Awe Of The Body

In this talk we start with a guided invitation practice to bring attention to the body. We explore the wonder of the innate intelligence that is the living system of the human body that we so often take for granted. Music at beginning by DJ Taz Rashid. Image by Samantha Weisburg on Unsplash.

Transcript

Welcome everyone,

This is Dr.

Tia H.

Ho with Finding Mindful Now,

Guiding you out of your head and into your life with applied mindfulness.

Finding Mindful Now is about starting with a mindfulness practice and then seeing the capacity for us to tune in and be present with life more of the time,

Whatever we're up to.

And today's topic is on being awed by the body.

So I like to start all of these talks with an arrival practice.

This is a mindfulness invitation like any invitation.

It's kind of like trying a scarf on.

You can change it to fit you.

You can take it off.

You can try on something else if it doesn't work for you.

So I'm just going to invite you to find a comfortable position,

Whether that's seated or standing or in repose.

And you're just going to allow attention to come back to the body,

Into the space between us.

Back from the meetings,

Back from the thoughts,

Back from the to-do lists.

Letting attention come into the body.

I'm just going to invite you to find a spot that feels stable or consistent.

You might have your eyes open or your eyelids lowered.

You might feel the way your body is gently being held by the earth,

The continual sensation of gravity.

You might feel if you wiggle your feet,

Feel whatever surface they're resting on and its stability or the sensation of your bottom or back resting against whatever surface it's on.

Maybe it feels extra comfortable.

If there's some discomfort,

I'm going to invite you to breathe into that space.

I'm just going to invite you to find a spot of tightness and inhale two of the longest and deepest and slowest inhalations you've taken today into that space.

If it helps,

You might bring your hands to that spot.

Maybe it's your jaw or your chest or your back.

Just give a gentle,

Firm pressure,

A hug or some massage of that spot as you take your next long inhale.

So all of that bringing attention back to the body is a great reminder of the body's capacity.

Are you in awe of the body?

I am.

I'm in awe of yours and mine even without meeting you.

So awe is defined by dictionary.

Com as an overwhelming feeling of reverence,

Admiration,

Even fear produced by what is grand or sublime or extremely powerful.

So I know our society tells us that our bodies are supposed to be certain ways in shape or size or athleticism or appearance.

And there's a general sweeping under the rug that happens in that kind of more than,

Less than judgmental analysis.

And what gets swept under the rug is the awe and wonder that is this moving,

Breathing,

Detoxifying,

Digesting,

Thinking,

Feeling,

Sensing,

Experiencing form that we are part of.

And we are taught to only pay attention when something doesn't work and to focus in on that.

Maybe it's an illness or a challenge.

And when we do that,

We end up ignoring most of the time.

We have countless functions and abilities that point at an innate intelligence,

An innate capacity and a form of wellness that we're encouraged to look away from.

So maybe we can unpack that a minute.

The brain's job is to keep this whole system,

The brain and the body,

As safe as possible and thriving.

So that it's no wonder that a lot of attention and mental analysis is directed on where there might be limitations.

And I'm just going to invite us to start looking at how amazing all of the functionality of the body is that's happening without,

As far as we can tell,

Any of us or what we think of as us,

Without this internal narrator putting it on their to-do list.

So for example,

Your eyes blink on average 14,

000 times a day.

Your body is continually ringing in air and exhaling what it doesn't need from that same air.

It's taking apart food that you consume,

Pulling all the nutrients out,

Circulating those all across the body and excreting anything it doesn't need.

It's creating saliva and liquid under your eyelids to keep your eyes from going completely dry.

And that's not an easy thing to do.

It's a spherical surface,

Very difficult to stay evenly moist.

Your brain and body are producing hormones.

They are removing toxins.

They are keeping other ingredients out of the system.

And there's electrical energy and chemical reactions running all of it the whole time.

And I'm just going to invite you to consider what it is that is running that aliveness.

What is it that allows for the entire epithelial cells of all of your lower colon to change every three days?

What is it that is allowing cells to divide and for macrophages to come through and pick up all the stuff that's not needed and kick it out of the body?

That's definitely not on my to-do list.

I wouldn't know how to make that happen.

What is it that creates laughter or hiccups or reflexes?

I'm just going to invite you to give some gratitude,

To notice how sophisticated,

How complex,

How intricate and intelligent and thriving your body is right now,

Including any form of disability,

Including any illness that you have.

And I'm saying including not to deny that those are there,

Because challenges are challenging.

I'm pointing out that there are still systems functioning.

There are still cells dividing.

There is still a heart beating.

There is still lungs breathing,

Even when there is an aspect of that system or a sub area,

A subsystem that might have an injury or some kind of a challenge.

And I'm inviting you to reflect on and notice all of the hidden capacities of the body,

To invite in a sense of awe and wonder,

And to start realizing how much stability is already part of you.

And I don't mean to discount or minimize any challenge,

Only to expand the awareness of the internal support and resource and capacity that's already available to you.

So a loved one in my life went through a dramatic surgery,

And as they were recovering,

And they could have died from that surgery.

I know a lot of surgeries have that risk.

You know,

I couldn't help but notice when we would visit them that there was still laughter in between the discussions with the doctor.

There was still brightness in the eyes.

There were still lungs that were breathing,

A heart still beating,

Blood moving around the body,

Even when parts of the body were not functioning at the capacity that maybe they had a decade or two ago.

Even recovering from an illness or a wound injury,

The scarring process,

The bones knitting and closing back up,

Blood clotting,

What runs that?

Is that on your to-do list?

Do you have to sit down and think about and strategize and plan and take action on how to make sure all of these things go on?

Or does it happen anyway,

Regardless of what your mind,

The internal narrator is doing or saying?

Just going to invite you to send some gratitude to this body today,

This week or weekend,

Whenever you notice it doing something,

Whether it's your hand or arm reaching for something or swiveling around in a seat,

If you move around with a mobility device or not noticing any of that kind of motion,

It's happening on your behalf without question,

Without you telling it to.

It might be as simple as noticing what food tastes like or how your body can shiver when it's cold,

Letting you know that it's once a warmer layer and supporting you as you move from place to place.

I like to say thank you to the body.

Thank you legs.

Thank you trunk.

Thank you arms.

Thank you digestive system.

Thank you so much for doing all these millions of processes,

Millions of hidden activities every day and night.

Thank you aliveness that we are,

This vast intelligence contained in the incredibly intricate and yet somehow simplified division of cells.

You don't have to force any of this.

It's just a matter of letting attention notice.

Oh hey,

Look at how amazing this is.

Look at how amazing this body is.

As always,

I'd love to hear what you notice.

Reviews

Love and appreciation for this! We are stable and our bodies are working from a place of deep wisdom. Thank you!!

Thank you for the reminder of how amazing our bodies are. It’s so easy to get caught up in what’s not working; however the vastness of what is happening every second is an incomprehensible miracle. I’m in awe! 😍