Why does a pic like this grab us? From the time I saw it, it’s had my attn.
We’re told every day, on talk shows, infomercials, podcasts, billboards – to “work on ourselves.”
However, if I posted a pic of a man stretching a quad muscle, lifting a weight, eating a salad, or doing PT w a therapist – essentially working on himself – you’d prob scroll right over it, paying it little attn.
Working on our “physical” bodies has become 2nd nature to us. We don’t blink an eye when we see it. There’s a diff gym every mile in most neighborhoods.
Now what if this pic was of someone doing yoga – showing their balanced Warrior 2 pose? Or…someone meditating w their eyes closed & hands on their knees, palms up?
While it’s true, some might appropriately say – “they’re working on themselves…they’re clearing their minds…they’re working on their brain-body connections”…here’s the reality (& I know this only bc I call myself dummy #1 from when I thought this), MOST (not all), but most ppl would see those 2 pics & say things like – “oh those eastern practices..those things I never try…the practices mostly women do.”
There’s so much talk abt the “stigma” related to sharing our MH, that we don’t talk enough abt the stigma/lack of education, related to how we work on our MH. In the West, the masses hear any one of these terms: Eastern/Functional/Holistic/Alternative, & alarm bells go off. Either it’s snake oil, or something they won’t try.
This pic is clearly of a man “working on himself” too, but he’s working on his brain. He’s rewiring it. It’s weird bc it’s not how we’d think someone could work on their brain…but when it comes to practices like yoga & meditation, he’s doing exactly what these practices do – rewire the brain. This is why WAALC calls these practices STARR: Stress & Trauma Active Release & Rewiring.
If we’re going to get to a point where we teach ppl how to help themselves…how to heal/be proactive…images like these are so important. They grab you & make you think abt how/if you can work on the “other” vital part of your health, your mental health.
