From Where I Sit ~ These Shoes Are Made for Walking

I made a vow when January 1st rolled around to dedicate this year to my body. To tending it better, especially giving it more exercise. To fully reclaiming it as sacred. You may want to read about that here. 

I'm proud to say I'm keeping my vow. It was a bit of a rough start though. Here's my story:

I told myself I would walk everyday. Every SINGLE day without fail! I started out strong, beginning by buying a new pair of tennies. (I hadn't had a new pair in over 10 years!) I also convinced my beloved he needed to walk too, that way I'd have a partner to keep me accountable. And we're off!

Day 1 was great. I was winded, but felt energized. I knew I'd have to go slow, especially after the last couple of years of minimal exercise, so I paced myself.

Day 2 was good, too. We walked and talked and marveled at Florida wildlife.

Day 3. Poop. No walking. The excuses started and I listened and didn't get out the door.

After that, intermittent walking. No consistent pattern. Excuses dominated.


'It's too cold. He doesn't want to go. I don't want to go alone. I'm too busy. It's too windy to walk on the beach like I want to. I should do all these other things first because they are much more important. I waited too long and now I am tired.' It's getting dark.'

A whole litany of excuses starting singing themselves in my mind.

And then I remembered. Voila! I remembered what I recently learned from a productivity coach.

When we begin any new habit, Day 1 - 10 are vital. We must do the new activity every single day in this early period or we will go nowhere. He likened Day 1- 10 to pushing a boulder up a mountain. Literally, you must push yourself to do it. There is so much internal resistance in this early stage (old habits do die hard and their ego voice like to talk loud!) that without pure discipline and sheer will power nothing new will happen.

He's right.

So now I am past Day 10. I pushed. I made myself walk. Woo-hah!

And guess what, I am loving walking again. In fact, my body is starting to feel weird when I don't go for my fast walk each and every day. Even twenty minutes of hoofing it feels like a pure shot of energy. I'm sleeping better, too.

I don't know that I have lost any weight, but my legs are feeling stronger. My stomach is getting just a teensy bit flatter. My posture is better. My stamina is building. I'm congratulating myself that I'm being faithful to my commitment to honor my body more and give it what it needs for optimum health—for longevity, not for appearances.

I firmly believe our bodies are sacred. And if are to fully live as the sacred—holy and whole—beings we are, we cannot grow our minds, nurture our spirits, and ignore the body vessel. That just doesn't work. It keeps us lopsided, unharmonious, and ill-at-ease with our whole self.

So how are YOU doing these days with any new commitment you've made to your health? To being good to your body and treating it like the temple it is? 

I'd love to hear ... 

And remember, if you haven't done so hot, that's ok. Every day is a new day. We can always begin again!

~~~~~

And if you'd like some additional support for your journey into the sacredness of your body, visit my friend, Christine, at Bliss Chick. She's dedicated much of her blog to this healing journey and is currently featuring interviews with women who are reclaiming their bodies as sacred. She calls it "EmBody Talk." Today, one of my other dear blog friends, Lisa, from Mommy Mystic, shares her story of traveling into and through her body. Enjoy!

(Image courtesy of clickmailmarketing.com)

From Where I Sit ~ Reclaiming My Body Temple

The Body as Sacred

I've been pondering this quote off and on for many years now.

"Wherever you live is your temple if you treat it like one."

~The Buddha

I took this thought very seriously once, when I lost my health in 1994. My body was no longer a temple. An ailing prison was more like it.

As a result, I spent an entire year refurbishing my body temple—mind, body and spirit. I cleansed and reorganized my mind, nurtured and exercised my body, and unleashed my spirit. It was "my" year. I reclaimed the sacredness of my body. It was also the year I fell in love with the notion of "God" as I have come to understand it.

Since that crisis/opportunity year, I have been the most faithful of "worshipers," engaging in the practice of extreme self-care. I have become extra kind to myself. Gentle. Loving. Nurturing. On all levels—body, mind, spirit.

And, yet, I've also struggled down one final avenue of temple honoring—exercise.

For most of my adult life I practiced yoga. To me, it offered the perfect balance of body/mind/spirit attention. I found it in college (1973), did it through 3 pregnancies, and on into my late 40s. I stopped when my temple suffered various injuries (3 bouts of torn rotator cuff, for one). I tried to regroup, once the injuries healed, but the practice was not to my satisfaction. I vowed to walk regularly. I did so, faithfully, until we moved to a location where walking was less than desirable (unless I drove somewhere special). I know, excuses ...

Then, in 2003, I experienced a closed head injury and everything changed. I could not move fast. I could not do inverted exercise. I still can't. So the challenge these days is to find a way to "move" and honor my body temple without it creating dizziness, nausea, and more.

Last Saturday, I had the privilege of leading a day retreat on "Reclaiming Our Bodies as Sacred." 27 women re-committed to their bodies in various ways. Here is some of what we talked about:

~Befriending our bodies; treating them more kindly, gently

~Healing our body through the practice of blessing and appreciation

~Dropping back into our body through the senses so that we can experience the Sacred

~Allowing our various body parts to express the Sacred out into the world (through our hands, feet,      
    voice, etc.)

~Letting go of anything that does not speak to the soul of our body, esp. childhood messages

~Honoring our body's wisdom and trusting it.

What we did not cover as well as I'd liked (after all, we only had 6 hrs. to do all this!) was eating mindfully and moving our body for well-being and longevity.

Thankfully, I am very good to my body when it comes to eating healthfully. I am a vegetarian, and have been for 10 years. I eat very little processed food and eat organic. I cook from scratch. I rarely eat out. And my body loves me for it!

So when I look at the temple furnishings inventoried above, I believe I am a pretty good housekeeper. Except for one thing—movement. That's my growing edge ... and I do vow to embrace it.

I've nicknamed my journey this year: "The Year of the Body." I will reclaim a form of "fitness" that will serve me well ... and my body temple, too. Enough creaking, aching, and groaning already. I hear you!

It's good to remember that this journey to reclaiming our body as sacred is not for the purpose of societal expectations (to be thin) or to fulfill media standards (to be beautiful or youthful). It is to honor our body and affirm —with mindset and habits—that we are sacred beings.

And that we are worth the time, attention, energy, and financial expenditure it takes to be happy and well. To walk a more holistic path in life, one filled with conscious choices, so that we can finally heal the rift between body, mind, and spirit—thereby, reclaiming ourselves as "holy" and whole human beings.

Whew! That sounds like a big journey—and it is. But every great journey begins with small steps, one choice, then another. Baby steps I call them. 

So, how about you? 

What is your "growing edge" when it comes to treating your body like a temple? And how are you willing to make that temple glow and thrive?

I'd love to hear ...

~~o~~

I told the retreat participants I would post some of my favorite resources which support the reclaiming of our bodies as sacred. Here's the list: 

God in Your Body: Kabbalah, Mindfulness and Embodied Spiritual Practice by Jay Michaelson

Divining the Body: Reclaim the Holiness of Your Physical Self by Jan Phillips

Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom: Creating Physical and Emotional Health and Healing by Christiane Northrup, MD

Healing Mind, Healthy Woman: Using the Mind-Body Connection to Manage Stress and Take Control of Your Life by Alice Domar, MD

Praying with the Body by Jane Venard

You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay

Skylight Paths publishing offers many titles on embodied spiritual practice, such as Dance, the Sacred Art and Running the Sacred Art. 

And, of course, two of the books I authored, Coming Home to Ourselves and Your Truest Self have chapters on reclaiming the sacredness of your physical self. :-


(Body image courtesy of www.flickr.com)