Control of the Toes

The reading of my chose memior somewhat spilled over into my practice this week.  There’s a section where Matt (a paraplegic for those not reading that book) ruminates on the idea that every time we choose to use the dishwasher instead of feel the warmth of the water on our hands or ride the elevator up instead of walking up one flight of stairs, we are encouraging a disconnection between our mind and body for the sake of convenience.  This made me feel somewhat guilty for my groans in class when any one particular muscle is throwing a fit at being stretched that day.  I have a feeling that Matt would suggest to allow myself to become fully aware of that pain, and what my mind and body are accomplishing through it.  Comparing my two legs after stretching one at a time on Tuesday really helped me make this idea tangible.  I could feel the difference between my two sets of muscles, and how one was more relaxed and supple than the other, which also means that I could feel my body’s progress as I work towards reusing muscles that haven’t been stretched in quite some time.  I sense this even more strongly with things I have never consciously tried to control before, like my toes and my breathing.  Looking back at the beginning of this class, I think it’s fair to say that my mind and my toes were almost completely disconnected, and given the amount of concentration it takes for me to completely open my chest and straighten my spine, I think the same can be said for the muscles that control my breathing.  I think it’s really cool that this practice is reconnecting me to my body, and it’s weird to think I didn’t have as much control over it as I thought I did.