The Wisdom of Movement
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The body is one of our most honest teachers — physical exertion offers a direct embodied experience of meeting tension and discovering how we can grow through it
Strength is built at the edge of capacity — growth happens when we are willing to stay with discomfort just long enough to expand what feels possible (physically and emotionally)
The body and mind are partners — learning to remain present with physical discomfort builds the same nervous system capacity required to be present with our emotional life
● Note: Today's Mindful Monday was inspired by Dr. Arielle Schwartz's continuing education course on somatic, movement, and polyvagal techniques for trauma recovery. Learn more about her work, upcoming events, and educational opportunities via the link below. Now, on to today's article!
What has the body been showing you?
For many of us, our relationship with exercise can mirror our relationship with emotional discomfort more than we might realize. We might notice that we push to hard and burn out, or we avoid the edge entirely and stay safely within what already feels manageable. Or, we confuse intensity with progress — mistake comfort for safety. All the while, we know that in reality most meaningful things grow with some sort of contact with tension.
Today, we consider how we meet our bodies when we experience tension and how this can parallel the way we meet ourselves emotionally.
What the body is teaching the mind
In trauma informed somatic frameworks, there is a central concept known as the window of tolerance. Developed by Dr. Dan Siegel, the window of tolerance refers to the optimal zone of nervous system arousal in which we can respond effectively to our emotions and sensations. When we are within this window, we feel grounded and we can experience emotion without being overwhelmed by it.
Dr. Arielle Schwartz takes this idea and uses it as a foundation to discuss what can happen when we work at the edge of our individual windows. She notes that when working at the edge, with care and pacing, we can begin to expand our ability to stay present with a wider range of sensations and emotions without becoming overwhelmed or numb. This is, in many ways, exactly what exercise can teach us over time.
You may notice edges in your own physical practice:
The point in a run where breath becomes labored, and the mind begins negotiating a stop
The final repetitions of a lifting set where capacity is being asked to stretch
A held pose where a muscle trembles and your attention either softens into the sensation or escapes from it (If I have any fellow [solidcore] fans as readers, you know this feeling well!)
All these examples allude to titration, a concept in trauma work that refers to experiencing small and tolerable amounts of intensity that build tolerance overtime. Strength, whether physical or emotional, is built by repeated contact with the edge of what we can hold (*and the discovery that the edge keeps moving).
The body and mind are interconnected
Somatic frameworks illuminate the connection between the body and mind, and Schwartz’s work emphasizes interoception to discuss this connection. Interoception is our internal sensory awareness, the felt sense of subtle bodily cues that carry information about our emotional state.
When we practice meeting our bodies with presence during challenging moments of exercise (observing the breath quickening without panicking, feeling the burn without immediately fleeing), we are practicing the same skill that allows us to stay with grief, anger, anxiety, or fear when they arise in our emotional lives. The nervous system that learns to remain regulated through physical effort is the same nervous system that will be called upon when life gives you a difficult experience to navigate through.
An important call out here: This is a process of meeting your body and emotions, not forcing yourself in a strenuous way beyond your limits — only you know these intimately. This discussion is about bringing curiosity to your sensations, listening to what your body is communicating, and making intentional choices to stay with what is workable.
This is an encouragement to meet your edge, not to bulldoze it. The former builds capacity, the latter fosters dissociation.
Off The Page: Actioning The Insights
Practicing with presence through movement
Working with the edge this week
This week, the practice is to use your body as a teacher. Whether you are running, lifting, stretching, walking, or simply moving through a difficult sensation in your day, the invitation is to meet the experience with the same presence and care you want to bring to your emotional life.
Reflection Questions: Allow your mind to ponder openly
When physical discomfort arises in your body, what is your first instinct?
Where is the edge of your window of tolerance?
Is the way you exercise an act of care or an act of avoidance?
Strategies to Try:
Locate the edge and notate how long you can stay inside of it — During physical exertion this week, notice the moment you reach the edge of what feels comfortable and don’t push past it or retreat from it. Observe how long you can meet it with breath, awareness, and curiosity.
Track the body’s information as you move — Practice interoception during movement. Where do you feel the effort? What happens to your breath? Where does your mind go when sensations intensify?
Bring the lesson back to your life — If emotional discomfort arises, see if you can meet it in the same way you have been practicing meeting physical effort. (i.e. Can I notice what is happening without losing myself in it?)
Thank You
Thank you for joining me this week! I’m excited to keep sharing insights from my work, research, and personal journey with you.
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