Every Body is Talking | A Physical Awareness Exercise for Bright People
August 25, 2006 by Andrea J. Lee
Filed under Beyond..., For Coaches, Tools & How To
Among several insights into bright people, there is one I’m ‘hot’ on right now.
Many bright people tend not to be very physically aware. Some of them are actually completely exited from their bodies. They are the epitome of ‘you’re moving around that meat sack of yours around, but no one is home.’
More on the whys and such at another time. For now I wanted to share a very precise exercise that can be done anywhere with one other person. (You don’t even have to really know them or like them to do it either.)
The point of the exercise is to assess where you are in your body; become aware of how physical self in a way that gives you mental insight (your main way of understanding things…thus, forging a new link between mind and body) AND begin to understand some of the psychological things behind why you behave the way you do in your business and life.
If you have asked yourself:
- Why you have difficulty asking for what you want.
- Why you have difficulty receiving what you’ve asked for.
- Why you may be afraid to build relationships.
- Why you may stay in relationships that are not supporting you any longer.
Or…any question or curiosity or concern you may have about how you relate to other people…
…this exercise will be of interest to you.
I’ve used it in workshops, and, interestingly, several times over the phone, paraphrasing where needed, and asking the listener to do this exercise only in their ‘minds eye.’ For coaches with clients who you feel are spending an inordinate amount of time in their head, you may find this a good addition to your toolbox.
Credit for it goes to Christine Caldwell, author of ‘Getting Our Bodies Back’ a paperback book availalable in bookstores. [From Chapter 7, page 146-147, Exercise #3.]
3. Find a partner and stand facing each other. Slowly walk toward him or her and then away, sensing the point at which the distance feels too far or too near. First, you do the approaching and parting while your partner stays still. Next, have your partner approach you and move away. Then do it simultaneously.
What feelings and sensations arise?
Is it harder to get close?
Do you feel panicky when you get separate?
What about when your partner is doing the moving? Is it OK to let him or her go? Is it irritating when he or she gets too close?
Acknowledge and breathe into the sensations that arise. Find the right distance for right now and talk about this exercise with your partner. How does this remind you of other relationships you have had?
— end excerpt—
Our bodies are printouts of our minds. And each one of our bodies is talking to us, if only we’d listen.
Imagine a world where a mental or emotional problem was solved by asking the body what it wants!
Having spent a LARGe amount of my life exited from my body, and only now really getting to know thoroughly every cell that is the physical me, I suppose it shouldn’t be suprising I’m attracting clients in similar states.
What exercises, etc., do you use – for yourself or your clients – to help anchor into the physical realm?
Where might you use the above? Having tried it, what happened?
