7. The power of the energetic body
Imagine that someone gives you a car but doesn’t teach you how to operate it. They never tell you that it needs gasoline to make it go. Never tell you to change the oil or replenish the water or put air in the tires. It won’t be long before that car breaks down.
When we are born, we are given a body, but we don’t really get an Owner’s Manual that explains how it works. Maybe your parents were conscientious; they told you to brush your teeth and go to bed by a specific time. But they may not have been fully informed themselves. Or maybe your parents were barely getting by and not able to put much attention on helping you to keep your body tuned up.
As a little girl, I wasn’t encouraged to live in my body at all. I was an only child, raised largely by my grandparents who were in their sixties. Home all day with my grandmother, I did what she did — watched TV and ate candy. My mother, who had been very sick as a child, came home tired from her secretarial job; the last thing she wanted was to run around or play. Sometimes my grandfather would take walks with me. I did not learn to run or throw a ball or swim or ride a bike until I was much older. My grandmother felt her main job was to keep me safe and to her that meant limiting my movement and restricting my activity.
