The Benefit of Self-Care

"If you are not actively keeping your body healthy, you are passively allowing it to deteriorate."

Kikuki Zutrau Miyazaki, Headmaster Shiatsu teacher, Boston Shiatsu School

Self-care is a little-known practice in the US that has potential for tremendous improvements and supports conscious re-balancing of our body systems. Also known as "prevention," it consists of small, medium or large acts of awareness. It can also be called "maintenance," as our bodies truly are highly sophisticated biochemical mechanisms.

In my years as a body work therapist, the two most common reasons for not doing self-care:
1) no time/money/memory for that.
2) feel like it is self-endulgance and takes time from other people.

In this post I have two objectives:
1) to point out the real, simple nature of self-care.
2) to convey the benefits of self-care.

All healthy, natural cultures have self-care built into daily and yearly life. In our American Dream we allow ourselves to answer to the time clock rather than our natural cycles, and have this idea of independence from birth to death (okay, maybe from graduation to death... ). Both of these external impositions on our health exists only in our minds.

All natural beings seek support.

In observing the natural world we see continual self-regulation. Natural beings move toward homeostasis, as seen in worms crawling out of water-soaked ground, and mammals storing food for the cold season.
Children and animals are our best role-models for natural self-care.
They pay attention to the little cues of their bodies. Any time there is an ache, a shift in mental focus or a feeling of indigestion, this is a sign that balance it needed. It isn't taught in school, in fact, it's taught out of us in school. We learn to suppress our impulses, to not respond when these physical, mental and emotional cues call on us.

How do we re-connect when this has happened?  Let's consider how infants act if given full rein to express themselves vocally.

Joy through Laughter - Connecting with the human spirit.
Grief through Sobbing - Releasing loss when a loved-one departs.
Anger through Shouting - Release pressure from unwanted experiences.
Anxiety through Singing - Drawing attention to the environment.
Fear through Screaming - Dispersing the intensity of a surprise.

These are pure, innate expressions that we are all given. If you observe carefully, infants use their voices with precision, vibrating their whole being with sound. As the energy of a moment moves through them, their moods change. And they might make something change that creates a greater harmony around them... imagine that!

But you're an adult, so how does this work for you?

Exactly as it works for little babies, only you have a more mature body and can control the volume and intensity of your voice. But do you? Even just vocalizing some small sing-songy question to release some anxiety when things seem just a little out of balance in a group? Will you try that for me and tell me how it goes please? 

Our voice can be medicine, too!

What happens when you do these little stress-releases is wonderful and unexpected. Just like with the baby crying because his toy went over the edge of a high-chair, you start to feel different. Maybe even better! And guess what happens next? You get a choice!

Because you're an adult, you can let go of feelings and make choices about reality. That's what we get with long femur bones, we get choices to bend down and pick up the toy we just dropped or recognize that it's time to stop playing and move on to what needs to happen next. Or ask someone for help. Why not? You just freed your voice! Use it!

Simple as it may sound, this is self-care. If we listen to our inner cues and act upon them, we will find our way to a better lifestyle! As in the quote from Hippocrates, one of our first physicians, if you grocery shop "out loud" you will be able to hear your voice telling you what food is good in your body. Pay attention, you might find yourself shouting that someone is between you and your cheese. What is that cheese really doing for you that is worth the anger?

The moral of the post: When you attend to your own self-care you become more balanced. More balanced people do less erratic things, listen more attentively and help inspire awareness in the world around them. It is a service to humanity, in other words. I encourage you whole-heartedly to practice this simple act of kindness as often as possible.

Best regards for abundant health,
Christian
http://www.mindbodyenergetics.us/shiatsu.html