That is Nia's tagline. I appreciated it when I first saw, but I also got this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Then I realized that it reminded me, in that nagging I-think-I-forgot-to-turn-the-stove-off way that while I truly have come to love my body, my life is not in order. This I believe I established in an earlier post - no need to revisit.
What we are going to visit is what this "Love Your Body" thing is all about for me, which is how I can share it with you. A Nia Black belt and Professional Coach asked me recently, "Why is it important to love your body?"
If she had asked me that 5 years ago, I would have struggled for an answer then made up a version of all the canned, fitness professional responses that I'd heard. The answer I gave her was not the one that she gave me. After we'd talked and I did some of my own work, I pieced together some thoughts that flowed and felt true for me.
My body is my life.
It is always with me. It has been built and coded to love and be loved, by others and by me (thank you, Lisa). My body loves in many ways; it expresses love through touch and response, through facial expression and body language. My body expresses love through verbal language, and it expresses love through non-verbal outpouring of energy.
My body is a receptacle for all of my experiential responses. When I am hurt and don't work through it, my body holds that pain. When I am angry and I don't confront and deal with the why, my body also holds that anger. My body holds a little of every emotional experience I've had that did not get resolved.
My body is also subject to the I-have-got-to-be-in-control-of-something-in-my-life pattern. I may not be able to control the world around me but I can damn sure control my body - by eating to get the comfort I am not getting from someone else. By not eating. By only eating certain foods at certain times. By exercising until I have the "best" body in my office. By exercising through my body's warnings and even through injury. By working hideous hours and silencing the voice of my body asking for rest. I believe I can control my life through my body by having sex with random partners for that brief moment of false connection. By having sex with a partner I don't really love and respect just so that I am not alone. I think I can control my life through my body by shutting those around me out. I put up the emotional armor, I put up the physical armor and I create the tower, my invulnerable fortress. I cannot be touched or touch.
Does any of this sound familiar? Maybe these are places you have been in, maybe you're there now? In my heart the most meaningful question was, do I want to leave those places? Do you?
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