When we think of a healing journey, we think of something strenuous, tiring, hours of psychotherapy, physical therapy, Doctor’s offices, meds, exercises to do at home mandated by our therapist, food restrictions… but in fact, a healing journey should be pleasurable too.

How can healing be possible, if healing in itself becomes stressful? Yes, there will be difficult aspects of it, it’s not a path paved with roses, however, that shouldn’t be ALL of it. A healing journey should include coming back to yourself, reconnecting to your power, pleasure, and sensuality in the ways that best align with you. 

For me, that was belly dancing. Even if I had to wear saggy pants to not cringe at the touch of them, dancing allowed me to reconnect to myself, to feel supported by a community of women, to create safety and confidence in my own body, to signal safety to my nervous system to help it soothe, it helped me relax and flow, and allowed the energy to move through my body.

To find that pleasure in yourself, I highly recommend some sort of slow, gentle movement. Movement helps us release stagnant energy and emotions held in our muscles, it releases happy hormones while reducing stress hormones, and can help us feel present and embodied. While dancing a samba can be a challenge while we are in pain, try something slow, sensual, something that reminds you that you’re still a beautiful woman with a perfect body to love. To remind you that you’re whole and complete and that you deserve pleasure. That you embody so many precious qualities and have so much to offer and create, with pain or without it.

You can try any sort of movement that feels good to you, yoga can be a beautiful addition if you enjoy it, and not only because you feel you “should” do it. Find what resonates with you, what lights your soul. 

If you need any more reasons to allow movement in, I’d love to share with you that conscious movement improves proprioception. That is your body’s ability to sense itself, the position in space, and self-movement. And here comes the juicy part: the receptors that take part in proprioception travel to the central nervous system through the same pathways as nociceptors. Nociceptors are the receptors that tell your brain when there’s a painful stimulus. Ok, this doesn’t sound very sexy, but hear me out on this, because when we increase proprioception, we help override nociception. Therefore, it helps rewire your nervous system in a way that reduces pain.

Moreover, through enjoyable movement, we help the nervous system regulate, which is a key piece of healing. The more feelings of safety we can create in our body, the faster we will heal. After all, our body wants us to be safe before it can generate all the processes to bring healing, so creating that place of safety is crucial, but it should be done in ways that bring us pleasure too. So listen to your body and respect its cues when it tells you to stop, but don’t approach movement with fear, let yourself be curious and explore it. We are not training for a marathon so there’s no need to over-do it, you can go as slow as you need to feel comfortable and only allow in movements that feel respectful to your body. The most important piece is to just allow yourself to try it, to explore, to remain open to what’s possible, because health is just around the corner when you embrace the journey with a touch of pleasure.