Pain, Language and Disembodiment
There is one thing that you probably don’t know about me. My original training was in languages: I spent 5 years of my life at a University in South Russia studying French, German and some bits of English (if my English sounds odd sometimes you know the reason why now). Since I remember myself I’ve been fascinated by the ways we use our language(s) and how our personality and culture transpire through but also are influenced by those ways.
There is another thing that you for sure don’t know about me. When I was six I was dreaming about becoming a gymnast. You know, kind of dancing and jumping on the carpet with balls and ribbons Russian gymnasts are so good at. Six is quite “old” to start with those things over there, but my father was attentive to my aspirations and brought me to a couple of good ladies who were training local gymnasts. Their verdict was very clear: We are very sorry Mr Komnatniy but your daughter’s back is made of wood so we’re not taking her in. I kept dreaming about gymnastics for many years to come and reading famous athletes’ biographies but was never meant even to give it a try.
You probably won’t believe it but it took me about 35 years to realise that it was actually a metaphor, and my back does not have properties of wood and my spine consists of 24 individual vertebrae that actually move in relation to each other as in most humans. And there is nothing especially “wooden” about my back’s natural design, there are just muscles that have a long history of overworking and it’s nothing of my fault. Realising that came with getting knowledge about both anatomy and metaphors, and was at the same time liberating and horrifying. Liberating in terms of how many things I can do about that and horrifying in terms of the huge impact our language can have on people around us, especially our young children.
So, metaphors are not just to adorn our expression, they reflect our way of thinking and they can form our way of thinking. They emerge from our bodily experience and they shape us. It’s a great field of study for both linguists and pain scientists, but here I’d love to talk about the metaphors that suggest that your body is not you, you are not connected to it and you don’t have control over it. How often do you hear people saying things like:
I can’t find my feet
I have a wooden back (arm, leg etc.)
The back is a problem (not MY back!)
I get my neck put back in once a month
I’ve got my Mum’s knees
My legs feel foreign
This is my bad leg (👀oh dear …)
I’m out of alignment (put me back in)
Slipped disc …. ?
They are all “disembodiment” metaphors: using them you suggest that you perceive those parts as no longer belonging to you and being a part of yourself, being different or “unlikeable”. To know you is to love you. To take responsibility for yourself, your all body parts included. No, you don’t have your Mum’s knees, you have your own ones. No, wood burns and decays, your back lives and regenerates. It’s not your bad leg, it’s your right/left leg. Your spine doesn’t go out of alignment, it just doesn’t go anywhere. Your disc is not slipped, there is probably radiographic evidence of its altered contour.
Getting to know yourself and your body parts is the best way to own yourself again and to increase your chances of getting out of pain. During Awareness Through Movement ® lessons we explore our self-image and our movements, we re-create or get more precision for that map of your body parts you have in your brain. No wooden backs or frozen shoulders here, just your wonderful beautiful ever regenerating self.
Inspect your language, reframe your thinking, get to know the facts and explore your movements to know yourself better and to love your whole self (again). And let me know if you need help, I’ll be happy to assist you on this journey.
Inspiration credit: my childhood, George Lakoff Metaphors We Live By and Lorimer Moseley / David Butler Explain Pain / Explain Pain Supercharged