How do we know as a toddler how to and when we are ready to walk? Of course we see others are walking, but that does not show us the mechanics of how to do it and we do not know when they began – for all we know, if we do not have young people in our sphere of life, it is possible they may have started this process later, in teenage years.
Could it be that we are connected with our body and we get the wisdom/intelligence from our body that sends us the message to begin the process, and so we do. We start by standing and we may fall down, and up we go, then we fall again and again, always giving it another go.
Many of us are like bulldogs, we do not give up and we just keep on until we have mastered it. We do not consider we have made a mistake and are wrong when we fall, we just get up and give it another go. Then we move a foot and leg and then another and then we fall and then we give it yet another go. We keep listening to our body and follow without questioning, with loads of enthusiasm and committed to the whole process. And bingo! … before we know it we are walking. I was observing this process with a toddler recently and the joy in his whole being when he took off was so beautiful to see.
So what changes? How is it that as we get older, when we try new things we don’t have the same attitude as we did when we were toddlers? What happens; why do we no longer see things as a joyful learning process but go into right and wrong. Often we go into ‘wrong’ if we do not get it ‘right’ first off, and then at times we just give up… pitiful really.
When we reconnect with our bodies we re-establish the type of relationship with it that we had when we were toddlers, where we just knew our body held the wisdom/intelligence and we listened to it. There is no right and wrong when you are in your body, there is only an opportunity to learn and develop.
So let’s come back to what is our natural state of being and begin again to enjoy and celebrate any new ventures we embark on… as we did when we learnt to walk.
By Mary-Louise Myers, Complementary Healing Practitioner, Goonellabah, NSW, Australia
Further Reading:
Listening To Your Body
The Body Speaks Loudly But Am I Listening?
The Body Knows
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
One of the most wonderful aspects of reconnecting with our body is how we can feel, start to feel, the resonance of our own voice. This opens a whole series of doors of reconnection, taking us back to expressing with our whole body, the intelligence of our whole body.
Giving it a go, with everything we have got, and not giving up immediately because we can’t do it the first time round. Beautiful qualities in a child, and equally in us as adults if we will allow ourselves to simply be.
‘There is no right and wrong when you are in your body, there is only an opportunity to learn and develop.’ Spot on Mary-Louise, with whole body intelligence we feel wisdom and truth, right and wrong simply doesn’t exist when we connect and live this truth.
For me my first steps were in committing to self-care and making more loving lifestyle choices and as this momentum built, I could feel I was in a process of coming back to whole body intelligence as my old habits and patterns ( of numbing and dulling my body) dropped away.
So true Mary-Louise we definitely need to bring more appreciation and wonderment to the learning process regardless of our age.
Reawakening our connection to the Ageless Wisdom is to share the joy of a toddler learning to walk again.
I love watching young children and their connection to their body. With lots of them I see a real joy and ease with themselves and their movement. No pictures or comparison just letting their body guide them the way. With some I observe a ‘freshness’, like they haven’t been in a human body for a long time and are figuring out how it works.
What a gorgeous and simple sharing, I love it! There are everyday new things for us to discover and this is exactly the attitude that supports us to be open and willing to do that: ‘There is no right and wrong when you are in your body, there is only an opportunity to learn and develop.’ It doesn’t matter whether it is something new on the computer or a new relationship our body is the perfect guidance.
Reading this blog was a great reflection on how much I leave my body with the distraction of thinking about events before throughout my day. What resurrected me was giving focus continually to my body. Not any analysis, bashing yourself and regrets but to focus on and give my all to what I am doing now in the moment.
It is so true… Our bodies know exactly what to do… How to move, how to be, and especially how to sing 🙂
Hahaha, Chris, I love that: our bodies know exactly how to sing! And it is true if I simply surrender to my body a completely different sound comes out.
And that’s the thing isn’t it Monica…. all we have to do is surrender.
I don’t recall the feeling of being ready to walk but perhaps this is because it does not come from your conscious mind that we don’t. It fascinates me how baby birds ‘suddenly’ know it’s time to fly. I get the feeling it’s the same with us learning to walk. Even without seeing role models I feel this intelligence is there within us and guides us when our body is ready.
