Body Awareness

Our body language is a significant way in which we communicate with the world in face to face, or body to body, meetings. It can likewise be used as a way of both listening to ourselves, and hence forth better expressing ourselves.

Tune your Instrument

Just check in right now:

• How upright are you?
• How balanced are you?
• Are you leaning to either side, or more to the front or back?
• Where are your hands?
• Do you have any areas of tension, holding or stress?
• Especially in the jaw, around the eyes or in the shoulders.

Its's possible that much of that inquiry is only slightly relevant now, as you are currently in the relatively neutral activity of browsing a web page. But even here we probably found room for some improvement. It is most important however that we can check our body positioning at the more significant times in our life. Bringing Body Awareness to the fore is a great way of attuning ourselves to the moment. We can learn to read our own body language in such a way that we are able to interpret how centred, calm and present we are.

Rushing and Hesitating

Being the Change we wish to see in the world will often mean operating at the edges of what we feel is possible. We may well be stressed or feel stretched in that moment. It might be physically dangerous, it might be emotionally strenuous, and it may also be mentally challenging.

If things get extreme we could find ourselves feeling fight or flight impulses; our senses suddenly drenched in adrenaline. This level of agitation in our inner life brings with it the danger of disconnection. In the very moment we wish to be fully present, we are rising up away from life and connection.

Yet if we have trained for this moment we can find the space for connectivity to our inner process and avert the danger of disconnection.

You're Never without No Body

One part of this training is Body Awareness. So when we notice that things are getting intense we can check our poise; our presentation of our body life to the world.

One easy aspect to notice is am I leaning in or away?

If we are leaning in it may represent a wanting to get through this experience quickly. If we are leaning back or away, we may recognise that we are reluctant to get involved. Likewise if we either find ourselves, or bring ourselves to a more centred poise, we can feel a correlative equanimous readiness.

We can move from the rushing anticipation of leaning in, or the hesitant reluctance of leaning back, to a centred posture of prepared calmness. From this posture we are more likely to only do and say things that represent our core values. And in this way, we are more likely to fulfil our goal. See more about this at Path is the Goal