G’day Gorgeous…
I want to talk again about spirit and recently I’ve been looking at whether or not, from an injury perspective, I could go back to doing belly dancing. It’s one of those things that I really enjoy doing and I find that I’ve really missed being able to move my body that way. I have stopped because of a shoulder and neck injury so I cannot move my arms that way anymore.
However, at a recent workshop that I did in collaboration with Dave, a physiotherapist colleague, we discussed the things that impact us in terms of pain and we had both done research on how to treat pain. A lot of pain comes from trauma and, in fact, my injuries came from an accident that I had some time ago, and I realised I need to do some further therapeutic work around that incident to try to relieve the physical pain.
Dave was highlighting that when we discuss the impacts of pain, there is this joint component of physical and psychological. So, in terms of how we treat pain physiologically, we need to keep in mind that the psychological also needs to be treated. He mentioned one technique used by Physiotherapists called dry needling, in which the muscle is jabbed and the release of a particular hormone in reaction to that needle actually causes the muscle to relax. It is an interesting connection between body and mind that a lot of Western medicine and philosophies do not understand.
He discussed the benefits of meditation and breathing systems in regards to recovery. What helps the brain to rebalance the emotional systems is oxygenation which we can control by focussing or slowing our breathing when we do things like meditation and yoga.
I was struck by this awareness that there are things we do that help us to manage our own stress and emotional responsiveness and some of them are not just physical. If we are not managing our stress, physical pain can begin to flare up.
That is where the spirit comes into its own. When you have reviewed your whole life and you have an idea of where you want to go, the awareness about spirit is to find several things that allow you to feel like you are constantly getting replenishment into your energy system and that makes you feel better. Things that bring a sense of calm, relaxation and stability. There is an energy exchange when you give out to other people and we have to understand about how we rebalance ourselves by putting positive energy back in.
Energy changes within the body based on energy in the environment and our body vibrates in response to environmental impacts. Therefore, getting in touch with our spirit helps keep us balanced, to keep that energy input coming in on a continuous basis so we can give out to others. This also helps to build awareness about how to improve our lives on an ongoing basis.
I hope that was useful…
See you soon
