Freeing the Body from Habit

In moments of pure delight, our bodies know what to do. Notice the absolute freedom of movement in this photo by Telma Terra.

In this series about freeing us from habits that might cloud our presence, we talked last week about habits of gesture: hands and arms. This week, we look at habits in our bodies—how we stand. We’ll get to how we use the space and move, next week.

The most common habits of the body involve swaying back and forth or to and fro on our feet. Other habits include placement of the feet in positions that look and feel precarious and undermine a sense of gravitas: tightrope feet; one foot toes up/heel down; hip lean.

This week, we practice a stance with gravitas. You can see my video illustrating this stance, here.

• Feet apart

• Sensing roots growing deeply into the earth

• While the body “falls up”

• Allowing beautiful movement in the body