21st Century: A Bronze Era
We are living in a pivotal time in human existence. Technology is booming, the environment is dwindling, over one-third of Americans are overweight, and we seem to be getting sicker, lazier, and more stressed than previous years. Don’t get me wrong, modern medicine does wonders or those with acute illness, technology expedites processes that once took days if not weeks to accomplish, and we aren’t running out of food anytime soon. However, one of the biggest threats that is slowly threatening our health and existence is the lack of body-care that we (or the average person) has.

Body care is a simple idea of taking care of one’s body; from the inside to the outside. Organ health, skin health, bone and muscle health, all of this could be considered body care. It involves listening to one’s own body and intuition, and involved a willingness to dive deeper into the self. This however is not where we are as a civilization. We have become alienated from our bodies, we rely on external stimulation for distraction (this includes social media, food, alcohol, television, etc) and we drive this pattern deeper each time we avoid taking a mindful step towards our own temple- our own body. This leads to kinestethic dystonia, also known as sensory motor amnesia.

I’m not surprised by this. We have been conditioned to put all our hopes and answers into the hands of modern day ‘healers’, that being doctors and western medicine. We have leaned so far towards chemical dependency that it seems to be the only thing people can understand when it comes to overcoming chronic pain or discomfort. It has taught us to numb out what bothers us and to put the trust into people who don’t live in our body. This behavior of chemical dependency gets wired into us as being the solution- and if it isn’t a pill you’re being suggested to take, it’s some sort of “non invasive” surgery. In my book- any surgery is invasive. Somebody going into my body with a knife while I’m out cold is pretty effing invasive. We’ve gotten lazy, and we have lost our curiosity. We don’t play with ourselves, we don’t explore ourselves, essentially most people voluntarily choose not to be a participant with their physical self.

Your Body, Your Temple
Chemical dependency got its’ strong foothold in the 20th century and today we are witnessing the side effects of addictive drugs further perpetuating dependency habits. Big Pharma along with the USDA and oil companies have become some of the largest contributors to making us sicker by the year. The USDA keeps us sick by selling us information that they want us to eat up (we all remember the shiesty food pyramid they came up with). Oil companies have integrated so much plastic and chemicals in our day-to-day life that we A; can’t live without plastic, and B; rely on materials that are not natural to the earth. Studies are coming out about how these chemically bonded materials are actually carcinogenic to humans and are disrupting the nervous system, mitochondrial health, and putting our biology at risk of developing cancers that we haven’t seen before. Lastly, the technology era; wifi and electromagnetic frequencies. Technology and social media is moving us to a more isolated life, one where we create our own private bubbles to live in a fantasy world where we only see and receive things that pertain to us. Similar to studies being done with plastics, scientists are learning that blue light and EMF are causing serious issues for human beings down the line. Everything from a decrease in bone mineralization density to depression.

Reconnecting With Nature
So here we are; the most evolved animal, yet we’re sicker than ever. Everything from arthritis, to obesity, to diabetes, to depression, to cardiovascular issues are all becoming more and more likely as we continue into the 21st-century. We work so hard for money and status, that we realize that we are ultimately sacrificing ourselves to buy crap we don’t really need. We’re becoming less connected to the roots of mother earth, and instead becoming more connected to metals, wires, plastics, and magnetic frequencies. These things are rotting us from the inside out- decrepitude, inflammation, dysfunction, the list goes on. Body care is something we avoid or look to put into the hands of others (like doctors). Whats worse is we don’t take the time to look at ourselves, to feel ourselves, to be one with ourselves.

Your body is your temple, and if you get offended by that word, insert ‘home’ instead. Your body is your home. It is the one tool you’ll have for a lifetime. What’s even better, is that by going into your body you inherently go into your mind. You start to figure out your issues, your tendencies, and you start to face your problems head on. Obviously you can do this with a psychotherapist, but in my field I’ve noticed that taking the approach of going through the body can help the mind to let go and the pain or discomfort in the body to unravel. We have three ways of changing our shape; improving our biomechanics, expressing our emotions, and changing our environment. Adopting some of these steps can help anybody overcome themselves- but it starts with behavior change and giving up reliance on some sort of external stimulus / pain killer. We can dance with the world if we can first learn to let go of the artificial world’s chokehold on us.

Do we really need to make six-figure salaries? Who are you trying to be? The studies have shown that happiness has a tipping point, and it’s between $70-90k depending on where you live. Now if you’re someone who wants to live a luxurious life, by all means do it- but there is a correlation between money and dysfunction. The more you make the more you accumulate stress, and that tension builds and gets redistributed somewhere in the body. It has to. This is not a matter of opinion, this is a matter of scientific truth.

 

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