So often intelligence is presented as something that appears to come from our brain and then down to our body, like the brain alone is the seat of intelligence rather than appreciating the innate intelligence of our whole body that we can tune in with…
Great example Mary-Louise. It reminded me of a photo that I have a child when I was learning to walk, and I was clapping my hands as I was so full of joy. Now when I think of myself trying to wrap my head around Google Analytics or some other new reporting mechanism, there ain’t no hand clapping! More hand slapping! So a pertinent reminder of the joy of learning and letting go of the ol’ right’n’wrong.
and even though we walk everyday be it from one room of our home to another do we appreciate how we are moving and how our movement and walk can heal us? Through Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon this is something I am learning more and more.
‘Coming Back To Whole Body Intelligence’ – understanding that life is about learning to live and to move truly in one’s body changes the focus to what you end up doing in life because you live wiser and in/with more awareness. Awareness about life from the body grows wisdom.
Commitment to anything always gets the desired result, no matter how long it takes.
This is such a beautiful sharing Mary-Louise of an intelligence we all have access to by virtue of the fact that we all have bodies that enhouse our Soul. As children our relationship with our body is deeply connected and we respond immediately to the messages it communicates, as such we are open to exploring, discovering and learning what is needed for us to evolve, or to take the next step. A powerful reminder of an intelligence that is ever-present and accessible for us to embrace, thank you.
As toddlers we have such determination, enthusiasm and joy in learning and trying something new, knowing we will get there no matter how many falls we experience. What changes? I think you have hit the nail on the head with the issue of right and wrong coming in. We feel the pressure of measuring up to other people’s markers of success and the hurt of not being given the grace to get there in our own way and timing. Luckily this can be reclaimed as you give focus back to the body and look to ourselves for what is true, rather than right or wrong.
Do we re-consider our relationship with learning as we go through life: are we making it about needing to get something right to gain recognition and acceptance, or simply about the pure joy of trying, failing, and trying again until eventually we get it and move onto the next thing?
Introduce the word joy into learning and everything changes. There is an innocence in giving it a go no matter what rather than getting it right… we allow ourselves time and space to improve, hone, practise and so we develop, and in the example of a toddler… literally take the next step!
It is quite interesting: when we are toddlers and did not yet go to school (hence we are not officially intelligent), our capacity to be with the body and to explore life from it as it unfolds is greater than when we get to be adults (and we get to be officially intelligent). The level of pollution we allow in not only clouds our innate intelligence, but also the result of choices that were not that intelligent. So, ironic as it may sound, the path to ‘intelligence’ is about making choices that overall make us truly less intelligent.
True, there is no right or wrong when we are connected to and in our body just an opportunity to learn, ‘why do we no longer see things as a joyful learning process but go into right and wrong’? A great reminder to remain joyful as we learn.
I love the reminder to celebrate any new ventures we embark on….which allows me to feel the joy in life and that joy is a choice, which feels so much lighter than the seriousness I had been choosing all my life.
When we walk with the wonder of simply feeling our feet and arms swing brings a magical rhythm to our walking!
We can and do learn so much from our mistakes, they are like our teachers if we are open to assessing and learning.
“There is no right and wrong when you are in your body, there is only an opportunity to learn and develop.” I love this. Yesterday experimenting in the pool after a swim session with Simone Benhayon, she had said the very same thing. Making ‘mistakes’ isn’t about being wrong, They are an opportunity to learn and make changes and behave/work/ be a different way.
This is such a beautiful wisdom to impart to our children, to truly listen to our bodies.
I agree Chris, and how life becomes super simple when we live true to ourselves, when we listen to the wisdom that we all have access to within.
That’s the thing Isn’t it… The simplicity! And this is the doorway to so much for us all… To keep things simple, and to take things one step at a time… Always in stages… Back to the simple things :-).
I love this analogy and yes I feel most of my days I am like a toddler and there could be a lot of falling down at times but somehow within there is a joy to keep going and then it dawns on me that everything is a process towards something unfolding.
We can walk in contraction or knowingly of who we are. The second requires connection to our body and Soul. From this connection we know much and can be living from within – the love we are..
