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Body Logos2010-07-27 21:49:532017-10-31 20:35:44A Beach Workout that works for the BoardroomWelcome to the BodyLogos blog. Here’s where you’ll get your dose of alignment and balance with grace. (Sign up here to join 1,000 other blog subscribers.)
Redefining Strength
I want to change our perception of strength. Strength is the ability to meet resistance and influence an outcome without compromising ourselves. And we already have it.
Strength is not an attribute; it’s a state of being. Gladiators, bodybuilders, and football players demonstrate strength through brute force, sheer willpower, muscle mass, and relentless pursuit. But we’re also quick to identify dancers and martial artists as strong. Their medium taps into a sense of vulnerability, balance, alignment, controlled power, and grace—but no one can deny their strength. Strength may look different on each of us, but it is an inherent part of who we are.
You are not weak by nature; you are stronger than you think. Your strength is not something you need to kill yourself to gain—it is already within you, waiting to be excavated. The key is to stop chasing something you already have and tap into it, so you can manifest that strength in your everyday life.
Because we don’t think we’re strong, we approach resistance with the idea that we’re not enough. We throw everything we have at it and push past our physical, mental, and emotional limitations. We see strength as domination, but it’s not.
When you learn to listen to your body’s divine wisdom, you cultivate a sense of where your body is developing tension instead of standing in its strength. You end the vicious cycle of unrealistic expectations, injury, and self-criticism and learn how to consciously embrace responsible growth. You stop compartmentalizing your strength into emotional, physical, and mental pieces and operate from the strength of your being at all times.
You learn how to align yourself with gravity—instead of working against it—so you can channel your strength to meet life’s resistance. As you meet resistance with equal parts power and alignment, you transform tension into strength
As in the sword dance above, the power lies in bringing just the right amount of force—not too little and not too much. By meeting the sword’s weight, I meet gravity. I am tapped into a larger source of energy, free of tension, and discover a strength that is wholly and uniquely mine.
About Tammy Wise
How My Rottweiler Taught Me To Submit
by Tammy WiseAn animal on its back with paws folded up by its shoulders disarms a fast track world. We stop to breath in its self immergé, wishing we too could open ourselves so freely.
I’d find my Rottweiler Hilda in this submission. On a hot summer day, in an empty cool bathtub, she’d delight in her self-soothing remedy. I’d find her with tongue hanging out the side of her mouth, giving me a look of complete nirvana.
Can you imagine, in the midst of my intrusion, such a vulnerable posture continuing to feel delightful?
Opening your physical body feels like opening your secret chest of hidden imperfections. And, if they were to be seen, would ensure the humiliation of being unloveable.
Hilda accepted who she was. Although she was nasty when protecting her bones; insistent about dragging the biggest stick home from the park; and, she could not share her toys! She never questioned the value of her character.
The same qualities that made her a lot to handle, made her my champion. She was a guard dog by nature. She protected me with the same commitment she had to her bone and toys. And, dragging a big stick felt good to her teeth and gums. And maybe her ego too?
My point is. She didn’t judge her nature. She accepted it and fully engaged with it. And so can we, to our nature.
Self-awareness is at the root of your potential. But if becoming aware of yourself causes you to want to change yourself you have skipped the most important step. Delighting in yourself.
Delight in who you are. The parts that you define as good and not so good. Every perceived bad habit, shortcoming and defect has a yin and a yang.
Never forget, you are a part of the natural world, created out of star dust and Goodness. Believing that Creation has an intelligence beyond your own offers you room to explore your self-doubt.
Creating positive change is about surrendering your body’s tension and mind’s judgment to align with who you are, not change who you are. Look beneath judgment. Align with what was created in you.
Please comment with your experience around surrendering tension.