It was about 8 years ago that I realized how much more resourceful, nourishing and easeful a place my body afforded me. It seemed strange in some ways that this could be the case. For surely it should be my mind? That place so trumpeted and celebrated for its intellect, logic and ability to analyse, scrutinise and take apart. I had grown up being praised for those things, seduced into the belief that the mind is King, or perhaps in my case, Queen.
But by the time I reached my own realisation, I had spent many years struggling away in my apparently mighty mind, tying myself in knots trying to make sense of life. And in so doing, finding more frustration, discontent and even despair, than anything resembling peace or fulfillment.
Yoga paved the way for me, I think, enabling me to find stillness and presence in a way I had not really experienced before. And gradually it dawned on me that it was in those moments when I was “out of my mind” when I felt most alive, most connected to myself and those around me, most free. It was a joy and a relief to learn and to practice new ways of leaning into the body for nourishment, for wisdom and for decision making. Does that sound crazy to you? Years later, I now know (though sometimes forget) how to use my body as a guide and a support for myself.
So when I look around at the corporate world, it astounds and saddens me to see the majority continuing to rely so much on their rational minds, as though that were all there is. The cognitive is king (and rarely queen still, sadly) in corporate culture. And while the minds struggle on, the bodies often crumble through neglect, wellbeing is eroded and so much creativity and potential are lost. So many of us remain captive to the stories we tell ourselves, the narratives our minds recount about ourselves, others and the world and which are, ultimately, just stories. And such powerfully compelling stories at that; stories that can grip us, hold us hostage and harm us. We are what we think we are. Our realities are but our structures of interpretation. And so often that takes us away from our bodies and from this one precious, present moment.
I see it in my clients all the time and as a coach have to constantly refresh my own ability to move from my head into my body and my heart in order to serve them in their desire for something new and for a different outcome.
So let’s all get out of our minds and into a better place.