Recently I’ve been sharing thoughts on the ‘peaceful body’ with some of my clients:
A peaceful body is an unafraid body. It senses its source, its larger body, as a baby senses its mother or father cradling them in their arms.
Bruce Fertman
A peaceful body is a safe body.
A peaceful body is a trustful body. It lets itself be touched by the world, and immediately and fully a peaceful body touches the world back.
A peaceful body doesn’t retain itself, doesn’t withdraw, doesn’t run away. It doesn’t push against, doesn’t fight. It meets. It joins. It receives, even when giving.
A peaceful body senses how it is always in contact, always enjoined, always in touch – a breeze against its face, the warmth of the sun on its shoulders, the ground under its feet.
To me, this quote helps me consider how the mind and body can be viewed as a two-way street. In other words, if we can encourage certain peaceful conditions in the body, it is less likely that the mind will be troubled by negative emotions such as stress or anxiety. Quite simply, with such a body, there is just less room for these emotions.
This thought ties in neatly with some of the research into how we can deal with stress effectively which I’ve explored in a previous post. Do check out that post – a number of clients have expressed how it prompted for them a real ‘aha!’ moment in understanding and dealing with stress.