Love Your Body — inspiration from falling into a hole

Bam!! I was down on the ground watching the paddleboard I’d been carrying fly through the air. “What the heck? This doesn’t feel like love. And love is what I’m all about. What’s going on?”

I looked down and saw my right leg and foot half in a hole. I pulled my foot out and moved my ankle around. It was scratched up but nothing seemed broken or sprained. 

Feet love

I said thanks to my feet, my base and paused a moment to honor those people that walked before me — my ancestors and the ancient people of Hawaii. They’d navigated this wild, rugged terrain as I did. I was sure they’d fallen into many a hole because this Island is full of them.

Right about then I felt my right knee throb and looked up at it. It was skinned bright red with a little blood trickling from a wound. I bent my knee and it seemed fine.

Leg gratitude

I rubbed and loved on my legs. They are strong and sturdy. These beautiful works of engineering have carried me on so many adventures. My legs ran wild as a child. I gave thanks for that childhood and all the holes I tripped into and the smooth terrain I encountered. 

My friends behind me reached me and wanted to know if I was okay. I answered, “I think so, but I’m not sure. I’m just taking a moment to check out my body.”

Pelvic joy

As I continued my body investigation that was turning into a lovefest, I could feel a ping in my right SI joint. I’d knocked it out of alignment so I rolled onto my back and took my right foot toward my head and teared up as I thought about my gifts. I’ve been bestowed with so many gifts, freely given to me at birth. I thanked my pelvic bowl, my creative center for containing these gifts. 

My gifts allowed me to connect to my caring friends that came to my rescue. I’d been teaching a yoga therapy class right before my encounter with the hole. I was carrying the paddleboard to help prepare for a memorial service paddle out that was scheduled for that evening.

“What happened?” My friends asked. I told them, “I fell in a hole.

They looked down toward my feet and could see a grass-covered indent. They pulled the grass away and revealed a 1′ round, 3′ deep hole that my right leg had fallen into as I headed to the ocean with the paddleboard.

The hole’s gift

Stepping into the hole and being slammed into the ground allowed me a moment to appreciate this beautiful temple I live in. 

My friends helped me to my feet and I noticed my breath. My breath was coming in and out of my body much harder than normal. I’d had a bit of trauma. 

Belly breaths

Placing my hand on my belly I rubbed and soothed my breath back to normal by saying, “Thank you for my power. The strength to survive through so many of life’s ups and downs and the willingness to learn to thrive no matter how many holes I’d fallen in.

Wild heart love

My heart was also pounding in my chest. With each pound I said, I love you! I love you earth beneath my body. Pound — I love my friends. Boom — I love my ability to love.

Voicing love

I exhaled, “Ahhhhhh”. The sound of love. I’m so grateful to match love’s energetic vibration. “Thank you,” I shouted to my friends who were beginning to fill the hole so no one attending the memorial paddle out would fall into the hole and hurt themselves.

See Love

I looked down at my magnificent body that had carried me through 58 years. Gazing over at my amazing friends and the beautiful earth and ocean around me I felt only gratitude.

Thank you

I spread my arms up toward the sky and beamed gratitude. I’d fallen into a hole and hadn’t hurt myself. My friends had come quickly to make sure I was okay. The stumble had stopped me to take this full-body lovefest! And the hole that could have really hurt one of the many people expected for the memorial paddle out had been discovered and covered up.

Thank you, thank you!

Enjoy this quickie 10-minute lovefest video.

Take time for this week’s Ageless Movement Practice full-on lovefest.

Let me know about the love you have for your beautiful body / being in the comments below!