Tuesday, May 28, 2024
Shaquille O’neal spoke of living in a mega mansion. Most of his time was spent in one room, however. He rarely occupied any of the other spaces. People who live in opulent places need to flush the toilets periodically in the numerous, unused bathrooms they have, just to keep the rubber plumbing fixtures lubricated.
The body is similar. Unlike a physical house, the rooms of our bodily home can be fully occupied, all at once, if we pay attention. We don’t take advantage of getting into the entire body, however. Most humans have a vacant body.
For the average person, they occupy a contentious, tiny apartment somewhere behind their eyes. It’s a dense cockpit, crammed full of all sorts of nonsense and activity. But the rest of the body seems to hang down listlessly from this place, as if what’s left is an automaton, empty and left to itself to rot, decay, and stiffen.
To fully occupy the body gives you an expanded awareness of just how amazing your body suit is; but left to neglect, it gets stiff, overweight, and creaky. It’s meant to be fully occupied, pliable, well-circulated, visited, touched, seen, and moved.
If you begin to move into the various “rooms” of your body, you’ll see they are like Shaquille O’neals’ unused bathrooms. You can expand. You can begin to occupy your body more fully. You can “visit” your toes, your limbs, your hips, your genitals, your face, etc. You can discover by moving, or by sitting still, you can feel the body’s vast interior. And if you expand, you can occupy it more fully. Stretch, move, bend, and explore. Your body will awaken and tell you what it needs. It will say thank you for getting in touch, moving out from behind your eyes, and getting into the fullness of who you are.