The Four Limbs
The body replicates life in multiple dimensions and just like life, the body will reflect how we use, feel, think, and trust our way through the years of experience. On the planes of bodily existence, there are four limbs of energy: Physical, Emotional, Mental, and Spiritual, which are all influenced by how we treat ourselves on the daily.
The in-take of energy is always being processed, while the expression of energy is always the exchange. With or without our awareness, the body is designed to maintain balance but has a lot to compete with. Especially now, in this modern world, as we are increasingly being asked to perform for the sake of thriving- rather than simply living.
And, what is Simply Living?
On the physical realm, happiness is quantified by quality and thus emerges the shape of our daily habits. Diet, exercise and sleep are paramount to our wellbeing. When the quality of these basic needs is poor, the suit of this follows and the body shows its health in tangible ways. We can physically see and feel the basics- in the way the body moves, recovers, and ages.
On the emotional realm, the body responds physically but processes mentally- making this layer extremely vulnerable. For the sake of balance, there’s a push from society to strive for the positive, referring to the feelings of joy and happiness. Though, the nature of being human carries a variety of emotions which all need a place to be honored. Thus, the makings of time and space for honesty being extremely important. When we burden ourselves with the weight of shame for becoming too angry, or too sad- we can harden the nature of the bodies fluidity and affect quality of our physical health, as well as create unnecessary stress in the psyche.
In the mental realm, we often refer to stored memory as a key component to coherency without the inclusion of all other realms being factors in the processing intellectual information, making this layer superior but absent. The focus of life becomes heavily wrapped up in the non-present which produces an overwhelming amount of fear, confusion and lack of trust within the body’s lower limbs. If we were to pyramid this image, you would see how little the mental unit is over the physical and emotional, though we position it above all else and deny ourselves the bliss of clarity. When the body is experiencing clarity, a person’s demeanor will present itself as Zen and Zen becomes the way of life. When the overload of mental energy exists, symptoms of anxiety are persistent- even under the management of stress meds, conditions upon conditions will form into the product of disease overtime and congruently change the purpose of living to constantly being in flight or fight. On the flip side to mental stability, when there’s a conscious understanding to the power of the mind, and that power is put to appropriate use, life can lead us through the challenges and growth with grace and peace.
For the final pillar, there is Spirituality, which is above all the highest form of energy the body processes as it holds the value and purpose to life itself. Without the field of wellness recognizing the form of this energy being an influence on wholistic health, a major disservice is offered, and all aspects of reason are coursed into a state of imprisonment. Granted the spirit stays on track, while the rest of the body suffers, continuing the cycle of pain. Until the spirit has a chance to be recognized as a primal part to health, the spirit will challenge a person into direction with or without consent and the detection to ones will, will become either stronger or weaker overtime. More so, when spiritual health is fully honored a very rare, but true state of enlightenment can take place, and the embodiment of healing simply becomes a way of life.
In various forms of therapy, we tend to divide the limbs up- focusing on one component at a time, rather than observing the whole of the whole within ones nature. Oddly, just now- as the world is beginning to recognize the importance of wholistic health, including all four limbs in the process. Though, there’s still a lot of unknowns in the shape of how we treat the parts of us that are hurting. For example:
When we are in physical pain, we seek comfort in physical ways. When we are emotionally imbalanced, we are encouraged to numb. When we have mental disease, we are placed in an institution. When we are spiritually broken, we project ourselves out to the world and become lost in the noise. Thus, perpetuating hurt onto others.
If we were to welcome in the observations of all limbs together, a formula of therapy would enlist many forms of treatments at once, making a version of simple care complicated, but very effective. For the purpose of sustainability, a wise practitioner knows not to overload any one part without the acknowledgment of the rest of the body’s interests- making the process a delicate dance of patience and presence. How the body responds, is how the body will change. And here, we have SOMATICS>
Recently, I have been asked to define somatics by colleagues, friends, and various others who are curious to the workings of Armadillo Moon and without a pause I say it’s complicated. Although, it’s also just as simple.
Somatics is the quantifiable source of being, in terms measured by logic, metaphysics, philosophy, physicality, and emotional states of experiencing. There’s no easy track to understanding, because each person carries a unique blend of memory- including the unprocessed events of time still present in the bloodline from the past. Making the path to ‘healing’ even more complicated than we currently know. With or without the influence of past lives, in our bodies, we will always carry with us a form of amnesia- which not only keeps us searching, but keeps us curious, and this is where I love bridging science and magic.
If the body remembers, the body can also forget. It wouldn’t it be amazing to recognize this as a form of power, rather than weakness?
Dear friends, happy summer. May your four limbs be ever so shapely in the delight of simplicity. May you always find yourself content with gentle curiosity and gift yourself with moments of pure honesty. May you dance with the presence and patience of breath and move yourself through, as if you were like the rivers and fluid. And, may you always strive to feel yourself whole and give care to the pieces which need tending.
