I recently had a great experience of being aware of, and dealing with tension in my body. My husband had been driving our 4WD (four wheel drive) along a track on a beautiful sand island in Queensland with our friend following behind. Shortly into the journey, my friend’s car became bogged in the soft sand so we stopped and walked back to dig her out.
We had just un-bogged her when I noticed another car coming up from behind. My husband hopped into and started driving our friend’s car, while I ran back to our car upfront and started driving. There was no way around my car for anyone to overtake and it was likely the cars behind me would get bogged again if they stopped.
I had been a passenger on a few 4WD’ing trips, mostly along sandy tracks and had observed a lot along the way as to how to drive in very soft sand. However, I had never actually driven for myself. Now being in the driver’s seat, literally, was a whole new ballgame.
As I drove, I put into practice what I had learned from watching my husband drive. I found I quite enjoyed it, but after a few minutes I realised that when the track became more difficult – the holes got deeper and the sand softer – my shoulders, neck, arms and hands on the steering wheel tensed up. I also noticed I was leaning forward in my seat, with my body moving closer to the wheel, which was a sure sign that I was anxious and tense. The same thing happens at work. I am aware I can hunch up and move closer to the computer screen when my work becomes more complex.
I was bracing myself because I was in an unusual situation that in turn was making me even more tense. The internal butterflies I was feeling confirmed that when I’m tense on the outside, I am tense on the inside too and I can’t operate and/or make decisions as easily, or as clearly, as when I am relaxed and with myself. Tension takes away my decision-making capabilities.
So I listened to how my body was feeling and made a conscious decision to let go of the tension, to not brace myself, to relax my body, and to trust the car. I knew the car could handle the track no problems, but only if it was driven in the right way.
In trusting my capable car, I then chose – making a very mechanical decision – to loosen my grip on the wheel, sit back in my seat, release my shoulders, and go along for the ride. I was steering yes, but I was trusting and allowing the car to do the work. It felt very much like the car was an extension of my body and together we totally nailed the track!
The lesson I learned from all this is that I can make friends with tension as it is there to show me something first and then it is up to me to make choices that either help release the tension or instead work with it in a way that best supports me.
Universal Medicine, and specifically Serge Benhayon, have been integral in developing my understanding of how the body works and responds to situations and emotions in a very practical way. It is because of Serge Benhayon’s continued commitment to humanity and truth that I choose everyday to continue my relationship with my body so that I am the master of life, not the other way around.
by Suzanne Anderssen, Brisbane, Australia
Further Reading:
Connection To Self Through Conscious Presence
Anxiety – Unfolded
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
A beautiful example that it is us who bring the tension into our body and the freedom of letting it go.
It’s a very practical experience in your car and it can relate to all of life, the opportunity we have to be aware of how we feel in our body and make an adjustment to respond without the tension and stress. Great example Suzanne, I feel inspired to be more body aware today.
I love the example shared in this blog, it is so practical and relatable.
Great example of how simply we can all go into anxiety when we are faced with a new way of doing anything and what you have shared Susan feels True in the way to approach life when things are becoming a little off track. So we appreciate what life has shared and in that knowing we can deepen into our essences and allow the next level of appreciation to drop in and thus feel the confirmation and authority that comes when we Truly-appreciate.
I’ve felt really annoyed this morning and tense. It feels like I keep trying to go through life in that braced way but it’s not working, wanting it (to go through life tense) to work and it not happening is what’s frustrating me… maybe it’s time to cut my investment to wanting to control the situation.
When the tools are there the sand will move with little effort and we can move on down the track unencumbered by our out dated control mechanisms.
When I recognise tension in my body I know it is calling for the Gentle Breath so that I don’t drive myself deeper into the sand – or the mud.
Recognising the tension in our bodies gives us the opportunity to make a different choices, this blog is a great example.
Isn’t this a great metaphor for life? When we surrender and don’t harden and tense, even the most difficult situations become much easier to handle.
We have camels for a reason! 😂 I love this that we can learn from the tension in our bodies as it is showing us it is there for a reason, very cool to learn.
