Our bodies are those forces of nature. There is much we understand. And, probably much more we don’t. When I think of what they tell you to do if you were to get caught in a rip current, it’s just a great comparison to how to work with your body. GO with it. If you ever had the unfortunate experience of getting uncontrollably pulled by water, our first experience is probably panic, fear, and an overwhelming desire to fight. That is exactly what most of us do when confronted with pain in our body. The kind of pain I am speaking of is not the acute pain that is obvious when we have just hurt ourselves. This is more the pain that lingers on throughout our lives. We can equate it to something like an injury or illness, or stress. But sometimes it just is something that makes no sense to us. Much like that rip current when we experience these times, it can be extremely frustrating. We want to fight this current inside us and make it stop. As the ocean is too powerful to fight, if you fight with your body you lose. Giving up is not an option either.
What they tell you do if caught in a rip current is let it take you. The current will take you out to calmer waters where then you can float and wait for help. It also will save your strength from fighting and getting pulled under.
I have never been in a rip current but always remember those directions. I have often wondered how I would do. But I have been in those situations many times in my life, whether with pain in my body that was relentless, and no one seemed to have answers, or overwhelming stress and anxiety. It wasn’t until someone asked me to feel my body that I realized I was going in completely the wrong direction to alleviate what was hurting. I was at the end of my rope exhausted from the struggle and confused by what I could do to control this body to feel better. I was doing all the “right” things, but none of these things worked. The Miracle in the Method is the body knows what’s right and what works. Although it seems like you should fight for survival in a rip current there is that need to feel the current and what direction it is taking you. Our bodies do the same. While we are fighting, we cannot feel those small directions the body is trying to take us in to those calm waters. There is an intelligence in our bodies beyond our understanding that will lead us. But if we fight, and sometimes that is simply being stuck or stubborn, we cannot hear or feel the direction it is taking us.
The Miracle Ball Method helps you feel your own current.
When you do the method, the directions are the opposite of exercise so you can tune up your instrument and sense what your body is doing. That rip current is going in a direction. We want to get to shore so we ignore that. We fight. As you feel your body you may sense small things it is doing that you may have missed over the years simply looking outside yourself and not knowing that there are these directions going on in the body all the time. They take you to a place where you can breathe, begin to float metaphorically by sensing the weight of your own body in space. It is all available to us. Don’t fight your body, feel it. Do it different, try the Method.