Sanctuary for Heart Magic

THE SACRED INTELLIGENCE OF BODY ASYMMETRY

Finding harmony beyond the illusion of symmetry

Most people believe that the body should be symmetrical. What you sense, feel and experience on the left should be the same as what you sense, feel and experience on the right. In actuality, for most people this isn’t the case. They have varied experiences on each side. One side typically feels stronger, and the other weaker. One side might feel tighter, while the other is more relaxed. The right eye or ear might be shaped differently from the left. There might be more sensation felt on the left side of the body or the right. People can spend a lot of time pathologizing asymmetry and trying to make both sides be the same. It also doesn’t help that we are conditioned to believe that things should be even, in straight lines, tightly fit together and structured linearly. This is why when we go into museums, pictures aren’t hung on angles and why buildings are built in squares with equal proportions. We are constantly in a sea of straight, linear symmetry.

However if we look to nature we see a very different picture.

Trees, plants, mountains and hills are not the same from side to side. One side of plant might grow radically more than the other side, especially if one portion of it is in shade and the other in the sun. The branches that grow out from the trunk of a tree are not in the exactly the same, nor in directly opposite locations. One side of a mountain might be steeper than the other side, even if both sides meet at the same point. Nature also shows symmetry. For example mint leaves always grow in paired opposites along the stem. However the sizes of the leaves are still variable from side to side. Nature largely expresses asymmetry. So where does our excessive focus on symmetry come from? In one word, control. It is our attempt to control some “thing” that creates an overly rigid, and often obsessive focus, on symmetry. The need to control forms and structures, including our body, is rooted in feelings of powerlessness. Thus if we see symmetrical order, or experience it within our body, we feel a little more in control.

Controlling forms to appear in a particular way in attempt to feel in control, doesn’t provide the experience of true power, but it doesn’t stop us from trying. The mind feels safe in order and symmetry, even when it’s not natural. There is an innate intelligence in asymmetry. You can learn a lot about it simply by making all the pictures in your house hang on an angle for a few weeks, or moving your furniture so that isn’t all at right angles to the corners of your rooms. Internal distress or feelings of disorganization may arrive inside of you. It is good practice to stretch ourselves out of the artificial symmetry that constantly surrounds us, so that we can find that place of centeredness within asymmetry and come to realizes its intelligence.

BRAIN HEMISPHERES

How the brain organizes the body

Most people are aware that there are two sides to our brain, a left and a right hemisphere. The left side of the brain receives sensation from and controls the movement of the right side of the body, and the right side of the brain receives sensation from and controls the movement of the left side of the body. This occurs because the nerve fibers that run up and down your spinal cord, from your brain to your body, crossover creating this opposite side control. There are a few exceptions to this, namely your vision and facial muscles, which receive and send signals from both sides of the brain, and your vagus nerve and sense of smell, which are solely same side controlled.

The hemispheres of the brain are individually organized. The left hemisphere is where language is processed. It is precise, logical, analytical and linear. Without it we can’t focus on details or do things like mathematics that require sequential mental processes. The right side of the brain is where spatial awareness and feeling sense is processed. It interprets emotional inflections in speech or in the tone of a room. It takes in the big picture, perceives depth and dimensions, and sees the whole forest rather than a single tree within it.

It is not that one side of the brain is better than the other, but rather that they serve different functions.

Our culture is largely organized towards supporting the development on the left brain side of the brain, which is evident by what we focus on in our schools and what we value within our society. Less emphasis is placed on the development of emotional intelligence, empathy, feeling and seeing the big picture. This results in pathways within the right side of our brains receiving less opportunities for activation. This is a gross generalization and not true for everyone, but it is a common theme for many based on how our society is oriented. In addition some might attribute the qualities of masculine to the left brain and feminine to the right brain. This is not about gender, but rather qualities that each of those terms express.

You can see that asymmetry is intelligently built in.

I have noticed that people who tend to have a little more activation of the right side of their brains are more aware of this asymmetry and it creates less agitation for them. Often they have more sensitivity on the left side of their body, while noticing less on the right side. This can sometimes lead to thinking that there is something wrong with the left side, when really it is just that they feel more over there because of how their brain is wired. Because the left brain is more directive in its function and the right brain is more receptive, we might feel stronger or weaker on that side of the body which the brain controls. For example if we tend towards logic and reason, we might notice that the right side of body leads or feels stronger. Where if we tends towards big pictures seeing, creativity, and noticing depth and feeling tone within our environments, we might notice greater receptive on the left side of our body. This is all a reflection of asymmetric normalcy and should not be viewed as something wrong in how one is experiencing their body.

Each side of our brain enables intelligence in different ways and this gets expressed through our body. It may be that your soul is asking you to nurture these brain pathways in different ways and your body can give you clues as to what is asking to be nurtured. Noticing asymmetry is like unwrapping a present. It is a clue that helps guide your awareness where to focus next. Rather than viewing it as wrong, invite the perspective that it is pointing you in a direction of what you need to learn now.

Dr. Amanda Love, DC, MSAc, L.Ac, OTR/L, Network Chiropractor, Boulder, CO

Network Spinal Chiropractor & Nervous System Specialist at the Sanctuary for Heart Magic,