Compassion, the Way to Healing

In order to live fully we may need to look deeply and respectfully at our own suffering and the suffering of others. In the depth of wounds we have survived is the strength we need to live. The wisdom our wounds can offer us is a place of refuge. Finding this is not for the faint of heart. But then, neither is life. [1]

Rachel Naomi Remen

My journey to a greater sense of wellbeing was made possible by compassion.  In my search for a way to understand and find a solution to my physical and emotional pain (read here for more about my journey), I learnt that the first step was to begin to meet myself in a more compassionate way. Through mindfulness meditation and the Alexander Technique I learnt to see my habitual responses to life and over time develop a more compassionate response which allowed me to move towards healing.

I was shown the way by one person in particular, a Feldenkrais practitioner, who met me at the depths of my pain, some years ago. She listened to my suffering and responded with a deep respect for my experience. I expressed a need to be treated gently, which she acknowledged and understood. This set the framework for our work together over a period of months. I was deeply moved by the respectful and quiet way in which she heard and supported me. This proved a turning point in my journey and became a foundation for the way I now work with other people.

Pain, injury and trauma (whether large or small) take a toll on our bodies and minds. In response to injury and trauma we can lose our sense of balanced and dynamic support through our emotional, skeletal and muscular systems. We may lose the ability we had as young children to connect accurately with the ground and begin to compensate by recruiting excess muscular tension in parts of the body which are not designed for the task of movement. We begin, sometimes from an early age, to lose our connection to our sense of wellbeing.

The Alexander Technique offers a unique response to pain and suffering. Whilst at one level it is about movement, about re-educating our postural patterns for greater ease and wellbeing, at a much deeper level it provide us with insights into how we respond to the world and our environment. It reveals a way to see how this is expressed through the stories we tell about ourselves, the beliefs and attitudes we hold, and our emotional and postural habits. All this is learnt early in life and our attachment to the stories of who we are can bind us to our suffering and pain or lead us to a deeper understanding and acceptance of ourselves. It is only from this place that healing may begin.

The Alexander Technique provides us with the tools to develop compassion for ourselves. It develops our ability to attend to how we do what we do from a place of non-judgmental awareness. We learn to understand our muscular and emotional compensations and to release that which is unnecessary to meet the task we are engaged with. We learn to live life from an easier and more grounded place.







[1] My Grandfather’s Blessings, The Berkley Publishing Group, New York, 2000, p138

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