Your body as compass

 

“My body is a compass – and it does not lie.” ~ Terry Tempest Williams

I teach weekly meditation classes on the touring platform, Heygo, and one of the things we do prior to each session is a body scan (https://www.heygo.com/the-footloose-muse). During the body scan, I invite participants to check in with their physical bodies, to notice any areas of tension, stiffness, pain. From there, I direct them to send some intention to those areas, to send some love, some light, to invite those areas to soften, to yield, to release. 

Too often we either deny pain until it's too late, or we push it away instead of embracing the lessons it has come to teach us. Pain or dis-ease is instructive; it acts as a roadmap, a compass, an indicator that some part of our life is out of alignment with spirit, with source, with the divine. Pain points us to our true north, the course correction we so often need to lead happy and healthy lives. In order for pain to inform, we must first ask, "What have you come to teach me?" and then we must listen for the answers.  

I wrote about the instruction I'd received a few weeks ago when, seemingly out of nowhere, two frightening episodes of vertigo rocked me (https://carolmossa.substack.com/p/what-had-the-frightening-episodes).

Vertigo is an inner ear imbalance, so I framed the question, "Where in my life am I experiencing an imbalance?" and the message was loud and clear, "Find time for more play." I heeded the call and blessedly, vertigo is no longer an issue.

Four years ago, an MRI revealed crippling arthritis in both knees. My orthopedic doctor suggested surgery, but I resisted, choosing to do the mental work of asking my pain what it had come to teach me. Surprisingly, I discovered that contrary to slowing down, I was actually being challenged to move forward towards a fuller and more expansive life. I had created a perfectly comfortable yet complacent life. I wasn't reaching, wasn't stretching outside of my comfort zone. The pain subsided once I began building in outings and new experiences. 

This week, I find myself in the midst of asking and listening again. I have a tooth that was scheduled for extraction last year, but I chose to save the tooth by innervating the nerves around the gums. A year later, the tooth is acting up again. What has the dental discomfort come to teach me this time? Might it be time to let go, to surrender? Where in my life am I experiencing a similar reluctance to let go of something that no longer serves me? (If you read last week's column here, you already know the answer.)

Always seek medical attention for your dis-ease, and simultaneously, undertake your own inquiry. Identify where the discomfort is located. What is the pain preventing you from doing? For example, is back pain preventing you from bending? Next, frame a question like: "Is there somewhere in my life where I'm unwilling to bend, to compromise?" Endeavor to fix that area and you may experience pain relief.

The answers will come if you ask the right questions and then take the time to listen.