Body Awareness

So much of our day is spent with information coming at us continually. We spend our day with our heads filled with thoughts. We are making plans, completing tasks and obligations at work and home, taking care of emotional and physical needs of loved one. The thinking goes on and on. During all this mental activity, what is our body doing?

Our bodies continue to work for us, moving in ways we ask it — at least to the best of its ability. It’s always responding to the brain; yet it has wishes of its own. It will only respond to our thoughts and emotions for so long before it says loudly, “Enough! It is time to pay attention to me!” Sometimes we heed its advice; sometimes we don’t. How many of us have ever reached a point when our bodies have finally just stopped us in our tracks for a time period because it just won’t take the ignoring any longer?

So if we know how and why we are getting to that exhaustion place, why not listen to the body more and take its advice? If we pay attention to our body, it is always giving us correct information on how our brain has been feeling.
Feeling stressed? Well, how tense are the shoulders?
Feeling anxious? How does the chest and stomach feel?
Feeling angry? How is the breathing at this moment?
Feeling continual highs and lows in energy? How are the eating habits?
Paying attention to our body actually seems to take more effort than paying attention to outside ourselves.

Giving our body some positive attention during the day will always bring us benefit. Focusing on how the body is feeling in response to our thoughts and emotions will bring a keen awareness to where we hold our tension. Once that is realized, we can begin to find ways to undo our habitual, automatic responses.

Does this mean we should constantly focus on the body while we interact with the world? That would be very difficult to do. We can, however, start the process by waking up to the sensations in and on the body. Let’s face it, this is our vehicle for this lifetime. If we make a good effort to take care of it, it will do the same for us.

It Starts With Awareness:
Tapping the entire body is a great way of waking up to our body’s messages. When standing or sitting in a chair, close your eyes for a moment and do a scan of the body from head to toe, noticing the current sensations. After opening the eyes, start with the fingertips tapping all around the scalp and face. Then using the palm, tap with medium force from the top of one shoulder, moving down the arm toward the tips of the fingers and back up the underside of the arms. Continue over armpits, down and up the side of the body. Repeat the other arm. Next, tap with open palms on the chest working your way down to the abdomen. Take your time in these areas. Then move to the lower back, over the buttocks, down the backs of the legs to the ankles, switching to the front of the legs, moving up and ending near the belly button. Finish with closing your eyes and scanning the body once again to notice any new sensations. This is a fantastic way to bring an awareness to the body and give yourself a nice wake-up. The morning is a great time, and it can be done any time you feel sluggish.

Here is a video by Anne Marie Chiasson to get you started:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGZEVr6SEn0

Photo by Kira auf der Heide on Unsplash