Fit Focus: Remove those self-imposed limitations

I have recently done a new training course in an alternative type of physical therapy and what I learnt on the course has changed my perspective on a lot of things in my clinic.

I remember writing a couple of months back about what is in the mind is in the body and what is in the body is in the mind. Even though I understood the concept what I saw on the course truly brought it to life for me.

There was a physio on the course who was struggling physically with her health for months and could not get any answers. All the unknowing and questions got into her head and it started manifesting itself more in her body.

She was not healthy physically or mentally; she was in quite a lot of pain and struggling psychologically. Over the 4 days that we were on the course and working on each other this woman gradually started to improve day by day. At the end of the fourth day she was a completely different woman, she ran for the first time in over a year.

This woman used to run marathons in the past and has completed several but she simply wasn’t able to and her body wouldn’t allow her to run. So, for her to run was a major deal for her.

During the course, we had been releasing tensions she was holding onto in her body that were holding her in this shrunken state. Once released this allowed her to expand and open up and realise her potential. All the stress and anxiety over her health were weighing her down and holding her back from being her true self.

However, she was not the only one, we are all doing it to a varying degree. Think of yourself as a bucket of water. We are born and we have an empty bucket, we have so much capacity and potential. Life throws obstacles at us and our bucket starts to fill up but Mom and Dad comfort us and manage to dump the bucket out until the next obstacle is thrown at us.

This game goes on and on until eventually we only manage to partially empty our bucket before a new obstacle is thrown in. Now we are no longer operating at our full capacity because we never can completely empty our bucket before a new obstacle is thrown in.

We eventually become accustomed to this reduced capacity and we believe this is our new normal as the change happened slowly and gradually so we didn’t notice our capacity shrink. However, in this shrunken state, we are not in a position to be as impactful as we could potentially be.

We continue to operate as if we are working at full capacity though and eventually, we burn ourselves out because we have lost connection with who we are. We busy ourselves with outside distractions instead of facing the stuff going on in our heads and bodies.

Before we burn ourselves out though we put limitations on ourselves as a protective mechanism, and we start telling ourselves we can’t do this or that anymore. We are too old or that is a young person’s game. All of these are self-imposed limitations we place on ourselves to protect ourselves in our shrunken state.

If only we could open up and release these patterns our body is clinging to in its unwittingly blind attempt to “save” us from the big bad wolf chasing us.

Then in this new open and expanded state, we could realise our true potential and impact on our community in the way we are meant to.

I have put it into practice in my clinic since and have seen people really change, they are so much happier in themselves. They have more energy about them and they can move so much better also providing the body with the nutrition it needs to be young and boundless as movement is fuel for your body.

So, if you can tap into your body and see what limitations you are putting on yourself and tease it out to see if they are true limitations or self-imposed limitations. Clear out as many as you can, expand your body and be as impactful and as powerful as you can be.