Even though I’m a total political junkie, I try to keep this space politics-free. But last week, the body politic stepped right into the mind-body arena.
Talk of health and pneumonia and dehydration and exhaustion and stamina and rest and tests became all the rage in our newsfeeds and on daytime talk shows.
It was triggered by a typically American event: someone got sick due to a grueling work schedule, but decided to “power through it.” After her stumble last Sunday, Hillary Clinton told the media, “This was an ailment that many people just power through and that’s what I thought I would do too. I didn’t want to stop, I didn’t want to quit campaigning.”
I didn’t want to stop.
Isn’t that pretty much our problem with most of the things?
“I didn’t want to stop working/moving/thinking/planning/striving…”
We like to power through, because power means things like capability, command, control, strength, force, and authority. It’s the opposite of things like weakness and incapacity.
But when it comes to the body, to illness and fatigue, we can’t power through. We cannot command or control or force or establish dominion over cells and viruses, or conquer our very human need for rest.
Rest. Maybe we don’t like to rest because it means things like inactivity, fallow, unworked, still, terminate, and depend.
But we cannot be powerful without rest. After her days of rest, Clinton told a crowd, “I tried to power through it, but even I had to admit that maybe a few days rest would do me good.”
When we try to power through, what we’re really trying to do is defy the body. We seem to think that the mind can will the body into submission. And while the mind can powerfully influence the body, sometimes we just need to surrender to our physical needs.
Many of us live almost exclusively in the realm of the mind…. We are never fully in our bodies. If anything, our bodies are an inconvenience…. But the hard truth is you are not an airy spirit. Nor are you a floating head with no body. You are an animal…. Living in the ‘soft animal of your body’ means you must respect the systems of that body.”
Katrina Alcorn
Our entire human experience is embodied, yet somehow we shame people — and ourselves — for having a body, a necessary form that interacts with others and the world and takes in energy and goodness and love along with viruses and bacteria. The body grows weary doing all that bodying.
And when that happens, we must rest. Even GOD took a day to rest.
And how beautiful rest is in comparison to powering through! A quick glance at dictionary.com tells us rest includes:
- the refreshing quiet or repose of sleep
- refreshing ease or inactivity after exertion or labor
- relief or freedom, especially from anything that wearies, troubles, or disturbs
- repose, solitude, tranquility, peace, relaxation
- mental or spiritual calm
- to be quiet or still
- to be present
We gather our power when we take time to be still. We cultivate the wisdom to use that power skillfully when we take the time to be present. After her days of rest, Ms. Clinton told reporters, “It’s important to sit with your thoughts every now and again and this helped me to reflect on what this campaign is all about.”
It’s not the powering through that makes us powerful, it’s the letting be.
Most of us are working so hard. It’s like we’re in a motorboat noisily zipping around, trying to find a place that is quiet, peaceful, and still. We’re solving a problem, responding to demands, preparing for what’s next, improving ourselves. But we’re just making more waves and noise wherever we go. It counters all our ambitious conditioning, but true freedom comes when we throttle back the motor and come naturally into stillness…. The most liberating meditation practice is to stop controlling and to let things be as they are.”
Tara Brach
When illness arrives, we must let it be. Yes, we may call upon medical assistance, but most of the time the age-old recommendation of rest and recuperation is what is needed. We must surrender. We must call back the troops that are demanding that we “suck it up” and “power through,” and let the body’s natural defenses (and, if needed, modern antibiotics), do what they are designed to do.
We must listen to the body. But how interesting that in our body politic, we focus not so much on the body, but on medical data and records. We feel empowered by numbers and tests and reports. Our information about the body comes from vials and computer printouts and online test results.
What we’ve forgotten is that our bodies are constantly communicating with us through analog channels. For millennia, our ancestors had only skin and sensation, rumbling tummies and aching muscles to inform them of their “medical condition.” Twenty-first century humans can listen to these messages, too, but only if we are quiet and still enough to hear them.
Only if we take time to rest.
What would it look like if we valued REST the way we value POWER? If we didn’t mock our leaders who take naps or –gasp!– actually use their vacation time?
Ms. Clinton was on day 518 of her campaign when she succumbed to illness. 518 days! And as she noted, she is not alone in feeling like she couldn’t take some time off. Many people don’t even HAVE the ability to take a sick day! In a world with twenty-four-hour news cycles, 24-month presidential campaigns, no mandatory sick leave or vacation time, year-round sports practice, unused vacation days, second shifts, third shifts, and a heavy dose of the Protestant work ethic …. no wonder we’re exhausted!
“Against Idleness and Mischief”
How doth the little busy bee
Improve each shining hour,
And gather honey all the day
From every opening flower!…In works of labour or of skill
I would be busy too:
For Satan finds some mischief still
For idle hands to do.Isaac Watts, Divine and Moral Songs for Children, 1715
So, you little busy bee, working so many hours… go ahead and take a nap, and perhaps a long hot shower!
Sleep and rest are bodily needs, and we neglect them at our own peril. When we are well-rested, properly hydrated, and attentive to our body, we are not just powerful but empowered. It’s in this condition that we may, to paraphrase Tara Brach, use our wisdom to heal an imperfect world.
If anything, our somewhat-bizarre national conversation about illness last week at least generated some awareness about how we maintain our health. Regardless of your political affiliation, I hope you’ll make some time for stillness and rest … and listen to your body. It has so much to tell you.
Guided Practice: Body Awareness
This practice can be done in a seated or lying down posture. You can do this in 5 minutes, or for as long as you’d like!
Sit in a comfortable position, with your back upright but not rigid. Close your eyes, and take a moment to bring your attention to your breath. Notice each in-breath… and each out-breath. As best you can, try to notice what breathing feels like — what do you feel in your nose… your chest… your belly… your entire body … as you breathe?
Gently scan the body and notice if there are any areas of obvious tension… perhaps in the shoulders… the neck… the jaw or face…. If you notice an area that is tense, see if, on the next exhale, you can imagine breathing out the tension, and allowing the body to relax and soften.
If you find an area in the body that is tense or painful, see if you notice a desire to move or shift position. If possible, before moving, see if simply bringing your awareness to the discomfort changes it in any way. If you determine that you do need to change your position, do so slowly and mindfully, paying attention to the movement of the body. Breathe. Check in and see how the body feels now, after gently shifting position.
As you continue to focus on your breath and your body, see what physical sensations you can note in the body — tingling, warmth or coolness, holding or releasing, contraction or expansion, itching, moving… just see what sensations you become aware of as you bring your full attention, as best you can, to the body. If you don’t notice any obvious sensations, then simply note the absence of sensation. Can you identify any pleasant, or neutral, sensations in the body? Spend a few moments simply attending to the physical body.
Take a few more deep breaths, and open your eyes. How do your body and mind feel now?
- A Mindful Approach to New Year’s Resolutions - January 13, 2020
- Just This Next Step - December 16, 2019
- WAIT: A Mindfulness Practice for Waiting in Line - December 9, 2019