A toddler is always learning never giving up but trying again until the process of walking is gradually mastered. They are one with their body and are impulsed by its intelligence every step of the way, a beautiful example of our evolutionary pathway.
I love to come back to this blog and be reminded how we all had to learn to walk, fall down, get back up and try again (with no fear or any self bashing that we have developed as adults) until we had mastered it, and then there was no stopping us – how lovely to be in touch with that magic again!
‘There is no right and wrong when you are in your body, there is only an opportunity to learn and develop.’ As simple as that!
When I read this blog I can feel how much time I’ve wasted beating myself up when I make a mistake. This is what holds us back more than anything and it’s completely unnecessary.
I have noticed how great ideas come through when I’m feeling settled and connected to my body.
Yes when we let our children know that “not being perfect in things that we do … Is fine… cause we’re already perfect in just being me” as the song says …☺
Love to read this blog again today, and be reminded that we are here to learn and that learning does not need to be serious, it can be fun! Now that perspective does change things….. I already feel lighter as my old habit is to tense up when I am learning new things.
The mind likes to think it’s in control by planning, creating and thinking – but the body is under a high order, one that is universal and in that a natural flow is delivered and can be lived by.
We know when we are ready to step up, and while there may be a faltering start, like a child we can make mistakes, brush ourselves off and try again.
A great sharing, and after reading this blog, I was watching my 1yr old daughter who has just started walking, and it occurred to me that she has not crawled since she could walk – ie she doesn’t do what a lot of adults do and go backwards. She is focused on the now and the future – she is committed to trying new things – it is a joy to watch.
What is the whole body intelligence? Does it speak to us? It is a vibration in our body that impulses us, the body knows what it is when it moves – and does not seek to know itself – it is our spirit that seeks to know things (by using the mind) and uses the body in a configuration of control to get what it wants.
‘why do we no longer see things as a joyful learning process but go into right and wrong’. This line really brings me to a stop so that I can reflect on why i always have tension in my body when I am learning something new….. What I can feel further is, if I get it ‘wrong’, I feel I have failed in some way or let some-one down, etc so quite some self-bashing goes on. Time to change this. It is a simple choice to make learning fun and to be curious just like we are as children and that there is only ever learning, no matter how many attempts we may have, ( and perceive as a failure) judging or criticising ourselves takes all the fun out of learning.
“There is no right and wrong when you are in your body, there is only an opportunity to learn and develop” Understanding this, allows us to meet life more through our bodies and maximize every opportunity we have been given to be more loving and understanding in order to return to that which we know so well within our souls.
When you look at our Universities and then at a young child, you really realise the extent to which we’ve got life upside down. We stand there with our mortar boards, our cloaks and paper scrolls, our exhaustion from hours of intensive, stressful study, while the child has a natural joy of discovery and play as their celebratory certificate. The guilt and shame, the wanting to be right, they have no place, as you simply show Mary-Louise, in living a vital life.
Living without right and wrong gives us the space to discover things for ourselves. That’s the beautiful thing with children they live without any right and wrong and just enjoy being present and playful in the moment.
Beautiful blog Mary-Louise – the body has its knowing not only about how its development unfolds but also about where we are going – back to where we came from and it responds to this universal impulse whether we like it or not. All we can do is either get in the way of this and make ourselves sick, or we can listen to the grace and intelligence of the bodily particles and go with it. It is a matter of true alignment.
” What happens; why do we no longer see things as a joyful learning process but go into right and wrong.” Having recently started a new exercise routine with some balance pads I have found myself gripping and contracting my body to stay on but then one day I simply let go of the need to control the situation and simply fall down. I did this a couple of times and actually really enjoyed the process and simply allowed myself to fall and I had so much fun in the process. Surrendering to the learning and exploring life is a joy and when we try to control the situation we halt our connection to our bodies and the natural flow and discoveries of life we can encounter.
Its that enthusiasm that we need to reconnect to… life is a constant learning and there is no perfection so its littered with reminders and ‘mistakes’. But when we enthusiastically get up and have another go there is such a joy to our movements, an inspiration to those around us, and one can’t help but smile as all that enthusiasm comes into the room to give it another go.
