IA Newsletter, March ’20 : A response to the CoronaVirus – BE IN YOUR BODY

Now on a less facetious note, the Coronavirus pandemic is no laughing matter.  If you have never believed before, you will believe it now, that your well-being is connected to my well being; that we are all connected, but we have, over time, lost our way.  Mother Theresa is quoted as poignantly saying; “We have no peace because we have forgotten that we belong to each other”.

This crisis is an opportunity for us to re-evaluate how we live, work, and play, gather, relate to each other and take care of each other.

There have been countless, varied and essential contributions by experts, leaders, organisations, medical professionals, scientists etc. about our how we should be responding to Coronavirus, I am grateful for all the invaluable facts about the disease itself, practical guidelines, social and medical protocols, messages of hope, pleas for calm and kindness and leadership.

That said, I’ve had to curtail my exposure to the media, because over the last weeks, I also started noticing an increasing tightness in my chest; a feeling that I am not really breathing easily, rather holding my breath, waiting for something to befall us.   All the facts and information have been absolutely helpful and yet, my body is letting me know, that I need to breathe. The fear, worry, anxiety is taking my breath away.

How are you feeling?
What is your body needing from you?
What is your body signaling to you?
Which part is calling for your attention?
If like me, you notice that you are not breathing well, please try this tapping exercise to help you breathe better, courtesy of Nick Ortner

Opening Up the Breath of Healing the Lungs Tap-Along by Nick Ortner : click here

Once I started breathing easier, by doing this exercise, multiple times, I realized that I needed to feel alive in a particular way. I needed to laugh. Pardon the pun, but the seriousness is killing me.

Laughter, like crying is the body’s intelligence at its best; your diaphragm pressing against the rib cage, forcing air out of the lungs, opening up the chest, the larynx, engaging facing muscles, increasing the feel-good hormones and reducing the stress chemicals.

Laughter helps us to feel good.  It allows us to discharge the stress in our bodies, and through this enables better thinking, better presence and better connection.

I suspect most of us have received many funny cartoons, jokes and memes on whatsapp – notice what happens in your body, when you smile or laugh out loud, how the energy shifts inside you.

Our children are living through this, with us. They are sensing our tension, our anxiety, our
pre-occupations. It is no way for them to live. They need to feel our aliveness, our lightness so that they know that they ok.  They are depending on us.

Moving your body and helping it to feel alive and well is as essential as social distancing and isolating– be in your bodies. Arouse your senses; listen to feel good music, dance, sing, breathe deeply, and connect in aliveness, not with fear.

Find ways to live joyfully, in this present time. Find ways to laugh and release the tension. Our funny sides are going to help us get through this in a more enlivening way.

Laughter is contagious. If you are a reader, may I recommend consciously choosing some funny books? I am currently reading and loving David Sedaris’s Me Talk Pretty One Day.  I also recommend Adam Kay’s This is  going to hurt (Secret diaries of a junior doctor), and for you and your older children, the classic Sue Townsend’s Adrian Mole’s series.

Here are some funnies from Imago Africa Board to help you chuckle.