked up Dychtwald's book again and discovered even more about how my body's patterns reflect my mind's patterns. For example, one of my habits is to lean forward. I tend to lean forward when I'm sitting at my computer desk, when I'm in the car, and when I'm engaged in conversation with someone. I just caught myself doing this yesterday as I sat at my computer. According to Bodymind, "A head that is chronically held forward usually reflects an individual who encounters the world first with his head, with his rational self, and then later with his body, with his feeling self." Well, ain't that the truth!

I've now started to do something that I don't normally do -- lean back. Sounds simple, right? Not so for a gal that's engaged in her head often, like I am. Sure enough, the simple act of leaning back gets me back into my body, opens my heart, and reminds me of this pattern that I have. Ironically, I often think of my heart center as being towards the front of my chest. Yet, the heart chakra is truly in the center of the body and extends outward in front and in back.

When you find yourself leaning forward in life, thinking rather than feeling, try these simple practices:

1. Come into supported Child's Pose -- put a bolster or a blanket in front of you and rest your head on it rather than directly on the floor. Now stay and breathe in this position. Feel your back expand. Consciously direct your breath into the back of your body.
2. Come standing with your feet hip width apart. Do some gentle figure 8s with your neck -- exhale chin down, inhale while rolling chin to the right side, up and back (half  a neck roll) and exhale chin down. Inhale rolling chin to the left side, up and back and exhale chin down. Repeat about 3 more times. Then, with your arms dangling at your sides, bounce your shoulders up and down for roughly 30 seconds. Come to stillness and imagine your spine lenghtening and straightening. Place your hands on your hips. On an inhale, allow your body and your head to lean back while still keeping your balance. At the top of your inhale, relax in this position for a few beats. As you release the breath, slowly move back up to a standing position. Breathe naturally for a few breaths. Repeat. (to modify this, practice this same exercise seated, with your hands clasped behind your back)

Notice the change in your body and your mind after these practices. Do you feel different? Is your mind quieter?

Engaging your mind isn't a bad thing -- it's just not always appropriate for every situation. Sometimes it's better to lean back and let ourselves feel our way.

Namaste!

Comments

[Natural Cures]

This is a very interesting and insightful posting. I believe practicing yoga regularly can do immense good to our health.

[Electronic Medical Records]

This is a very interesting perspective and quite an insightful excerpt from the book. There is nothing more beneficial for the body than practicing yoga on a regular basis.

[Diane Cesa]

Thank you for your comment Ray. What wise words. I'm so glad you shared them.

[Diane Cesa]

Thanks for your comment and for the link Marianne! I appreciate it.

[Ray Baskerville]

I really like this, I've never come across the bodymind book, but that is a powerful quote that really got my attention.
I have become increasingly yin in my own practice over the years and never was an advocate of yoga = flexibility, which the greed reference alludes to. It seems a very superficial engagement and lacking insight into the spiritual process that yoga is intended to facilitate.
From my own spiritual process and work as a healer, I have seen that the body is the store house for the subconscious. So from this perspective mind does form the body.

[Marianne]

Great post, lovely insight. My first yoga teacher ever pointed this out to me, gently and with compassion. She gently suggested that I might be a "head-strong" woman, which she thought was great, but encouraged me to lean back (and lie down!) a little more as well.

I'll be linking back to this from my blog today.

[Weight Loss]

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