How Moving Your Body Is Healing

In this talk we explore how as we walk the journey of healing, the body & movement can become a revitalising part of our practice. It allows the flow of our energy to take its natural unfolding course & can be tremendously healing

Transcript

An aspect of healing that has been profoundly transformative for me is movement practice.

I've done a reasonable amount of movement practice with Anna Marie Preece on meditation retreats twice a year since 2018 and over this time it has really evolved for me and is now part of my daily practice and daily life way of being.

I'm not an expert in movement practice so in this session I won't be particularly guiding you through a movement practice but rather talking about why it's beneficial to include in your path of healing and how it manifests in our life.

In Tibetan Buddhism we have what we call the three kayas and these are the three dimensions of our reality that make up the totality of our being.

They are constantly functioning within us and they are very intimately interconnected and in relationship with each other all the time.

In Tibetan Buddhism we call them dharmakaya,

Sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya but I know at first these are difficult words to remember so for ease of communication I'm going to label them different names for you now.

Let's call them source,

Energy and physical.

Source or dharmakaya in Buddhism is that most ultimate ground of your being,

Your deepest nature.

It is the ground from which all reality arises,

The all-holding spacious presence of being,

Its qualities of spaciousness,

Clarity and bliss.

Sambhogakaya in Buddhism or what we'll call energy here refers to the energetic processes that arise from this ultimate ground of being,

The energies felt in your subtle body that are on constant flux,

Always moving and transforming.

Nirmanakaya in Buddhism which we'll call physical here is the usual conceptual reality that we know within our normal daily lives and our physical body.

The natural flow of reality is that out of this ultimate ground of our being,

Source,

Is a propensity to react to life in a particular way.

From this arises what my teacher Rob Preece calls a dynamic creative expression of energy.

This energy moves,

Evolves and expands within the subtle body reality and it manifests in the physical world in our body.

The natural flow of reality is messed up as we go through life.

Our ego identity is formed and we experience trauma in all shapes and sizes.

Freezing or contracting around experiences obstructs this natural flow and leads to suffering.

Coming back to that place where we're naturally aligned with that flow means that we will suffer less.

We can begin to reconnect with this natural flow through our open awareness meditation practice but moving practice is also a healthy and revitalizing way to bring this creative expression of energy out through the body to transform,

Leaving us feeling freer,

More peaceful and joyful.

If these energies aren't given a healthy channel to be freed they can be held in our physical body.

The energy processes are most commonly felt and expressed in our body as feelings and emotions but freezing around these processes means that there can be a build-up of held energy in the body often leading to stress,

Anxiety,

Anger or depression.

Our physical well-being is often a reflection of the health of the other two dimensions of our reality.

So a large part of our healing journey is returning into relationship with the body and cultivating a healthy relationship with what's there in the body.

The more we can allow the natural fluid movement from source to energy to physical,

The more transformative and healing it is.

And this is where movement practice can be exceptionally helpful for us.

Movement is boundless.

It might mean lying still on the ground with your eyes closed and your hand on your heart or it could be dancing wildly.

It doesn't matter,

There's no rules.

What's important is that you begin to listen to your body and do what feels satisfying and nourishing for you in the moment.

I'll tell you a little story of something that evolved for me in my practice.

When I was younger,

I used to love going to outdoor psychedelic trance festivals.

I loved the music,

I still do,

And I used to dance so wildly and it felt so satisfying.

I used to ride motocross as a sport which is quite a high adrenaline sport.

At the time,

I wasn't aware of reality in the way that I am now.

But I knew these things encouraged so much joy in me.

As the years went on,

And of course I was severely injured in 2015,

I was left physically unable to stand up for long enough to go to these kind of parties or to ride motocross.

So I had no choice but to stop.

Through meditation and movement practice,

I came to realize that I was not alone.

Through my practice,

I came to realize how much this dancing and motocross allowed the spontaneous transformation of all the energy that I had arising and moving through me all the time.

Naturally,

Having a lot of fire element energy means that I have a constant flow of upward moving passionate energy which manifests in the body as inspiration and excitement.

I realized that since I was injured,

I didn't have a channel for this natural energy to be released and so it was getting held in the body and pulling me down,

Leading me to feel stuck.

I learned again to include dance as a part of my days and singing also evolved as something which feels quite freeing.

Not professional singing though,

A real amateur kind.

I've even started going back to these festivals again,

Completely sober of course,

As part of my practice.

I go with a fold-out chair because I struggle to stand up for very long but I'm doing it and I love it.

So this is just one example of how movement,

Either wild or very subtle,

Can amplify your healing and bring feelings of joy and inspiration.

Maybe you like yoga or walking in nature.

Maybe you like dancing or maybe you like really strenuous exercise like a really long run.

It's important to find out what feels right for you.

Be gentle with yourself,

Hold your space with love and explore.

This talk is from my course,

Return to Joy,

Healing from Trauma,

Where I take you through the steps that I found were really beneficial and rewarding in my journey of healing.

So please feel free to take a look.

The courses are a great space for you to take the journey step by step and reflect back at me so that I can deeply support you in your journey.

And go with you on the journey.

Thank you.

Reviews

Thank you Olivia for sharing insights from your many years as a Buddhist and trauma survivor. This track helps explain why movement has been (along with your courses) helping me deal with chronic pain. I will definitely check out your healing from trauma course.