Oh Body My Body

I grew up Catholic, like strict Latin Mass every day wearing a veil and a pleated plaid skirt on my knees Catholic. I don't remember personal care ever being a topic of conversation... other than take a shower and brush your teeth daily. Nothing further on how to respect or pamper or even be aware of the physical being. I do remember a brief bit on how to deal with my menstrual cycle... that's it. No worries, my Mother probably didn't receive any info to pass along... 

Somewhere around the ripe old age of seven or eight I discovered orgasms. How did that happen, you ask? Quite accidentally during a forced "stay in bed until we get up" Sunday morning and while pretending to be the woman being sawed in half at the haunted house at Elitch Gardens amusement park. I happily enjoyed masturbation frequently, very frequently, until I found out it was a deadly sin when I was in a high school Ethics course. Seriously, you can't make this stuff up. 

Anyway... I'm wandering around the point... just to illustrate the level of my own personal body connection disfunctionality. (no hyphen, new word, because I said so) Also to be certain you understand the level of my insight is about a 2 on a scale of 1-100. Ok, disclaimer complete...

In my late twenties I had the excellent honor to be part of a Native American community that was much more tuned into body/mind/spirit integration and care. (Interesting side note, the word "care" is very negative in it's first 8 listed definitions... I should say the NOUN is very negative. The verb is OK.) It's a moon cycle not a menstrual period and you become a wise woman when you are menopausal... WHAY more friendly and optimistic. I also learned about my internal council. I'm sure I've mentioned this before but it bears repeating. I've listened and the number of internal voices is definitely more than the stereo typical angel and devil. There's a whole rowdy crowd in there. The Native Americans call it an "Inner Council" and over the years I've used a way of journalling to bring all the crazy conversations to the forefront and begin to establish some working relationships ner I say alignment...?! (knock knock)

Anywho... it's come to my notice that the "BODY is a major part of the council... very soft spoken and unassuming in it's word communications. I gardened like crazy yesterday... beautiful results but stiff limbs. This morning I spent 10 minutes stretching... but I resisted it mightily. SO... bottom line, to the quick of it... I need to set a time for a journalling session where I specifically open up lines of communication with the body and discover the source of this silly resistance... =) That's it!

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