Decoding The Language Of The Body

What do you say to yourself every day? Do you know that your body hears it? Join me as we explore how the state of the body reflects the posture of the mind. Drawing on teachings from both the East and West you will understand some of the core body/mind connections and will have a chance to “read” what your own body might be saying to you. This track is a lecture and ends with a guided meditation/visualization where you explore and listen to an area of the body that is trying to send you a message.
Learn to listen to the language of the body
Explore the body/mind connection as it relates to you
Experience elements of an internal “psychosomatic” body scan

Transcript

So a very warm jai bhagwan to you.

And for those of you who aren't familiar with this term,

Jai bhagwan means victory to the spirit.

It's the version of namaste that we use.

And those of you who I don't know yet,

A very warm welcome to you as well.

I just find,

You know,

When we're in life,

It's so easy to just get on with our life and taking a little bit of time to remind ourselves of what we may already know.

But every once in a while,

It doesn't hurt to hear it again,

And maybe pick up a few extra things.

So my intention is one for us to just be together and enjoy the teachings together.

And hopefully to just remind us of a few little things that you know,

The little nudges that our body might be giving us.

So with that,

Let's just start with a brief centering.

Come to a comfortable seat.

Taking a full breath in.

And then letting the breath out.

And again,

Full breath in,

This time holding just a bit longer.

And then letting the breath out,

Breathing it out,

Letting it go.

Letting the shoulders relax,

Letting the arms be heavy.

Just making space for the spine to be long enough that the breath can move easily in and out of the belly.

Just appreciating the vibration that we collectively create together,

Just by choosing to be together,

To study,

To remember.

Resetting ourselves back to our purpose of being here.

We'll join our voices together in the sound of OM,

Inhaling together.

OM OM May these teachings and practices lead us from the unreal to the real.

From darkness to light,

From time bound consciousness,

The timeless being.

Bringing the hands together at heart center,

Gradually allowing the eyes to float open,

Receiving each other in this way.

And Jagra Gaur,

Victory to inspire.

All right,

So you know me,

And if you don't know me,

You will know me shortly.

I like to just jump right in,

And that's what I'm going to do.

We have decided to talk about body-mind connections.

Some of you,

We all have,

I think most of all by this time,

We've all recognized that we cannot really treat the body as separate from the mind.

I think we've all kind of caught on to that,

Even in Western medicine,

We're catching on to that.

Even a normal,

A traditional allopathic doctor will tell you,

For example,

With cancer,

Your belief that you will survive has everything to do with your chances of survival,

And so on.

Our mind is constantly affecting our body,

And think of the body-mind as one continuum.

We can't really separate the two,

So what's happening in our thinking is affecting our body,

But also what we're doing with our body,

What we're eating,

How we're moving,

Is also affecting our mind,

And so the two of these are constantly affecting each other.

I don't think I need to really convince you.

That's why you're here,

So I'm not going to spend a lot of time convincing you,

But what I will say is remind us of this one study that I may have mentioned to some of you.

It's a study that was done on chronic,

Unmanaged emotional stress,

So that's our mind,

And what was found is that not managing our mind and emotions is up to six times more predictive of cancer and heart disease than smoking,

So do we all want to go out and smoke?

Well,

Obviously not.

That's not good for the health.

That's not good for the body.

It's toxic,

But also how we are interacting with our mind and emotions is also equally toxic.

That's the idea,

And so we don't want to just be working on one end,

The body only.

We want to be including the mind,

Our thoughts,

And emotions,

And recognizing that how we interact with them can be equally toxic to the body,

And so we want to include it in whatever we're looking at in terms of taking care of our health,

So that's kind of where we're going today,

And the idea behind the kind of yoga therapy that I offer and I teach people will say,

Well,

What's I am yoga therapy?

What's the difference?

And this really is the crux of the difference.

Can we use yoga poses and breath work and all of these things not just to address the,

How would I say this,

The physical symptoms that are happening in the body,

But also the mental and emotional things that are going on?

So,

For example,

Let's say you have somebody who has anxiety,

Right,

And could you give them yoga poses and breath work that would help them deal with the anxiety?

Absolutely,

But the question is,

If you only deal,

Even with yoga poses,

With poses that take away the anxiety,

Haven't we also missed out on the opportunity to find out,

Well,

What are the thoughts and emotions that are bubbling up from underneath that are creating the anxiety,

And so couldn't we use yoga and everything that we know about yoga not just to give poses in a prescriptive way to work with the physical symptoms of anxiety,

But also to look at some of the underlying causes that may be contributing to that anxiety.

