Mindfulness of the Body

The body truly is a miracle. It’s capacity to move, stretch, push, reach, heal, and learn is delightfully amazing. And yet, too often, we don’t enjoy our bodies. Why is this?

We experience this life in and through the body. Our relationship with our physical self greatly affects how we are able to enjoy (or not) our lives. By nurturing, appreciating, and living fully in the body, our life is deeper and richer, so it only makes sense that we should want to take good care of it. And yet, I think, too often we are taught to take care of everything, and everyone else, except ourselves, and that when we do focus on our physical self care, we have been trained to focus on conforming to a cultural or social superficial stereotype – ie. we focus on how the body looks, and not on how it FEELS from the inside out. Don’t get me wrong, I like looking good, but we all know what an endless pursuit it can be, and that it does not necessarily lead to greater wellbeing. In fact, can have the opposite effect.

Also, we are not taught or shown how much power we have regarding our own state of physical health, and instead we rely on the healthcare system to ‘fix’ problems once they have gotten out of control. While these caring people are a vital part of our healthcare team, we also have an enormous capacity to help ourselves feel and move better in our bodies, and to heal, grow, learn, and empower ourselves. In this post, I will focus on some practical tips to deepen self appreciation and body awareness in order to reduce tension, move with more ease, and feel better.  

But, perhaps we ignore feeling into the body because, really, we do not like it.

Increasing body awareness may seem like a nightmare for those who have consciously or unconsciously decided, or who have been told, that their body is not worthy of attention or love. Sadly, poor body image is often promoted in our culture, to keep us buying self esteem in the form of new clothes or new procedures, and to keep us from feeling empowered. Perhaps we think that we must first develop a good sense of self-love in order to deserve the self-care that we give ourselves, but I think that the day-to-day practices themselves of deep self-care can be the path towards developing an unshakeable self-love. By adding small moments of mindfulness of the body into our day, we can start to appreciate the complexity and the miracle that the body is, and we can learn to fall in love with ourselves. On a very practical level, we are more successful in attaining our physical goals such as weight loss, improved performance in sports, and injury rehabilitation when we operate from a place of self esteem, rather than from a place of self condemnation and torture. We can enjoy the PROCESS of feeling better, and not just focus on the finish line.

 The term Mindfulness originates in Eastern philosophy, and means heart, mind, and body intelligence together – so Mindfulness is not mental, but rather is an experience of the whole being. Mindfulness is also living in the present moment fully, without getting lost in it. For example, we can notice a sugar craving, and instead of immediately satisfying it, we just stay with the noticing, perhaps pausing to investigate where the craving is coming from, and we can notice how the sense of craving changes over time. We bring attention and curiosity to our experience, instead of operating on habit. There is a sense of ‘beginner’s mind’ (For more detail about Mindfulness, see part 1 of this series, Mindful Eating).

Mindfulness of the body allows us to be more sensitive to our inner experience, and this is a vital first step to living healthier, safer, and much more enjoyable lives. Often we don’t notice any feeling in our body until it is extreme, but if we can tune into subtlety, we will be able to enjoy pleasant feelings more, and we will be able to notice unpleasant feelings sooner, thereby addressing them sooner, so that we can avoid even greater unpleasantness, like pain or injury, later. Paying attention to the inner experience of the body allows us to enjoy the taste of the food we are eating, the feeling of a hot shower releasing tension in our muscles, and the pleasure of a good workout, for example. Paying attention also allows us to notice when something in our back doesn’t feel quite right, so we can make an adjustment and avoid injury. We can notice that we are unconsciously tensing our jaw, and then we can let it relax. We can notice that we are holding our breath, and then we can exhale.  We can notice that a discomfort in our knee has recently transformed into a pain, motivating us to ask for professional help in this area sooner than later. Increasing body awareness is good medicine.

