Back Body Awareness

Back Body Awareness–10-minute meditation.

We tend to live in the frontal body. But when you can shift your awareness to the back body, you can reside more fully in the present moment. Includes gentle guided visualization of the back body, and full breath awareness.

“The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.” —Thich Nhat Hanh

Photo by @oneshotespresso

Transcript

Hello, Welcome. Thank you for joining me in this brief meditation and practice of breath work Let's get grounded in the present moment the great Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh who recently passed said that life can only be found in the present moment Let the present moment be your tool for healing on all kinds of levels Come to a comfortable seated position that can mean any way of sitting that feels comfortable Make sure you're well supported and that your back feels supported you might sit against something a wall or a chair and then take a moment once you find that seat and Please keep in mind that at any point if this does not feel comfortable or brings up anxious feelings you can Stop any of this get up walk around look around the room All of that will help you to pull back into the present moment But once you're in your comfortable seat, You might close your eyes or simply let your gaze turn down to the floor or to your lap And we'll bring the fingers to touch We'll take the index finger and the thumb tip of each hand to touch to make a little circle and then bring your palms to face up if you feel you need a little more energy or Palms down if you feel you need a little grounding and again with eyes closed or gaze turned down Begin what I call your weather check-in. What is the weather of the body? The breath and the mind today Just take a a brief scan you might begin with the sensation of your Finger tip and thumb tip touching. Can you feel that point? Then you might notice the sensation of the body sitting whether it's at the floor or in a chair Wherever you're sitting and notice the touch and the feel of that chair let your awareness scan the body feel the touch of the support of the surface you're sitting on and Gently let your awareness travel notice the belly the breath the heart your face And then we'll take three deep breaths. So breathe in through the nose deep full breath in and out through the mouth Through parted lips twice more at your own pace deep breath in through the nose out the mouth one more cycle in through the nose and out the mouth you always have the breath as Your reminder of the present moment now, We'll take some time expanding into the back body So still sitting as you are with eyes closed or gaze down still sitting with fingertip touching thumb palms up for uplifting energy Palms down for grounding feel the breath. We usually live in the front of the body all of these sensory Perceptions exist on our frontal plane. We have more sense receptors on the face We feel the front of our chest more than the back and we project ourselves forward into the future But we are three-dimensional beings and in art and sculpture We're taught that the body is a work of art the body is a sculpture and it has a fully developed front and back You only need to bring your awareness into the back So see or visualize in your mind's eye the back of your head and feel a spreading across the back of your head Follow a channel that travels from the back of the head down To the back of the neck in line with your spine follow the shape of your shoulders The right shoulder and the left shoulder continue that channel from the shoulders across the back body the left side of your back and the lungs as they fan out And the right side of your back as the lungs as they fan out and spread across the back like wings Back feel the lungs pulsing with the breath and beneath the lungs rest your kidneys feel into that low back space And as the low back softens and spreads Feel the space for these essential organs from the low back since the top of your hip bones and lengthen downward Let the weight of the body Release into this downward moving force You might feel the weight of body drop like a like a sack of potatoes right just a weight and grounding notice as you release deeper into the hips and feel that Loving gentle tug of gravity and earth into the hip bones into your sit bones And as you release more and more into that loving pull There is a corresponding space more breath more breath and spaciousness in the body Feeling so aware of your back so aware of this back plane finally from that rooted space of your hips Notice what we call the keystone of the body the sacrum right where the tailbone is And feel that spreading from middle Sacrum towards left and middle sacrum towards right to your outer hips and relax into these fleshy earthy locations Release into the back and take three more breaths You might draw in through the nose and out the mouth. You might just breathe in and out the nose Take one more full breath and exhale all the way out All the breath out and again deep inhale and all the breath out on this exhalation All the way all the way all the way out fully present fully aware of your body as a work of art and divine sculpture and with this breath of life fully pulsating within If your gaze is turned down or your eyes are closed Slowly start to lift your vision Lifting and looking around in the space around you notice something and let your eyes rest on this One thing in your space you might let your eyes scan the room and feel the safety and love that surrounds you I have one more quote to share by Thich Nhat Hanh again And he said the miracle is not to walk on water The miracle is to walk on the green earth in the present moment to appreciate the peace and the beauty that are available now and if you like you might take your hands and Let the palms touch and feel the surface of one palm upon the other and just rub your hands together So you feel a little heat and you might bring the warmth of your palms to your eyes or somewhere on your face And just feel that gentle touch and then one more time rub the palms and then thumbs to press at your heart center Thank you for practicing with me today