SRS Session 5 | Body Harmony

In Session 5 we explore how developing a harmonious relationship with the body can open us into healing and be the first step to harmonizing our lives. This meditation includes an affirmation practice. The Spiritual Recalibration Series (SRS) is designed to help you expand your awareness into a new, more open, curious and expansive way of being in daily life. This impactful series comprises 33 sessions, each with a short topic (the recalibration) followed by guided meditation. Meditations include affirmations, visualizations, and brief periods of quiet, musical stillness.

Transcript

Okay, Welcome back to the Spiritual Recalibration Series. Thank you for embarking on this series and opening yourself to a new way of being. My name is David, And this is Session 5, Body Harmony. Find a comfortable seat in a space where you can allow yourself 20 minutes or so, Undistracted, To focus just on you. A quick reminder, To get the most out of this series, Please be sure you've listened to the Welcome Session, Session Zero. Here we go. So yeah, Harmony, It's an interesting word. Right now in this moment when I say this word, Suddenly I just thought of music, And it's interesting because I was thinking about this word over the past few days, And I wasn't thinking of it in terms of music, But my goodness, How real that is to think about, Oh, I don't know, Like a barbershop quartet. That's like the classical harmony, But it just, So harmony in music is when multiple parts of the music are just, They're playing different parts, But they're, It sounds just beautiful and balanced and open. So I think the way that I'd like to talk about harmony is specifically in terms of body harmony, So we can use our relationship with our body as a way to talk about harmony, To be in harmony, Because we've talked a bit about accepting things as they are, Loving things as they are, Being in the flow, And we can think of that as being in harmony, Being in harmony with the way things are, As opposed to resistance, Right? But it seems a really good place to start because that's a big feeling, Or a big thing, To be in harmony with all things. So maybe what if we just start with our body? What if we start with being in harmony with our body? And so what about having a relationship with our body? This is, I'm not sure, I don't know about you guys, But when I was a kid, This was not a conversation that came up as far as being connected to the body, Being in relationship with the body, Paying attention to the body, Our body. I think what happens is you kind of think of the twenties, When you're in your twenties, That's kind of a classical time to really take your body for granted, Because you can do all kinds of things and almost nothing hurts, And yeah, You can take it for granted and we abuse our bodies and we don't think about them too much. We just wake up and do, And we've talked about this before as well, And we practice coming down from our mind into our body, Just connecting with our body. The breath work that we just did is a wonderful way to connect with the body. So there is this relationship. I had a coach say to me a while back now, We didn't use the word relationship, Actually. The word was relatedness. She said that ships sink. So the relationship, Because then in my mind, What I heard was that if it's a relationship, It's a thing and then it becomes a thing to manage and the word relatedness, Which took a little time to get used to, It feels more open and evolving. So what is this relatedness with the body? So if it's a relatedness or relationship, Nurturing that, There are just a couple things that are kind of basic for nurturing, For being in a relationship, Right? So I'm thinking of this as pet, P-A-T, That was reminding me of the thing. So the P is to pay attention, Which is just paying attention to, If you're in a relationship with a person, That's kind of the most basic thing you can do is give your attention. What a gift to just give you my attention and to have you give me your attention. So with the body, Just paying attention and listening, Because it sends us messages, Right? Just listening. I was reading in a book several months ago now about one way to practice this is just to go to the bathroom, Go to the bathroom when your body's asking you to go to the bathroom. Like when you're at work, Sometimes your body, You have to go to the bathroom, But I just got to finish this email. I just got to get this thing done or, And what if we practiced in the moment that the body says it's time to go to the bathroom that we actually listen. I wonder how our bodies would appreciate us paying attention in that way. Oh, You listened to me. That's one way to practice and certainly just paying attention to when our body is hungry, When we want to eat and when we don't want to eat and why we're eating, Are we eating because we're hungry or, I mean, This time of year, Right? And in this kind of, In this day and age, We have lots of stress and fear and curiosity and not quite sure about this and that. So there's that, You don't have to go into the whole topic of emotional eating and food as a whole nother conversation, But just playing with that, What to eat and when to eat, And then listening to how the body responds, Both, You know, From a digestive standpoint, From a comfort standpoint, From an energy standpoint, Just paying attention to how I feel in a certain moment and think, Wow, My energy feels great. And this thinking back, I wonder, You know, What have I been doing for my body over the past few hours? My body really liked that. I'll do more of that. And wow, I've got nothing right now. I am completely spent. I just want to lay down and