Today, many of us are aligned with our intellects, living almost exclusively in our heads, while our bodies are encased in layers of armor or tension. The body seems merely to transport the intellect from place to place.

• The body is actually a reflection of the soul and has much to tell us about our mind and spirit. The soul’s essence is “connectedness” and our souls and hearts thrive on relationship. Ancient people knew this instinctively. Their survival depended upon their relationship to their environment, to each other, and to their bodies.
• As early as childhood, we learn to subjugate painful emotional events. These emotional traumas that the mind forgets are stored in the body in what is called “cellular memory.” We learn to dismiss or cut off signals from the body that remind us of painful experiences.
• As adults we too often ignore our bodies because the messages interfere with our daily routines. Our bodies contain a great deal of essential, natural wisdom about when to rest and when to act if we will just listen to its symptoms and sensations.

By listening to the body’s signals and rhythms we can come to full awareness and thus heal our past.