Today's meditation is called being in your body.
A lot of the time we aren't experiencing being in our bodies.
What we're experiencing are our thoughts about our bodies.
When we look at our bodies as we're getting dressed,
When we catch our reflection in a mirror or when we look at ourselves in a picture,
We tend to be our own harshest critics.
Because we are so painfully critical of our bodies,
Many of us disconnect from the experience of being in them.
The interesting thing,
As Byron Katie points out,
Is that bodies don't think,
Care or have any problem with themselves.
They never beat themselves up or shame themselves.
They simply try to keep themselves balanced and to heal themselves.
They are entirely efficient,
Intelligent,
Kind and resourceful.
Where there's no thought,
There is no problem.
This meditation is designed to move you towards separating your thoughts from the facts of your body.
So you can drop into an experience of your body beneath any layers of judgment that might be there.
The body is never our problem.
Our problem is that we tell ourselves the story that our bodies are the problem and that if only this or that changed,
We would be happy.
When we believe that the world of outward appearances creates our inner emotional life,
We try to control other people's perceptions instead of our own.
As you go through this body scan practice today,
You're going to notice that there may be parts of your body that are loaded with judgment.
Sometimes we've been carrying so much emotion and judgment in one part of the body that it produces a kind of knee jerk reaction in the mind when it merely gets mentioned,
Like the belly or the thighs.
Dr.
Mark Hyman calls it FLC syndrome.
Feel like crap.
You might notice if there's a layer of discomfort there for you when I mentioned those parts of the body.
Every time we believe some part of our body should be some other way or maybe the way that it was in the past,
We should all over ourselves,
Making ourselves feel crappy.
I'm going to be guiding you to contact the experience of your body beneath the stinking thinking to neutralize some of the emotional density,
Some of the emotional toxicity that may have built up around the different parts of your body.
You'll have an experience of your body from inside your body instead of from inside your mind.
You're going to be guided to the place where it can be scientific or factual enough that it doesn't necessarily bring up the negative charge or negative emotion that might typically be there when you're experiencing that part of your body from inside your mind.
Begin by finding a comfortable place where you can sit or simply lay down.
Close your eyes and intend to relax.
Breathing through your nose,
Exhaling out your mouth.
A few breaths in this way,
Dissolving all the tensions on the physical,
Mental,
And emotional level of your being.
Just noticing the state of your body today and seeing if there's anything that wants to let go a little right now.
Now bring your awareness to the very top of your head,
The very top and center.
Breathe all the way up to the top of your head,
Becoming aware of the top of your head.
And as you exhale,
Let your attention release down onto the forehead,
Releasing down,
Cascading down,
Your right temple,
Left temple,
Letting your awareness coat your right eye,
Left eye,
Your nose,
Your right cheek,
Left cheek,
Your mouth,
Your lips,
Top and bottom,
The space between your lips,
Your tongue,
Your teeth,
Your jaw,
Your chin,
Your ears,
Right and left,
Your face,
The skin on your face,
Circling the attention to the back of your head,
Running your attention through your hair,
Feeling your scalp,
Your neck,
Your throat,
Releasing the awareness down into the shoulders,
Right and left,
Your arms,
Your right arm,
Your left arm,
Your right hand,
Your left hand,
Your right fingers and your left fingers.
Let a wave of awareness drift down into your chest,
Filling your chest,
Center of your chest,
Your abdomen,
Your belly,
Your back,
Your upper back,
Middle of your back,
Lower back,
Your waist,
Your hips,
Your sit bones,
Your sacrum,
The pelvic floor,
A sweet release of the awareness cascading down into your legs,
Letting the sensation pool,
Fill the pull of the awareness in your legs,
Right and left,
The right thigh,
The left thigh,
Right calf,
Left calf,
Your feet,
Right and left,
Right toes,
Left toes.
Becoming aware of the front of your body and the back of your body,
Aware of the top of your body,
Aware of the bottom of your body,
Becoming aware of your whole body,
Becoming aware of your skin,
Of your fascia,
The muscles,
The flesh,
The ligaments,
Tendons,
Becoming aware of your organs,
Aware of your bones,
Aware of the core of your body,
Becoming aware of the energy moving through you as breath,
Feeling most relaxed,
Relaxing still,
Deeper and deeper,
And see if you can relax just a little more at ease in the awareness of your body.
As you release your thoughts and simply rest in the awareness,
You are able to connect more deeply with your body.
We take care of what we pay attention to.
When we climb back into our bodies,
We feel alive.
We contact the felt aliveness that's there.
Notice that what creates discomfort in your body isn't your body's appearance,
But the thoughts about your body that generate discomfort.
When you experience the different parts of your body as just parts of your body with no thought,
Focusing on the sensation,
Focusing on naming that part of your body instead,
You can experience your body as just your body,
Not an ugly fat body or an aging body or a weak body or an unhealthy body,
Just a body,
Negative judgment.
When we experience our bodies just at the level of our thoughts,
Notice how we aren't actually in our bodies.
We're disconnected from our lives because the body is the place from which you are living your life.
When you think that your interpretations are the truth about your body,
Those interpretations are taking place from within the mind,
Not from within the reality of your body.
Use this practice as a way of reconnecting with your body part by part.
Your body is so fascinating and interesting,
So vibrant and alive,
But it is the least interesting thing about you.
Practice paying attention to how the attention can rest easily in the body when we're focused on naming the different parts and noticing sensations and then how the attention becomes unsettled when it contracts into a judgment or opinion.
The truth is you are not fat because you have fat,
Just like you are not toes because you have toes.
No one can change the way that you see yourself.
Only you can do that.
Your body language is love.
Everything else is just mental chatter and noise and your heart pounds and your breath breathes and your body loves on you and this the more you feel when you close your eyes to really see.
