Mind-Body Awareness

Something that people tend to forget (myself included), is that no one knows your body better than you do.

We get all excited about our new car and try to deck it out, but neglect the vehicle we drive every single day until we die. There is no replacing our bodies.

Are you that person who is constantly dealing with pain? Perhaps your lower back has been in pain, on and off, for as long as you can remember. Or maybe you see those gym-gods performing insane training feats, like muscle-ups or squatting a stupendous amount of weight? So, you get HYPED UP! And the next thing you know you’re going hard — doing exercises or movements your body might not necessarily be ready for and you get injured.

Whatever circumstances lead you to discomfort or pain — barring serious medical disability — is likely due to a lack of body awareness. Body awareness requires that you learn FROM your body, feeling and responding to the sensations it generates.

The two types of pain

First, we have those who simply do not move enough — whether it’s due to a lack of interest in physical activity or they have jobs which require them to sit or stand for long periods of time.

And second, there are the relatively athletic individuals who move often — but their mind-body circuitry has been programmed to move incorrectly.

Whichever category of pain you fall under — couch potato or mover — perhaps you will see a physiotherapist, chiropractor, osteopath or whatever else is available. Some will tell you to come back for corrections indefinitely (yike$) or you will be prescribed a set of incredibly tedious exercises, that most people will do for a week and then forget about.

What these exercises are supposed to do is to bring your attention to specific, inactive muscles. This attention then creates a sort of intimacy that you must develop with your body — like a relationship. This close attention (and eventually, early recognition of pain) will allow you to avoid injury and build your musculature in a balanced way — allowing you to go about your day, feeling secure.

Invite yourself to be informed by pain and injury

In a certain sense, injuries or pain depending on the severity, can serve as a lesson. When you sense pain, instead of trying to numb it with pain-killers, you should be feeling it out. Moving your body around, testing your range of motion with control, stretching, you can even perform light workouts! Breathe deeply into the area that is affected. While you are moving, try to understand the nature of the pain, what movements trigger it and which ones make it feel better.

*DISCLAIMER*

Some pain and injuries obviously do require medical assistance — if your bone is sticking out of your arm, definitely DO NOT try and move it. If the vibe you get is that something is seriously wrong, then you should see a professional to diagnose and treat your injury.

But for injuries and pain that are less severe and do not call for immediate intervention, before rushing to see a professional, it might be worth trying some healing on your own.

Lessons from isolation

At the beginning of the COVID-19 quarantine, I was excited about elevating my fitness level and so I biked like an animal (or a moron) and I hurt my back.

I’ve had intermittent back problems for a while, but on this occasion it was considerably worse.

I was unable to sleep at night because my back hurt so much, just laying in bed. I called up my chiropractor’s office the next day, only to find out that they were not an “essential” business.

Great.

I felt annoyed, and wondered just how intense this isolation was going to be. This propelled my next decision — I was not going to allow this injury to hold me back (pun intended).

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

So with the help of one of my friends to make sure my technique was on point, I devoted more time to yoga — specifically for my hips and back. Rather than doing the exercise just because, I held each posture longer and I focused more on stretching and breathing. This process deepened my mind-body connection and ultimately developed into a better understanding of my movements. Within ten days the pain went from RUINING my sleep to disappearing completely.

Instead of getting back on the bike, I decided to continue this new approach to training.

Internal intuition

Movement arts like yoga and tai chi emphasize slow and controlled movements that help create and maintain awareness of your body. Range of motion expands, and muscles strengthen through awareness and responsibility, instead of by negligent force.

However, too much focus on proper posture can limit the healing intuition of the body -

So don’t be shy to freestyle.

I started doing exercises that felt good rather than intense and focused on exploring the movements of muscles that had been neglected, rather than the ones I thought would make me look good.

Our bodies are capable of versatile and explosive maneuvers, but it takes time to learn skillful movement. Once the body is given a bit of love — the type that reinforces structural integrity and deepens one’s understanding of movement — the ability to increase intensity will develop.

Pain illuminates that which needs your attention. On a certain level, minor injuries can be seen as blessings because they invite you to go inward. So the next time you’re working out, either doing exercises that are too intense or that allow your mind to drift, consider why exactly you are doing these things. An intimate mind-body connection is very liberating and deepens one’s appreciation of movement in all its forms. Once you experience a bit of success, there is true joy in the process!

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