“Let THE body … BE a body”
Hmm … what could Huguru be about, stand for?
Huguru could be about how we can feel more vibrant, positive, and energised, about looking after our bodies through diet and exercise. Maybe Huguru could be about coming back to our bodies and feeling nature work within us, and how doing so can lead to a better life in the lives we usually live. Huguru could be about eating natural foods that work in harmony with our natural bodies to promote wellbeing, about doing exercise in a mindful manner that can further propel our wellbeing to greater horizons. And Huguru could stand for being more respectful of our bodies, becoming more aware of what we both do with and put into our bodies. For by being more respectful for the bodies we’ve been given, maybe we can feel more empowered to live greatly more fulfilling lives.
During the last 7 years, I have dealt with massively debilitating muscular tension in my body (an illness known as “myofasciitis”). And in my journey for solutions, I have gone deeply into Yoga and Qi Gong practice. Meanwhile when I first arrived in San Francisco, an Aikido teacher repeated something in every lesson:
“Let THE body … BE a body”
There’s something quite profound in considering that THE body isn’t MY body. There’s also something quite powerful in letting it BE. This is similar to where yoga is practiced to the point that, “yoga is the cessation of the movements of consciousness”: for example, the surrender performed in the Shavasana, the corpse pose. It is also similar to the Wu Wei practice in Tai Chi or Qi Gong. Put simply, awareness expands, awareness of now … and alot more. Thoughts are set aside and there is a coming back to being receptive to what is felt in the present moment – the sensations, the breathing, the flows of energy. When we let the body “BE”, we come back to the nature of our bodies.
The Aikido teacher would stress this, saying that when we loosen our minds’ controls over the body and sink deeper into our bodies, we open a door to a greater sense of ourselves – the innate natural power running through us and all around us. And the more we come into contact with this natural side to ourselves and life itself, we sense a greater feeling of power that can enliven ourselves, that we can flow with.
There’s something exceptionally powerful in thinking what nature can give us – if we are receptive. Could this be a natural state of health and wellbeing? The basic vehicle for our ride … in the flow of our lives … will always be our body. And life itself will be felt both by and through our bodies. So what can we do to look after our bodies, to tune it into better frequencies of health, vibrancy and wellbeing? What can we do … to make the most of both our lives, and the rides that are our lives?
“Imagine YOU are a passenger … in A body. And one day you get to the pearly gates and St Peter is hanging out there. He asks you the question: “so how was it – the ride that was your life?”