So really that's what we're doing in I am yoga therapy is we're taking a psychosomatic approach to the whole body and understanding that yoga has so much to say,

Not just dealing with the symptoms,

But with the cause as well,

And how can we use yoga to work at the cause level as well.

And a lot of times we think,

Well,

You know,

Body-mind,

That's a new thing,

You know,

We've got all kinds of body-mind books and they're wonderful,

But the teachings of yoga have actually been talking about the body-mind in different words for the last 4,

000 years,

Right,

They're using different words,

They didn't talk about the body-mind connection,

But they're talking about the very same principles,

And one of these principles is called chitta shuddhi,

And I'm writing it in the chat box in case you want the actual wording.

So shuddhi means clearing,

Chitta is your mind stuff,

Okay,

And the idea is that your body is vibrational,

Right,

Your body is a densification of energy,

Just as Einstein talks about that the everything is simply matter,

Sorry,

Everything is energy that has been condensed to the point that we can see it,

So the body is truly just simply vibrational energy,

Right,

Our thoughts are also vibrational energy,

Our emotions are also vibrational energy,

And so it's kind of logical that the thoughts and emotions are going to affect the vibration of the body,

That even though this body appears to be dense and unchanging,

It's actually shifting and changing and responding to the vibrations that we are giving it all the time,

At a cellular level,

At a physiological level,

And we know this scientifically,

Right,

I think we've all read these books that are telling us that every thought that we have is being converted into a biochemical version of that thought,

So every time we have a thought,

We create certain neuropeptides,

And these neuropeptides in a lock and key faction are literally telling our gut how to behave,

Our lungs how to behave,

Our whole body how to behave,

And of course there's no problem with our thoughts affecting our body unless we continue to kind of play that broken record,

That we're not every once in a while saying,

Oh life is hard,

Why does it have to be this way,

I get that,

You're a human being,

You have human thoughts,

But if we're constantly playing that same broken record,

Life is hard,

Why me,

How much more,

I can't take this,

Then we're consistently telling the body how to behave based on what we're telling it,

We're consistently giving it a particular vibrational frequency that over time it will begin to embody,

And so the idea of all of this is how can we not just work with the density of the physical body,

But also work with these subtler thoughts and emotions and feelings before they manifest in the density of the physical body,

Or as they are,

So that we can help resolve them along with anything else that we might be doing,

Understanding what vibration am I constantly holding with what I'm saying to myself,

That's kind of the idea,

And with yoga therapy the idea is that the body actually has become in a way a visible map to the invisible vibrations that we're holding,

Right,

So if we're not sure what vibration we're carrying,

Look at the body,

It's a good place to start,

It's kind of a visible map to the invisible terrain of the mind and emotions,

If we know how to unlock the body's messages to us,

So that's kind of what we're going into today,

And I will say going back to this idea of chitta shuddhi,

What does that mean?

So according to the yogis,

Our mind stuff is literally our thoughts,

Repeated thoughts and emotions are literally built in to the nerves,

The cells,

The psychology and physiology of the body,

And that will actually affect the way that energy feeds our muscles,

Our nerves and organs,

And over time as it becomes repetitive,

Eventually it can show up as density in the physical body,

And so according to the maha nirvana tantra,

There's a beautiful line in the maha nirvana tantra,

One of the ancient texts of yoga,

That actually says transformation of thought is transformation of body and being,

Right,

To transform your thought is to transform your body,

That's exactly what we're talking about here,

And it specifically says that yoga poses and yoga nidra,

The body rotation portion of yoga nidra,

Both of these are excellent for clearing out the psychological emotional effects of just stuff that has gotten built into the body,

So just by doing asana in a particular way,

Just as we do yoga nidra,

We're clearing the effects of the body,

But we can also make this a little bit more conscious and start to learn how to read our body,

