In somatic movement therapy, I often examine habitual movement patterns and how they influence one’s ease in their body. We can get stuck moving in the same way, whether it’s more angular movements or more flowing ones. Some movements, like flowing ones, can convey ease, while others, like striking or sharp angular movements, might express anger. It's not about the specific pattern but our awareness of our default patterns. All movement patterns have their time and place, but some can limit our capacity for new possibilities.
Consider a client with hip pain who favors one side of the body over time, leading to compensatory issues and additional pain. By gently encouraging more movement in the original side and reducing compensatory patterns, we can create more ease.
I want to take this a step further into the mind-body paradigm. Our minds and bodies are intricately connected, and every physical movement has a corresponding mental and emotional pattern. We often don't consider our emotional movement patterns or how our minds get stuck in repetitive thoughts. This, too, is a default pattern that we can intercept with awareness. I invite you to spend a day tracking your thoughts and emotions. What thoughts do you habitually gravitate towards? What emotions are activated by these thought patterns? What is the dance of your mind?
With that in mind (no pun intended), can we work with our minds the way we work with our bodies? Can we dance with our thoughts, inviting them to explore new possibilities and escape the realm of mediocrity or criticism? How do we do this? It's easier to start with movements in the body. This is where the joy of mind-body connection shines. Take a moment to notice a habitual movement pattern. Walk around and notice how you move. Isolate that movement and make it repetitive. As you play with that movement, notice the thoughts and emotions that arise. Now, shift your movement pattern. If it was rigid and angular, make it more flowing and soft. What do you notice now? Is there a shift in your thinking and emotional state? Play with different movements and observe what happens.
By dedicating yourself to this practice, you'll start to notice the connection between how you move and what you think, and vice versa. For instance, if you find yourself in a "slippery slope" moment where your thoughts are spiraling down, pause and notice your movements and posture. Often, we hold these reflective postures and automatic gestures without realizing how they influence our thoughts and emotions.
This practice takes time and commitment, but if you approach it playfully and notice if you're trying too hard or working at it (another default pattern), you'll notice significant life changes.
I like to deepen this practice with embodied writing. We move, we dance, we pause, we reflect, and we write. The first phase is for awareness, and from there, we can intentionally shift our reality through conscious exploration of movement patterns and use writing to invite a new script.
Curious? I am creating an immersive experience to explore movement, embodied writing, and dancing thoughts with the intention of shifting old, stuck patterns into new possibilities. The outcome will be more choice in life and transformational ease, with lifelong tools to create the life you want instead of being stuck in old victim patterns that no longer serve you. I will be running a beta version in the next couple of months with a select group of women at a deeply discounted rate to explore what is possible.
Want to get on the waiting list? Drop me an email at: info@dranyahricko.com and let me know what inspires you to join.
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