This constant need for instant gratification that is never sufficed leads to addictive behavior. For some people it is alcohol or cigarettes, for others it is sweet treats or coffee, for others it is shopping or gambling. These industries thrive because we are so distracted from the goings on of our own body that we constant seek external energy boosts. However, we have within us the ability to experience the same kind of energy, without any crash or constant desire for more.
On the healing journey, it is easy to slip into the pattern of trying to “fix” everything that is “wrong” with us. But it is important to remember that your body is perfect and everything that it has done is a necessary response to protect itself from stress. Often, excess weight is the storing of toxins in body fat or water that it doesn’t currently have the ability to safely detoxify. Instead of trying to restrict our body’s nourishment, we should reduce its toxic load and support the detoxification systems. Any negative emotion we express toward our body takes us away from the direction of health.
Feeling is healing
This is the key. Since our body is perfect, we don’t have to actively change anything, and to try and do so would be to deny the perfection. Instead, all we have to do is turn our attention inward. Pain is just our body trying to tell us that something is wrong. Once we have acknowledged the pain and taken action to reverse the cause, there will be no more need for it, and on its own it will melt away.
Though we tend to think of our body, mind and emotions as separate things, the entire human is an interconnected network. Often physical pain is the manifestation of emotional pain, or a physical tightness or inflexibility can cause a rigidness of thought. As we venture down the feeling path, it is normal when releasing tension to experience powerful emotions or feelings as well. It is important to just let these flow through you and just feel them as they pass.. There may be no deep rhyme or reason to your tension or pain, and it doesn’t help to make one up; remember feeling is healing and after you feel, you need only feel more.
It may be difficult at first, but the goal is to live your life from this state of feeling as opposed to thinking. It’s not that thinking is negative, but rather the true extent and depth of the body’s senses exceed the capabilities of the mind. In other words, tuning into feeling makes your more aware and sensitive to the true nature of what is happening around you. It is also a more efficient way of using bodily resources. The brain is the most energy intensive organ in the body, so it’s a good idea to give it a break every once in a while.
So how do you actually do this? See my Introduction to Feeling Meditation
Introduction to Feeling Meditation
It really helps to have a practical exercise in which to experience what I mean by feeling. Starting by sitting in a comfortable position, either at the edge of a chair or on a cushion on the floor with legs folded.
Lengthen your spine by sitting straight, slightly tucking the chin, sending the tailbone downward and sending the crown of your head to the sky. Imagine you are creating a straight line that starts from the center of the earth and extends all the way through your spine and comes out your head into the sky.
Become aware of how this body position affects your clarity of mind. Now gently close your eyes and tune into the breath. Imagine that with each in breath you are drawing it up your spine along the line we created and with each out breath, send the breath back down into the ground.
Your mind may begin to wander and that’s okay, when you notice it, just become aware of the thought and then gently guide the awareness back to the breath.
As physical discomfort or pain arises from holding this position, this is the key time to tune into feeling. Imagine you are an alien inside of a human body for the first time. Every sensation is new and exciting. When the pain or discomfort arises, explore it with childlike curiosity. Lean into the sensation and feel it fully. Tune into the pulse or breath of that area of the body. What would it feel like to have more space there? To let that stagnant energy flow?
Even just doing this exercise for one minute can change your perspective.