And that's what we want to do today,

Right,

So keeping that in mind,

Let's just see,

Hang on one sec here,

So I'm going to lead you in a tiny little body scan,

And then we'll have a longer experience at the end,

But before we go there,

I love using this metaphor,

And imagine that your body is a tube of toothpaste with a cap on top,

Right,

And if you push on the toothpaste and that energy is repressed,

Meaning the cap on the top of the toothpaste,

This is what we're very often doing with everyday feelings,

Everyday thoughts,

We say I don't have time for that,

Right,

We repress it,

We avoid it,

We ignore it,

We dismiss it as unimportant,

But the issue is if it is not addressed by us,

Then it goes to the body,

Because it has to come out somewhere,

Right,

So very often what we do is we kind of push ourselves through it,

We tell ourselves to get over it,

Move on,

You know,

Be an adult,

It doesn't matter anyway,

But if we haven't truly resolved it,

It doesn't just simply disappear,

It gets pushed down,

And when it gets pushed down,

Think of it like that tube of toothpaste with a cap on it,

It's,

You know,

As this emotion tries to come up and it's getting pushed down,

It's going to come out in other ways,

It's going to come out at the weakest point of the toothpaste tube,

It could come out the bottom,

It could come out of the hole on the side,

Wherever it is,

It's going to come out somewhere,

And this is the principle,

You know,

We might wonder why does it always go to my low back or why does it always go to my digestion,

Why does it show up in my mind and emotions,

Because when that tube of toothpaste is being pushed on,

It's going to go to the weakest part of the body,

So in the body,

It could show up as insomnia,

Sleep patterns,

Digestive issues,

Low back issues,

Neck issues,

Headaches,

It can show up in the mind,

That unresolved,

Unacknowledged stuff can show up as anxiety in the mind,

Depression in the mind,

So there's not one way,

It can get projected outward as rage,

Hostility,

Anger,

Hate,

Right,

Don't want to bring in too much of the news,

But you know,

Shooting other people,

Where does that come from,

If we ask ourselves,

I would pretty much beg on there's something going on inside,

There's some pain happening inside,

And so much pressure that hasn't been allowed to move through,

That it has to come out some way,

Obviously we don't want it to come out that way,

We want to do something else and learn how to begin to listen to the voice of the body,

So we're going to start with me guiding you just through a very brief body scan,

Just so we can learn some of the basics of how to decode our own body,

And then I'll take you through a few things that sort of,

In general,

The theory of yoga therapy has to tell us,

So if you're in a place where you can,

Do go ahead and stand up,

If you prefer to do this sitting,

You're welcome to,

But I think you'll be able to get a little bit clearer message if you can stand up,

