Connective tissue largely defines the shape of my body. How does this information impact my movement and the way I perceive and relate to anatomy?
With the heightened awareness of the connective tissue in my body and its role in shaping my form, I have become more conscious of the way I align my bones when I stand, and how I move in class. I’m aware of how my emotional body affects my posture, and therefore the symbol that my body is making and expressing to the world… my symbology. BrBelt Principle #10, Symbology-Shaping Consciousness supports me daily in all my realms.
Awareness of my connective tissue has also sharpened my sensitivity to BrBelt Principle #2, Posture, Walk, and Voice. I have been stalking my posture, walk and voice in the emotional roller coaster of day to day living, and when I imagine the spaces in-between opening, expanding, moving outward, my body breathes with greater ease, and there is a lighter quality to my walk. By consciously moving the connective tissue both in class, and in my daily dance of life, I am able to release tension, tightness, and ‘unglue’ the sticky areas in the tissue that are constraining. Moving in the spaces, I sense the systemic connection of my entire body, and the beautiful weaving of the tissue that gives my body mobility and stability. I imagine my connective tissue like the colorful fabric I design, surrounding, supporting, and moving with the fluidity and grace of the wind. As Linda Hartley expresses in Wisdom of the Body Moving, “When we move in the spaces between the organs, bones, muscles, blood vessels, or cells, we are moving through the connective tissue sheaths. This movement is sensual, internal, flowing, and elastic, like the luxurious stretching of a cat. It flows on and on, rebounds and flows again. It gives vital support to the integrity of the whole in both movement and stillness.”
I continue to monitor the mobility and flexibility of my right shoulder since my operation 4 years ago. I have a screw inserted that connects my supraspinatus tendon to the bone. The area surrounding it has a lot of scar tissue, and it becomes bound and stuck when I do not consciously move it daily in multiple directions, ungluing the sticky tissue and freeing the energy to move and heal. I can sense the mis-alignment of the joint on days when I do not teach, or spend a lot of time working on my computer. My conscious dance of life for health is vitally important for my daily healing.
Many times in the evening, while lying in bed, I can sense my connective tissue tingling like fire throughout my body. Even in stillness, energy flows in the spaces in-between and is continually molding, shaping, and re-shaping my symbol.. my symbology that I carry moment to moment.
Connective tissue… yummy… shaping my body, shaping my consciousness.