What does holding a plank have to do with our emotions?
Listen or read to hear how to feel and hold our emotions, and how practicing our ability to hold our emotions, as well as a plank, can be life-changing.
Discomfort is the price of growth. Let’s get real comfortable doing the uncomfortable things that strengthen our body, mind, and spirit.
Welcome to Lovin My Daughter-in-law Podcast, where my mother-in-law, relationship expert, and master certified coach, LeAnn Austin, will help you create more love and connection with your daughter-in-law and everyone else you care about.
Hey y’all, you’re listening to Lovin My Daughter-in-law, Episode #119: Hold a Plank
How many minutes can y’all hold a plank for? I used to have competitions with my boys to see who could plank the longest. Well, the other day I was watching my cute grandbaby do stomach time and practice holding up his head and strengthening his neck. He worked so hard to lift up his cute little head and had a little leg kicking going on too as he was doing it. It was so tender to watch.
It reminded me of doing planks and how difficult it can be to hold yourself in that position for any length of time. The more we practice holding planks, the stronger we get and the easier it becomes. Just like my cute little grandbaby is able to hold up his head for quite some time now because he practices multiple times a day.
When I first really learned about emotions way back in 2018, I was instructed to hold the emotion, to sit with it, to allow it. That was a foreign concept to me. I didn’t really know what a feeling was. Thankfully, I learned that feelings, or emotions, start in the brain and are a vibration we experience in the body. Feelings are caused by what we think.
As humans, we typically don’t like the way negative emotions feel, so most of the time we try to change or avoid them. Often, we’re not even aware of what we’re feeling. Feeling our emotions is something most of us didn’t learn growing up, it simply wasn’t talked about much, but thankfully that is changing.
When you think about it, feelings are why we do just about everything. So for resisting, reacting, or avoiding our emotions, we’re not getting what we truly desire.
So you may be thinking, okay LeAnn, what does all this emotion and feeling stuff have to do with holding a plank?
Well, allowing or holding your emotion is a skill you get to learn and practice. It’s not the same as resisting or reacting to an emotion or pretending that it’s not there. When you allow the feeling of frustration, sadness, disappointment, or whatever you’re feeling, you observe it with compassion. You allow it to be there and hold it, even though it’s uncomfortable. You notice it in your body, you open up to it, you move towards it, you recognize that it’s simply a vibration in your body. The more you simply hold the emotion and allow it to be there without judgment, the stronger you become mentally and emotionally.
Holding a plank is a skill. Allowing emotions to vibrate in your body is a skill. We can practice both. In fact, while we are practicing holding planks, I encourage you to intentionally hold any emotion you are feeling and really notice what is happening in your body with love and compassion.
Feelings are part of the human experience. We have a contrast of positive and negative feelings. That make all emotions possible. If we only experienced positive emotion, we wouldn’t know it was positive. We’re not able to appreciate joy without sorrow.
Our purpose in life is not only to feel positive emotions. Our purpose is to feel all the emotions. Understanding this and strengthening our ability to hold any emotion, just like we hold a plank, can be life-changing. Discomfort is the price of growth. Let’s get real comfortable doing the uncomfortable things that strengthen our body, mind, and spirit.
So my challenge to you and to me is to practice holding a plank, as well as holding whatever emotion you are feeling. If you want to learn more, message me. I love helping my clients every day to strengthen their mental and emotional muscles.
How grateful I am that I’ve learned how to hold and allow my emotions with love and compassion, just like I hold a plank. It’s not easy. It takes lots of practice, and it’s something I will continue to work on for the rest of my life. But that’s why I’m here. Not to be happy all the time, but to experience the good, the bad, and everything in between.
I heard someone say: “Find your balance and hold that plank.” And I’ll add lovingly, hold your emotions too. Hmmm, something to think about.
Have a good one y’all, and here’s to feelings, planks, connection, and love.
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If you enjoyed this podcast, check out LeAnn’s Connection Crew Program. Where she coaches and teaches a variety of ways to have more fun and connection in our relationships. LeAnn also shares the five secrets she uses to create a beautiful relationship with me and her other daughter-in-law. She’s the real deal. I highly recommend you check this out.
And if you want one easy question you can keep in your back pocket and use to increase the love you feel for your daughter-in-law today, go to leannaustin.com and get the one question.
