The Inner Dance

Yesterday was a rather hectic day for me, which was why I did not manage to blog. But here I am again, making up for it. Today, I chose to focus on some lighter tasks--refactoring my code and writing documentation.

My blog topic today should also be a light one. I'll probably ramble on about nothing in particular until I stumble onto something...

That is how the mind tends to behave, flitting from one subject to another, without any apparent direction. And every now and then, we'll get sucked into a particular obsession--something that bothers us or something that is a particular bad habit of ours. Breaking the spell of this entrancement is the whole purpose of mindful living.

Mindfulness is usually associated with the capability of the mind. I've mentioned that it is like increasing the internal resolution of the mental eye so that every pixel of though can be observed. There's however another aspect of mindfulness that's equally important: mindfulness that comes from the body.

The human body is a very complex system. It is by and large self-regulating. It secretes the right hormones, antibodies or any other bio-chemical to nudge the body into its optimal state. It heals itself very well if the damage is minor or detected early.

The correct functioning of the human body depends on it sending the right signals to the right part of the body so that the feedback control system can readjust the entire system into an optimal state. Which is why, it tends to do most its good work while we are at sleep. When we are awake, we drive the body into abnormal states to achieve our worldly pursuits. We get engrossed in the world of senses--acting and reacting physically to the people and circumstances around us. More often than not, we abuse our body--stressing it into critical levels, without us realizing it.

We are unaware of it because we are not mindful of our body. We eat food that the body rejects, simply because our lifestyle and ego-driven personalities dictate that certain types of food are what we should be eating. Our everyday lives are usually filled with activities that demand high energy-levels and an alertness to threats. We call it stress. The body's stress response mechanism is honed by evolution to be a temporary response to an emergency situation--like fighting or running away from a predator--the so-called "fight or flight" response. The autonomic nervous system pumps adrenaline into the blood stream which gears us into a heightened state of energy and alertness.

The fight-or-flight response of the body is however only meant to be temporary. Once the danger is averted, the body re-balances itself through its parasympathetic nervous system, which restores the body to its relaxed state. But our modern stress-filled lives force the body to be in a state of fight-or-flight all the time, causing all sorts of chronic problems to our health. The body is fooled into believing that it is constantly in danger, when the real danger is actually its very own emergency stress response.

Depression, obesity, diabetes, stroke, heart-attack and all sorts of stress-induced chronic health issues is the result. All because the body has lost its 'mindfulness'. It's feedback control mechanism has gone haywire because we no longer lead natural lives of balance and harmony with nature. We think binge-watching Netflix series all night is a way to 'relax', when in fact it is further stressing the body with artificial input. The body no longer knows how to respond in a world full of fake signals. What is real and what is not? Never-mind, just put the body in stress mode all the time.

We need to rediscover the intelligence of the body. We have chosen to ignore its voice, causing all sorts of problems. Be mindful of the body. How does it want to move? Which part of it is giving pain signals? Is the food we just ate causing discomfort? Are we ingesting too much artificial substances? Is the body telling us to rest and relax? Is the nagging headache a signal for us to get more sleep? Listen to the body. Find its natural movement.

Natural movement is the basis of exercises like Tai-Chi and Hatha Yoga. It allows the body it reestablish its own natural rhythm--triggering the parasympathetic nervous system to restore bio-chemical balance in the body. Much like a crumpled piece of paper unfolding itself, the body wants to release itself from a stressed state, if given the chance to.

So move, in a way that allow that need for balance to be expressed. There's an inner dance moving to an inner rhythm that is seeking for expression. Find it. Unfold your palms an feel the universe coursing through your veins. Yes, the music of the spheres is playing inside, and all of nature is but a dance. A healthy body simply dances in harmony with it.