If we do a hard workout, we expect to feel sore the next day. If we don’t feel sensation during the exercise or sore in our muscles the next day, we get down on ourselves.
I guess I didn’t push as hard as I could have. I need to do more next time. This routine isn’t working.
On the other hand, if we wake up sore and we didn’t do a workout the day or two before, we think something is wrong.
Same sensations in the body. In one case it’s presence is welcome and its absence is a cause for concern — or at least self-berating.
In another case, it’s presence is cause for concern.
What’s the difference?
Expectations.
Assumptions.
The stories we tell.
We expect muscle soreness following a hard workout. We assume it means that we pushed ourselves to the max. So we tell stories that reinforce those narratives.
No pain, no gain.
Feel the burn.
If we don’t feel the sensation during or after, we assume it’s not working, that we’re not doing it right.
We ignore other possibilities to stick with well-known cultural narratives about what the sensations mean and when we should want them.
Despite evidence that these cultural narratives are not true.
Human beings.
We spend so much time living in our heads that we disconnect from our bodies. And we forget how to listen to our bodies.
Maybe those sensations are not speaking to an injury or even related to your workout. Maybe the sensation you feel is a sign of a stuck emotion or other subconscious energy block.
Maybe it doesn’t mean anything at all.
Not everything needs a reason or a story.
Just because you don’t feel something happening while you’re working doesn’t mean your work isn’t working.
Just because you feel pain when you think you shouldn’t doesn’t mean you have a problem.
In my personal practice this is one of the hardest lessons for me to integrate. I have a high sensitivity to sensations. I’m always looking for the causes. And if I don’t feel sensation, I assume I’m not doing it right.
I consistently return myself to this question:
What if nothing is wrong?
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