I can, Or I'm really just not focusing on you, You know, And just paying attention to that sort of thing and getting curious about, Oh, Well, How have I been, How have I been listening? So I'm listening there, I'm paying attention, Okay, Does my body want, What do I want to change here? Is it with eating? Is it with not eating? Is it with resting? Is it with exercising or not exercising? Just really kind of, It's almost like a laboratory. And if we pay attention, We can get really, Really clear signals. The body seems to speak in very, I mean, When we're tired, We're tired. When we have high energy, We have high energy. When we're focused, We're focused. When we feel good, We feel good. And when we don't feel, When we feel not so good, We feel not so good. And just paying attention to that and allowing it to be as it is and taking all of those as lessons. I started years ago, This was after a pretty good knee injury, Practicing yoga. Actually, I think my ego was practicing yoga. I wasn't practicing yoga. After a knee injury, Just asking for, Kind of going through that just on a regular basis, Just asking for my lessons to be gentle, You know, And if we pay attention, We can learn those gentle lessons. So the A in the pat, In the pat on the back was appreciation. And that is just really, And we've done quite a bit of this as we do the different techniques to move down into our body, Just spending some time with gratitude, Is really genuine gratitude for this body, For this vehicle, This tool that carries us through this life. So just spending some time, Even just saying out loud, Thank you. I try and do that often. Just thank you. After a walk, After a nice, Brisk walk, Thank you, Body, Or after a good workout, Thank you, Appreciating and appreciating the breath. Now we don't have to do anything for, It just happens, Appreciating the breath. And one of the things that happens with gratitude, Almost without trying, Is reverence, Reverence, Just revering what we have, What we've been given. And the T, And this is the last thing I'll say briefly, Is the trust. Paying attention, Appreciating and trusting, Just trusting this, Like with healing. You've probably heard this before, That the body knows how to heal. The body wants to heal. If we can provide the body the space and what it needs to heal, What needs to be healed, It can heal us and it can heal itself. And trusting that. When we give our trust, That trust tends to be returned, And we tend to receive gifts of ease and comfort and contentment. It seems that trust, Building that trust, Opens that door to all those wonderful things. Okay, I think that's all. Harmony, Body harmony, Yeah, Okay, Let's go into a short practice here, And we'll do a brief, Well, This will just be kind of a straight affirmation practice, We'll try. This will be for telling the body good stuff, How much we trust, How much we trust our body and sending it some different signals than what maybe we've sent in the past. So let's get our feet firmly grounded on the floor, If you're sitting in a chair, Eyes gently closed, Eyes soft behind the eyelids, Gazing to the point between the eyebrows, Placing the palms on the thighs at the juncture of thighs and abdomen, Or a little bit further forward if that's more comfortable for you, Palms up or palms down, It's your choice. Relaxing the shoulders, Drawing the shoulder blades together gently, Taking just a few moments to watch the breath, Letting the breath flow naturally, And listening to the following affirmative statement, My body is perfect for me, And my perfect body is in total harmonious health, It is healed, Whole, Open, Strong, Flexible, Flowing, And free. Again, My body is perfect for me, And my perfect body is in total harmonious health, It is healed, Whole, Open, Strong, Flexible, Flowing, And free. As you begin to memorize the affirmation, You can say it out loud to yourself, Or just in your mind, Or just along with me, My body is perfect for me, And my perfect body is in total harmonious health, It is healed, Whole, Open, Strong, Flexible, Flowing, And free. My body is perfect for me, And my perfect body is in total harmonious health, It is healed, Whole, Open, Strong, Flexible, Flowing, And free. My body is perfect for me, And my perfect body is in total harmonious health, It is healed, Whole, Open, Strong, Flexible, Flowing, And free. Now, Just allow yourself to hear those words ringing in your mind, Healed, Whole, Open, Strong, Flexible, Flowing, Free, Perfect, Total harmonious health. Let the words go, But allow the feeling, All that you felt with the words, To stay. Drawing your gaze upward gently toward the point between the eyebrows, Good, Let the affirmation go, Allow yourself to see at the point between your eyebrows, A beautiful yellow light, Light of harmony. Allow this light to come down over your head, Your face, Relaxing your face, This light of harmony over your shoulders, Down your arms, In between your fingers, Over your chest, Your heart, This light of harmony down over your belly, Down over your belly, Your hips, Your upper legs, Your lower legs, Your feet, And in between your toes, Surrounded and supported completely with this harmony. And allow the light within, Blend with this light, And extend this harmony outward now, Spreading your beautiful harmony outward, Harmonizing all of your surroundings, Out into the community, Out into the world. Now let this visual go, Staying with the feeling of harmony for just a few quiet moments. And now take an inhale through the nose, And an exhale through the mouth. Prepare to come back to the room where you are. You are welcome to stay here for as long as you like, And when you're ready, Flutter open your eyes.