The gifts of an embodied life

Regular readers will have noticed that recently a lot of my observations and provocations have talked about the consequences of our inner disconnect, and similarly, the beauty and well-being that is available to us all if only we are committed to doing the inner work. To put all our pieces back together again.

But how do we start with this? What can we purposefully practice in order to access this well-being? Well, here is a potential access point into practice that could support with this rewarding work.

Let’s start by reflecting on our relationship with sensations we experience in our bodies. Working with these can be a great way to bring more insight, kindness and capacity to our capability to turn up with complete access to our skills and talents in every given moment. To bring emotional regulation and clarity of decision-making when we need it most.

For many people, they are rarely aware of what's happening inside their bodies. In our culture where we spend an average of eight hours a day on a screen, our focus and sometimes addiction to the virtual world means we're not usually aware of body sensations.  

Even though we're not usually aware of it, every one of our experiences whether it's love or hurt, anger, thinking, or an addictive behaviour, is fuelled by physical sensations. 

When you're angry with a colleague for not doing his or her share of work, that anger is arising along with the sensations in the body. You might feel burning, tightening, maybe a swell of energy that initially feels good but becomes uncomfortable, even unpleasant.  

On the other hand, when you're attracted to someone, you're responding to the pleasant sensations. The lightness of joy or delight, a swelling of the heart that you experience when you think of that person or are near them.   

When we're not mindful of what's going on in our bodies, we can be driven by these sensations rather than having the freedom to pause and make wise choices. 

However with a little mindfulness and presence, when we feel the burn of anger, we can remain present with it rather than lash out. When we feel the pleasurable rush of dopamine in romance, we might mindfully notice it, rather than obsessively pursuing the object of our desire.  You could gently practice this right now. Bring something you enjoy doing to mind and focus your attention fully on it. Notice what happens now in your body despite the fact that you aren’t actually doing that thing. What sensations arise and where do they arise? Do they move around the body or transform over time as you focus your attention on them? Are there layers to them, and perhaps even insights and understanding for you at different levels the more you explore them?

As we’ve explored in previous posts, our minds are innocent here but will incline towards the practices that we have learned and adopted in order to feel safe and in control. So we've become conditioned to pull away from unpleasant sensations and try to hold on to pleasant ones. This means we're continually reacting with grasping or pushing away. You’re doing it all the time, in the main subconsciously, and so fuelled by this reaction, and often making choices and decisions from this reactive state.

But how wonderful to know that with purposeful practice you can bring awareness to this knowledge and therefore in time have more choice in how you respond, in turn influencing the outcomes you experience. With a little mindful practice, we can learn to stay present with whatever sensations we're experiencing just letting them arise and pass like the breath. No right or wrong, just accuracy of experience. And once they’ve passed, we may make a much more healthy, accurate, and mindful choice. Which of course may be to do nothing at all. So return in your mind to the thing you enjoyed doing and stay with it a little longer and just see what happens to those sensations if you can stay with them over time….of course, it’s easy to stay with sensations that are pleasurable, but the same benefits of accuracy and choice can be reached when working with more challenging emotions.

Rest assured, remaining present with strong sensations such as anger, anxiety, pain, or craving is not so easy, especially if we've experienced intense or traumatic physical or emotional pain. We want to run away, numb out, and somehow avoid the sensations, and this is totally understandable. So small steps and gentle practices of staying with the sensation are initially required, so that we can develop the muscle, as with any other growth, in a mindful, unrushed, healthy way, avoiding the pitfalls and injuries that come with trying too hard too quickly in any pursuit.

So be kind to yourself as you explore and learn, a practice in itself of enormous value. 

And so it is entirely possible to create some space through gentle practice between the heat of the sensation and not letting that heat overwhelm our capacity to remain observant and aware, rather than overwhelmed and reactive, but you must be sensitive to yourself and take small steps. 

Then as we learn to simply remain present with sensations, we not only free ourselves from the old patterns of reactivity. We also receive the gifts of an embodied life.   

Our body lives in the present moment. When we're in touch with our body, we're here available for life.  

The key to wakefully inhabiting our bodies is to fully experience sensations just as they are with a friendly attitude. You're coming into a relationship with the most immediate, direct expression of this mysterious life. What a gift. What a simple way into deeper consciousness. 

This bodily awareness can help you be more present in any activity and better handle any situation you find yourself facing….

May your practice bring you everything you wish for. 

—
Andrew.