This work is invaluable. As someone who does the work and shares the work through teaching and stewarding for our studio and its community, I witness this every day. It’s not opinion, it is based upon fact. Here are some things to consider regarding the value of what you receive from this work.
The work acknowledges where something is in the body and how it works. For many people, If an exercise class does not address this, an initiation of motion tends to come from less efficient places. This can break the body down over repetition and not build it up like we desire from an exercise program. The body develops its own restrictions or compensatory patterns to make something work. The work helps you solve compensations in the body and resolve restrictions. Magic.
Another value is the acknowledgment of the breath being the source of vitality and life in the body. If your exercise class does not help you get comfortable with using the breath and develop some skill in this area, then we do ourselves a great dis service. The breath gives us natural contrast in action and being. It’s important and has a place in our physical practices.
We acknowledge the sacredness of you.Your body is the house of your spirit and your brain. When we settle the body and address it’s needs the result is that we enable it to serve the needs of the spirit and mind. Not the reverse. The body was not designed to be the master. We cultivate personal discipline to live in a more natural order of things.
This naturalness (or trendy word of organic) of order in ourselves enables resiliency and adaptability.This helps us move with struggles of business, life, humanity, and family relationships.We feel more capable when we do the work.This is not just a feeling, we are literally more capable because we are more present in a physical,mental and emotional way.
When you show up at class or practice the work independently, the value is immediately felt. Cultivating the work over some time will bring you a first hand experience of the above invaluables.You are designed to move in ways that respect your structural integrity.This allows for human expression.The majority of people don’t learn how to move in their bodies this way because it’s not taught in school.Then we live with cycles of mis use, neglect or over stimulation.
A great New Year’s fresh start is to develop a daily habit of motion that allows for diversity and balance in the way you move and play. It is my New Years wish for you that you can see and experience the value the work offers you. All we need to do is say yes and find a good fit for ourselves.
It is possible to move with out pain or discomfort, to set physical goals for yourself, it is possible to learn new things, to expand your horizons and stretch your limits. Expand the body and mind and see what is available for you.
You are honoring what you have been given by taking care of your body. What’s better than that? Peace on earth and in ourselves.