It is interesting how our body goes into tension in anticipation of what may happen, it feels very much like a learned behaviour, that when we do it often it becomes an automatic reaction, yet if we stay with our breath our shoulders drop and from something that could have been eventful for the wrong reasons, turns into a joyful experience that we wouldn’t mind repeating.
I love what you write about making a concious decision to let go of the tension, with this ‘mecanical’ change of our movements we make the start to let ourselves not be ruled by the world but feel that we have the power to be in charge of our body in order to do what is asked of us.
This is a great example of how we feel everything when we are connected to our bodies and from there we can make a different choice, otherwise we stay in control and complicate things.
There is much in this blog that I find very supportive and practical in how to respond to tension, in particular what stands out for me in this reading is, “… I then chose – making a very mechanical decision – to loosen my grip on the wheel, sit back in my seat, release my shoulders, and go along for the ride.” The dissipation of the tension is not something that just happens, we have to make the conscious decision and make the actual mechanical action to make a change having first being honest with our self as to what is occurring for us and being aware of what is happening in the body.
Making friends with tension is a powerful and empowering relationship to have.
When I read your blog today Suzanne it made me realise that our body itself is a vehicle – a four wheel drive and with a natural innate wisdom that is more than capable of navigating life, if we let go of the control and surrender to that natural wisdom and intuition.
I am very aware when I am driving when I start to feel tension in my body I need to make adjustments either with my speed, the space between the cars, my body position or all three, if the don’t I feel tired when I arrive, particularly on long journeys.
Embracing tension is an assured way to hand over ourselves to situations where we feel trapped and diminished, whose steering is done in contraction in the hope that the results may not be that bad. So, an increase (in tension) lead to a reduction of everything else (starting with us and our capacity to respond well to a situation).
What I can get from this is that tension is our own response to a situation, and it does not define the situation as whatever we want to frame it. It is all about a relationship.
Our relationship with tension. We can surrender to that relationship, with tension, and make new choices.
‘I can make friends with tension as it is there to show me something first’ now this is so important to hear … we, and I very specifically am not always comfortable with tension, but in fact it’s there to show us something and it’s our choice in that next moment how we are with it … in reaction or surrendering and feeling how we can be in our body with what is before us.
Learning to accept that tension is a part of life brings an understanding to myself that drops any pictures or ideals about how life or myself should be.
The track of life, there you go, Suzanne. What a beautiful metaphor of the way we drive through life, we can, when there are tensions, hunch, contract and tense our bodies, or stay open and relaxed, walk or sit straight, not worry and trust we are able to handle any situation.
It’s so true Suzanne, when we are tense and anxious we lose our clarity and ability to make decisions based on that transparency and understanding.
Very true, ‘when I’m tense on the outside, I am tense on the inside too and I can’t operate and/or make decisions as easily, or as clearly, as when I am relaxed and with myself. Tension takes away my decision-making capabilities.’
With awareness comes choice” So I listened to how my body was feeling and made a conscious decision to let go of the tension, to not brace myself, to relax my body, and to trust the car. “
“I knew the car could handle the track no problems, but only if it was driven in the right way.” A very accurate analogy for the human body.
Every step of the way we have walking with us the greatest friend to guide us to live as harmoniously as we possibly can. Our body will always reflect the truth our what we are choosing in any moment, which reveals what energy we have aligned to. In our willingness to be honest with how we are feeling we have the awareness to make a shift and adjust the way we are moving and what we are aligning to.
Carola I get what you are saying with this comment
‘Our body will always reflect the truth our what we are choosing in any moment, which reveals what energy we have aligned to.’
My body is currently showing me how much I use nervous energy to get through life, I use it as a form of protection. I use nervous tension in my body like a drug to keep me in a state where I’m in disconnection to my surroundings or to what my body is telling me, how ridiculous that I use nervous energy rather than listening to my body? More importantly who has given me the intelligence to know how to do this and where does it come from?
Observation is a great way to learn things.
Simply learning to trust our bodies… That it’s really that simple… And yet such a profound change happens in our lives when we do learn to do this to trust and feel.
