Your name is a word that you’ve heard many times. It was imprinted and anchored to you by your parents, teachers, and friends for years and years. How it’s been said throughout your life often shapes how you respond to it.

There have been people in your life who may have said your name sweetly and when someone new says it that way it brings back a taste of that sugar. Think back to a time when you’ve had a lover say your name and how good that felt, especially when tied to the feeling of being in love.

Conversely, when someone has said your name in anger or punitively,  your body and psyche often reacts with a memory of that original event. And if you have had numerous events like that, there can be a cascading effect of these events into the present moment. If you’ve ever had someone who spoke your name enough with an edge to it, it may be some time to do some healing around it.

A healing around this can occur by doing a number of things, a couple of them that are very simple and deeply affecting follow. The first is to look at yourself in the mirror and thinking to yourself, “I love you.” while you simultaneously say your name out loud. This is a NLP anchor that attaches your image and I Love You to your name. In the beginning, feel free to do it everyday so that eventually when you hear your name a warm feeling of self becomes resonates

The second technique is to enroll an intimate physical partner.  This requires that you prep them ahead of time so that while you’re making love they are ready to deliver the content. How it works is that at the moment of your orgasm, your partner softly says your name a few times while caressing your body. This is an example of  somatic anchor,  an auditory component, and a peak experience. These anchors are very robust and will provide a deep somatic healing to your bodymind.

So, go have fun with this and let me know how it goes.

This is part of the Somatics in the Gym blogs.

A bit of context first. The back on mammals is a vulnerable place, it’s the part that is exposed during an attack.  So as a result the animal is constantly trying to keep things in front of it if it senses danger. The belly is protected by the curling of the body. This is great if you walk on four legs.

For us humans, because we walk on two legs, our back and belly are both exposed, and the scapula (shoulder blades) protect the heart and lungs. In order to build muscles here, we need to actively pull on life or on some machine or device that lets us use the grasping and acquisition movements of our bodies.

In the gym this translates into back exercises; rows and lats. Today we’ll look at the Rowing exercises as these are the ones that are most important and activating. For all of the exercises, it would be good to have music and lyrics that support your movements and also to say to yourself some version of the following: “I Pull Life into Me.”  In other blogs, we’ll talk about allowing and receiving, but for now the focus is on active engagement.

Low Rows activate both the emotional feelings and kinesthetic responses to life. If you were suppressed as a kid or even now as an adult, this movement will allow those feelings to be modulated and reframed by action.

Straight Rows are often done sitting down with your eyes forward towards the horizon. This allows for a dense clarity to happen where you are focused on what you want and as you pull it towards yourself you are in constant eye contact. This is vital for relationships and a deep connection with the people in your life.

High Rows activate some very primal feelings of being a little kid, this is because the head is tilted back and the arms are up overhead (see Lats). This is the same position that children find themselves in when looking up at adults. It is a position that would be picked up from, or a position that you would ask from.

Try it now by putting your arms up and reaching out in front of you. Notice the feelings, thoughts, and images that emerge. Pay attention to whether the idea of doing this disturbs something, and do it to get a feel for what shows up. Great.

Now, take these thoughts and feelings into the gym with you and try these back exercises with the idea of pulling life into you and be aware of what’s different afterward.