Honor the Protectors

Teaching tonight brought up something for me that I want to share : guiding movement inquiries raises more questions than it answers. We all have different thresholds for pain and suffering in our lives. No two of us are the same. And what we have experienced is living with us now, on a physical as well as mental level. Physically these experiences are somaticized, stored in the body. The energy of experience went somewhere, and has helped to shape and support our selves - helping us to survive while also turning on like a switch thrown on the railroad. We head down that track. 'My tight hamstrings, my bad back, my stiff neck, my hips', we all hear these things and feel these things. But the first impulse, which may be to fix ourselves, doesn't honor the protectors. Now I am very curious, respectful and playful as I explore what I have built. I have learned that making new choices means litening with new ears. Becoming aware that my hamstrings hold much more than my torso allows me to move with sensitivity into that place. What IS in here? What isn't? I am learning to let the protectors know that I am thankful, and that now it is okay to let go.