Capitalist society tells us our worth is determined by our output. We are inducted into a system which deliberately runs us to our limits.
For those of us who learned in our developmental years to put the needs of primary carers before our own and have a tendency to bring this pattern into our adult relating, we often sacrifice taking care of our bodies for taking care of others.
As you look around you, how many people are rushing? Some of us are so busy that we rush from place to place, texting, calling, emailing, eating too fast – even intimacy becomes rushed. Rushing means that we lose capacity for feeling and have to keep amping everything up.
Many of us need stimulants, drama and action so that we can feel what is going on inside our numb bodies.
Rushing and staying perpetually busy is a very effective strategy for avoiding being with ourselves and facing who we are.
This rushed, hard, fast life takes its toll on our body.
Without slowness and time to feel, the body contracts in self-defence. It becomes hard and tense.
It learns patterns of tension as a way of bracing itself from the daily assault on the senses.
Over time, these patterns of tensions block energy movement in the body and lead to dis-ease.
Caring for your body isn’t vanity, it’s sanity.
In a busy world, taking care of your body in the form of small yet regular practices is a radical act of self love.
Here are some of my favourite ways to slow down and care for my body.
If you’d like a taste of the slow life, consider joining one of Moon Body’s signature retreats. Informed by Miriam’s time spent in Buddhist temples during extended silent meditations retreats, Moon Body’s retreats are deep, immersive and profound times to reset.
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