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Cultivating
Inner Authority
Suzanne Zeman, Master
Somatic Coach
Martha Graham, a world famous dancer and
choreographer, once said that her first dance lesson came from her father
when he told her that bodies don't lie.
We intuitively know the deep wisdom of that statement, but how many
of us realize that our bodies are the best and closest advisors we have?
Not only can we sense what we can trust from outside ourselves, but we can
also access what is authentic and true for each of us individually. Once we
know what is authentic for us, can we act on our own authority?
These are not easy questions. Most of us have been educated, trained, and disciplined to
shut out the feelings and sensations that can guide us to use our inner resources
and authority. We have lost the ability to feel and to sense as children do
naturally. So how do we begin to cultivate and nurture what we have
forgotten?
We begin by observing the most fundamental life
practice: breathing. Where is your
breath usually located? In today's
fast-pace, constantly striving for success, busy world, most of us breathe
high in the chest. As young girls,
we were taught to hold in our bellies, stand tall, and be nice. What does this produce for us?
Our lungs are shaped with their fullest part at the
bottom, located in the middle to lower part of our torso. So when we breathe high in the chest,
our breath is "shallow", using only a small fraction of the
lungs' capacity. Breathing this
way, we are not oxygenating ourselves to the extent our bodies are designed
for. Shallow breathing produces
stress and anxiety, if continued over long periods.
Try this to see what happens. First bring your awareness to your
belly. Then take a deep breath
filling your lungs from the bottom and keeping your chest and shoulders
completely relaxed. As you inhale,
let your ribs expand as your lungs fill with breath, and as you exhale, let
your ribs come back. Notice what
happens to any anxiety you were feeling before this deeper breathing. And what about your thoughts? Is it easier now to remember what you
deeply care about? And what's
really important? Your most
precious cares and commitments are what inform the authority of your
actions. Let me give you some
examples.
Let me give you some examples of what's possible when we
have access to inner authority. One
of my clients was on a fast track in her company. She had lots of opportunities to take on even more
responsibility, managing larger departments and divisions, until she
finally stopped advancing because her work was taking time from what she
could spend with her teenage daughter.
She convinced herself that advancing at work would only take more
away from her family, and she wanted balance and time for her daughter more
than anything else. She became more conflicted and anxious until we started
working on deep breathing, centering, and reflection. As a result of continuing to deepen her
commitment to what she cared about, she changed direction and went from
leading a service line of 7 managers and 175 consultants to managing
"hot" projects, reporting directly to the President of her
organization and other top executives.
Her new role provided plenty of visibility and access to the
networks that she wanted to play in, without compromising her commitment to
be fully in her daughter's life as well.
Another client was offered the promotion of her dreams,
where she would have the opportunity to demonstrate a new style of
management that could become a model throughout an organization that was
beginning to atrophy with the traditional hierarchical style that was no
longer working. However the person
she would be reporting to was one of the old-style managers that she felt
would not understand what she was attempting to accomplish. After much consideration and centered
reflection, she turned down the promotion.
That was a shocking move, but prompted by her inner authority, she
could not go into a situation that she felt she could not succeed in. What happened next was amazing. Everyone else who was offered the
position also turned it down, and finally the person running this line of
business reorganized the management structure and re-offered the promotion
to my client. She took the job and
is once again flourishing, led by her inner authority.
Take time to breathe, center, and reflect. Respect your inner wisdom. Cultivate your inner authority to help
you design a balanced, satisfying, and fulfilling life.
Suzanne
Zeman, MSC
www.somaticbusinesscoach.com
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