E200 - Ido Portal: The Body Knows What the Mind Can't

**Ido Portal** (0:00)
We say, my body betrayed me, without realizing I betrayed my body before. We disrespected it in many ways, and now we're here.

**André Duqum** (0:08)
How would you diagnose how most people are relating to their body?

**Ido Portal** (0:11)
The body lies a lot less. It's very honest. Just listen to your body. I don't believe them. Listen to it, you're not on the right channel at all. What you hear is a lot of corrupted data. I distrust this. So then I searched for movement teachers. I couldn't find anyone. I met big practitioners, gurus, and I realized there is nothing here. I don't have it. I looked for someone who has it. Couldn't find. I said, okay, I'll become that person.
Next realization, I can't do it.
And with that, I stayed. Now we can start to look at things. What we don't attend to crumbles, dies. Attention gives life. You don't attend to your child. The child will develop problems.

**André Duqum** (0:58)
The attunement.

**Ido Portal** (1:00)
Yes. Attention replaces the tension. If people would place their attention in their shoulder for one minute, undivided attention, they will transform to such a level that...

**André Duqum** (1:20)
Ido Portal, it's such a pleasure to have you here. I have been loving your work for many years, seeing the inspiring stuff you share online through podcasts, and also through your movement practices over the years.
I think this conversation is going to provide a beautiful, it's just going to be a beautiful addition to a lot of the conversations we have on this show, because you really are a pioneer in sharing the body as a vehicle for self-exploration and self-discovery. And we live in such a heady culture. And I'm curious for you, in your words, how would you diagnose the current state of how most people in society and modern culture are relating to their body and movement?

**Ido Portal** (2:08)
Yeah, it's a strong moment for, it's a good time for the body because it's missing. The heart as well. But those three paths, let's say, they are not balanced and not pursued. So the current state of affairs with the body is approached through very limited models of our physicality, of our being. A lot of it comes from exercise perspective. Very crude, very disrespectful for the human body, for what it is, for ourselves. And the self, this self, the head self is actually, surprisingly, a small part of the picture, I believe. But it hijacks a lot of the attention, and of course, all of our culture has been built and developed around it, so it took us away.
And to go back is not as simple as just, you know, the slogans, you know, just listen to your body. I don't believe that. Listen to it. You're not on the right channel at all. You can listen to your body, but what you hear is a lot of corrupted data.
So, the first thing is to modify the model, our connection to the body. It has to be refined and made deeper, in ways more sophisticated, in ways more simpler.
It's not just about some kind of a car that you drive around and you get to places. It is you. You don't have a body. You are the body.
The brain is in the body. It's part of the body. And the connection to movement is that it is the vehicle, the thing that really put us here, in this state. Not mathematics. That's a side effect, not music. In the sense, all those things were involved, counting, rhythms, music. But the way that it affected us is through movement. And those are also movement realms in many ways.
So, the first step is education. To realize that we don't have a proper connection to the body, which most people unfortunately realize in the point of crisis, when we say, my body betrayed me, without realizing I betrayed my body before.

**André Duqum** (5:44)
So, you feel, in many ways, we've disrespected the body, not honored it in the way that it wants to be moved and used.

**Ido Portal** (5:54)
Yeah, I don't beat myself up over it, but there is a value in remorse.
Because, without it, there is no real power to change. The declarations, but they don't last. More words. So, I'd like to take that responsibility. And you've used the word correctly, we. We disrespected it in many ways, and now we're here. And we can start to take personal responsibility, but it sounds like this I need to take the responsibility. We went wrong, but only I can fix it. And each one of us turning back in and being the change is the way. And it was something instinctual for me.