And you don't have to change the camera,

I know you're still there,

So just take a moment to get yourself comfortable,

Let's just,

Since we're up here,

Go ahead and roll the shoulders,

Taking a full breath in,

And then exhaling,

Bringing the shoulders back and down,

Inhaling,

Rolling the shoulders forward and up,

And exhaling back and down,

Just taking your time,

And letting the shoulders,

And kind of drop down,

Maybe opening one side of the neck,

And then the other,

And if your body is drawn to take a forward bend,

Or do some twist,

Please do so,

We're just using this as a way to start to connect,

To drop out of the head,

And connect with the voice of the body,

And then let that draw to a close,

And let that draw to a close,

When you're ready,

You can just come to a standing upright position,

Just standing how you would normally stand,

Your eyes can be closed or open with a soft unfocused gaze if you get dizzy,

But just beginning by bringing attention to your feet and legs,

Just notice if you have more weight,

You're relying more on one side of your legs than the other,

I'm not going to go into too much detail today,

But just notice,

Where do you tend to lean,

On right leg or left leg,

Bringing your attention to your hips,

To your hips,

Just notice if your hips tend to be tucked under,

Or if they tend to pull back,

Kind of like you'd see a baby with a big belly,

Or are the hips pretty neutral,

Notice if one of the hips is more hyped up,

Lifting up more than the other,

Or twisted,

And now I want you to bring your attention to your spine,

Starting with your lower back,

Your lower back,

Just notice in general,

How does the lower back feel,

Does it feel compressed,

Or does it feel spacious,

Does it feel like it can move easily,

Does it feel kind of stiff,

And if there's stiffness,

Where is it,

Then going to the middle back,

Same thing,

Is there tightness or pain or constriction,

You might even feel that impulse to move a little bit,

That's okay,

Just notice what's there,

Don't try to make it go away,

But just notice it,

And notice if you have a habit of working around it somewhat,

Maybe you move the body,

You kind of twist away from it,

Maybe you move to one side or the other to get away from any tightness or pain,

And then coming up to the upper back,

Notice if there's more folding in one side of the shoulder blade than the other,

Maybe one shoulder is higher than the other,

And then coming to the shoulders themselves,

If they're lifting up towards your ears,

Maybe one is lifting up,

Perhaps they're rounded forward or one is rounded forward,

Or maybe you have military chest,

The chest,

The arms are pulled back,

The chest is pushed out,

Just notice,

Maybe everything's pretty neutral,

And then notice your neck,

And notice if your neck pulls to the right or to the left,

Notice that the neck or the head tends to lead the body or pull back behind it,

Maybe you tend to tilt your head to the right or to the left,

And just notice if there's chronic tightness more in one side than the other,

And now finally,

I'd like you to imagine that you're drawing a line,

A plumb line,

Straight through the center of your body,

So straight through the in between the nose,

The mouth,

Right down between to the center line of the body,

Dividing the body into a right half and a left half,

And I want you just to bring all your attention into the right side of the body,

Notice first how this right side feels,

Is it prepared for action,

Is it open or more constricted,

What would it be like to live in the right side of the body only,

Are there colors or feelings associated with the right side,

And then shifting your awareness to the left side,

Noticing if this side is free and open or if there are areas of constriction or density,

Feel the color,

Or maybe just sensing what it would be like to live on this side of the body only,

And notice if this side is familiar or unfamiliar,

If you live here a lot or not so much,

And then coming back to the whole body,

Just feeling the whole body from the base of the feet to the crown of the head,

And then once you're ready,

You can go ahead and have a seat,

And just letting the eyes close for a moment,

Just feel the effect,

And just know that sometimes when we begin to pay attention,

We actually feel things more,

It feels like they're getting worse,

But it's actually just because you're now paying attention to what was already there,

So now just taking a full breath in,

Letting it all out,

And when you're ready,

You can open your eyes.

All right,

So let us begin by talking about the right side and left side of the body,

So just by show of hands,

How many of you could feel that there was a distinct difference between the right and left side of the body?

Can any of you feel that?

Okay,

Most of us can absolutely feel this one,

So what's interesting about this is I think many of you have already heard that yogis have said that the right side of the brain relates to the left side of the body,

And that the left side of the brain relates to the right side of the body,

So you've probably seen these kind of intertwining energy channels,

The ida and the pingala,

As part of the chakra system of the body,

Right,

And so we've heard about left brain,

Right side of the body,

Right brain,

Left side of the body.

What you may not know is that science actually verifies the very same thing,

And so at the brainstem,

Where the brainstem kind of connects into the spine,

The nerves that come out of the brain are actually crossing over to the opposite side of the body,

So again,

It's another one of those cases where yogis knew what science is now verifying 4,

000 years ago,

I believe before autopsies,

Etc.

,

Right,

That's just pretty neat to see.

All right,

So the idea is that the left brain and the right side of the body has to do with our more dynamic side,

It's our outward facing side of the world,

So it would be interesting for you to just start to reflect on that right side of the body,

If it was constricted,

If it was dense,

If it was trying really hard,

If there's a lot of,

It's like,

If it's exhausted on that side of the body,

Then it would be good to ask yourself the question,

Am I doing too much,

Right,

Am I efforting too much,

This is also the side of our body,

Because it's about activity and outward facing,

It often has to do with proving,

Right,

It has to do with all the things that we deal with in the outside world,

You know,

It could be competing,

Proving,

Achieving,

Mastering,

Show how we show ourselves to the outside world,

Also the extrovert side of us,

Right,

So some of us are deeply introvert actually,

And it's an effort to be extroverted,

And if it starts to feel like I'm working too hard to be extrovert,

I'm just throwing out ideas so you can start to read yourself,

Right,

Politics,

You know,

That outward facing machinations of the human experience,

All of this is related to the right side of the body,

Right,

Traditionally in yogic philosophy,

This is related to our inner masculine,

The idea being that all of us have masculine and feminine energy within us,

And if you're allergic to that,

Then just use dynamic and receptive.

It also,

The left side of the body,

Sorry,

Right side of the body,

Left brain also has to do with the more dynamic parent,

So it could be your mother,

It could be your father,

The four parent figures who were the more dynamic,

Outward facing,

Doing,

Making it happen,

Achieving,

The go-getter,

The one who was like kind of the driving force,

Of the family,

That would be represented by your right side of the body,

And usually your relationship to any male figures in your life,

Like brothers,

Siblings,

But not necessarily,

It could be any more pingala,

More dynamic energy in your life.

So that brings us to the left side of the body,

And left side of the body has to do with your ability to ask for help,

Right,

Your ability to nurture and care for yourself as well as others.

