Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.
- Tao Te Ching
Self Awareness is an ongoing process. It takes time and patience, but once you start to become fully aware and realize that every moment in life is precious, every moment in life we have a choice, we can begin to create the life we want. It all begins with how we think. What we think determines what we feel, what we say, and what we do.
Another important aspect of self awareness is being aware of your body and what your body is telling you. Just like with our thoughts, we can go hours, days, maybe even months without listening to what our bodies are telling us. Our bodies know what it needs to stay healthy and thrive, we just have to be willing to be quiet long enough to hear what it has to say.
When you are feeling stiff, your knee hurts, or maybe your lower back or your hip or shoulder bother you do you ever stop to think about what is causes the pain and how you can get rid of it? I am sure you do, usually by taking a Tylenol or pain killer, throwing some ice on it and calling it a day. But our bodies need more. Our bodies need exercise, need to be strengthened, need to be stretched. Our muscles scream in pain because in today's society we sit more than ever, using our muscles less than ever. Our poor under worked muscles get tight, our overworked muscles lengthen and we create an imbalance that causes discomfort and pain. Exercise can help you become more aware of your body and can you help you learn how to listen to your muscles by realigning your muscles and allowing to work and communicate properly with your brain.
If you ever work out I am sure you have heard the term: "Form is so important." And it truly is. Proper form creates a proper alignment which allows blood flow, communication between the neurons and the spinal cord to go accordingly, and oxygen is able to reach all of our muscles. Being aware of your body so that you can teach each muscle how to work properly will allow you to have proper form and will give you maximum results while exercising.
Also being aware of your body and creating that mind body connection while you are working out will help create body awareness as well as create the results you are looking for. It is so important that in today's world we take time to out to pay attention to our bodies. We walk on our feet all day long, do you thank them for holding you up? You touch and grab things with your hands, do you thank them for all they give to you? Our eyes look at things and register and process information, do you thank them for all that they see? We are so blessed to have such amazing bodies to live in and work with. We have to be fully aware of our bodies though, so that they can reach their maximum potential. Pay attention to your body. Start to connect with it, move around, take a yoga class. Truly embrace your body, love it for what it is and all it does and start paying attention to what your muscles are telling you!
Body Awareness Exercise
This exercise relates to the sphere of
The body awareness practices given here may seem rather simple but in actual fact they are both more difficult to do well and more powerful in their effects than you may think.
They serve a number of functions: to strengthen the psychosomatic link between mind and body, to increase ones awareness and understanding of the body, to loosen and dissolve energy blockages within the body, and as a lesson in the meaning of that which is referred to as the sphere of Malkuth; often we are only aware of our bodies as they relate to our will, and only aware of that which comes to us through our senses after it has been interpreted according to our past experiences and its relation to our will. In this exercise it is necessary to put these things to the side and try to be aware of Malkuth - the realm of the body and the senses - in a pure and singular manner.
Basic Body Awareness Exercise
In its most basic form the body awareness exercise is quite brief and simple to perform and is generally used as a relaxation exercise prior to performing some deeper kind of meditation rather than as a meditative practice in its own right. The amount of time and effort to be put into it, however, is quite flexible.
In this form the exercise is based around points of contact. You begin by focusing your awareness on the contact between your body and whatever is supporting your weight - the chair and floor beneath you, or whatever it happens to be. Consciously try to let go of the weight of your body, allowing your self to relax and let the chair take your weight; feel yourself sinking down as the tension in your body eases and the full weight of your body is focused with your attention on the contact with that which is supporting you. Next focus on the contact between different parts of your body - perhaps your arms are resting on your legs, or your lips touching together. Try not to move from one point of contact to the next, but rather hold them all in your awareness together, along with the first point of contact (with whatever is supporting your weight). The third point of contact is between your skin and your clothes and the air around your body. Once again try to hold an awareness of your whole body together, along with the first two points of contact.
Advanced Body Awareness Exercise
You may find it useful to begin each session with the basic exercise given above as a preparation.
These more advanced exercises are split into sequential stages of practice.
You begin by concentrating oin the feet, which should be unclothed. In fact, you should begin with a single foot. Run your hand, or some soft implement, across the sole of one your foot in a regular brushing motion backwards and forwards, trying to encompass the whole of the foot. follow this sensation with your awareness, trying to concentrate singularly on this one thing. After a short while you should cease the physical act of brushing, but keep running your awareness backwards and forwards in the same way, as if it were brushing the foot itself. Try to maintain an even awareness across the whole foot and a regular backwards and forwards motion. Gradually speed up this motion until you are going as fast as you can without simply jumping from one end to the other and skipping out everything in between. After a few of minutes of this repeat this action across the top of the foot, and then finally, without preceding it with a physical action, include the whole foot. If you then do the same with the other foot then that would usually fill up the whole first session. In the next session do the same with the legs, and then later with the hands and arms. After this you should do both feet simultaneously, being careful that your awareness is even and not drawn more to one side or the other, then with both legs, both hands, and both arms. Finally include the entire body running up from your toes to the top of your head and then back down. You may find a natural urge to synchronize the rhythm of your awareness going up and down with the rhythm of your breathing, but this is to be avoided; to to turn your attention away from your breathing and concentrate on the external awareness.
Once you are comfortable with this exercise it can also be repeated with the awareness running up and down from the inside.
During this exercise you may experience a tingling sensation similar to pins and needles, or brief bursts of a sharp pain seeming to come from the bone; these sensations are energy blockages with in the body being dissolved.
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