As I write this we are slipping further into fall, down the seasonal slope into winter. The trees are dropping leaves, I definitely want the wool sweater in the morning, and the days grow shorter and shorter. The turning of the seasons reminds me of how tied we are to our physical experience, and yet how poorly we modern humans manage to live in our bodies. My first horseback riding coach, frustrated, at one point shouted “you live in your head! You aren’t aware of anything below your neck but that’s where most of you is!”
She wasn’t wrong. It has taken me decades of practice on horseback, the yoga mat, and various meditation techniques to get back into my body and out of my head (and it is something I still work on). Modern people are pretty much chased out of our bodies from the day we are born.
Those bodies are critiqued, disbelieved, shamed, and criticized. If we were raised in certain religious traditions we were taught they were dangerous, sinful, and likely to lead us to a horrible fate if we listened to them. If we’re white our culture shunned messy, physical displays of emotion that further cut us off from the reality that our feelings live in our bodies. We even have a phrase for it: “keep a stiff upper lip.” And if you are a POC whose culture isn’t afraid of emotion and the way it plays out in the body you were probably criticized by the surrounding culture for being so “loud“, and “messy.” (Neither of those things is bad.)
And bodies are indeed messy. They are impossibly strong, and incredibly fragile. And most of us try not to think about them until they begin to complain about something. We are so disembodied, but the good news is we can recover our creatureliness. We can reroot into our bodies. And embodiment practices can help us do that. (For another embodiment practice try breathwork.)
This practice will seem very simple, because it is. But that doesn’t keep it from also being very powerful. I suggest this one be done laying down in whatever position is comfortable for you. You could lay on a yoga mat, your bed, a recliner, anywhere you can relax your body and not be thinking about holding a specific posture.
Second, set a timer. This doesn’t have to be anything fancy but I suggest not using a blaring alarm sound or you may spend the whole practice ready to flinch when it goes off. I use a free meditation timer app that plays a gentle singing bowl sound when time is up, but your phone’s timer set to a “gentle wake” option will work just fine.
Now settle in, start your timer and take a few deep breathes to arrive in your practice. Just take a few long slow breathes in through your nose, and out through your nose or mouth, however feels comfortable for you. As you do try to release any tension in your body and relax.
When you feel ready choose a part of your body (maybe your left big toe) and become aware of it. This might sound trivial, but it often isn’t. I do not suggest focusing on a part of the body that is currently hurting or injured. And if you are in a great deal of chronic pain this practice may not be good for you, please listen to your own wisdom. Choose a quiet part of yourself that gets mostly ignored and see if you can be aware of feelings from it. If you find yourself really struggling pick a part of the body that is in contact with whatever you are laying on.
You might choose to concentrate on your right heel and the feeling of pressure it is experiencing from resting on the ground. Or the back of your head, or your left shoulder blade. Whatever you have chosen be patient, stay there and feel that part of your body. At first you might find there’s just … nothing. Wait, and be curious. Keep at it, gently, patiently just listen for that part of the body.
Take a little time each day (20 minutes is ideal, but even 5 minutes is a good start) and keep focusing on whatever part of the body you’ve chosen until you find that awareness of it is easy and natural, then move on.
The goal of this meditation isn’t to escape our embodied form, but to become reembodied. To sink into the flesh that is part of us and to become aware of it again in a way we may not have been since we were children. Even to fall back in love with it, and to know it well enough to care for it well and tenderly.
This practice isn’t necessarily an end in itself, we build from it to be able to care for our body, to feel when it is tight or sore and to relax those muscles we may not have been aware of in the past, to be able to relieve tension and to provide care before injuries become serious or unhealthy habits become engrained. Give it a try, get to know your marvelous body once again.
