Gravity

I wanted to write about gravity this month because I fell down. When I was reflecting on falling down, luckily I wasn’t harmed in the falling, I came to the conclusion that in the midst of the chaos of life there was nothing that made more sense than gravity. It’s there doing what it does. No wobbly in-between-ness. No obfuscated purpose. No fear of it flaking out on you. Just there, holding and pulling and inviting. 

Bringing awareness to our relationship with gravity is another way of communicating with our environment. Keeping lines of communication open between body and earth can serve our health or well-being in ongoing positive ways.

I searched my archives and found this reflection on gravity from 2013:
 

Gravity
Why am I inspired by the weakest fundamental force? Gravity is how I connect and ground myself.  Imagining how my body interacts with it on a cellular level is how I create the centeredness and groundedness to do the type of bodywork that I do. It is the way that I keep my energy strong and allow my client’s body to find its own way to health. 

Last year I learned from one of my dance teachers about Deborah Hay, who expressed a deep interest in exploring having no front, but instead dancing as if every single one of her cells was being shown. I read Emilie Conrad’s, Life on Land, and learned about how a dancer could communicate via frequency and vibration to heal bodies and minds. 

So, over several weeks last summer I sat and meditated under a silver oak in my back yard. I would greet the rising sun and then close my eyes and try to allow an image of all the cells of my body. At some point, it occurred to me that each of my cells was in relationship to gravity and that relationship was permanent and loving. Nothing will ever hold us as long as gravity has held us. Gravity became a representation of Mother. Meditating on its hold, touch and tether to each of my cells is a way to calm my system, feel a deep connection to life, and create inner strength. Without that sense I wouldn’t be able to move forward in wholeness.

Since writing that piece, I have learned so much more about the body in space and connection to gravity. It is that interplay with gravity that gives us strength. As body/minds we push against gravity to build muscle and bone and momentum. We concede to the demands of gravity to give them all a rest—held and invited by its invisible power.  

There are many practices that focus deeply on the  interactions we have with gravity. Below I share links to a few of those offered online:

This is a 34-minute experience guided by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen about posture and tone and gravity

This is a 3-minute guided awareness for support led by Betsy Polatin

This is a 20-minute movement practice led by Nancy Stark Smith

If you give any of these a try, let me know what happens for you. How do any of these affect your relationship to the spaces you occupy?