Steering the ship
Having taught Pilates for many years which focuses principally on the alignment of the physical body, I was plagued by a nagging thought, ‘we are so much more than just the physical body, so how would it be to bring our whole self into alignment, body, mind and soul?’ This thought emerged as I was beginning to feel very out of alignment, my mind telling me one thing and my heart another.
It wasn’t like things were wrong, things just didn’t feel right! I felt a strong compulsion to rid myself of things that were no longer authentically me. I went into self sabotaging mode with my career, deleted my instagram account (apologies to everyone it wasn’t personal) and relinquished the traditional things that are supposed to bring us happiness like status, money and followers. Whilst everyone was returning to work after the lockdowns, I didn’t, I began to grow trees. I remember an ex Pilates client in her latest ‘Sweaty Betty’ gear looking at me with pity as I held a spade in my hand.
I tried a handful of times to start new work projects, but there was more unraveling, more dismantling and more layers of inherited inauthentic self to shed. I had built so many walls around myself just to fit in. I began a quest, how do we re-navigate our lives back when we feel ‘off’ or out of kilter? And how do we re-direct without needing a 6 year break (as I did!)
Slowly a new feeling began to emerge, it was so unusual, it took my breath away at first, a quiet and silent kind of rapture at the small things, feeling the wind against my skin, noticing the quality of the air and water. This new feeling arose from my body, I started to ask myself ‘Is this what reclaiming a calm nervous system feels like?’
We are so unaccustomed to a calm nervous system, that it is often hard to conceive of peace. A life in alignment will look differently for us all, yet there are some common factors, we don’t question, life runs smoothly, we are calm, we don’t compare ourselves to others, we stop wanting so much, as peace becomes the non negotiable baseline frequency, where the answer to every decision is ‘Will this bring me peace?’ Yet being at peace is bad for business, we no longer want to buy labels, the latest anything, we develop a relationship for the old skirt that can repaired, we no longer want to be the best at everything, as frankly being at peace is just too important, too beautiful to mess with.
Over the last few years I have been working on new techniques which include breathwork, movement and journalling which aims to give ourselves the time and space to get curious on where peace is not thriving within us. Peace being the potent fertiliser in which self acceptance can grow, weeding out the fear, despite the contradictions we face. It all starts from re-aligning from within, aligning inside the body to peace.
Clarity and wise action offer a resonant feeling, a frequency of being within the body. As we learn to tune into this feeling we begin to align ourselves to our most authentic sense of being, as we learn to stand in alignment with new values and not out dated values of a world in turmoil. I have found it takes work, initially. Re-tuning the dial, a new listening, a re-directing from outer distractions and noise, to get back into the right relationship with the unified self. It is a discipline, an art form and a foundational lifelong practice, it asks us to be more conscious of our everyday choices, asking us to follow our own timing, our soul light, our true values and getting the nervous system in sync with our cyclical wisdom, prioritising rest and getting present with our feelings and staying open hearted as a potent navigation system.
Getting into alignment with our united self is the balm, the medicine and antidote for our modern lives. My heartfelt wish is for us to hold peace, calm and serenity as the baseline in our lives. And I welcome you to join me in dismantling the polarity and war from within, for radical peace to return as our fundamental birthright.