Lower Stress Through Awareness: What Does This Mean For Busy Doctors?
Experiences shape your body and the way it moves. Just look at how athletes are built to perform their particular sports. Body shape and function, of course, have some genetic components, but it is training -- the way one moves repeatedly -- that so perfectly prepares the body for that particular sport or life. But, did you know it goes both ways? Not only do experiences shape our bodies, but the way we move and hold ourselves shape our experiences in everyday life.
There's neuroscience behind this claim. For example, proprioceptors in the connective tissue tell your brain what's going on -- not the other way around. And that's just one way that the body talks to the brain. The heart has cellular connections to memory. Examples of this body-to-brain messaging abound. The body is a social-emotional sensing organism. Try slumping over, while exclaiming that you're in a great mood. It's almost laughable, right? Now try drawing your spine up straight, but not stiff, take a couple of deep, mindful breaths. How do you feel? Can you feel a sense of dignity?
Today, right now, see if you can notice something in your physical experience -- your feet on the ground, your spine drawn up, your arms at your sides or the temperature of your hands. These small examples plant the seeds of the myriad ways awareness of your body and movement can shift your overall awareness and perspective beyond the physical body. Over time, these shifts can be life-changing. Building embodied awareness can help you, quite literally, re-align yourself with your values and dreams, reignite your purpose and passion. Being in your body, even for just a few moments each day, is the beginning of embodied awareness and the seeds of possibility.
Think about the ways you.move every day from room to room, patient to patient. Today, tune into how you’re holding yourself while you talk to patients or colleagues. Or, notice how you walk when you’re in a hurry. Consider the impact of moving or holding yourself these ways over time. To move in a hurried, stressed way has impacts on your brain. You can change your brain and your body from the inside out, regardless of external circumstances.