Recent Revelations
The Body Joy Blog
Healing tips, inspiration and musings from Bella
Lessons from The Big Fall
Calendared as a day of remembrance, July 20, 2023: The Big Fall. A day to recall what it means to suffer trauma, how healing happens in fits and starts, how at times life lessons get delivered in uncomfortable ways. It got my attention and these 3 reminders have played out with consistency over this ensuing year.
soft animal of your body
Mary Oliver opens her poem Wild Geese with these poignant lines:
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
cannabis curious…
I’ve been clear about the medicinal benefits of low dose cannabis for years. Actually more than 50 years. But here’s the deal: I’m firmly on the elder side of life and even though younger folk assure me times have changed, I feel a bit of trepidation writing publicly about this topic.
if you’re human…
A perfect example of prajna paradha, Sanskrit for crime against wisdom. This word actually names what we all gut-recognize: our natural, organic human tendency to turn away for what we know is best for us.
seriously, it’s a no brainer
Curiosity about this unique body in motion. Cultivating fascination about every emerging impulse. Ruminating mind pales in comparison, so boring.
threshold of possibility
This is what I want to say about my feet lately. I trust them like never before. They seem to know what my heart desires more than my head does. And I am following.
those magic balls
I looked at him and said, “Do I really have to do this?” To which he replied, “Did you really want to get better?” I bit the bullet.
not done yet
There is nothing but liquid turbulence tossing me hither and yon. No sense of up, down, sideways. I hold this precious breath as long as humanly possible.
feeling our inborn GPS
Life pulls us this way and that. Sometimes we think one thing, feel another then move in a direction totally unrelated. Out of alignment. Sigh.
training for The Big Whatever
Been moving through a rough patch lately. Such is life, eh? My 74th turn around the planet right around the corner, a reminder of my draft into life’s black belt training unit. And what is it I am training for? Every day, like it or not, I am the recipient of ever advanced readiness coaching for The Big Whatever.
feelings take time
I was born body-mind connected. Curious and instinct-driven about my body in motion from the get go: twirling, skating, hop scotching, tree climbing. Anything that ends in “ing”. Enthralled with body moving through space in relation to gravity.
miracles in motion
I remember deepening into our amazing nervous system in physical therapy school. Dissecting fragile filaments from muscle and fascia. Memorizing the radial nerve course.
BIG FEELINGS are definitely dangerous
BIG FEELINGS are definitely dangerous. A guiding principle for my wee self. An old story. One I’ve spiraled through with the support of skilled therapists and played out on many a dance floor.
Taking flight
Have you been watching the nesting eagles in So Cal? Mesmerizing, they inhabit my kitchen, creatures prompting me about the essential. Being. Taking care. Tending. Breathing. Resting. Taking nourishment. Flight.
motion in my body=movement in my heart
You know me as mover—with you in yoga or physical therapy. And maybe know me through dance. Movement in the body creates movement in our emotions. Motion breaks up stagnation in the emotion department. And for that I am grateful.
we are a bundle of nerves
I am a bundle of nerves. They course through me,ancient delivery system, giving and receiving.
surrender to the mystery
Some recent research about tolerance for the unknown sounded a bell that had been conversationally echoing all week: people struggling with indecision. Did you know there is an uncertainty tolerance assessment? You probably don’t need a test.
crimes against wisdom
When a forgotten word comes out from behind the curtain and re-inserts itself into my vocabulary it is such delight. Welcome back prajnaparadha.
what my bones know
I’m a big reader, always midst at least one book, often juggling a few. What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo fell in my lap recently and pushed all the others aside, shouted READ ME.
greetings to my yoga students and physical therapy patients…
Woke up energized this morning and took full advantage of that state to re-record the Introductory Videos on the website. Three years ago they were formatted from an on-line series: hour long practices, four of ‘em. They were so ready for streamlining and updating.