The Body Only Speaks In The Present Tense

The body only speaks in the present tense. This makes it a natural gateway for coming into the present. By learning to listen to the language of the body -- a language not of words and concepts but of sensations and feelings -- we can settle into the path of meditation and reclaim our dignity. This track offers some initial reflections during the settling in phase and then offers guidance on how to listen to the language of the body. After some holistic practice listeners are guided through a more systematic body sweep starting around 17:45. The track closes with some reflections on training the mind and a period of silent practice.

Transcript

Settling in,

Finding a comfortable posture in which you can remain upright,

Alert,

And relaxed for some time,

And just taking a moment to reflect as you let the body and mind settle into the meditation,

Reflecting on what we're doing here.

This path,

This practice of meditation,

Is about reclaiming our dignity as human beings.

How do we do that?

We do it by coming in to the present,

Our true home,

That which is real,

That which is actually here,

The truth of our experience.

We come home to that through meditation,

Not being swept away,

Not being bullied by the past and the future,

Not that those things are unimportant and not that they have no role,

But taking some time to get perspective on what really matters here,

Not being tyrannized by thoughts about this and that,

Thoughts about what could be,

What should be,

Why it's not,

And why I am the way I am,

Why they are the way they are,

Why I'm not like this,

Why it's not like that,

All these thoughts that swirl around and agitate the mind,

Create clouds of confusion and agitation,

Stepping out of that swirl,

That storm,

Just for a moment,

Remembering what it's like to come home to the present.

There's a profound truth to be seen in the present moment,

The truth of our experience,

The truth of what it's like to be in this human incarnation,

The nature of thought and feeling and bodily sensation,

And a natural gateway,

If you like,

To this experience of the present,

And for many the easiest or most natural point of entry is through the experience of the body.

Why is that?

Because the body can only be in the present,

That's all it knows.

The mind can spin out into all sorts of things,

Thinking about the past,

The future,

It can take you here and there,

It can run off in a thousand directions.

The body doesn't do that,

It's always here,

It's always here and now in the present,

And the body only speaks in the present tense,

And it doesn't speak in words,

It speaks its own language,

A language of sensations,

Pressure,

Pulsing,

Twinging,

Heaviness,

Lightness.

This is the language of the body,

That's how it speaks,

And it tells you what's here now.

Now you might have some discomfort,

Some pain maybe,

And you might think,

Well this pain,

You know,

This pain in my ankle is because I twisted my ankle two years ago,

And now it's flaring up again,

And if I don't do something about this then,

You know,

It's going to get worse.

But that's not the body speaking,

That's the mind analyzing and conjecturing.

Not that we should completely ignore that,

Obviously if you have some serious bodily pain you want to attend mindfully to that,

But just appreciating the difference between what the mind says,

The thoughts,

And what the body actually says.

Even pain is a,

It's like a label that the mind applies to a felt experience in the body.

The body doesn't really speak in terms of pain even.

What does the pain feel like?

It can be stabbing,

It can be burning,

It can be dull or aching or throbbing,

That's the speech of the body.

So just tuning in in a very holistic way,

Listening to what the body has to say in its own language,

And like any language we learn by listening.

Open the mind,

Allow the body to speak and receive its message with a with an attitude of accepting,

Allowing,

And softening into the body.

Let it bring you into the present in its own time.

Don't worry about how long it's gonna take,

Whether you're doing it right or any of that,

You just relax the mind and let the body speak.

And for many of us this can take some time.

It's a gradual process because we're so used to being up in the head,

We're used to doing and thinking and figuring things out and analyzing,

That simply relaxing and allowing some process to unfold without adding,

Without commenting on it,

The mind can feel unsteady,

It can feel uneasy,

Like we don't know what to do.

And so it reaches for something to,

Something familiar to hold on to,

Some thought.

You start thinking about what you need to do or thinking about what you're gonna say to this person or what's going on at work or school.

That's the mind reaching for the familiar.

You just notice that,

Acknowledge the jumpiness of the mind.

And to the extent that you can,

Just let it be returned to the body.

What's calling your attention in the body?

What can you get curious about without a lot of effort?

Is there some feeling that's present for you?

Maybe the hands,

The hands have a lot of sensation in them,

You could try tuning in there.

If there's pain or discomfort and it's not really overwhelming,

You're not,

It's not so extreme that it's just consuming you.

If there's some pain or discomfort that you feel you can sit with,

Then go there.

What does it feel like?

Can you soften around those feelings and include them in the whole experience of the body?

Breathing in and out mindful of discomfort.

Mindful of the mind's reaction to discomfort.

Notice how you tend to clench up around it or push it away or resist.

Mindful of resistance.

All of these things are just passing phenomena arising within awareness and then like all things,

Eventually they go away.

