Your Body Is Working For You.

Whether you believe it or not, it's true!

Now, I know what you're thinking ....

'That seems like a very obvious title, Nathan. Of course my body is always working for me.'

But, when you think about it, there are actually times when we use language and statements where we refer to our body as not working for us. What I mean by that is when we have something happen like a back injury and we say things like, ‘F**k, my back is out’ or ‘Bugger, I've pulled my back’.

When we get an injury like that we often separate the injury, in terms of our language we use, from the rest of our body. We don’t take into account that the injury has probably occurred as a result of the body protecting itself.

The way it does that is by regulating your nervous system up-and-down which keeps certain tissues tight or loose. If joints or parts of your body are unstable, it keeps them safe and protected by immobilizing them through tissue tightness.

This is where we can potentially get injuries as a result, because we then move in a way that either aggravates the area or uses that area in a way that we are not used to.

You’ve all heard the running joke: I put my back out while tying my shoes, or while sneezing, or while twisting in bed. This happens because the body isn’t heavily braced like we would be when moving a heavy object or exerting ourselves.

So whether it be through systemic immobility, stress, anxiety, food, shutting down or turning off tissues and organs to boost others, it’s always working for you and it's always doing these things for your benefit. To keep you in some form of safety or some form of protection.?

Your ability to regulate your nervous system and provide nervous system & biomechanical system safety will influence how the tissue in your body responds and how your body works going forward.

The takeaway here is that your physical body is always working for your benefit.

You are always in control of how you feel as well as your energetic state and, at any given moment, you can make a choice to change your energetic and emotional state based on things like your thoughts, your actions, how you are perceiving the external world and how you are perceiving yourself.

• Reflection question: In what ways is your body protecting you right now?
• Reflection exercise: Slow your breathing to a comfortable pace, close your eyes and do a mentally visual scan of your body and identify where it’s holding tension.

Week one done. I’ll be honest, we’ve started off easy with a nice simple topic that is relevant to your physical body. Next week we start the heavy swinging! So bring your bat.

Until next time, have a great time,

Nathan.