It's your inner world,

It's your,

It's where you go to when you're giving yourself time,

Your intuition,

Your inner world,

Time spent with oneself,

Being in touch with your intuition,

Your creativity,

Your inner wisdom,

And it's interesting,

You know,

You kind of have to decode this information for yourself because everybody's different,

Everybody's got a different body,

Sometimes it's flip-flop for people just want to say that,

So sometimes the right side of your body can be the receptive side,

And your left side can be the active side,

Because these are all generalities,

And we are all different,

But generally left side of the body is the place that is lighter,

It often feels freer,

It feels more receptive,

But maybe you don't visit that part of you that often,

Maybe you felt really comfortable in the right side,

But you,

The left side felt great,

But maybe you don't visit it that often,

So it's just a question to ask yourself,

Do you spend enough time in your inner world,

Do you ask for help,

Or are you so much on the right side of the body that you're not asking for the help,

Giving yourself the nurturing that you need,

Right,

It can also be nurturing the people around you,

But most often in these days,

I would say it's asking for the nurturing,

Giving yourself the nurturing that you need,

Also left side has to do with crying,

Showing your feelings,

Right,

Showing the softer side of ourselves,

Where the right side is kind of like,

You know,

What you're going to,

The,

What you present to the world,

The left side is what we tend to hold back and hide,

And so it would be interesting to go back and look,

Where do you typically get injuries or issues in your body,

And some of us,

It is very right left part of the body,

Like all left side or all right side,

So have a look at that and see if that could relate to,

Am I,

You know,

So much in the outside world manifesting,

Proving all that stuff that I'm not giving myself that time,

Just see what that could be for you,

I'm often thinking of body reading as kind of like tarot cards,

Where it like gets you in the right direction,

But then you kind of have to read it and decode it for yourself.

So let's talk now a little bit about the back,

I thought it would be interesting to talk about the back,

Because it's interesting that,

Hang on one second,

Let me just pull up,

So before we go into the back,

Here's what I would say,

If you want to start decoding your body,

Because I don't want to just throw a bunch of information at you,

I want you to start to be able to decode your own body.

So a great way to begin to do this is to ask yourself,

What does that part of my body do?

Okay,

So let's just say you have stiff joints and you've noticed that they're getting progressively stiffer,

Well what are joints supposed to allow you to do?

They're supposed to allow you to move with flexibility,

With ease,

With freedom,

Right,

To live uninhibited.

So if I've got stiffness then in my joints,

So you know that was the purpose,

Okay,

And then the second question,

So the first question is,

What does that part of your body do?

The second question is,

What role does it play in the functioning of the whole?

And I think we kind of got that,

Like the joints play that role of freedom of movement,

Right,

And then how does that purpose,

Whether what it does or it's functioning as part of the whole,

How does that relate to what's happening in my life?

Right,

So the last question is,

How does it,

The purpose of that body part or area relate to what's happening in my life?

And by the way,

You are going to get these,

This recording,

So if you're not getting all these notes,

You can definitely get them later if you want them,

Okay.

So how does this purpose relate to what's happening in my life?

So for example,

The stiffness,

Now I need to ask myself,

Is there a place where I feel boxed in,

That I don't have the freedom of movement?

Am I limiting myself?

Am I telling myself,

Well,

I'm getting old,

I can't do anything anymore,

I might as well not even try?

Is my world just getting smaller in my mind,

Which is helping get my world smaller in my body?

These would be at least helpful questions to ask,

Right?

So this is a very simple way that you can just begin to read your body and decode its messages for you.

So I've done a few of these for you,

And in this way,

We can start to see what it is that your body might be telling you.

So let's start with the back,

And think of the back,

First of all,

The back,

Right,

Is the house of the central nervous system,

The entire spinal cord,

Where most of the nerves in the main part of the body are feeding everything.

So that means there's a lot of vibrational energy that is affecting this part of the body,

Right?

This is where there's a lot of blood flow happening in this part of the body.

So vibrationally,

That it is not a surprise that upwards of 5 million people in the United States alone have chronic back issues,

Because the back is going to be one of the major places that is affected by our mind and emotions.

Just because we're holding so much of vibrational stuff going on in here,

Shifts and changes are really going to affect the spine,

Right?

So what is the responsibility?

Let's start with the lower back,

Right?

So let's think,

Okay,

So what is this part of my body do?

Let's go lower middle back,

Right?

Well,

It bends,

It twists,

It flexes,

It carries weight,

Right?

It's weight bearing,

And it's holding me upright in the world.

These are just different things to think about.

So if I'm,

If the purpose of the spine in part is,

Let's start with weight bearing,

And we're having spinal issues,

A good question to ask is,

What load am I carrying that feels like too much for this back to carry,

Right?

