The Body Creates.
The body is brilliant, isn’t it?
It’s a creator. That’s its purpose. To create things. Tangible things we experience through the senses.
When we want to create words, we use our hands and mouths to shape them.
Those are parts of the body.
The same is true for anything.
Art. Music.
Movement. Dance.
Conversation.
Love.
War.
Life.
Death.
Whatever we set out to create, we use our body to bring the creation to life.
The mind dreams. Plans. Thinks. Ideates.
The body creates.
Those are the roles.
So when we consider the life being reflected back to us - the life we’ve presumably created for ourselves - it’s important to remember something:
No mistakes are happening here. The body creates what it knows.
When the body knows lack, it creates lack.
When it knows danger, it creates danger.
When the body knows stillness as safety, it creates stillness as safety.
And movement, just the same.
When it knows shame as a motivator, it creates shame to motivate.
When it knows survival, it creates survival.
No matter what your body is creating, nothing is wrong with you. Your body is working as designed, creating what it was taught to create.
Creating what it was taught to make sure you wake up tomorrow morning, safe enough to make it through another day.
Another day familiar enough to handle because the body already knows how to handle it.
The body creates what it knows.
There’s good news in this.
For the body to know something, it has to learn it.
The body learns.
Your body learns.
Your body learned before, and it can learn again.
But the body doesn’t learn the way a lot of us assume the body learns.
It learns in a different way than the mind.
The body doesn’t learn so much through thinking. Organizing. Rationalizing. Evaluating.
The body and the mind have different roles. Different purposes.
The mind learns through making sense of things, so it can give the body some clear direction.
The body learns through creating, though. The body creates.
The body learns through exposure.
Through practice.
This is why we can “cognitively know” something but feel like we just can’t do the thing we know.
We haven’t really learned. We’re leaving the body behind.
The mind has learned.
The body still needs to practice. To see the creation the mind promises come to life.
What’s nice is there are levels to exposure. To the types of practices we can give ourselves.
For example: exposure can be multi-sensory visualizations.
You don’t even have to step foot out of bed for this level of exposure.
It can be closing your eyes and picturing, smelling, touching, sensing, feeling the new normal you wish to see for yourself - so vividly the body takes it as a living memory.
You can practice feeling how you need to feel, carrying yourself how you need to, and anything else - all through your imagination.
The mind can help the body practice. It helps the body learn. They’re partners.
You can do this on repeat for 30 days and watch as the body begins to find opportunities to practice your new familiar in real life.
This is the body learning.
And this is one way to give the body exposure. A practice. A creation to learn through.
Another way to teach the body is through giving it the memory in real life.
Step out of bed, and go dip a toe in the water of the new practice that scares you.
Something that’s uncomfortable, but safe enough to move through.
Safe enough for the body to create safety for you, in this newness.
Do that until it doesn’t scare you anymore.
Until you feel a little more confident, safer, and at ease.
And then - just like at the gym - you up the weight.
Do a more advanced version of this practice.
Dip the whole foot in. Get more comfortable. Go deeper.
Either way, remember the points:
- The body creates.
- The body creates what it knows.
- The body learns.
- The body learns through practice.
If you want it to create ease, you must teach your body ease through the practice of creating ease.
If you want it to create connection, you must teach your body connection through the practice of creating connection.
If you want it to create flow, you practice creating flow.
If you want to create confidence, you practice creating confidence.
No matter how you look at it, the body creates what it’s taught to know.
And you can teach it something new.
Your body creates.
What will you teach your body to create?
I’m Rooting for You,
Tori
P.S. If you like this work, please spread the word. Forward this to someone who might enjoy it. Thank you <3
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