This article is an update of a blog post originally published in December 2015.
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Feeling stuck?
Like you’re hitting a brick wall?
Pulled back into the same self-defeating patterns again and again by some kind of magnetic force?
You might be experiencing resistance. Two things about resistance:
- It’s an exquisite UNTAPPED life force energy
- It’s also the (potential) root of self-sabotage
The difference lies in our understanding and RESPONSE to resistance. Here are some thoughts that may provide a new perspective on the resistance we all experience on the path towards healing…
“Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.” ~ Steven Pressfield
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What if I told you that resistance was a good sign?
A sign that your life energy was starting to burst through?
(And, if you could just learn the skill set to work with it – and know that all would be okay – would you keep reading?)
You see, that block (that resistance) is often touching into a deeper hurt. A threatening time from the past. A trauma. Either “seemingly” benign, or earth-shatteringly horrific. A time when your desire to move forward, to be rambunctious, full of energy, flirtatious…to be ALL of you, was squashed dead.
Typically, and sadly, this hurt happens very young. And all too often the perpetrator is a parental figure, a teacher, a sibling, or a bully.
Then, the second line of attack to our life force energy can come more as a cultural collective. It can be less obvious, insidious and toxic: societal norms, ideology, rules.
So, when you feel those pangs of pressure on your insides and the resistance to stop, to hide, to give up, to not go – GO!
Go with all your heart, guts and brains.
This is healing.
It’s healing, or more accurately, the chance to heal from those early wounds that put you into resistance mode in the first place. All those times when you couldn’t push back. When you couldn’t say no. Or kick back. Fight or leave (flee).
But, because the body had to do “something” to preserve its safety, it froze up. It shut down.
And those tightly grooved, neurochemical and physiological responses to those early wounds had to occur back then for that preservation instinct to kick in. But they don’t have to anymore.
Understand that the resistance that might be felt right now could very well be an undercurrent of energy (a strong current perhaps) that NEEDS to come forth.
Just imagine how much energy might be under there!
When I ask people to investigate their resistance – to really lean into it, a whole lot of juicy stuff shows up:
1 – Their pushback reveals a feeling that’s living inside of them that has been unexpressed and suppressed.
2 – There might be a specific sensation attached to it: a tightness, an uneasiness, a pang deep in the stomach that is holding on so tight, and trying not to feel the imagined pain of failing.
3 – Potent emotional qualities such as disgust towards oneself may come through, with one of the worst qualities inflicted on our psyches and bodies showing up in full force: self-hatred.
4 – And, all too often there is a deep element of anger and its cousin, frustration: a sense of wanting to stomp, hit and kick all the crap that has been stored up inside that is showing up as…
Yes, you guessed it:
Resistance! That’s all it is. It’s good life energy.
The unexpressed emotion, the unfelt sensation and all the primal energies have a lot of punch to them, and when you keep that punch inside, it feels like a massive dam that is waiting to burst open. Yet it kind of scares us, because it’s been hidden and stored away, asleep.
I encourage you to use this resistance to your advantage. Lean into it.
To go a little deeper here and lean in a bit more from a somatic and nervous system lens, be sure to download an eBook and audio neurosensory exercise I have called 4 Steps To Beat Your Inner Resistance & Unleash Its Healing Forces.
This guided exercise will introduce you to some basic nervous system practices, so you can better tune in to your body and all its potential for working with resistance, and much more!
Enjoy the learning and tapping into that exquisite life force energy.
Irene.
PS In the classic Star Wars movies, The Resistance was for the good, right? Because it helped to battle and conquer The Dark Side!
