The Satisfaction Cycle
"I need to relax but I can't."
We are not always capable of taking the steps toward what we know is important for our wellbeing. We all experience this paradox within the dimensions of wellness. The idea of coming to a yoga class or exploring their anxiety within the body with somatic therapy is met with a great deal of resistance, even though a person may know on a cognitive level that it would be important.
On a visceral level, this paradox may be related to disruptions in early physical development. The Mind Body Centering approach offers the concept of the Satisfaction Cycle. Where there may have been disruption in instinctual movement development there can be significant splits between what we know and what we do.
The cycle includes five basic neurological actions; yield, push, reach, grasp and pull.
Each of these actions is necessary for agency in meeting our own needs and achieving a level of satisfaction, also known as santosha (Sanskrit: संतोष saṃtoṣa).
Yielding is softening, letting go of constriction and trusting in the moment, the body, the process. This is the intention we begin each yoga practice session with, and ideally other processes we engage in off the mat. The push action is derived from the potential to become steady in our center that is possible once we have yielded to gravity and welcomed the support of the ground, also an aspect woven throughout asana practice in creating a strong foundation for each pose from which we can reach long through our bodies, grasp to engage our muscles, and pull vitality into ourselves on a cellular and energetic level.
These actions play out through the many layers of our being. Consider this satisfaction cycle in reverse, as in the example of person not feeling like they have enough power. A person in this dynamic may find themselves pulling and grasping for power in strategies and relationships that are intended to fill this bottomless pit of need. All of the grasping and pulling, if not initiated from an intact alignment that is rooted in a grounded place will not be received. Not only will a person have a need for power that can not be met, but the cycle of grasping and not being able to receive becomes a cycle in which a person can be trapped, existing without santosha as well as depleting their life force.
Where in the
dimensions of wellness are you lacking satisfaction? Body based practices have the potential to recondition those instinctual reflexive responses and actions that operate below the level of waking awareness. Start with the yield, take time to soften and feel yourself being breathed, being supported by the ground. Notice what lies beneath habitual bracing. This is how we evolve.