There is such a sense of simplicity and wonder when reflecting how it is as a toddler learning anything. The curiosity and willingness to explore is actually delicious. This is a sense we can re-connect to any time we choose. Anything else that has come-in to interfere with this is an imposition and mental construct – the absolute opposite to whole body intelligence.
I can feel why the statement “Listen to me” when someone is showing us something is such a turn-off to learning. Because we can feel it is being imposed with an order to over ride how we may innately feel in our bodies
All that matters is how our connection is with our body , nothing else – nope not the mind.
I love the simplicity of the truth you present – the body is wise beyond measure and to follow our bodies impulses is really as easy and simple as learning to walk.
Yes let’s to that, Mary-Louise! Let go exploring new things, new people, new ventures like we did as a kid. Love that. Just being in our bodies. The great thing about in the body as well is the immediate trust which is embodied trust which has nothing to do whether we have mastered a skill or not.
We have made learning about getting it right and all coming up with the exact same answer (often even to the dot to be worded in the same way), instead of allowing everybody’s perception and awareness bring us the richness of the universe to all that is required here on earth.
Such a simple observation, lived with ease when we are young and don’t feel like we have to know everything already. If we can just drop our laziness and arrogance then its a natural state to come back to – a constant growth, with a few knock downs, but then getting back up a little wiser and ready to go again.
It is incredibly isolating to reduce one’s awareness of life to what one thinks and perceives through their mind alone. It is in such a reductionist way of being that we lose connection to the fact that the world can be experienced and felt and known beyond its physical appearance.
How lovely to feel, know, and trust that there is an innate process of learning that we are all on, all of humanity, and that we are returning back to our true nature.
Thank you Mary-Louise for this beautiful reminder of how supportive it is for us to connect to our body. There has been numerous times throughout my life where I am hugely appreciative of how my body has guided me to make loving choices through sending me messages in subtle and sometimes very loud ways. Listening and connecting to our body is key.
Reading this I got a different take from what you have shared ‘Many of us are like bulldogs, we do not give up and we just keep on until we have mastered it’. As sometimes instead of being about not giving up it can be how we want to control a situation and in this stubbornness we loose (well disconnect) to our innate sensitivity, overriding the lessons from life instead of learning from them.
Gorgeous to come back to this Mary-Louise and be reminded of the innate wisdom we are already connected to, and already actually respond to in some degree for example, when our bodies tell us when we need to drink water. However as you say we seem to have disregarded this intelligence as we have grown up, yet the beautiful fact is that it still remains in full communication. There is a great power that is at our fingertips to explore and engage, literally, and the more we move in connection to our bodies and in honor our of the wisdom it reveals to us, the more we will live in awe of who we are and all that we are connected to.
Beautifully said Carola, I love what you shared, very inspiring and this wisdom and power is available to us all. How amazing is that!
Entering into a walk that is going to serve our body always delivers such joy no matter what our age as walking reconfigures so much when done ” when we are connected to our bodies.”
There is no right and wrong when you are in your body, there is only an opportunity to learn and develop. So true Mary-Louise, how many times do we beat ourselves up for feeling ‘we got it wrong’, I did this for such a long time. Everything life presents us with is and opportunity for us to grow and evolve.
We are born with a whole body, some where along the way we have given priority to certain areas, yes they all have a job to do, but all fail or suffer when they do not work together. The Whole Body matters. The liver as much as the head, the kidneys as much as the heart, unite the body and we connect with a deeper relationship and understanding of us and life.
Whole body heath is an interesting concept… due to the fact that is considered ‘new’ or ‘strange’ or a ‘health fad’, how about as children we learn to maintain our whole body awareness, and not begin to separate ourselves into limbs and heads, stay with feeling and not just function. This is something that is gravely missing within our society and something that would a true foundation of health or all if it was utilised..
What great advice to get back to the joy of learning new things. I wonder how much school plays a part in knocking that out of us, with so much,total over kill on right and wrong and grades and competition.
Unfortunately as we get older, the bulldog euphemism applies differently, in that we often become stubborn and ingrained, and never give up on that which is clearly not working.