Beautiful Suzanne, a lesson where we all can learn from observing where we are tense and bringing ourselves in a contraction modus… Becoming aware is the start and from there on we can start to make choices that actually help us surrender to our bodies when we feel we become tense again. Step by step we will disolve our contraction to the tension we are sensing as we learn to observe our own bodies; feelings and become aware of our body posture and amount of stress /tension held in our body at times. From there on we can start to change things.
A great example of how we can be with tension when we notice it, ‘So I listened to how my body was feeling and made a conscious decision to let go of the tension, to not brace myself, to relax my body, and to trust the car.’
The body knows best and when we can get out of the way and not drive a certain agenda, together (rather than in separation from each other) we can perform miracles.
Absolutely Gabriele – we gain nothing when we try to control, however we do gain access to all that is on offer when we surrender to the truth in our body.
Having done a lot of 4WD adventures I say it’s hard NOT to tense up when your driving those tracks – it’s scary stuff with potential danger at every turn – either by getting bogged, being rammed by another car if you get bogged on a corner or having a head on collision on the one-lane soft sand tracks… I’m leaving the camping to others now!
Suzanne only yesterday I had a new situation that caused me a bit of panic. I even rang someone, but they didn’t pick up, so I had to figure out what to do for myself. Afterwards I wondered what all the fuss was about. You are so right that when we loosen our grip (on life) we can make decisions and trust that we know.
“Tension takes away my decision-making capabilities.” To consciously choose to listen to your body and then surrender in a difficult situation – a powerful inspiration for us all.
Suzanne, awesome, and what a mega punch of a last sentence ! AB-solutely right. We have to surrender indeed and give ourselves over to God , letting our body indeed release the tension – move on with that surrender doing what needs to be done. This totally exposes the comfort of control we can live by and how actually quiet adventurous it can be once we let go of that – and surrender to what is new (love) and trust that all will be fine as when we are in connection with our body. In this case it is a beautiful example of how our car is symbol for our body.. And so we can see many things in the world.
Let us stop fighting and surrender to what is real, truly and godly there for us to explore.
I love timing and how perfect it is for me to read this today … yes we can make friends with tension, it’s just showing us how we’re bracing and being in life, and then as you show here Suzanne, we can choose to release it and make choices which allows our bodies to surrender. Awesome, so rather than get tense about being tense (trust me, been there!), we can let go, it’s always about how we choose to handle it.
Thank you monicag2 for reminding us all we always have a choice.
Yes! I’ve been noticing this a lot lately…moving closer to the computer screen when my work becomes more complex or I’m trying really hard to understand what I’m reading etc. It’s so funny, it’s like, if my face is on the screen then maybe the words will jump in my brain and I will be able to understand more. I observe people doing this with the TV as well….the more intense the entertainment the closer their bodies move toward it. It’s very interesting what happens when we allow ourselves to be absorbed by information rather than observing it and giving ourselves the space to feel and understand it.
A lot of tension left my body as I read this his blog. Thank you Suzanne.
Yes Leonne and it is this simple awareness of the tension we feel, that brings us forth in life.
‘Tension takes away my decision-making capabilities.’ So true the tenser we become the harder it is to connect and feel the flow of what is needed next.
It has been amazing to appreciate that when I let go and trust I will be supported the tension in my body dissipates. The more awareness I am building the more often it is being revealed to me just how much tension I still allow to arise with many tasks during my day, driving and sitting in front of the computer being 2 common examples. Thank you for sharing this great reminder Suzanne that it is always our choice.
Love this Suzanne, and the detail you’ve shared it in… Such a relationship with the tension felt in your body feels to have been something that has developed over time – I know for myself, that this is so, also deepened beyond measure via the inspiration and practicality of countless presentations by Serge Benhayon, inclusive of all that the modality of Esoteric Yoga, founded by Serge Benhayon, offers to us all also.
In living with an awareness of our bodies and what we are experiencing at any given time, in bringing a conscious choice to be truly present with what we are doing… we do indeed have the opportunity to support ourselves and respond to what is needed in a given situation.
Your example of 4W driving is case in point – the tension can arise from an inner anxiousness, uncertainty and/or expectation, and yet, to give reign back to the body, to trust its own knowing and flow… this can absolutely be done.