How I Learned To Stop Hating a Simple Somatic Tool
I used to hate orienting.
In simplest terms, orienting is the practice of slowly looking around. That’s it. Orienting can also include noticing sounds, textures, smells, or tastes.
But when I first tried it (and many times afterward), I didn’t like it. When I moved my gaze around my space, all I could see were things that required my labor, like a cobweb in the ceiling corner or a pile of unfolded laundry. If I were healthy and well, this would have just been annoying.
But since I was very sick and very unwell, I didn’t have the energy for any of these tasks. And I had been without energy and often confined to my bedroom for so long that gazing around that space only reminded me of how long I had been stuck there.
Hard Times Require Furious Dancing
In the midst of the daily grind lately, I’ve often been overtaken by tears, followed by the irresistible impulse to dance.
When I stop and pay attention, my body calls for freedom from the constrained postures of grind culture: shoulders hunched over a laptop, head bent down while fingers tap on a device, eyes tense and fixed on a screen, glutes and hip flexors clenched while driving, legs marching up and down stairs during chores–all the while, the whole body bracing for the next wave of suffering and heartbreak in the world.