The body is essential to clearing visibility blocks
Aug 12, 2022
One of the challenges we can come up against on our visibility journey is overcomplicating the healing process. Healing old visibility wounds is such a core part of becoming more visible in the world.
If we can turn toward ourselves, our bodies, and the inherent wisdom within, we can learn to support our own healing.
Yes, thereâll always be times to turn to another person for support and facilitation with healing.
Yes, sometimes the wound is too great to hold alone. We need someone to hold space for us or with us. To tenderly stand beside us while we dare to face the unthinkable. To see the truth beyond the pain. That we are whole. That we are not broken. That we are still here and we have survived.
AndâŚ
Thereâs so much healing thatâs being delayed or outsourced because we are too distant from our bodies. Because we are not operating in close relationship with our bodies. Because we donât know how to listen to them and work with them.
Break down the patriarchal conditioning around what a womanâs body is.
Conditioning that says womenâs bodies are dirty, not to be trusted, sexual objects, and reproductive vessels. (And that her true worth is wrapped up in performing these roles.) Itâs so important to liberate yourself from a societal narrative and legacy that has been unwilling to revere womenâs wisdom and stories. A narrative that taught us that all the wisdom lay beyond us. In the men, in the mind, in the public institutions to which we had no access.
Make peace with your body.
Step toward it as youâd step toward a dear friend. With compassion and love. With kindness and empathy. As the mind starts to rein down judgment and criticism, make a conscious decision to change the channel. We are all in the habit of giving more credence to the messages of the mind than those of the body. But that habit is based on choice and you are always capable of making a different choice.
Learn to listen to your body.
The body isnât loud like the mind. It doesnât communicate in the same way. It reveals itself to you through physical expression. Itâs a kinesthetic communicator. To hear it, we need to learn to hear messages that are delivered kinesthetically and develop our somatic intelligence.
Understand that the body harbours your emotions.
It draws our attention to them and shows us wounds, limitations, and fears that need our attention. Rather than feeling the fear and âdoing it anywayâ. Feel the fear and meet it. Respect its presence in your life. Know that itâs showing up for a reason. Engage with it. Learn from it. Heal the wound and thereâll never be a need to âpush throughâ.
Release stored emotions.
The Visibility Methodology⢠is a process I teach our Women Speaking Up students involves the healing power of bearing witness. So often the wounded parts of ourselves simply want to be seen, acknowledged, and feel understood.
A simple process thatâs so easy to practice each day is to simply take 5 minutes to listen to your body. Notice the physical sensations that are arising. Ask yourself about the emotion associated with that sensation. Once youâve identified the emotion, simply witness its existence. Letâs say the emotion you identify is fear. Youâll simply say to yourself, âI see youâre feeling fearâ, âI understand youâre feeling fearâ, âIâm so sorry your experience of fear feels so personalâ. Thatâs it. âI see, I understand, Iâm so sorry that feels so personalâ.
Being seen, feeling understood, receiving compassion for how personal the experience feels to you, and receiving the hint that perhaps it doesnât need to be that way will release so many stored emotions from the body. Thatâs how we heal ourselves without waiting, without delay, without causing undue disharmony in the body. Itâs also how weâre able to set forward into the world; a more integrated self, ready to use our voices and our actions for the benefit of all.
