What’s the easiest way to become more bodily aware – or to help someone else do so? Read on…
Teresa writes:
I watched a video of yours and Focusing seems to make sense, but it depends on being aware of your body. What if I’m not? How can I become more aware of my body?
Dear Teresa:
Believe me, I can so relate!
When I first tried to learn Focusing, I had the same question. My body did its job – which often seemed to be just to carry around my brain! – but feel it? I didn’t feel it unless it got hurt.
Being aware of and in my body is something I had to learn how to do… and it didn’t come instantly.
I think it’s important to know that being aware of your body at the subtle level is a skill and takes practice. So we don’t have to give up if we can’t do it well … yet!
How do we practice?
I would have you start by pausing right now, and noticing what about your body is easy to be aware of. For example, right now I am sitting, and I find it easy to be aware of those parts of my body in contact with the chair.
Next, try rubbing your fingers together, and notice you can feel that. Good! What else in your body right now is easy to feel?
Do you have a sore throat right now? Did you pause a moment and check? When you did so, you were becoming aware of your throat. So how does your throat feel, if not sore? Open? Relaxed? A bit tense?
How about the difference between how your throat feels inside, and how your chest feels inside? Are they they same, or different? Often the easiest thing to feel is a comparison, a simple difference.
By the way, if you are someone who works with other people, these are helpful practices to offer to a client who has trouble feeling the body. We can help someone build the skill of body awareness with simple practices. Over time, this allows a whole new world to open up, because there is so much inside us waiting to send us messages!
