Balance
Most days I’m in awe of my clients.
Their stories inspire and move me. Their journeys lift my heart and teach me. We have so much we can learn from our bodies. And so much they are waiting to teach us. Sometimes we simply need to come out of our minds and allow the body to be heard, seen and felt.
We spend so much time in our heads, often even thinking our feelings instead of feeling our feelings without quite realising what’s happening.
The mind is constantly mapping out our worlds, processing and navigating. All information that enters the body is filtered into the mind and vice versa.
When we consider balance we’re often referring to physical balance within the body but in Rolfing the focus also encompasses overall structural and functional balance. I’m sure you’re also familiar with the use of the word balance in relation to emotional health. When we’re out of balance with our emotions we soon know it. But what is the balance between your mind and body? I know it’s an unusual question, so let’s look at it like this: is your mind constantly trying to understand why you’re feeling a sensation in your body? Is it possible for you to sit with a physical sensation and just feel it? That’s not something we’re taught at school, is it?
One of my favourite and most revered of Rolfing teachers, Lael Katherine Keen, once wrote: “Each one of us has a knowledge that lives in our flesh, far deeper and infinitely wiser than anything our intellect could imagine. There is a rhyme and a reason to why we are the way we are, in sickness and in health, that our conscious mind frequently does not understand.”
I often wonder what it would be like if we were more used to sitting with our feelings, both physical and emotional. I really think it would give us more of a balanced relationship between our minds and bodies. Yes, when we first meet I might ask you to stand on one leg to understand more about how your body is balanced, but I’m not just considering your physical balance. I’m also curious about your ‘work-life balance’, whether you’re ‘in your head’ all the time and other areas of your life that might benefit from coming back into balance.
How are the aspects of your life that are imbalanced reflected within your body?
Why is balance important to you?
