Walk in the bush and celebrate your body

I went for a walk in the bush today.

The track wandered up and down, round one way and then the other, over bridges, across roads, in amongst tree ferns, in amongst little ferns, in between huge trees, in between little spindly trees. The analogy was that it is like life - twists and turns, some effort needed here and then easy here, across bridges. And all the way there was a stillness. The bush and trees provide an awareness of the oneness of life. They provide a sense of the ongoing nature of life - no matter what happens, life goes on. So we may as well accept and go for the ride. The trees and the earth is here - they may shake too and then settle and their energy regenerates all of us.

 The sound of the water flowing in the stream and falling down the waterfall is also calming. There is a stillness in the movement and movement in the stillness. Life flows on. Go with it.

 And while I was walking I was aware of my body. It was feeling easy and working smoothly. No tension. After a while there was a little pain in one hip and I reminded myself to alter my movement just a little. I learned this from someone who does Orthbionomy. One of the principles is to move muscles, joints, limbs in the way that that the part of the body wants to move. Often we get a pain because we are using a a particular part in a way that is causing friction. So slow down and be aware of the detail of the movement and experiment with shifting the movement slightly.
So I slowed down and brought my awareness to the movement of my legs. I became aware of the feet movements and how my foot below that hip was moving. Then as I felt each little movement of heel, ball of foot and toes, I altered the movement just a little and then my hip gradually felt okay.
Magic eh!! So simple.
The same principle can be applied to daily living. Open into stillness, observe what is happening in your body - be it muscle tension or emotion. listen deeply. What is here in this moment, no other moment but this moment.