Our body is constantly seeking ways to help us to find better ways to move and flow in all aspects of life. It is constantly seeking for wellbeing and health. This is manifested objectively in the gracefulness of the body’s movements, in what we see or experience as a bodily radiance or glow. Grace comes when we open ourselves to the virtue of our innate body intelligence. And is lost when instead, we abused our bodies and interfere with the workings of our body intelligence.
Alexander Lowen founder of bioenergetics describes in his book “The Spirituality of the Body” that in Judeo/Christian cultures, the belief in the superiority of the mind over the body detaches us from our natural state of grace. Lowen comments that “When mind and body are separated, spirituality becomes an intellectual phenomenon- a belief rather than a vital force- while the body becomes simply flesh or a biological laboratory.
The disrupted body is characterized by its relative unaliveness and lack of grace.” Then, movements tend to have a mechanical quality since they are determined by the commands of the mind or will. Lowens also mentions that “when the spirit moves the body, it quivers with excitement and bounds of enthusiasm”. But as we know life doesn’t always flow smoothly and there are a series of events that add into this very subconscious collective belief in our western society of the separation of mind and body.
At a basic mechanic level, we can say that movement is a series of falling and raising events that interact with gravity, these events engage at a subconscious level the same way emotions, beliefs, etc. engaged and store in the body.
These series of unconscious events in the movement have the natural quality of grace and also a nice open energetic flow. When this flow of energy is disrupted thought the body, the movements become mechanic as mentioned earlier. The disrupted body eventually adapts to these mechanic ways and will disturb its natural flow. We call this condition, “compensatory movement patterns”. These patterns create stress in the body structures and soft tissue causing pain and restriction and the entire body is disrupted thus the loss of grace.
The lack of flow translates as energy cost movements vs energy-efficient movements of free flow. The difference between energy-efficient movement and energy cost movement resides in the way we have conditioned our bodies to move, based on Lowen’s perspective we could say when we move from the mind is energy cost and when we move from the spirit energy efficient.
Our natural state of presence will allow opening the channel to move from the spirit and this will be evident through tangible and visible irradiation quality of grace in our movements. This quality is what we call embodiment. When one is fully embodied, the spirit moves in a constant energetic flow into infinite possibilities, we move with grace and ease and our souls shine through us into the world.
Bodyworkers can facilitate presence in a very natural way since the entrance of our inner world is our physical body. By guiding people on how to move with consciousness which is a process of awareness cultivating presence to awaken the embodiment of the self. This process becomes engaging and healing on many levels.
This is a holistic way to resolve the unnecessary energy waste of inefficient movement patterns and benefit the entire person in all aspects since compensatory patterns in movement, are the reflection of compensatory patterns in life.
I believe in the depths of my heart that PRESENCE and its healing qualities can be regained by OP/ENing oneself into endless possibilities that the body presents to us in this free flow of grace available at all times for us to experience life to the fullest.
Bibliography:
Thomas Myers, Anatomy Trains. Elsevier, 2014
Thomas Myers, Body 3.
Thomas Myers, Body Reading.
Linda Hartley, Wisdom of the Body Moving. North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, CA, 1994
John Gibbons, The Vital Glutes. Lotus, Chichester, UK, 2014
Michael J. Gelb, Body Learning. Henry Holt and Company, New York, NY, 1989
Karen M. Gabler, Skyhorse Publishing, 2017
Dr. Alexander Lowen, Bioenetgetica. Diana, Mexico,1977
Dr. Alexander Lowen, The Way to Vibrant Health. Hinesburg, VT,1977
Dr Alexander Lowen, The Spirituality of the Body. Hinesburg, VT,1990
CREDIT: Karla Contretas – Op/en Body Concepts owner
