Your Body is Wise
“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”
—Lao Tzu
I was born on a full moon.
My mom remembers sitting under the evening sky outside in the park while my dad played football with friends.
She saw the moon rise, large and round like her pregnant belly.
She noticed that the moon felt closer and larger than ever before. The air was clear and the world shimmered with a strange and comforting beauty.
Then her body told her…it was time.
It was her first birth, but like the turning of the earth, my mother’s body knew what to do.
The birth was progressing well, but as my mother tells it, the doctor was unfortunately in a hurry. More births to attend to. More patients to see. So he decided to intervene with forceps and speed the process along.
My mom had only been laboring for a few hours. Still it was not fast enough for him.
Grande Mãe by Alice Haibara
Do you know your own birth story?
There is such power held in the many stories that shape us, especially those threshold moments of initiation that usher us into a particular phase of life.
I didn’t know this story until I was 40 years old.
The story of my birth teaches me the mystery of the body's innate wisdom and of our inherent connection to the larger rhythms of nature.
The moon, who rules the tides of the sea, pulled on my mother’s womb waters and ushered me into life.
The moon, my mom, and me all co-labored in my birth.
I smile remembering that the first sentences that I strung together as a small child were, “Look at the moon! The moon is flying.”
La Luna, my mother’s celestial doula, continues to guide and inspire me to this day.
In the story of my birth, I also feel the pain of the way the body's wisdom is so often abrogated by an agenda of efficiency.
The natural timing of my mother’s body and my tiny infant body were interrupted by the dictates of the man in charge.
Before I took my first breath, I was forced to submit to someone else’s timeline.
Perhaps this is one reason I always feel a bit rushed, behind schedule or maybe even why I dislike being early.
“Movement and growth in nature takes time. The patience of nature enjoys the ease of trust and hope. There is something in our clay nature that needs to continually experience this ancient, outer ease of the world. It helps us remember who we are and why we are here.”
Woodblock by Kristine Velez
It is difficult to attune to the wisdom of our bodies in a culture that values speed over slowness, efficiency over sensuality, productivity over presence.
Daily, we bear witness to the ways the body of earth and the bodies of people are routinely sacrificed in the name of “progress” in both large and small ways.
And yet amidst the noise of capitalism and the pain of climate catastrophe, our bodies and the body of the earth whisper to us a different story, an ancient knowing, a bid for our flourishing.
There is another way to be…
The autumn season invites us to slow down, to accentuate our exhales, to savor the harvest, and to release the effort.
As we listen to the rhythms of the earth, we deepen into the wisdom and goodness of our own bodies who are of the earth and evolved out of the dance of her seasons and cycles.
Invitations to Reflect:
In what ways have the wisdom and rhythms of your body been overridden?
What might it look like to make space to move at the pace of your body rather than to the dictates of the culture?
If you pause to listen, what wisdom does your body have for you in this moment?
How does the season of autumn invite you to move and be?
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Hello, dear one. I’m Stephanie.
As a Soul Companion, educator, and sacred space holder, I am passionate about deepening our connection to the earth, our bodies, and the divine mystery that dances in all that is.
Let’s journey together into the sacred wild!
