From September 2008 to June 2009 I attended massage school and shortly thereafter received a license to practice in the state of Oregon. It was the best life decision I have ever made for several reasons: I acquired a skill that enables me to make money while attending college. My awareness of my body and my health was heightened, deeply impacting my overall well-being. I learned how stress and pain can negatively impact one’s life and I gained the tools to relieve stress and pain in others. I memorized in detail almost every muscle and every bone of the human body and was taught the specific qualities of connective tissues and how to physically heal them. Lastly, I developed a passion for assessing, treating, researching and appreciating the complex structure (anatomy) and amazingly intricate function (physiology) of the human body.
My kinesiology (the study of movement) instructor was particularly influential. He began each session with simple movements (Chi Gong) with the intention of helping the class calm our nervous energy, open our joints and bring our awareness to our bodies. Although these exercises lasted only five to ten minutes, I recall that it improved my learning capabilities, helping me to focus on the muscles we were palpating and memorizing that day (and importantly, to retain this information). His knowledge about muscle tissue, movement, synergism and antagonism, structure, posture, injury and healing was astounding and inspiring.
When I learned that he offered private Kung Fu lessons, I asked whether we could start as soon as school was out. In the following months, he taught me how to find my center of gravity and focus my attention on my body by practicing various Monkey Kung Fu stances, walks, kicks, punches and movement patters. We stretched, we meditated, we breathed, we moved. It was an amazing experience, one that I will never forget, and was also by far the most physically challenging exercise I have ever done.
It was also mentally challenging.
He asked me one day, while sitting on the grass, to bring my attention to my spine. I was not sure how to do that, because as far as I knew, I never had. Maybe I hadn’t thought about it before. Maybe I didn’t think it was possible. Feel my spine? Isn’t it just... there? He told me that just as you can tune in to the breath simply by becoming more aware of it, you can tune in to the spine, feeling space open between the vertebrae as you breathe, and tracking the movement as it travels through the bones from base to crown.
He guided me patiently, suggesting I start by aligning my hips over my sitz bones (if you are sitting now, you can feel them against your seat). After making sure the hips are rotated neither forward (making the lumbar spine, or low back, curve) or nor backward (as would be the case while slouching), he said, guide your attention to the sacrum (the upside-down triangle at the base of the spine). Gently move the hips once from side to side. Allow the side-to-side movement to travel up the spine to your the base of the skull, all the while imagining a string coming out of the top of your head, drawing you upwards.
Why do this? Why take time to become aware of the body? Or the breath? Why stretch, move, meditate? Although some of what I've said so far may reek of “woo,” I am posting about it today because there are compelling, scientifically validated benefits to practices like yoga and meditation.
Some I mentioned above, such as enhanced learning and memory, decreased pain, better ability to pay attention, lower levels of stress and increased quality of life (happiness). But it doesn’t stop there. These practices are known to help depression, anxiety disorders and insomnia, aid in emotional regulation, boost the ability to take different perspectives (empathy and compassion) and even slow down age-related decline. According to neuroscientist Sara Lazar, the underlying mechanism behind such changes is neuroplasticity (basically, the capability of the brain to change). When we perform meditative or yogic activities, our neurons communicate in unique ways that bring about these benefits which can be measured via detectable amounts of gray matter in various areas of the brain measured by MRI.
To me, this is incredibly cool! By taking time every day to bring mindfulness to the body, whether by stretching or focusing awareness on the breath (or meditating on an image or feeling), I am building up “brain muscles” to help me navigate difficult situations, learn something interesting faster, balance my emotions and have more compassion towards others. The easiest way, if all of this is new to you, is to simply close your eyes and breathe, feeling the air moving in and out of the mouth, nose, throat and lungs.
You know one other way to become more aware of the body? Get a massage. If you can’t afford it, ask an independent therapist if they are willing to do a trade (surely there is some skill you can offer him/her). Trade massages with your partner. Give and receive foot or hand massages with family members. Get your cat to walk on your shoulders. Touch has many benefits as well, but that is for another post. Science "has your back" in this case, and plus, it feels amazing.
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