Let Yourself RESET

Categories: Blog May 12, 2019

Often times we get in our own way.

We have these brains and we assume that they know what they are doing or we assume we need to use them to figure things out or to fix things. It is almost as if we have control issues.

Anyway, lately, more often than not, I have been learning I just need to get out of my own way to allow things to happen. I'm learning that most issues can resolve themselves if I step back and let go of them. I'm even now thinking this is perhaps the best way to press reset on the body; get out of the way and let it happen.

Our minds get in the way. The easiest example I can offer here is to try to "think" your way into crawling. Have you done this? Have you seen someone else try to do this? They try to think their way into crawling, "move this arm with this leg..." and they can't move at all. They get stuck in a weird jerking motion trying to will themselves to crawl and they can't even get going. They just stay right where they are, and they begin to get overcome with a wild bewildering frustration. I cannot tell you how many times I have said the phrase, "Don't think, just go." Magically, that seems to always work.

As soon as the person stops thinking about crawling, they let go with their minds, their body immediately knows what to do and they take off without a hitch. Their body knew what to do all along. They tried to help it by thinking their way through it and it stopped the body's ability to do what it does best; move.

You can see the same thing happen when an adult is trying to relearn or remember how to roll. If they try to break it down into steps, if they try to think their way through it, it becomes an intense struggle like a whale trying to roll its way back into the ocean. Yet if you give them a target to reach for and ask them to get it, they magically and effortlessly roll over. No thought, just easy movement.

The point is, our bodies know how to be bodies.

They know exactly what to do and our minds often get in the way. I'm not just talking about movement either. Our bodies know how to do a lot of things that we often booger up through trying to "help." Things like moving, healing, digesting, sleeping, etc - The body knows how to do all of these things because it was designed to do them. And we know how to hinder all of these things because we think we are smarter than our design, so we attempt to take control of the design that needs no help from us.

What would happen if we just "let go" and allowed our body to do what it knows how to do?

What if instead of cognitively Pressing RESET on our body, we allowed our body to Press RESET? What if we experienced Pressing RESET instead of trying to make it happen?

You might be wondering, "How in the world do you do that? How can I be pressed and not do the pressing?"

I think the best place to start is to simply show up and then let go. Let's look at how that might play out...

Breathing x 5 minutes
Lie on the floor in a comfortable position and breathe deep. RELAX (let go). Don't think about how to breathe as much but try to experience how you breathe. What does it feel like? Where is your breath going? Can you let go and allow tension to fade away with each exhalation? Can you let go and allow your belly to expand with each inhalation? Don't try to force it. Try to experience it, to feel it. Don't try to think yourself into breathing "right," try to feel yourself breathing right. Ok, admittedly, breathing could be a tough one to let go and experience, but if you get it, it could change your life. But let's look at the other resets.

Head Control x 5 minutes
Lie on the floor in a comfortable position, on your back or belly. Relax and begin moving your eyes up and down or side to side. Now let go of your neck muscles and allow your neck to follow your eyes. Allow your neck to move where it will. Don't try to force it to move past barriers or into pain. Allow barriers to be the gentle guides that keep you from hurting yourself. Stay relaxed and let it move where it can, where it will, and stop where it wants to. Just move. What do you feel? Are the movements small? Are they big? Have no aim other than allowing your eyes and head to move and flow together. Don't think about matching the movement with breath, with speed, with tension or anything. Just allow the movement to be.

Rolling x 5 minutes
Lie on the floor. Let all tension go from your body. Find a target in the room, a target out of reach that would require you to roll over to get close. Reach for your target and allow your body to roll. Don't think about rolling. Think about reaching. Notice what you feel. It is ok if muscles get tight. It is ok if muscles relax. Let your body figure this out. Don't help it. Simply give it time by showing up and allowing it to remember how to roll. Allow it to teach you how to roll effortlessly. It knows how. It may need practice. It may need a target. It may just need you to let go and step back. It is smarter than you.

Rocking x 5 minutes
Get on your hands and knees as a child would; head up and back flat. Think of nothing else. Now move and allow your body to gently explore motion by rocking back and forth, or side to side, or in circles, or wherever. Just allow yourself to experience the movement. Is it smooth? Is it rhythmic? Does it feel good? Are there barriers of stiffness and pain? Don't force through them, just know them. Allow your body to investigate them and move to and around them. Do the barriers fade with time? Do they fade with awareness? Do they fade with curious gentleness? Does your body know how to deal with these barriers? Do you think you need to help it? Don't. Just let go.

Crawling x 5 minutes
Get on your hands and knees as a child would. Don't think. Just move. Find targets of curiosity and move towards them. Allow movement itself to be the curiosity and explore it for no other reason than to know it. Have no aim other than to experience how your body moves, what it does, and how it feels. Have no aim other than to enjoy the experience.

I know this may all seem a little weird, but your body knows how to move. It knows how to heal. It knows how to be strong. It just knows. It rarely needs our help in doing these things. If the body needs anything from us, it may simply be our cooperation. It needs us to show up and let it do what it was made to do.

Don't dismiss this as crazy just yet. At least not until you try it.

Try the resets as I've laid them out above. Try to experience your body Pressing RESET and try not to Press RESET on your body. There is a difference and it's huge.

Show up and Let go. Don't think, just be.

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