By Beth Dayo

(A column about the experience of living 'Life in the Body'—both within ourselves and as part of the collective body.

Recently, I was having coffee with a group of women who practice movement with me. As we were chatting, a few of them, mid-conversation, looked over and said, “We were just talking about how practicing at Bend n Move has lowered our reaction temperature.”

My response was immediate: “That almost makes me happier than the changes in your bodies.”

What made it more triumphant is the fact that they didn’t come to me seeking that “greener grass.” Nor do we spend time focusing on “reaction control” as a topic. In fact, no one ever said, “Beth, I really need help with how upset I get at this or that.” Our outside stressors are barely a blink on our radar within the studio.Yet, here we are—healing through connection and movement without directly trying to.

The “without directly trying to” part is important, because I’m certain we have all been lured by “greener grass” and have tried countless things to make our own life look like that. Oddly enough, sometimes this is exactly the thing that gets in our way. Since our mind and body are not separate, treating them as such thwarts our efforts to fix it. Discipline and “shoulds” may be a tool to get onto the path but they are not sustainable in the long run, which is why how you get green grass is so important.

Most of us “know” we need movement or meditation but that's our mind saying yes when our body might say no, “meditation is boring”, and “exercise is misery,” especially when you haven’t been active for some time. The disconnect comes because many ways we workout do not bring that same “knowing” into the body. 

When we have an experience where a workout is actually working something out: a tight shoulder, a repetitive mind pattern, a bit of self-doubt or fear, the stiffness that makes moving tough. It is no longer the obligatory miserable activity you “know” you “should” be doing that we culturally define as workout. When movement feels good—when it works out life’s kinks—it’s no longer hard to show up. You actually want to go. As foreign as this may be from your experiences, that’s the energy that drives us here.

Through the connections we make sharing this experience with others, we learn, we’re all in it together, cheering each other on for whatever each day brings. There’s no finish line here; there’s just one step, taken over and over, and it’s enough. There’s nowhere else to get to—you’re already here, and satisfaction with the now is the ultimate achievement this life has to offer. The true green grass is the loving tending of it, not even the grass itself.

Beth Dayo has been sharing her movement expertise with the West Seattle community for the last 13 years. She utilizes Pilates, Yoga, and Meditation to facilitate transformation for clients at her new studio, Bend N Move, located at 3850A Delridge Way SW. You can connect with her on Instagram @life.in.the.body or visit www.bendnmove.com