It seems so simple: contraction and expansion. But understanding the body, mind, and spirit in terms of contraction and expansion can provide a much deeper foundation for creating a life of personal sovereignty.
Throughout my years of dance training, particularly in modern/contemporary (especially if you studied Graham or Bartenieff technique), you play a lot with the body in relationship to expansion and contraction. The contraction is not simply a collapse, but a forceful push of the abdominals toward the back of the spine alongside an exhale, and the chest, neck, head, and pelvis follow. (Feel free to try this.) Whereas expansion is its counterpart, initiated from the heart as more of an opening (not force) alongside an inhale. Feel free to try this as well.
I love circling concepts back to dance and movement because if you can understand something from the perspective of the body, you can understand it at a deeper level when it comes to spiritual, energetic, and esoteric concepts. And if you have been interested in personal growth from an energetic standpoint, you have probably been playing with the idea of what makes you feel expansive. But for every inhale, there is an exhale.
When you take the time to be with your body, you can use these concepts of expansion and contraction to better align with your higher truth or higher self. The mind is important, but it can be programmed to override the body’s information. When I—or anyone else—talks about the concept of “embodied alignment,” we are referring to our connection to the body’s ability to receive information from the Higher Self or even Source through the Heart Center. On a scientific level, the heart is transmitting our frequency and electromagnetic field. On the esoteric level, it is the conduit for the creation of our reality.
And if you didn’t notice, when you feel fear or grief your heart contracts. But when it feels love and connection, it expands.
This doesn’t necessarily make contraction a bad thing. Think about it more as collecting data. If I am thinking about a situation I’m in, a decision I need to make, or recalling a memory, the body will provide me with information. This is where we can use contraction or expansion to decipher deeper truth, because the mind will have a tendency to override our ability to make decisions, create, or let go of a memory.
To give an example:
Say you have been dating someone for several months. Things seem like they are going well, but you can’t seem to get a clear answer on how this person feels about you. And there is an underlying uncertainty about whether or not this is worth pursuing anymore. You really enjoy being around them, and they make an effort in certain ways…but when you bring up commitment and the future, they seem to circle the conversation.
You feel a little bit of clarity and ease in the moment of conversations. But, you aren’t sure if they just have a hard time with tough conversations, or if maybe it’s you who is afraid of being completely direct.
You bring it up one more time and finally catch something they say that doesn’t feel right. Your arms tighten, your chest squeezes, and you feel your heart sink toward your stomach. They didn’t say anything inherently bad or surface-level upsetting, but your body caught onto something before your mind had a chance to catch up.
That “contraction” in your body is telling you something. Not only is what I’m hearing not expansive, but my body is saying this is not okay. That is deep-level truth.
Now, your mind might tell you: Oh, I’m just overthinking. We have such a good time together. They seem to care about me. I could make this work…etc. Your mind might try to create expansion if you aren’t fully in touch with your boundaries and desires. However, if you are in touch with what makes your body feel expansive, then that contraction cue is telling you THIS IS NOT FOR ME.
At that point, this is where we decide whether to continue overriding the body’s “knowing,” connected to our heart, where we sink into fear and entropy—or detach from the situation to remain aligned with our true expansion. If the words from this person carried a truth that was in alignment, then your body would respond in a way that felt more open, soft, or even energizing.
If you do not already have this deeper connection to your heart’s desires, the mind has its own way of deciding for you because it is designed for survival. Unfortunately, it doesn’t know the difference between what is actually aligned with your greater purpose or truth; it simply responds based on how it was programmed to operate.
If you are anything like me, you spent years in the same loops as the one above but didn’t understand why the same things kept happening. I had been running on a program that caused me to override my desires out of fear of not being chosen. For years my body told me “no,” but I wasn’t attuned to that truth because my mind was running the show and not my heart.
After spending the past few years reconnecting with my heart and releasing fear, I’ve been able to not only become aware of my body’s cues but also expand my heart to create a deeper connection to what Sarah Elkhaldy describes as the “zero point ” of energy. This zero-point field that the heart contains is Source, or the Universe, etc.
When the heart is expansive, it is open to create higher, more loving experiences. When you begin to understand what keeps the heart contracted, then you have the foundation to create expansion in your life. When you apply the idea of contraction and expansion, this opens the gateway to a language of understanding to your heartfelt "Truth”. At the end of the day, we aren’t seeking materials or experiences; we are seeking the feeling beneath our desires.
Something to ask yourself today.
Does this make me feel expanded? Why?
Or does this make me feel contracted? Why?
If so, what would help me feel expanded instead of contracted?
Let me know if you used these prompts today and what you experienced…
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If you found this information helpful and are curious about Heart Consciousness, I am going to tag a few resources from myself and other leaders who have helped me along the way.
Resonance Container Podcast E2: WTF is Heart Consciousness?
Gregg Braden on Heart Communication
I am also about to offer a Substack series on Chakras for my paid subscribers.
Learning about the Chakras during my embodiment training was such a game-changer, not only in my personal healing journey but in my spiritual path as well. This information is useful whether you come from a spiritual or non-spiritual background, and regardless of religious affiliation.
We will start from the root and work our way up. In this exclusive series, I will include meditations, journaling prompts, and deeper discussions.
If you are hesitant about my paid subscription, here is a sample of one of my paid offerings you can utilize without commitment yet. As always, my free tier is available as well.
How to Start a Meditation Practice
It is my goal not only to provide content that helps you slow down and think critically, but also to offer tools along the way to help you create a more sovereign, heart-led life.
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