Mind Body Connection
The word, mind, dates back to the late 12th century. It was defined as “that which feels, wills, and thinks.” So the mind is really a collection of all the human experiences in one. Note that thoughts and feelings and urges or intentions are all part of the mind. Somehow though, for many of us, the word mind has come to be understood as the center for logic and thought. It is that, but it is much more than that. Have you ever heard the phrase, the whole is more than the sum of its parts? You can have thoughts about something, and you can have feelings about something, but it is the synthesis of your thoughts, your feelings, wisdom gained by experiences in your past, and knowledge of your goals and intentions that is the whole essence of one’s mind. Mindfulness practice involves training yourself to have awareness of all aspects of your mind and to be able to integrate them smoothly in order to guide your actions. Because the mind involves feelings and because it directs our actions, it’s essential that we are connected to our bodies. We divorce our feelings from our thoughts, our physical feelings from our emotions…they all exist in the same person. We feel emotions physically, just like we feel being punched. We can notice elements of our experience one by one. For instance, as a way to heighten your attention, you could eat a piece of popcorn and notice the sensation of crunching it without paying attention to the taste of the salt, but if you were to fully dive into the experience of eating popcorn mindfully, you would experience smell, notice the color, taste the flavors and observe the texture.
Just like a child learning to hit a baseball focuses on one aspect at a time—stand in the batter’s box and do not jump out when the ball whizzes by, swing the bat level, watch the ball, make contact with the ball, follow through with your swing—we can master pieces of our experiences one by one. But, the ultimate goal is to pull all those parts together in order to be effective. If we practice noticing parts, and connecting parts of our experience, we will become intuitively aware of all aspects of our experience and we will be more effective.
I have discussed, falling awake. My 16-year old can answer me without ever having heard what I asked. He is then shocked later on to learn what he agreed to do while he was half-there. You can go through the motions or be truly awake. Recently we have practiced breathing a lot, breathing deeply, with awareness. Connecting breathing to thoughts or to intentions. Today, we will practice connecting your body with your breath.
So, most of you have done progressive muscle relaxation exercises where you breathe and tense and relax muscles in order to relax your body and release stress. This practice is a bit different. The goal is not necessarily to relax your body, it is to feel it. To connect to your body while breathing and observing your experience.
To practice, it’s best to lay on the floor or a mat, but if you can’t a bed or even a chair is fine. Take two deep breaths to begin then start slowly stretching different parts of your body. You can flex feet up and down, twist gently, reach high, pull shoulders back. Whatever feels like it needs stretching. If you do yoga, cat and cow is perfect for this practice. The idea is to feel your body, to wake it up and to connect your thoughts and observations with your physical body and your breath. Do this for as long as you feel like.
Throughout your day, try not to lose touch with your physical experience. When you have a feeling try to locate it in your body. If you are working try to stretch and be aware of your body throughout the day, rather than waiting till you feel tight or cramped.
The weather is beautiful today in the Northeast. Hope you get out to enjoy it for a bit.
Michele
