Does your body speak to you?
New Year resolutions, good intentions, a fresh start, high hopes and then WAHBAM! Don’t be the hampster in the wheel. There’s a better way…
Symptoms are your body’s way of signaling deeper issues. They come in many forms - aches and pains in one or more joints, headaches, bloating, or even rapid heartbeats. Do you feel cracky or stiff and ridged? How about unstable at one or more places in your body? These are not the problem; they are the RESULT of a problem. This distinction is crucial when deciding whether to address a symptom directly or to resolve the underlying system that caused it.
Many of us have taken medication or followed protocols to ease discomfort - like taking an anti-inflammatory for a headache or stretching for a back ache. While these may provide short-term relief, they do not tackle the root cause. To achieve long-term wellness, we must shift our focus and start “feeling” these symptoms and then become proactive about treating our systems.
To be clear, a symptom is a sign of a system malfunction. For example a headache may stem from dehydration, muscle tension, or caffeine withdrawal. Joint pain might result from injury, arthritis, or poor movement patterns. Addressing the symptom alone - like putting a bandaid on it by using a medication - will leave the root cause unresolved and even lead to “other” symptoms to appear and us never putting this pattern of “system disfunction” together. They seem completely unrealated to oneanother.
A system is a network of interconnected parts working together. In the body, you have your immune system, your musculoskeletal system. and your nervous system all working togehter. This is how we sustain life as this is what the body is always work towards. When we work harmoniously we can live without pain and discomfort.
The Body as a System
The body is made up of many systems that allow us to sustain life. It naturally heals, fights infections, and signals problems through triggering pain and discomfort. For example, consider a cough: it’s not the problem but a symptom of an infection. Addressing only the cough with cough drops or suppressants doesn’t resolve the infection. Supporting our immune system however will address the infection, tackling the root cause and prevent the issue from recurring.
So how do we stop chasing symptoms and start addressing systems?
Well, we have to start “Feeling” what our body is telling us. We need to tap into what is happening without our conscious control and create an awareness that helps us help ourselves. When you understand how to recognize these common imbalances that can occur in the body we can create a map that directly affects our symptoms and gets our systems back on track. To be clear you can address the musculoskeletal pain yourself, optimizing your overall performance and wellbeing.
At 416 Pilates, we do exactly this as a part of our specialized fitness programming. We not only teach you how to recognize common imbalances we show you how to address them on the spot. We teach alignment and where you need to “feel the work” when we move you because you need to know exactly how “all things” are supposed to feel. Pain is NOT ok nor something you need to “work through”. So let’s stop chasing symptoms and start addressing our systems and take a more scientific approach to our well-being. Check out our schedule, 1st make an appointment for an intro class. These are FREE! 2nd, look for classes and register online for these specific movement experiences; MELT, Pilates + MELT, Length and Strength Reformer and Length and Strength Mat.
