FOR MANY, the body is uncharted territory. Especially for those of us in recovery. We have long histories of not setting our health and wellbeing as a top priority. In recovery, we have a blessed opportunity to change that.
When we become ready to make important changes in life, we often start with approaches to abstinence and sobriety that focus on the practical aspects of recovery. These approaches can arrest the use of substances or addictive behaviors through some sort of intervention, such as rehab, medical detox, 12-step programs, or other addiction-recovery methods. They tend to place more focus on the mind.
Through years of experience, I feel strongly that the mind-body connection also needs to be acknowledged and explored. After all, it’s the body that keeps the score. It stores the trauma we have endured in life, and without focus and support, we will never be able to fully unearth the causes and conditions of our addictions and ultimately find freedom.
Some of my earliest memories are of me dancing in our family’s Connecticut apartment or twirling over and over until I was dizzy, just like Lynda Carter did on television as Wonder Woman.
For some reason, movement seemed to transport me to a magical place in my body and mind. Rhythmically moving my body would cast a spell on me that somehow would regulate my extremely sensitive and disregulated nervous system. I suppose I was doing energy work on myself long before I knew what it was.
"Then the Universe gave me a great gift. It gave me back the gift of movement when qigong was incorporated into the school’s curriculum."
Denne historien er fra January/February 2023-utgaven av Spirituality & Health.
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Denne historien er fra January/February 2023-utgaven av Spirituality & Health.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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LET'S NOT LIMIT NATURE
\"NATURE IS MY CHURCH!\" she exclaims. And I cringe. That may surprise many of you, what with my constant ecological and spiritual musings about squirrels, monkeys, and other nature-y creatures. My conundrum with this often-uttered sentiment is the artificial boundary the word nature creates. Let me explain.
TIME TO TAKE THE RISK
We shall awaken from our dullness and rise vigorously toward justice. If we fall in love with creation deeper and deeper, we will respond to its endangerment with passion.-Hildegard of Bingen, 12th-century Benedictine mystic, medical practitioner, writer, and composer
The Essence of FRIENDSHIP
A DEEP DIVE INTO WHAT MAKES THE BEST FRIENDSHIPS
QUEEN DIAMBI KABATUSUILA SHEDS A NEW LIGHT ON AFRICA
In 2016, before she became queen of the Bakwa Luntu people of the Dimbelenge territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Queen Diambi Kabatusuila was a 48-year-old therapist going through a difficult divorce, living in Boca Raton, Florida, and having a recurring dream about an old woman in an African village.
Recognizing and Tuning Into Medical Intuition
How one woman learned to trust her instincts and heal her body
Over the MOON About Helping Animals (and Their People)
Since I was a child, I've had a ritual: Every night, I go outside and search the sky for the moon and stars. I marvel at the magnificence of a dark, crisp, clear, midnight blue sky and its symphony of constellations, occasional meteors, and the glorious moon herself-each illuminating the vastness. This simple practice always gives me the deepest peace and centeredness. It aligns my internal compass every night before bed.
ENLIGHTENED PERSPECTIVES: AMANDLA STENBERG CHANNELS 'THE FORCE'
Journalist KAREN BRAILSFORD was over the moon when actress and musician AMANDLA STENBERG agreed to meet her over Zoom for this heart-to-heart about spiritual matters for Spirituality & Health: A Unity Publication. Brailsford, a lifelong seeker who feels blessed to be Stenberg's mother, once captioned an Instagram photo of her daughter with Michael Bernard Beckwith of the Agape International Spiritual Center: \"When your master teachers run into one another at a Hollywood event.\" Brailsford says she has learned a great deal from each one.
Unlikely Lightworkers from Liverpool
The Beatles were more than musical masters-they were spiritual pioneers.
The Neuroscience of Getting What You Want
AND WHY YOU MAY NOT WANT TO SEEK WHAT YOU WANT AFTER ALL
ANTI-RACISM IS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
GROWING UP in very charismatic and evangelical Christian spaces, I was told that the Devil's greatest trick was convincing us that he didn't exist. I feel a similar vibe when it comes to the big three systems of oppression-capitalism, patriarchy, and white supremacy-in New Thought and other spiritual spaces. These systems managed to convince some of us that they don't exist, we are immune from them, talking about them isn't helpful, or we will overcome them just by doing our spiritual practices.
