lesson from contact improv: appreciate the kinks

This bit of wisdom (paraphrased through my perception) came by way of a Hilary Rubin's yoga podcast and has been rolling around my head recently as awonderful reframe for life experience: 


Be grateful for the stuck spots, the tightnesses, the awkward places- they show us how our lives can be even more full...

My interpretation: If I can identify a stuck spot- whether in my body or in life- it will only increase my own potential as a human being to move through the world. If there is even more to be experienced in this life then why wouldn't I want to allow my time in this brief existence to be fuller, richer, deeper?


I'm not speaking to trying to get  more of any of those things. Rather, they are the natural result of exploring life more deeply and becoming ever more appreciative of this short span on earth that we get to have.


I see that the hard part is when I know there's a kink somewhere, and the way to reach an outcome, assuming thats even understood (which usually its not), is not in sight or requires intense perseverance and patience. 


Appreciating the kinks has been the approach that came to me in my own experience of exploring my physical body through the practice of contact improv. Many physical kinks became apparent, created from accidents and habitual ways of operating in my body (such as at the computer for long stretches of time). For many years the primary way I have engaged contact is as a healing modality- to do bodywork on myself through another person (and vice versa simultaneously- its amazing). Almost every time I engage another for a brief round of movement/stretching I end the engagement with a breath of air that feels like it fills my body much more deeply than was present before. The body's experience of this bigger breath is unmistakably tangible- its a fullness that permeates my entire being. 


So now I seek the kinks...


If you were to think about it, what kinks in your life have you been grateful for? What are the kinks right now your future self will be grateful for? No matter where you are in the process, give yourself the gift of that gratitude right now.   :-)


bless-zings!
~andres

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