Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

So many people have prefaced recent conversations with “I’m so worried about the election that….” or “I just don’t know what to trust,” or “Those people are insane!” or “Do you think it might be…?” 

It’s as if a pall of fear and doubt has descended upon the land, a suffocating, national buzz killer. Astrologers will tell us that the planets and stars are experiencing a stress in their line-up. Praying folks see the hand of God at work. But many people just feel the anvil of anxiety around their necks and wish it would go away. 

Moshe Feldenkrais often said that pain is the body’s response to disorganization. Often a person can feel really bad all over, and all it takes is a lesson working with the toes to set the entire system back online. If each one of us is part of this great body called democracy, are we individually not like parts of the human body? And if each individual took the time to lie down, breathe and pay attention, might this not affect the rest of the body politic?

I know it’s a stretch, but just for a moment, imagine if everyone in the US just decided to lie down and sense their backs against the floor for a few minutes. Notice the breath. Allow the face to widen. Roll to the Right. Roll to the Left. Notice how you feel.

I think I’ll go do that right now :-).