What Imbalance in the Body says about Inner Conflict

My husband and I sometimes travel to an island in the Caribbean called Saint Martin (it’s our intention to vacation there whenever possible!)

And in 2017 this beloved island was hit hard by Hurricane Irma. 

Even so, last December we decided to visit, hoping that much of the area had recovered - but we found out that, while the hotels and resorts had officially opened, much of the native population wasn’t provided the resources needed to rebuild.

This resulted in a week-long uprising on the French side of the island (where we stay).

Our 30-minute drive to the hotel turned into three hours of witnessing (and waiting for) protests in the streets - followed by the realization that our vacation would look much different than planned!

It felt prickly to witness all this, on vacation.

And yet, the invitation was there - could I sit with this discomfort, inside the contemplation of, “Why am I on vacation in the middle of an uprising? What meaning might this hold for me?”

Contemplation rarely provides an immediate answer. Instead, it’s the practice of simmering with the question, watching it evolve, and listening for the answer(s).  

First I realized, there was a Revolution happening inside my own body (at the same time I was witnessing this one in Saint Martin).

I arrived with a knee injury that made it hard to move around - much like the protests prohibited our movement on the island - which led me to ask the question, “If there’s an imbalance in my knee (the part of my body that requires flexibility for mobility) that’s causing an ‘uprising’ in my body, what’s my inner conflict?” 

The conflict was between my Outer world and my Inner world. 

My Outer world was filled with demands that put other people first and neglected my own needs. My Inner world was asking me to slow down and move toward my Soul Work in this world. 

This was an invitation for me to connect more fully (and more often) with my Self first, through contemplative meditation and intentional practice with Nature (which I teach about right here).

NOTE - the awareness of all this took time, and the changes that had to happen next have taken time, too.

For more than three months I inquired about my next steps, and finally I realized: I will say ‘yes’ to what I want and ‘no’ to what I’m supposed to do.

Here’s the beautiful part: In saying ‘yes’ to myself, the pain in my knee went away almost immediately… 

Of course, my knee pain comes back on occasion. But now I witness my knee as the teacher who guides me back to balance. 

If you’re ready to explore this idea further + dive into personal practice, head over here to check out my latest offerings (or dive into the archives of this blog for more!)

Love, Kathie