Many of us grew up thinking we needed to conquer the weaknesses in our bodies. How do we resist our body? And why do we want to do that?
There are so many ways I choose to ignore the lessons my body teaches. I fight its limitations; I medicate it when it is not responding the way I want. Most of the time, I just try to ignore it.
But I find that when I see things aren’t going the way I want, I need to stop and listen to what my body is telling me.
This was not an issue when I was younger. I remember playing ‘crack the whip’ with my older brother and the neighborhood kids. We were all on roller skates, holding on to a long rope, when someone at the front of the line jerked the rope. Being the youngest at the time, I was often on the end. Trying to keep up with where my feet and body were heading quickly taught me to be a good skater by letting my body guide me. Unlike many other activities, this did not require as much thinking as going with the flow.
What if we used this same trust with other activities?
Too often, I operate on autopilot, not thinking, just doing! Then suddenly, my fingers don’t type the right letters. No amount of thinking about it changes that. So instead of trying to conquer my body, I decide to stop, rest, or change my activities. My body seems to be resisting me and what I am doing at the moment!
And maybe trying to resist the signs our bodies send is not the best way to respond.
I believe we are on this earth to express Spirit. But we need our bodies to express Spirit fully! And how can our bodies express Spirit if we are trying to resist and conquer our bodies?
Kelly Isola discussed this in her article: Maybe Your Body Is Not Resisting You (from Spirituality & Health Magazine)
I’ve spent years shaming my body, trying to control it, improve it, or outsmart it, and I still felt like a stranger inside myself. What I’ve learned is this: The body responds to safety. It responds to relationship. It responds to care. So now, instead of asking myself, How do I push through this? I ask, What is this costing me? … What might my body be trying to protect me from?
If you are trying to resist your body, maybe it is time to listen to what it may be telling us about how we are living!