It could be,

And look at languaging too,

Because that's going to help you too.

So are you having to be the backbone of your family,

Right?

Are you bending over backwards for someone or something,

To the point where maybe you're feeling resentful,

I can't take anymore,

Right?

So just a quick aside,

Very often the things that we hold in,

Repress,

Ignore,

Are the emotions and feelings that we feel are socially unacceptable.

Rage,

Anger,

Confrontation,

All that stuff,

Where we're afraid to let it out,

And so it gets kind of stuffed back in,

Especially down in those lower chakras.

So,

You know,

It may be things around those issues where you're feeling this burden of this weight,

But I,

You may not feel comfortable to talk about it.

It's not safe to talk about it.

Maybe it's a burden that socially you should be taking,

You feel you should be taking on,

Like for an aging parent,

Right?

Or a loved one.

It's not okay to acknowledge that this is hard for me.

Very often,

These kinds of things are going to settle in your back,

Right?

So these are great questions to ask yourself.

The weight of responsibility,

Right?

What am I carrying?

The middle back,

So we have the whole spine,

But the middle back,

Think of the middle back also as the area where there's a lot of movement that happens in the back.

That flexibility that's happening in the back.

So similar to the joints,

Of course,

The spinal column is made up of joints.

And so it could be where you are feeling limited,

Constrained,

Held back,

Held back,

Or where are you holding back?

This is a very good question.

So in addition to all of our thoughts and feelings kind of being surrounding the central nervous system and being sent out through the whole body,

What's also sent out through that central nervous system is your Shakti,

Your power,

Your ability to manifest in the world.

But if you're terrified of your power,

You're going to hold it back.

And very often that act of holding back is not holding back something so-called negative or unhelpful.

You're actually afraid of who you would do or be if you were to be fully powerful.

And so we stuff it away somewhere.

Middle back,

Also think about,

This is the back of the adrenals,

The back of the third chakra.

So it can also have to do with exhaustion,

Depletion.

But I'm doing,

I'm exhausted,

I'm depleted,

But I'm doing everything that I can to hold myself upright.

But underneath,

I'm just exhausted and tired.

So as I'm talking,

Just see if something rings a bell.

If your body kind of goes,

Yes,

That's it,

Make a note of it.

Right?

So we're not going to solve everything in our hour together,

But at least it'll get the ball rolling for you to begin to reflect and listen.

And then the upper back,

Now you're getting a feel for this.

This is the back of the heart,

Right?

So we often think of the heart as happening right here,

Right in this area.

And so this area is in the back of the heart.

What's back there?

The shoulder blades,

All those knots that live there.

And so often what we cannot feel,

What we hold as lodged resentments,

Shame,

Guilt,

That's not just random knots that are held at the back of your shoulders,

That's storage for all kinds of stuff that we didn't feel that we were allowed to acknowledge or express.

Okay?

Now,

Often when we talk about expressing emotions in the West,

We think of,

Oh,

Well,

If I'm not,

If I need to express anger,

That means I need to scream at people or yell at people or,

You know,

Pound a pillow.

And there's nothing wrong with pounding pillows,

Don't scream and yell at people.

But according to yoga,

There is another way to express.

And really expressing has to do with simply allowing that sensation of that feeling to be felt.

That just as you breathe with a sensation in a yoga pose,

We breathe with and hang out with the sensation of a particular emotional feeling.

So when we're talking about expressing or feeling,

That's what I mean.

We're not suddenly going to start dumping these non-acknowledged emotions on the people around us.

We're going to start feeling and allowing them to be there as a sensation in the body.

Yes,

Thank you.

The meaning of the lower back is this lumbar and sacral area.

Yes.

So the other question was middle back could also be the back.

You got it.

It's the back of the pancreas,

Right?

So think of this area as blood sugar,

Diabetes.

Remember that,

You know,

Diabetes is not just connected to sugar.

It's connected to stress,

Which is the adrenals are right there.

So it's that pushing,

Pushing,

Pushing,

Right?

That middle back.

It's so interesting.

Like we pay a lot of attention to like the lumbar sacral areas and then maybe to the upper heart,

But that poor middle back is like the middle child.

It's the one that gets forgotten and yet is kind of holding everything together.

That's where your adrenals are.

That's where you're in the front.

That's where your power center is,

But it largely gets ignored if you think about it.

Any kind of spinal,

Like disc bulging,

Think about your discs.

What are they supposed to do?

They're supposed to be shock absorbers.

