When you are busy, tired and under a lot of stress, do you listen to what your body may be telling you?
For many years (in my teens and twenties) I was an active athlete and really enjoyed the sport (hurdling).
From time to time I would pickup injuries – mainly leg muscle strains or tears.
These would heal given rest, good sports physios and the vitality of youth.
But there were weaknesses left behind – scar tissue and general wear and tear, for example.
Years later I still like to run but at a much more gentle pace. Even so, I do get injured – especially in my left or right calf.
In the past I would ignore minor calf twinges and get away with it.
These days, I run the risk of a major tear/strain and being out of running for a month or more.
Fortunately, I usually get advance warning that something is amiss. When I burn the candle at both ends (e.g. through overwork) I often find that my eyes are very tired. There’s a general weariness surrounding both eye sockets that won’t go away.
If I then go out for a run to try and “shake out the cobwebs”, I seem to run a 50/50 risk of pulling a calf muscle. Duh!
It’s almost as if my body (via eye tiredness) is signaling that R-E-S-T would be the best remedy – not jogging. Especially for a runner like me, who gets carried away with “feeling good” and starts to raise the pace – usually to ‘burn off’ an OAP power walker haha!
Today, for once, I listened to the innate somatic wisdom of the body and ended my run at the warm-up stage, even though a spring-like, sunny Saturday was beckoning me to go for a gallop.
Yep, my eyes were ‘weary’ beforehand. And yep, I felt minor tugging in my right calf.
So, reluctantly, I walked back to my house and sat out in the garden for a while with our dog.
Maybe I should follow her lead more often!
- Mark McClure
PS – If you’re interested in somatic ideas and paying attention to your body wisdom, here’s an interesting site to explore. It’s called Seishindo and the teacher is Charlie Badenhop. He lives a few train stops from me and I’ve been to some of his Saturday classes, though not recently.
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