Simply and beautifully written Mary-Louise… and this is the message that needs to be returned to children… just like this gorgeous song of Jenny james … imagine being a kid and singing ( and feeling) this
I listen to my body it has a lot to say
It tells me how I truly feel like when to rest and play
How to eat and when to sleep how others feel to me
My body is amazing it shows me all the way
My body feels everything that I say and do
And just as much it can feel other people too
And saying everything I feel, I can just be me,
So caring for my body is where I want to be
Babies and toddlers are true role models for us to come back to our body again and experience the joy and simplicity in learning.
To live like a toddler is sometimes very challenging for the mind but is a joy for the body as to me that is its natural way of being in the world.
It is so beautiful to live life as a toddler, to live from that inner impulse that tells us that, for instance as in this blog, it is time for us to learn to walk, as a natural development we have to go and to fully adhere to that because we do know that we need this development to go to the next. That said, adhering to that inner impulse for growth and evolution is a pleasure to take as it will always bring us joy and a broadening of our understanding what life is actually about.
This blog brings such an important message about whole body intelligence. Once you have tried it there is nothing else like it. When I truly come back to being in my body I go ‘Why on earth would you want to be anywhere else’ – and yet we have been away from it so long that it is easy to slide out. In the body there is no such thing as ‘the mundane’ or ‘the boring’, which is in fact the case when the human spirit is chosen as the dominating factor. Then the spirit thinks it needs to make something ‘exciting’ in order to provide stimulation to stop feeling ordinary and mundane. Simply coming back to the body, living fully inhabiting the body is the only way out of the dilemma.
A gorgeous reminder Mary-Louise of the wisdom and intelligence our bodies hold and allowing us the space to learn something new without any pressure to getting it ‘right’.
Rereading this blog brings me back to the fact that I am all knowing.
I feel walking is so apt in what you have shared Mary-Louise from what I feel when I walk is how the past configurations are held in my body and they lose their grip on me so my walk becomes more free flowing thus I am able to release the old beliefs I have held onto.
For more on beliefs go to;
http://www.unimedliving.com/search?keyword=IDEALS+AND+BELIEFS
It’s really fascinating when you give yourself the space to observe your body; when tension arises, what you feel about that tension, what makes the tension dissipate or what you do to make it dissipate and whether the tension has truly dissipated or just numbed/dulled. I am sitting with this at the moment having just returned from the Universal Medicine retreat. Very interesting.
Wouldn’t it be great to have the same exuberance for learning something new as we did as a toddler, and not have an ounce of feeling wrong if we do not succeed straight away.
It is amazing to feel the natural confidence and trust in adults who live like children, in the sense that they look at every task with an innocence and joy at the opportunity of learning something new, and they are not afraid of getting it wrong – they just do it regardless of the outcome.
It is wonderful to relearn the art of making mistakes and not ‘cane’ myself. Just the opportunity to try again and be surprised to learn something new.
There is a huge amount to learn from toddlers. They never do the adult thing of putting a toe in, half-heartedly doing something when their thinking about something else. They are fully present with everything they do and unless we adults make it a big thing, falling over and other learning experiences are engaged with as much dedication as everything else. When I consider it, the reflection is truly inspiring.
‘There is no right and wrong when you are in your body, there is only an opportunity to learn and develop.’ What an incentive to connect.
I have felt the difficulty in truly embracing and understanding the notion of intelligence being in the body – as no amount of thinking, analysing, and considering it will ever arrive at true understanding – we must start with the body first – opening up and allowing the opportunity for the body to communicate in its own language and by its wisdom and in that we will start to truly understand what true intelligence is and the connection we hold with all.
We are so conditioned to be the ‘good’ student who doesn’t make mistakes, but this just boxes us in more and more, Lets make Whoops one of our favorite words…☺
Well said Chris – the need to be seen as ‘right’ runs deep in us and is the sure path to keep us locked up in our old patterns and behaviours.
Being pre-occupied or hard on ourself with having made a ‘wrong’ decision doesn’t help anyone! This I am appreciating more and more in my own life and seeing how it is a waste of energy to judge ourselves in this way rather than just allow ourselves to learn and grow from our ‘mistakes’.
