Listening to Your Body
Richard Adelman July 25, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

Pressure and its discontents
Anatomy is destiny.
–Sigmund Freud



The experience of pressure is fundamental in our lives. It is so profoundly omnipresent that we normally do not even notice it. Yet we would not be able to live without the constant pressure of the earth’s atmosphere of 16 pounds/square inch helping to hold us together in a coherent shape. Our skin itself generates pressure to help us maintain our form. The fluid contents of our bodies need to be contained under proper tension in order for our organs to function. We constantly generate internal pressure through a whole symphony of pulsations of our muscles and organs in order to support ourselves in an upright position.

We could even say that we know or recognize ourselves bodily mainly through the experience of pressure. The pressure of our skin against external surfaces tells us directly that we are physically present in the world rather than “lost in space.” So in helping us to embody ourselves, pressure is a good and necessary thing.

On the other hand, people often talk about being “pressured” or “under pressure” as a negative experience. A person may feel, for instance, that he is being pressured in the sense of being challenged to act, respond, or perform in some manner or according to a timetable that feels like it is “too much.” This could be in response to an external stimulus coming from other people or an internal stimulus (such as one’s own expectations, emotions, or desires). Based on my studies of somatic psychology, I believe that even when a person experiences the unpleasant pressure as coming from outside themselves, they have actually been responding reflexively to this “external” pressure by squeezing and compressing their own body so that they are suffering from the consequences of a self-created posture.

We all know that many people are creative or productive only when they are under rather intense pressure, while others are prone to collapse from it. Collapse could manifest itself as simple exhaustion or even depression. Even those who seem to thrive on pressure may be prone to collapse from time to time during their career, or perhaps crash and burn later in life.

Conversely, in spite of their rosy retirement dreams, many people find themselves at a loss when the pressure is off, not knowing what to do with themselves, not knowing how to make a transition to a less-pressured existence. Perhaps they had become habituated to an adrenalized lifestyle, as in the old saying, “You can take the boy out of the city but not the city out of the boy.”

I believe that people recognize (deeply, habitually, even if not quite consciously) certain qualities of pressure and excitement as being part of their true selves, as central to their identities. Making a transition to living another kind of bodily life—which also means another kind of emotional and spiritual life—may not be easy. One needs a way to consciously participate in shaping how one will be present in the world in a way that is less driven and less compulsive, but without becoming cynical or falling into the common expatriate escapist traps of self-indulgence, hedonism, or alcoholism parading as a liberated “second childhood” or “second adolescence” that supposedly represents having found, at last, one´s true self. Unfortunately, these things are anything but.

How might we find the appropriate amount of pressure for ourselves? Check out next month´s column for a body awareness exercise to help you answer this question experientially.

Richard Adelman (M.A., psychology) is certified in both Feldenkrais and Pilates, and has nearly 40 years' experience as a movement educator. His San Miguel cell is 044 (415) 114-3069; email richardadelman@gmail . He practices monthly in San Miguel at LifePath ( www.lifepathretreats.com  ).