In the 90's classic "The Matrix", there's that indelible scene when Morpheus meets the somewhat confused Neo (played by the always somewhat confused Keanu Reeves) and offers him two options, a red pill or a blue one. (this is Coach Will here with story time)
The options boil down to: a). Knowing what's going on, being able to start to see "it" --the Matrix--for what it is (RED pill) or b.) to stay blind, and ignorant (BLUE pill).
Of course, this is a false choice … We humans have a soft-spot for seeking truth, once we are clear where we might find it. Even if we're not convinced at first, even a nagging sense that there's more to the story can make us pull the thread.
I think of this often as I'm teaching Functional Range Conditioning. Seeing the responses on a student's face, and hearing their questions, it's as if I'm pulling back the curtains on a grand song-and-dance production. One discovery only leads to more questions.
We love questions :).
The reality, for me, and many, many others I have worked with, is: despite living with ourselves, many of us have an extremely vague sense of what's going on under the surface of our bodies.
We have little to no dialogue with the mechanism that moves us, thinks for us, feels for us, and delivers us wherever we're headed in life.
And that lack of communication makes us nervous (and rightly so), especially when the mechanism starts to break down or act in unpredictable ways. We cope with that nervousness by trusting others, outsiders to the body-self conversation, far beyond ourselves.
That means that at our studio, with new students, we first must instigate conversations between humans and their bodies, a conversation that may have been dormant for months, or years.
And while these may not be vocalized conversations necessarily, (although I definitely talk to myself :), they are literal feedback loops--dialogues--between sensory tissue (nerves in your body) and decision making tissues (brain).
And here's where the Red Pill/Blue Pill choice comes into view: once the dialogue is initiated, and someone is actively trying to control their body, there's no more not knowing.
There's no hiding from what your hip can actually do, or how much of your spine can actually function. How far your shoulder can actually reach without pain.
And that realization may be emotionally painful, even as it acknowledges and respectfully steers us away from physical pain.
But luckily, the harshness of freshly opened eyes slowly recalibrate. With time, and continued dialogue, the nature of the relationship does begin to shift.
Tissues that had previously been hidden from us start to emerge, and flourish with the attention (aka actually moving them!)
A newly-respected shoulder begins to gain fluency in the range it can access.
A hip, free from constant insult, starts to ask for more movement--more hiking, playing, exploring, strengthening.
With that momentum comes a drive to learn, and see more (like, "where exactly does my spine stop moving?"). And with more truth, further discovery, we start the cycle anew.
Discover, rinse (or power-wash, depending on your style ;), and do it again. Ad infinitum.
While it's not always a "happy" process, over time it always bends towards more real. And we think that is important, and fulfilling (and sometimes even happy!).
At that moment in The Matrix, Neo, facing his choice, is completely unclear about the "it" that Morpheus is describing, and even so is sure what he must do. And as Neo reaches for the Red Pill, Morpheus says:
"All I'm offering is the truth, nothing more."
Go find your gold,
Will