If you feel comfortable in the body and listening to it,

Then I encourage you to simply continue doing what you're doing and you can let my words wash over you.

You can ignore them if they're not helpful.

Let them be in the background.

You stick to your task,

Learning the language of the body.

And if you're struggling with distraction,

If you feel that you're very much in your head,

You're thinking about the body or you're thinking about something else altogether,

Try bringing the attention to the area of the head and listen to what the body has to say in that area.

How is it,

For example,

With the eyes,

Behind the eyes,

Is there tension there?

Are you holding?

Is the forehead relaxed?

Do the temples feel open and relaxed?

How's the mouth,

The jaw?

Can you breathe softness into these areas?

Because the energy of thinking is very much up in the face,

In the head.

When there's a lot of thinking,

If you're careful,

If you're attentive,

You can feel it in the head.

And by relaxing the body in that particular area,

Eventually you'll notice the thoughts tend to relax as well.

They don't go away entirely,

But the pace,

The intensity quiets down a bit.

And you may need to repeat this process several times.

You notice the face gets tense again,

Locks up again.

You notice clenching in the jaw,

Being patient,

Not criticizing yourself,

Condemning yourself,

I can't do this,

I'm not meditating,

Here I go again.

It's okay.

Thinking is natural.

Just see it for what it is,

A condition in the mind arising on its own,

And if you don't feed it,

It goes away,

All on its own,

And you return to the body.

And now,

In the remaining time,

We'll do a more systematic sweep through the body,

Listening in.

If you're at the head,

You can stay there.

If you're somewhere else,

Let's bring the attention up into the area of the head,

And what's present there.

Notice the sensations on the surface of the skin,

All around the forehead,

The cheeks,

The eyes,

The lips,

The scalp.

Noticing what you can,

Include the ears,

The back of the neck,

The throat,

Including the shoulders.

What do you feel in the area of the shoulders?

And slowly gliding down the arms,

Including the upper arms,

The elbows,

The inner part of the elbow,

Down through the forearms.

And now slowly spread your mindfulness through the hands,

The top of the hands,

The bottom of the hands.

Feeling the fingers,

The thumbs.

Sweep your attention back up through the hands and the arms,

Up to the shoulders.

And now going downward again through the chest,

Feelings in the chest.

Notice the feelings of the breath in that area,

Including the upper back.

What do you feel there?

Is there tension?

If possible,

See if you can relax some of the tension there.

It's not always possible,

But you might experiment with that.

Sweeping down through the torso,

The stomach,

The middle of the back,

The lower abdomen,

The lower back,

Including the hips,

The groin area,

The seat of the body,

The legs,

Upper legs,

The thighs,

The back of the legs,

The knees.

Can you feel the sensations at the kneecaps,

About behind the knees,

That tender area of the skin?

Can you feel anything there?

Sweeping down through the shins and the calves,

Into the ankles,

And now into the feet,

The bottoms of the feet,

The tops of the feet,

And into all the toes.

Just spreading your mindfulness through the body and receiving the felt sense of the body,

Right here,

Right now,

Whatever it has to say,

Whatever it's like.

Now maybe broadening your awareness to include the whole body,

One unit sitting there,

One unified field of experience,

Breathing in and out,

Resting on the chair or cushion,

Supported by the earth,

Right here,

This body,

The felt body.

Take some time to just be with that feeling and get rooted into that experience.

Where is the mind now?

Is it in the body?

Relaxing,

Letting the body speak,

Listening.

Again and again we return.

Notice the pull of thinking,

The pull of reactivity,

Something in the body you don't like,

Or some feeling of restlessness.

What does that feel like when the mind is pulled away from the present,

Into some kind of thinking or reacting?

There's a,

Like a rush,

A twinge,

A movement out of the present.

We notice that movement again and again,

And we return to the body,

Coming home,

Learning to stay in the present and rest.

We don't criticize the restless mind,

We don't beat it up or punish it,

We just notice and return.

And eventually the mind gets the message.

It's like a puppy,

It wants to run and get into all kinds of things,

And you have to train it,

You keep bringing it back.

You say,

No,

Not right now,

Not that,

No,

No,

Don't go there,

Okay,

Let's stay here.

It can be playful with it,

And eventually the puppy learns,

And there's an immense strength in this learning.

The Buddha said,

There's nothing that can do you so much harm as an untrained mind.

Likewise,

There's nothing that can do you so much good as a well-trained mind.

Training the mind.

So you can practice like that now for a few minutes in silence,

And I'll ring a bell when it's time to close the meditation.

Reviews

Such a soothing voice and gentle pace. Really helpful guidance throughout this meditation.

Thank you, perfect for today.

Very relaxing😌Wow