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Writer's picturePatti Abel

How our words can Shape our bodies ~ Part 2

Updated: Jan 16, 2023

How many of us refer to a side of our body or a particular body part as "Bad"?

❌ I can't because that is my bad side


❌ I can't go up those stairs I have a bad knee.


❌ Oh, I can't do that I have a bad back.


Actually, in looking at these statements they include 2 words that create limitations in our lives and our movement. We can dissect the word "Can't" in another post. But, Wow!! what a limiting word we all including myself Can work to totally remove the "n't" from Can. But let's get back to the word "Bad"


How would an area feel, function or operate any differently than "Bad" if that is what we constantly speak and think about it?


One of my amazing movement mentors Marie Jose' Bloom would say to us in training when someone would refer to their Bad This or Bad That ~ "Be kind to your body your cells are listening" some of the wisest words spoken and ones that have stuck with me and go into my teaching daily.


The words we speak into our bodies can set them up for greatness or defeat. If we keep calling our knee "bad" what else does it know to be other than "bad" "painful" "weak"

I mean think about it how many of us feel Awesome if someone calls us "Bad" in a negative sense? For most of us it hurts deep into our being. Well in essence that is what we are doing to our bodies when we speak negatively about them. I mean really why would my knee want to be anything other than "Bad"


Truth is whichever body part we consider in this way has gotten there most of the time by our own negligence or a possible accident. But typically something we've done that has set the wheel in motion.



So let's consider may be other ways we can think about and speak life into that body part.


✅ First off know how truly "Special" it is because it has carried us this far, put up our neglect and kept working even with our distaining speech towards it"


✅ What if we consider it the encourager? Because maybe it came to its current state by encouraging another part of the body?


✅ Maybe the Teacher as it has been teaching another area of the body how to move efficiently or on the other hand it could be the student and been trying it's best to learn from our teacher's side.


✅ Many times it is the Supporter because it has been supporting our body from other imbalances. Maybe that "Supportive" right knee has been taking on a little extra due to the injury that occurred to the left knee or hip?


✅What about the "negotiator" because it has been doing its best to communicate and move the rest of the body forward in the best way it knows how because we like to sit with our legs crossed and have caused a terrible balance in our hips and pelvis so it's having to negotiate us the best way it knows how.


So maybe instead of thinking and/or saying that's my Bad "______" we say


❤️ "Thank You for carrying me this far"


❤️ "Thank You for supporting me when I wasn't supporting myself"


❤️"Thank you for negotiating for me so I didn't end up with an unnecessary surgery"


❤️"Now I see you, I hear you, I thank you, and now going to give you the support you deserve"


❤️"Thanks for being so amazingly Special"


Can you think of an area of your body you call "Bad"?


How would it feel to begin looking for Solutions vs excuses and step into the role of Encourager, Supporter, Teacher/Student, and Negotiator for our body?



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1 Comment


Monica C.
Monica C.
Sep 09, 2022

I've heard you say many times to be considerate of our words toward a body part, that our cells are listening. Thanks for the reminder! 💜

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