Whenever I do personal training work with a client, I pay particular attention to the way they carry their body. For many of us (myself included) you can see the how we compartmentalize our mind and body just by the way we hold ourselves. Some of us tend toward the rounded shoulder slump. Others fold in on themselves with the “Eeyore” posture. The mental attitude is almost always reflected in how the body moves.

There’s actual intelligent life below your neck if you choose to look for it. And when you tap into inhabiting your body in a new way you find out surprising things. For instance, have you ever tried a form of movement you thought was beyond you (like interpretive dance or martial arts) and discovered that when you weren’t preoccupied with the static external appraisal of yourself you experienced an amazing internal joy at just moving through space? That kind of movement awakens your personal inner athlete. Maybe not the one who wants to run a marathon or rappelle a rock wall – but the one who craves expression through movement.
I don’t believe it’s possible to educate your bind and leave your body out of it – they are one. (That might have something to do with the fact that I’m a distinctly “gross motor” gal.) But if mental intelligence is our ability to acquire and apply knowledge from our mind, then physical intelligence is our body’s ability to look at our physical and emotional landscape and then apply its knowledge (in the form of strength, timing, flexibility and power) to respond. That’s a pretty cool message if we’ll take time to listen to it.

Physical intelligence will spill over into other areas of your life too – like your relationships and your work. When you push yourself to take flight, to move, it will encourage you to push past your comfort zone, try a new approach, get up when you fall.
You develop new instincts and new ways of looking at the world and at yourself. Instead of being preoccupied with your body type and your weight, believe that you are more than the sum of your parts. Begin to move and get in touch with your body – she has a few pretty amazing things to teach you.