We’ve established that change and transition need to happen concurrently for the change to stick (Managing human transitions for successful change). Change is about “doing” and transition is about “being” – what goes on in the mind. If we don’t pay attention to the emotional stuff, the change will be much less sticky.
But what about the body? Does that play a part too? I am beginning to see that it does. My body has been “upset” shall we say, by the changes that I have put it through. “Upset” by the changes to my work situation, and “upset” by the operation on my foot. You’d think that the latter would be obvious – of course my body, and my toe especially, doesn’t like being cut open. But it’s not just my toe that’s been affected.
I’m a very active person – I like to walk and to run and to box. I find these help my sanity as well as my waistline. I spent the first two weeks of my convalescence in bed; or at least with my foot up on the sofa. Since then, I have been slowly increasing the amount of walking I can do, but I have to be patient about how much I do, otherwise I end up spending the next day with my foot up again.
It turns out that my stomach and my spleen don’t much like that. Huh? Stomach and spleen – how are they affected by lack of activity? Well, that body of ours is interconnected, not just by the muscles and tendons and bones, but also to our minds. My stomach and spleen just want me to crawl back under to duvet, like I was before. That’s just not normal for me. I don’t do duvet days. I like my list, I like to get on with things, I like to feel like I am making progress. That’s the connection to walking and running – they take me forward, physically, and that helps me feel like I am moving forward with work and home stuff.
Where am I going with all of this? Well, I have discovered shiatsu. I am in awe of my shiatsu practitioner, Sarah Waller, who has been working on my body, for the past 8 months or so, to get me back to “normal,” as I work through these big transitions in my life. It all started when I told a friend that I couldn’t get rid of the tightness in my chest that had been lingering for weeks, since I had heard about the possibility of down-sizing our function. It was an odd sensation. My friend suggested I might want to try some body work, and she referred me to her shiatsu practitioner.
What a difference it has made. My body has been through just as much as my mind throughout all of these changes, and paying attention to it has really helped me. I don’t pretend to know all the science behind it, or the technical terms, and certainly not how to do it, but I know it is working for me.
So now, if you are in the midst of a change, I would advocate not only working on your emotional ups and downs that are a natural part of transition. I also suggest working on your body, to get it all aligned and functioning properly.