So consider if you've got herniated discs or you know someone who has,

It would be worthwhile to look and to see,

You know,

Maybe a year or two,

Look back look back to before it really became a back issue.

And was there some kind of shock to the system?

Some kind of shock that I could not fully absorb.

It's like,

You know,

When a car like hits a really big speed bump and you're like,

Ooh,

That was bad.

Right.

And you're afraid to look,

But imagine that your body takes a hit like that.

And very often what you'll see is that the,

The body mind and the shock happens emotionally,

Mentally first,

Usually very often,

Not always about two years before it begins to show up in the physical body.

Right.

So definitely have a look.

If there's something chronic that you have going on,

Look,

Not just when did it start hurting,

But look a couple of years before that and ask yourself,

Okay,

What was going on then?

A question.

What if you have disc issues from lifting heavy weights with bad form?

Yes.

Yes.

So can it just be physical stuff that we have done that has,

You know,

Put strain on the body?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

But here's the thing,

Even with a physical strain and injury that we have created,

The thoughts and emotions around it could,

Could either be helping or hindering the body from healing itself.

So what happens is,

For example,

Let's say we hurt her back with a purely physical injury,

But then what you'll notice is that that sometimes becomes a weak point where then as any subsequent stresses,

Emotions,

Dramas,

Events,

They tend to re-trigger that weak part of the body.

So it's like when the toothpaste gets pushed on with a cap on top,

It goes to the weakest part,

Which has now become,

Let's say the lower back.

Okay.

So we just want to pay attention to all of these things.

And the idea is,

Is that we want to pay attention before the body has to do it for us.

Right.

So if you know,

It always goes to your back or it always goes to your neck,

It always goes to your head.

That's great that your body wants to do it for you,

But the more quickly that we can listen and get the messages,

The less your body has to take with it and do it for us.

And that's really what we want.

Okay.

So believe it or not,

We are almost coming to the end of our time.

So I want to guide you in a little experience.

Um,

If you do have a place to lie down,

You're welcome to do so.

If you want to stay seated,

You can definitely stay seated.

I do think we'll probably go five minutes over just so I can give you a good experience.

But if you need to leave,

Of course,

I completely understand.

Okay.

Um,

So just take a moment to get yourself comfortable.

And this is not,

I'm going to use maybe a technique or,

Or some something from yoga nidra,

But this is not a full yoga nidra.

It's more like a,

An internal exploration,

A little internal visualization.

So just once you're settled,

Closing the eyes,

Just take a few breaths from the base of the spine to the front of the head and then letting all the breath out.

Again,

Breathing,

Taking a full breath in base of the spine,

Front of the head and then breathing it out.

Just asking the mind,

If it's willing to take a back seat so that the body can speak.

Just allowing yourself,

Your attention to sink down beneath the mind,

Letting go of any excess tension or holding with the outgoing breath.

Giving yourself to enter a dimension that's totally within the body.

This is time for your body to speak to you.

And just go to an area in your body that is a chronic issue.

Whatever kind of chronic issue it is,

Doesn't matter.

Just let your attention gently focus on that area.

Imagine that you're getting small enough so that your awareness can enter your own body in that area.

Explore the tissue and the structure of that area that is the chronic issue.

Just notice what it feels like there.

If you're a visual person,

You may even see as if you were walking through what it looks like there.

Maybe even sense it.

Maybe it has a color.

And just see if there was a word that would capture.

What does it feel like?

Does it feel congested or dark?

What's the word?

Maybe it's red and inflamed.

Just sense and feel.

Allowing anything that arises to come to you without searching for it.

If nothing comes,

Just simply stay present to what you feel and sense.

Perhaps even receiving a sense of how old it is.

Now,

Just see.

Don't try.

If it comes up,

Just ask.

What is this part of your body trying to do?

Ask it,

What are you trying to do?

Maybe it's trying to hold on,

Protect,

Hide,

Push away.

What is this part of you trying to do?

If nothing arises,

Just trust that your attention is enough.

Seeing if there are any old feelings or associations with this area.

Maybe this place reminds you of something.

Whether something came up or not,

Just recognizing that this area is expressing a part of you.

It just needs to be acknowledged.

By acknowledging and accepting this area,

Allowing whatever lives there to begin to resolve itself.

Simply begin to breathe with this area.

Not trying to get rid of it,

But simply giving it space to soften.

Notice if you're using the breath to make it go away.

Rather,

With your breath,

Give it the message,

It's okay that you're here.

