Do you remember that song by Olivia Newton-John? When I'm working with a client, I often chuckle in amazement at how our bodies tell our life stories. Much like Shakira's song, These Hips Don't Lie, well neither does your body. Not only do old injuries leave a mark of restriction or remodeled tissue, but new patterns of compensation are also created.
"Let's get into (the) physical, I wanna hear your body talk, your body talk."
Sometimes, when one side of our body seems to be carrying the majority of the aches and injuries it makes me wonder.
As we know, the brain is divided into two separate hemispheres, each one in charge of very different tasks. The right hemisphere controls the left side of the body and the left hemisphere controls the right side of the body. The right side is more dominant at generating emotional responses while the left hemisphere is dominant at speech, comprehension, arithmetic, and writing.
As a result, what I have found in the past 2 decades (almost) of working on people is that the left side of the body flares up in response to emotional and relationship issues whereas the right side flares up when our stability, financial, professional, etc. is troubled.
The shoulder reacts to "burdens" we are carrying, emotional or financial depending on the side. The lower back is about support or lack thereof in either arena and the knee is about humility, as in bend-at-the-knee. Reminds me of John Snow from LOTR.
I realize that this might seem very simplistic and even a bit woo-woo for most people, so take it with a grain of salt (preferably Celtic Sea Salt) and maybe just a little open curiosity. The next time a familiar pain or injury catches your attention see if it fits. Often when we can't find a logical reason why one side is more susceptible to problems it helps to look at ourselves more holistically to see what other aspects of our lives might be manifesting changes in our bodies.
If we don't pay attention, our body will just get louder and louder and we'll find ourselves having more "little accidents" until finally, something makes us stop for a while and reassess.
That's the beauty of hindsight being 20/20. I have been keeping voice journals on and off for the past decade. Usually when I'm driving and need to vent or just need to get my thoughts in order I'll hit record on my little handheld recorder. Recently, I was organizing old recordings and I witnessed myself ignoring all the little accidents I was having over a 2-month period. Everything from a car accident, getting my leg caught in a pothole, hitting my head repeatedly on my marble bar. Deep Sigh (insert emoji of slapping myself on the head in disbelief). The universe was sending me so many messages that I should stop and reassess. I didn't. I kept pushing forward into a life-altering decision that I later regretted and continue to regret now.
If only I had listened to my body. If only I had stopped and put the pieces together, maybe I could have avoided all those years of regret and disappointment. I guess I'll never really know but from where I stand now, I am certainly more vigilant and aware of what my body is trying to tell me and I hope to make all of you more aware too.
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