When we realise we have made a mistake it is to be celebrated, because once recognised they provide us with the direction to U-turn out of there and get back on the right path.
“…There is no right and wrong when you are in your body, there is only an opportunity to learn and develop…” This is a great statement to remember considering how much in today’s society there is a lot of pressure in getting things ‘right’ or being judged as doing something ‘wrong’.
Our natural state of being is where we are meant to be, our body in harmony. Why would we ever leave that? But most of us, if not all of us, have done this at some stage in your lives. Its great to uncover the enticements that we allow and that take us way from our true self.
I love watching children when they respond with their whole body. So joyful.
A youngster would never berate them self if she/he did not get it the first, second or third or even tenth try at something new so why do we?
I love this quote, ‘the whole is greater than the sum of its parts’… it always expands the way I approach life when I consider this.
The more I respond and listen to my body the more in awe I am of its natural, innate and vast wisdom of life, relationships and our true purpose. It is like having a guide and friend that has common sense and the big picture totally ‘nailed’. It is insane not to listen.
How simple life can be when we choose to reconnect with our bodies and let go of the obstacles we create by holding on to the hurts we experience on our journey through life and creating all sort of ideals and beliefs that result in pictures that drive us further and further from the wisdom and intelligence we all equally have access to with our bodies.
That’s such a great question. I know I can sometimes approach learning something new with apprehension for fear of not getting it right away or not getting it at all and then feeling stupid and then sometimes avoiding something new altogether – giving up before I’ve even tried. Society doesn’t like to get things wrong, we’re so hard on others and ourselves, it’s no wonder we play it safe so much.
This is such a simple question to ask, there is so much complication in how I could answer that question which I guess reflects how complicated we make life. Suffice to say that there is something brilliant in the idea of persevering and learning new skills whatever our age.
There is so much wisdom in what has been shared, as toddlers we are openly connected to our body and we allow ourselves to explore the falling and getting up again, until we master whatever we are doing. We don’t get caught in our heads, there is no space for that. But when we get older the roles are reserve we get caught in our heads and have no time for our body.
There is no right or wrong in the expression of a young child – it just is .. How beautiful and necessary it is to come back to that simplicity.
I love the joyful simplicity you share here of how we are as a young child and the freedom and knowing from this that we have lost but can come back to always by our choices to reconnect to our bodies and all we are in our natural divinity and being.
‘Often we go into ‘wrong’ if we do not get it ‘right’ first off, and then at times we just give up… pitiful really.’ What is also sad is that over time, as we berate ourselves with these ‘wrong’ doings we stop even taking that first step and thus give up before we even start. We therefore miss out on the joy of learning.
I really enjoy the wonder of feeling the body–before going into any analysing, just feeling oh that’s what it feels like, cool…and keep feeling. But when I go into analysing and interpreting, I lose this connection with wonder and thinking becomes a serious matter!
I have had a glorious time learning to play the piano, making plenty of mistakes hitting the wrong notes or wrong sequences but I love every moment of it and when it all comes together it just makes my heart sing!
As babies and toddlers we are in complete connection and awareness of the intelligence of our bodies. We have no concept of the intelligence of the mind which most people at some stage come to hold as greater that the intelligence of the body.
I like what you propose Mary-Louise, to return to that same way of being how we were like a toddler, not hesitant to listen to what our body wants and needs and to fully rely on that and with that to feel through the body that connection we have with all people around and are in constant relationship with.
I love what this article has inspired me to ask of myself when I self-abuse for not getting things ‘right’… ‘Would I ever talk to a toddler like this if they were stumbling during their first steps?’ The answer is always. ‘No’, so then I get to put the voice of abuse in its place and begin to develop an understanding, respectful, patient and loving relationship with myself and therefore everyone else.
It is true that as soon as we get to be adults we seem to loose the ability to shrug things off easily without being judgmental on ourselves, and everything becomes too serious. From a lot of personal experience of being stressed when learning a new job or learning something quickly, it definitely feels horrible in the body to operate in this way.