I'm willing to feel you.

Keep breathing,

Stay with it.

You might even draw an imaginary circle around it.

Simply give it the space to be.

Recognizing that this part of the body is not here to punish you,

But to speak to you.

Letting go of any resistance that you might feel to any sensations.

Just surrounding this part of your body with unconditional love and acceptance.

Acknowledging that any physical manifestation is a very important messenger in your life.

Just letting go of any resistance that you might feel to any sensations.

Steady and centered.

No longer at odds with any part of you.

Just imagining that this part of you is like a child who's been crying for attention.

Sit alongside it.

Be with it.

And maybe,

Just listening,

Ask it,

What do you need?

This answer might be physical,

Just asking you to walk or massage or take care of it.

Might be mental or emotional.

What does it need?

Something arises,

Just let it come up.

If not,

Just hanging out with this part of the body.

And we'll just take one full cleansing breath in.

Taking a full breath in.

And letting it all out.

And another full breath in.

And letting it all out.

And I'd like to complete by guiding you through myasa,

Body rotation,

The 61 points,

Which according to yogic tradition is one of the most powerful ways to clear the body of any energy blocks.

Just follow my guidance as I guide you from point to point.

Letting go of any stories,

Figuring anything out.

And just allowing your attention to release any blockages and holdings as we move through different areas of the body.

Now bring your undivided attention to the brow center.

To the brow center.

Bit of the throat.

Right shoulder.

Elbow.

Wrist.

Right thumb.

Index finger.

Middle finger.

Ring finger.

Little finger.

Right wrist.

Elbow.

Shoulder.

Bit of the throat.

Left shoulder.

Elbow.

Wrist.

Right thumb.

Middle finger.

Left thumb.

Index finger.

Middle finger.

Ring finger.

Little finger.

Left wrist.

Elbow.

Shoulder.

Bit of the throat.

Middle of the chest.

Right side of the chest.

Middle of the chest.

Left side of the chest.

Middle of the chest.

Navel point.

Middle of the pubic bone.

Right hip.

Knee.

Ankle.

Right big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

Fifth toe.

Right ankle.

Middle of the pubic bone.

Left hip.

Knee.

Ankle.

Left big toe.

Second toe.

Third toe.

Fourth toe.

Fifth toe.

Left ankle.

Knee.

Hip.

Middle of the pubic bone.

Navel point.

Middle of the chest.

Bit of the throat.

Gather your attention at the brow center.

And let the non-doing presence fully manifest in the brow center.

The whole body bathed in presence.

Energy is balancing,

Restoring.

And then as you're ready,

Slowly beginning to deepen your inhalations and exhalations.

Just feeling that your body has been wiped clean.

Reset.

And thank your body for speaking to you.

Thank yourself for taking the time to listen to this part of you.

And we'll complete by chanting the sound of Aum together.

Wherever you are,

You can either remain where you are or come to a comfortable seat.

Bringing the hands together in front of the heart.

And today we honor this body as our vehicle.

Acknowledging it for all that it does for us.

The many things that it does when we don't.

Let's inhale together.

Shanti.

May our bodies know peace.

May our minds know peace.

And may the spirit within each one of us be with us.

And as you're ready,

You can open your eyes.

And as you're ready,

You can close your eyes.

And as you're ready,

You can open your eyes.

Thank you so much,

Everyone.

Such a great pleasure to be with all of you.

Reviews

The mind/body (and spirit) connection is amazing when you pay direct attention to it. What we feed our body, what our thoughts focus on - affects us completely overall. Thank you for reaffirming and teaching me some new things.
Namaste and blessings 💜🤍🙏🏼

This talk explained so much about the mind-body connection. I will return to it again and again to reflect on the questions Kamini poses; they helped me examine how my body speaks and what it has been saying for the past 30 years. I experienced a very clear connection between three seemingly desperate points of stress and pain in body, and I heard quite clearly what my body needs. Wonderful talk.

Found this really educational and effective even though I wasn't fully engaged!
Will definitely be listening again with full focus.

What I needed…will continue to practice…Grateful!🙏🏻♥️

What an inspiring talk. Thanks for sharing your love and expertise.

Thank you so much 💗 your teachings have beeb very helpful for me.

Beautiful lecture. Helpful and insightful. Thank you.

Thank you for reminding me/stirring the rememberance of what I know deep down🙏🏻🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🙏🏻

Thank you 🙏 this is so helpful. Was this a live call on IT?

I’d love to know about your live classes online if possible 😊