The Emotional Body Part 1

Paula Present performing in her own dance work “Homeostasis”

This blog will be spread over 3 or 4 weeks, each week highlighting a book or two that is so useful to understanding and exploring the emotional body.

Pilates is a movement based system that can change your body. But what if your body is not changing? Do you blame the work? The teacher? What if your body can’t change because the image of yourself doesn’t allow you to change?

When it comes to our goals, our identity is tied into whether we can make them happen. Who do you think you are? Maybe you heard this last question from your parents as kids in a not so helpful tone, but it is something that needs examination and reflection as adults in a positive and honest lens.

How do you see yourself? What image do you have of yourself? Your body? Really be honest. Write it down. Because any negative images you have of yourself, can affect the pathway to your goals, including your fitness goals.

We have an emotional body that can prevent us from reaching our goals. The emotional body can also keep us in pain patterns that no exercise program will be able to solve. That is when we have to delve deep inwards, look at our stuff, and heal. A great therapist could be helpful as well.

I will talk about one of my clients, anonymously. However I racked my brain, there was never any shift in her body. She came three times a week, which is usually frequent enough to create a change within months. Months turned into 8 years. But something was missing. It took me 8 years to figure it out. It took her 8 years to be ready to shift. I was looking at the Pilates system for 8 years and it had nothing to do with Pilates.

The Emotional Body: I am not trained in psychology, nor make the hourly. But I had to grasp the little I knew from what I learned from books and podcasts. I had to look at different systems that may be misaligned, other than musculoskeletal. I was not considering the impact of emotions and trauma on the brain and how that affects the physical body. These elements can shut down the body's ability to shift and evolve with exercise and can create a holding pattern of pain by holding onto unresolved emotional issues. I will also recommend some amazing books that changed the way I see and think of the body. These books taught me to look beyond a physical system on how pain can manifest. The emotional body affects Identity. Body image and self esteem can create poor posture that a small barrel can’t help.