Being Able to Stay in the Space
When we open a space for ourselves in life, we often feel the need to fill it straight away.
Something ends and we quickly begin something new. The intensity drops and we immediately make a new plan. Silence comes and our hand reaches for the phone. When we can't find an answer, we try to think more, research more, produce more solutions.
Because staying in the space isn't easy.
The space can feel like somewhere control has lessened, where we don't know what comes next, and where the familiar state of movement has been interrupted. As if staying there too long means we'll miss something, fall behind, or come face to face with feelings we'd rather not meet.
Perhaps the space isn't a gap in our lives, but somewhere we can learn to stay.
How Does Uncertainty Show Up in the Body?
Uncertainty isn't always an easy experience for the nervous system. Research shows that uncertainty can in some cases be perceived as a threat, leading to higher reactivity in threat-related regions of the brain.
This is why, when we encounter a space, the mind moving quickly into action is completely understandable. To reduce the discomfort that uncertainty creates, the mind may try to fill that space with a thought, a decision, a goal or an activity.
Sometimes what we do is genuinely something we need. Sometimes it's simply a way of moving away from what the space brings up.
Staying in the space isn't doing nothing. It's being able to remain with what we're experiencing for a while, without immediately trying to change it.
Listening to the Body While in the Space
While the mind searches for an answer, the body is often telling us something else. Our breath may quicken. Our jaw may tighten. Our shoulders may rise. We may feel pressure in the chest or restlessness in the belly.
The capacity to notice these signals is called interoception: the ability to perceive and make sense of signals coming from the body, such as breath, heartbeat, muscle tension and internal movement.
What am I noticing in my body right now? Is this feeling fixed, or does it shift over time? Can I open a little more space for myself before moving into action? What do I need right now?
These questions don't need to be answered immediately. Sometimes simply being able to hear the question is enough.
How Do Myotherapy and Trauma-Informed Yoga Open a Space?
One of the most valuable aspects of myotherapy and trauma-informed yoga begins exactly here. The aim isn't only to relax the body or to quickly remove an uncomfortable feeling. The aim is to notice the signals the body is giving, and to create a space in which we can make a choice in response to those signals.
In a trauma-informed yoga approach, the person's bodily experience isn't forced or overridden. The right to choose, a sense of safety, and the ability to recognise one's own limits are all supported.
A person can choose to join a movement, modify it, stop, or simply observe. In this way, the body stops being an object to be corrected and becomes a place we can communicate with and receive information from.
These small moments may be where our relationship with the body begins to shift.
We Don't Have to Fill Every Space
Perhaps in some periods, what we need isn't to add more to our lives. Not a new goal. Not a new solution. Not an immediate decision.
Perhaps we need to pause for a while, to feel, and to remain with what hasn't yet been resolved.
Opening space for ourselves is one thing. Being able to stay inside the space we've opened is another skill entirely.
Perhaps healing isn't being able to fill every gap in our lives, but feeling safe enough to stay inside some of them without drifting away from ourselves.
What About Opening a Small Space for Yourself?
Before moving on to something else the moment you finish reading this, you might pause for a few seconds. Notice the contact of your feet with the ground. Observe how your breath moves without changing it. Approach the place in your body that draws your attention most with curiosity.
You don't need to solve anything. You can simply notice what is with you right now.
If you'd like to get to know your body's signals more closely and create a safe space of contact with yourself, you're welcome to explore Miyomotion's Myotherapy and Trauma-Informed Yoga sessions, or to get in touch with us about which path might suit you.
Sometimes the first step isn't moving forward.
It's being able to accompany yourself
in the place where you already are.