 Mindfulness of the Body Mini-Moments

Here are some simple things that we can do to help relax and deepen body awareness. These exercises will help us learn how to become an active participant on our healthcare team, and are beneficial for everyone, professional cyclists, and professional couch-sitters alike.

1.     Wherever we are, without changing anything, stop and notice how the body is feeling.

a.      Start by noticing the breath, and notice where the breath is felt. Is it more in the nose, chest, belly, or shoulders? Simply notice it without changing anything.

b.     Notice if there are any places of tightness, discomfort, pressure, or pain in the body. There is no need to change anything, however if a postural adjustment feels good, go for it.

c.      Scan the whole body briefly: how do the feet feel – from the inside out? The knees? -Thighs, hips, abdomen, lower back, ribcage, upper back, shoulders, arms and hands, neck & throat, jaw, and face? Move from bottom to top, or top to bottom, bringing the attention as specifically as possible to each part of the body. Instead of just visualizing the body, try to feel it, with the intention of being as relaxed as possible. Imagine the breath travelling to each of these places.

This can be done first thing in the morning, last thing at night, or as a mini-break in the day.

2.     Sitting in ‘ideal’ posture: in the first exercise, we did not change the posture of the body at all, but just noticed how it felt. In this exercise, adjust your posture so that you are sitting up on the ‘sitting bones’, with the pelvis and spine aligned as ideally as possible, sensing the vertebrae stacking one on top of each other. The chest is wide but relaxed, the shoulders are relaxed, and the head is balanced on top, with the eyes straight ahead, and the jaw relaxed. The feet are flat on the floor.

a.      Return the attention to the breath. Once more, let the breath travel through the face, the neck, shoulders, chest, abdomen, pelvis, hips, legs and feet, scanning the body from top to bottom, or bottom to top, with the intention of not just visualizing the body, but actually feeling it.

b.     While maintaining this more ‘ideal’ posture, relax. Notice what muscles you feel engaging as this posture is maintained. We may feel the muscles in between the shoulder blades working to keep our spine long, or we may notice the abdominals drawn in to support the posture, but can we relax the jaw, the shoulders, and the hips? This is a mini-workout: we are strengthening the deep, core, postural muscles, and relaxing the peripheral muscles. See if this posture can be maintained for several minutes, as it does build up inner strength.

This is a great mini-break in the day, especially if the day consists of lots of ‘screen time’, because it can energize and rejuvenate the body from the inside out, and clarify the mind.

3.     Mindful Walking: there are many places that we can place our attention while walking:

a.      The rhythm of the breath

b.     The feeling of the feet making contact with the ground

c.      the alignment of the spine

d.      the swinging of the legs

e.      the relaxation of the shoulders

 Pick one of these places (or choose your own), and place the attention there for 1 block, or 1 minute, and notice how that affects the state of mind, and overall body energy.

4.     Mindfulness of the body and emotions:

a.      Notice how the body feels when there is an unpleasant emotion – such as anger, irritation, or sadness. Bring the attention inside, so instead of reacting in a habitual manner to the unpleasantness, we can investigate what is happening in the body. Notice where and how the emotion is felt – tightness in the stomach for example, or in the jaw. Let the breath travel to this place like good medicine.

b.     Do the same for pleasant emotions – such as joy, or enthusiasm, or gratitude. Notice the felt experience of the body from the inside out. Notice where and how the emotion is felt, and again, let the breath travel there, allowing the pleasant sensation to travel to the whole body.

 In this way, we can learn more about who this creature called ‘me’ is, and what it needs to feel truly healthy.

We can learn to treat ourselves as a dear one, worthy of love and care. Our relationship with ourselves can be more profound, allowing us to better distinguish between what is our inner wisdom and intuitive self, and what is just our inner critic and fearful self. We can learn to understand when our body needs to be challenged and lovingly pushed, and when it needs to be nurtured and rested instead. And rather than allow others to dictate what we should think about ourselves, we learn to trust this person, right here, that is with us our entire lives.