Perfectionism is So Last Year…

The new year, 2017, has begun … if the ‘start as you mean to go along’ philosophy is anything to go by- my New Year was a little debauched! Is that OK for a ‘yoga teacher’ to say that? Not be perfect? And, be OK with that?

 

My interest is in embodiment and that doesn’t mean having a perfect body or being perfect in any way; it’s about what it’s truly like to be in our bodies as we weave our way through life. And, what does that even mean…?

 

I have just watched Lars Von Trier’s Dancer in the Dark. Bjork’s simple-minded, gentle character is an innocence to behold. Someone whose life is so full of pains, she drifts off into day dreams of musicals and Hollywood banality (see link to movie at the bottom).

… she’s not in her body.

And, this can happen to all of us, cutting off from our felt-sense and sensations, so our capacity to defend ourselves or to truly connect with the world remains limited.

A simple and effective way to deal with this, if you notice you are in your head, drifting into fantasy or just needing a little calm, is to body scan. Find the connection with your body and the ground, and start to let the points of contact soften into the ground: the back of the head, the backs of the shoulder blades, the back of the pelvis and any parts of the arms and legs. As we start to let go, we let go of unnecessary tension and find more space for the breath. It is just about gently noticing and staying with yourself even when uncomfortable things come up.

Here is a more in-depth version:

http://mindfulnessforstudents.co.uk/resources/the-body-scan/

Start as you mean to go along 🙂 xx

Dancer in the Dark link:

https://fmovies.se/film/dancer-in-the-dark.jvv44/29520q

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