The Pain of Relative Flexibility
From the Body to the Brain
When your Physical Fitness is ignored, the body takes the path of least resistance, or Relative Flexibility. Overtime, due to poor posture, trauma and/or injury certain muscles become weak and inactive, while others start to compensate and become overactive. This phenomenon, when left unattended leads to pain and kinetic dysfunction. In order to restore proper length-tension relationship with the effected joints, you need to use SMR (CLICK HERE to read more) to relax the overactive muscles. You then stretch the same muscles/fascia and as if by magic, your pain has significantly lessened. This is the first step.
Pain though is not always felt just in the body, is it? What about the other pain you’ve been feeling? The pain that can not be addressed in a standard gym, because this pain has nothing to do with your physical fitness but with your Mental Fitness.
Due to excessive pressure, emotional strain, and past trauma, certain areas of your brain (Brain Stem, Limbic System and parts of the Left Hemisphere) have in fact become overactive. Just like the overactive muscles in your body, you’ve learned how to keep moving forward while living with the pain. It is the path of least resistance, Relative Flexibility (so to speak) in the brain.
Using these overactive areas cause mental pain and emotional dysfunction like:
The shame of being judged either by yourself or others.
The blame of judging others and circumstances in a way that brings about anger, hopelessness and apathy.
The dysfunctional idea your worth is in direct relationship to your achievements. The irrational need for perfection.
The stress caused by avoiding certain conversations or endeavors.
The feeling of guilt causing you to “people please”, unable to set boundaries or put yourself first, leaving you feeling resentment, tired and depleted.
The anxiety you feel wondering what could go wrong.
The need to point out errors made by others in order for you to be right and maintain order.
The anxiety driving you to control everything…and frustration when you can’t.
"If you are in the habit of creating suffering for yourself, you are probably creating suffering for others too. These unconscious mind patterns tend to come to an end simply by making them conscious, by becoming aware of them as they happen. You cannot be conscious and create suffering for yourself."
— Eckhart Tolle
What if there was an assessment you could take to determine the specific behaviors (Saboteurs) linked to these overactive areas of your brain? What if you could strengthen your ability to recognize these behaviors and learn to relax them, stopping the associated pain and emotional dysfunction? Would you want to join that gym, and start working on your Mental Fitness?
If so…know this is only the beginning of your journey…wait until you start the strengthening program.