Easing Effects of Injury (part 3 of 3)

This month we explore a third equally important, and perhaps the most challenging, practice in recovery from injury: calming the mind. (You might like to review the blog posts and practices from March and April 2025.) Injury frequently leads to condensing and/or closing off, which is a valuable protective response and likely we each have experienced this in our bodies. Have you also felt this in your mind? Often our response to injury (whether that be anger, fear, anxiety…) leads to condensing in our minds. [If you are wondering what I mean, try this: recall the sensations you had in your body when you sat on a warm beach enjoying a tangerine sunset over rhythmic waves. Feel the quality of your mind. Compare this to gingerly stroking your hot, sunburned shoulders after an afternoon of river rafting. Feel the quality of your mind. The first scenario likely offers a gentle spaciousness in your mind, the latter a contracting quality.]

My tai chi master of over a decade once spoke to me about injury after I had torn the lateral meniscus in my left knee. “Don’t give it power.” ‘It’ -referring to my injury. To agonize over my injury and dwell on it in my mind, he said, would delay or possibly prevent healing. He was NOT saying to ignore it and push thru pain but to acknowledge the injury and to move slowly into areas of emergent space. And yes, he offered me tai chi touch (a variation of cellular touch) that was invaluable.

Let’s explore a somatic practice of calming your mind: (in company with cellular touch and spacious movement)

• When you feel your mind contracting, use a spacious quality in your hands to touch your skull and offer cellular touch:
• Breathe slowly as you feel your hands transmit a quality of gentle expansion to your mind.(5-10 minutes)
• When you begin to move, rather than stating “I can’t….” (which tends to be an absolutist phrase that will cause your mind to close off), try stating “What can I… in this moment…?...” (this latter phrase allows your mind to be open to possibilities) and then move with a sense of spaciousness…and into space. Feel the quality of your mind.

Cellular touch + spacious movement + calm mind = Healing in wellness