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Mind
Body Health
“The key to health is to live fully the life of
the body. This means that feeling is more important than doing,
that being free is more important than being rich, and that
the present is always more important than the future. This
is not to deny some validity to the reality principle. But
in sacrificing the present for the future we must be sure
that the promise of future gain is not an impossible dream,
an illusion that can never be fulfilled. In terms of the body
there is neither success nor failure. Life is to be lived
and in the living of it one grows old and dies. But when the
living is postponed until success is achieved, "He made
it," the end is always tragic.
Living the life of the body means being in touch with one's
feelings and being able to express them. This requires that
the body be free as much as possible from the chronic muscular
tensions that affect all of us. We have to sense what goes on
in our bodies. We can only do that if we take time to work with
our bodies so that we can feel our legs and the ground,
be aware of how we hold ourselves, and how we breathe. For me
this means a regular program of bioenergetic exercises the rest
of my life. Such a program can greatly help in keeping my energy
at an optimum level.
It is most important in dealing with situations that create
undue stress to have the courage to withdraw physically. We
are afraid to withdraw because it feels like defeat. We hang
in because not to do so is viewed as failure. We must use our
wills to overcome our seeming fears and weaknesses to prove
our worth. We struggle against a fate that becomes more inevitable
the harder we try to avoid it. Really, we create the stressful
conditions that break us down in the long run.”
From Lowen, The Voice of the Body (2005), pp. 38-39.
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