The Emotional Body Part 3

Paula Present dancing in her own dancer work “The Frame of Mind”

Here is Part one or Part two if you missed them

Eating: What we eat can create inflammation in the body. Inflammation is another protection the body utilizes. This inflammation can actually inhibit muscles from working. It can create stiffness in muscles, aggravate arthritis, and create pain in those areas as well. We are all allergic to different foods. Allergies can be from “healthy foods”, such as lentils, oats, kale, or nuts. Too much sugar can also create that inflammatory response. My client had a bad food allergy. Her body responded with pain, inflammation, bloating, fogginess, and skin reactions. All symptoms are an allergic response. The body kept on saying stop eating that poison!! Compliance was an issue. Eating can be an emotional act to literally stuff down feelings. I tried to help her connect the allergic reactions her body had from the food to all this pain - to listen to the body, not rebel against it. There were times she couldn’t exercise she was so inflamed, and movement would create even more inflammation. But what would inspire her to cut it out?

Solution: Back to identity. If you identify as a healthy person, eating the food allergy is not the healthy person’s choice. It’s self sabotage, which is more of a deeply ingrained issue that needs to be looked at with a professional. Why sabotage your body with a known and obvious poison? It made no sense to me, which made it harder to figure out. I learned from her childhood, she was never allowed to speak up, which continued into her in adult life. When she went out to dinner, she never spoke of her allergy to her friends, because she couldn’t find the voice to tell them about it. She felt embarrassed. Lack of communication meant her friends couldn’t be a circle of support. I encouraged her to find her voice, and practice daily. She had to choose her hard: eat the poison or speak up about it. Another issue was having it in her home. If you want to get rid of a food habit, don’t bring it in your home. She ended up committing to never having it there. It took about 6 months and it is out of her home and diet.

Trauma: This is an area I have no expertise in either. If you have unresolved trauma in your life, please see a trauma specialist to help you through it. I had to guess that she experienced trauma in her life. It was none of my business or scope of knowledge to explore that with her either. In a traumatic situation, people will disassociate from their bodies. That mind body connection we talk about in Pilates, is not even a possibility. People disconnect completely. There is no awareness of their bodies in any capacity. Their bodies become haunted houses. The furniture is covered, it’s dark, cobwebs everywhere, and what is lurking around the corner. Haunted houses are scary, so why go in? It’s too scary to find an emotion that might be stored. How can I teach Pilates when trauma is the elephant on the reformer!?? She somehow came to terms with it, perhaps through her meditation practice, or self reflection. All I know is her body is no longer a haunted house. She is clearing cobwebs and making it her beautiful home. For the first time in 8 years, she is connecting! She is feeling lift and can access her muscles systems working together.