We have been alienated from out physical nature through changes in work and living. Many of us have shifted from physical to mental work and live in the city—far removed from nature. Furthermore, the dominance of the literate mind, favouring abstractions, classification and analysis, distance us from direct experience. We want to stand back and examine it cognitively.
The first of the Buddha’s spheres of mindfulness concerns the body. Awareness of the body makes us feel alive—an exploration into the nature of experience itself. The first step toward awareness of the body is to inquire our present attitude toward it.
We tend to think of the body as separate from the mind. While we often perceive it as an object from the outside, we experience it from within. Hence, the first thing we should learn is awareness of our inner physical sense.
Most of us hold habitual tensions and posture of which we are completely unaware. By cultivating mindfulness, we become aware of them and allow ourselves to let them go. However, as we will notice, letting go of physical tension has as much to do with the mind as it does with the body.
Some of our tensions are ‘physical memories.’ By gradually exploring our pains and tensions through meditation, a memory may rise and fade, and with it the tension that contained it.
Gradually, awareness strengthens the integration of body and mind; they become more connected. Through sensation, the body will ‘communicate’ with us in a similar way to how thoughts manifest in the physical realm. When we allow both to be, we become an integrated whole.
Tensions in the body that have become habits, or instinctual, go beyond simply that. They are at the core of our being; they have become part of I. We can clearly observe this in others; the way someone walks, moves, stands and sits, each express who that person is.
Even when these postures of movements may be uncomfortable, we hold on to them, because they express our habitual self. When we strongly want, or strongly resist something, our body tenses up. Letting go of our bodily tensions requires loosening our attachment to self.
‘Self’ is the habit of being a particular way—which is also a habit of holding our bodies in a particular way. By letting go of one, you let go of the other.
Cultivating bodily awareness
‘Step 0’ for deepening bodily awareness entails taking good care of it. We will therefor start by cultivating awareness of what and how much we eat and drink, but also how well we sleep.
We know the beneficial health effect of a vegan or vegetarian diet and the habit of getting (at least) 30 minutes of aerobic exercise several times a week. Make sure you engage your body, and get those breaths of fresh air, every single day. Avoid junk food, and processed food more generally. Drink enough water and get sufficient sleep. The latter meaning that you sleep until you wake up naturally, adjusting when you go to sleep at night to get up at the desirable time in the morning. 🛏
After taking this baseline step, we can start to find ways to escape the chatter of our mind. An effective way to do that is in deliberate physical movement, or more specifically, a mindful walk. The richness in sensations of movement and in being outside make it much easier to connect to our body. 🚶♂️
Here are some actions you may take to improve your awareness during such a mindful walk:
- Describe your route in advance: where will you walk and what will you see? Try to visualise the walk in its entirety. To do so you may want to draw it out or write it down.
- Write down what obstacles you may face when trying to take a habitual mindful walk.
- Think of (creative) ways to address these barriers.
- Review how it went immediately after the walk or combined with the journaling exercise at the end of the day.
- Use ques during walking, for example:
- Focus on the movement of your body as you walk.
- Bring your attention to the soles of your feet.
- Count your steps (when you are particularly stressed or distracted).
- Bring feelings that prevent you from walking mindfully into awareness.
- Bring an appreciative attention to your experience.
- Use your imagination, e.g. how your steps reverberate through the ground.
When we have the room to do so, we can add a mindful body scan to our daily meditation practice. Besides cultivating bodily awareness, body scans are particularly useful to uncover and dissipate habitual tension. ⚡
The body scan is about filling the body with awareness; bringing a non-judgmental awareness to whatever it is that you can feel—comfortable or not, relaxed or tense. It is important that you do not try to change anything, you should not even try to relax. The procedure is as follows:
- Lie down on the floor with feet flat, knees bent, and only the head supported (you should be able to touch the back of your neck). Have your elbows to the side and hands rest on your belly. When you are ready: close your eyes.
- Bring your awareness into the body and feel its weight on the floor. Then, cultivate detailed awareness of each part of your body in succession. It doesn’t matter where you start, as long as you move through your body in its entirety. Notice what you feel, not what you think you feel.
- Open your eyes. When we think about moving, our mind often jumps to the end of the movement and hence creates tension within our body. When you roll to your side, try to make the movement completely deliberate, try to make the movement itself the end. Try to maintain that attitude as you get up from the floor.
Second practice week
For this week, join me in starting the following habits in addition to what we wrote down last week:
Health audit
Every day, I will take into awareness and reflect on my body’s state in the following health domains:
- sleep,
- being outside,
- exercise,
- eating, and
- drinking,
using the following scales to assign overall scores:
- extremely bad,
- poor,
- neither particularly good or bad,
- good, and
- excellent.
Mindfulness walk
I will go for a mindful walk every day. This means deliberately committing to walking mindfully for at least 5 minutes time. It can, and ideally should, be combined with walking that is already planned.
The most likely obstacle I can envision is that I either (1) don’t have enough time or that (2) it is raining, and I don’t want to go. When I foresee that time is limited when I schedule my time the day before, I will go on a mindfulness walk directly after lunch instead of hanging out longer with colleagues. In the case that it is raining while I work from home, I will take my umbrella. When I’m in the office, I will instead ensure that I will do the body scan when I get home.
Body scan
Whenever I get home, I will first do a 10–20-minute body scan to make sure I don’t carry over any stress or tension I’ve built up throughout the day.
Here the most obvious limitation is time. Whenever it seems I do not have the time to do the body scan, I will remind me of its importance and how it will likely help me save time later as I will be more focused and aware.
Are you ready to add this week’s habits to last week’s commitment list?
