by Donnella Wood
I think of our body as a time capsule, holding the wisdom of evolutionary intelligence. I envision what it would be like for all of us to open the capsule, feel awe, and then unabashedly bathe ourselves in our own genetic intelligence. I wonder what it might be like for us to receive the full benefit of our very own evolutionary design. How might we experience our lives and others differently if we had access to such intelligence?
Particularly in these times when many of us feel overwhelmed, shut down, or discouraged, I find myself asking this question. What can our inborn-genetic intelligence offer us? As someone who has spent her lifetime interested in and studying the inherent intelligence of the body, I can confidently say that awakening our inherited intelligence is an antidote to our experience of disconnection, overwhelm, and isolation.
This intelligence has the potential to liberate our way of being and moving. We find that we can experience ourselves, others, and the environment in a fresh way that supports ease, connection, and imagination.
Opening our time capsule is a process of awakening to the natural occurring processes that are already a part of us and receiving the gift of their support. We enter the experience of the lived body and through steeping ourselves in the body’s primary language – the language of sensation – we build a channel of awareness that allows us to trust our own impulses, receive support, and be present to our environment.
As we get to know our very structure and physiological processes, we come to understand that our body is deeply connected and informed by our environment. From the air we breathe to the gravity field that informs our movement, we sense that the earth and the body are in a dynamic relationship that affects our very way of being and experiencing ourselves in the world.
Embodying our evolutionary intelligence can provide us with foundational support. We discover that what lives in us and around us are the resources we need to sense safety, feel grounded, and connect to other living beings. As we access these resources we build our capacity to open to ourselves and others, heal from trauma, experience new ways of being, move with less effort, imagine new possibilities, and feel empowered to take necessary action. In these times, I can’t imagine anything more important or nourishing than increasing our capacity by opening to our body’s inheritance.
Donnella Wood is Registered Somatic Movement Therapist, Movement Educator, Laban Bartenieff Movement Analyst, Somatic Experience Trauma Practitioner (in training), Mental Health Counseling Intern, dancer, and writer. For over 20 years she has supported individuals in connecting with the inherent intelligence of their bodies. www.donnellawood.com
Tap in to the language and wisdom of the body this summer. Donnella is offering a special 3-part series, Inhabiting Our Earth Body, Tuesday August 1 – Thursday August 3 2017, as part of the Life.Art.Being Integrative Arts Festival.
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