Where do you live?
Take a second to answer the question posed in the title of this blog...
When asked this question prior to my yoga teacher training, I would most likely have responded with a geographical location.,"I live in central New Jersey". But now I find myself diving deeper into the true question being asked. Where do I live? In my body, my biological home. The response I offered earlier would be better suited for the question "Where does your body live?", no?
The pondering of such a simple question may seem unnecessary, but is it? Our body is the place where our true self is stored during this lifetime. It is what we use to connect to the world around us. And a layer we must pass through to better connect to ourselves. The geographical location is where your body lives, but YOU live within your body.
How do you care for the place where you live? How well do you know it?
As a person with a strong bodily-awareness, I find myself asking these questions more and more. The problem that arises is that as I observe the choices I make to care for my body, I realize how superficial they really are. My body is the vessel that connects me to the world. Being that we live in such a superficial world it makes sense that I focus on care with the purpose of image. I care for the parts of my body that are seen by others and easily judged. How does my hair, face, body shape, etc., look? Though I consistently have the conversation with myself that those things don't matter. I get swept away with expectations that have been set on me. Can this every truly be escaped?
I have found that I can find solace is in how well I know my body. Though still superficial, I can connect with my body, which makes the path to connecting to my true self a bit less bumpy. I could overlook the emphasis of body image if I saw more evidence of bodily-awareness in others. Maybe body image would be less of a focus if bodily-awareness was more prevalent. I have taken time to study my body, understand how it works, what it needs, what it needs to go without. I know when something is wrong and can take the proper steps to fix it. This is a knowledge that I find invaluable. How could I live in a body that I don't know? It's like living in the house of a stranger.
Think of how well you know the rooms of your home, how well you know how things work and how to care for them well. What about the place where YOU live? What is each "room" like, how well do you know how things work? How well do you know how to care for it? I ask these questions to raise awareness. I ask questions to better understand the world in which I live. You have one place to live in this lifetime. Don't you want to know how it works and how to care for it in order to make the best connections possible?
The work that I do as a dance educator and yoga instructor focuses on guiding people to better understanding the place where they live, the body. This can be done through many different approaches. I enjoy discovering new ones.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. I ask questions to start conversations, to build connections.
Stay tuned for more blogs as I continue to question the world around me! I invite you to question it too!
