Body-Mind: Exploring the Breath

My previous blog post took you through a brief body-mind awareness exercise.  It was an introduction to a deeper level of perception.    You may have noticed sensation, pain, shifts in breath, blocks, or any number of thoughts or feelings as you participated in the exercise.  Try the same exercise with another area of your body and notice what is similar, what is different.  Perhaps during the time since you first did the awareness exercise, your awareness of your feet spontaneously came to mind.  This is what happens when we start to look, listen, and observe.  We notice all kinds of things that previously went unnoticed.

 

Practicing body-mind awareness helps us “tune in” to our own experience, to our body, to our thoughts and feelings, and to our relationship to our surroundings.  It gives internal knowledge of our own experience.   This is wisdom in its purest sense – knowledge gained through experience.    And who better to be the expert of you, than you?

 

Let’s take a moment to tune in.  This time, as you breathe in, follow your breath into your body, into your lungs.  Does the breath enter through your nose?  Through your mouth?  Both? Is the exhalation the same?

 

Breathe in again and notice where your breath goes.  How far does the breath go in?  Is the pathway open and clear?  Or is the air restricted anywhere?  As you exhale, what do you notice? 

 

Allow yourself to just observe your breath in, and out for several cycles. 

Jot down your observations.  Remember to include sensations, thoughts, feelings, memories.

 

Next week, we’ll explore the use of intention with the body-mind.

The Body-Mind: An Introduction

Our minds are constantly processing, evaluating, decision-making.  Our bodies function, for the most part, without much conscious thought.  So what happens when we bring our conscious awareness to the body? 

 

I’d like to offer a little experiment to explore the concept of body-mind connection: 

Take a moment to get comfortable in your chair.  

Place both feet on the floor and relax your shoulders.

Now take three relaxed breaths.

When I say the word feet, what is the first thought that comes to mind? You can make a mental note, or jot down notes.

Got it?

Now take three relaxed breaths again.

This time you will bring your awareness into your body and down into your feet…all the way to the soles of your feet.  You may want to close your eyes to do this.  What do you notice?  What is the sensation?  Stay with it for a few moments, breathing and “checking-in” with your feet.

Write down your experience.  How is this different than hearing/reading the word, feet?

Let’s take it one step further.

Holding awareness with your feet, stand up and walk around the room. 

What do you notice in your body as you add movement? 


Complete the exercise with three relaxed breaths.


Welcome to the body-mind - the awareness of a completely personal experience, your internal source of feedback.  It includes your whole life's experience in the present moment.  And you can access it simply by checking in.