"Know Your Bod" Body Awareness Meditation!
Hey guys! It's Jen here from jennifermele.com and I have a little goody for you today to assist you in getting more in touch with your body's wisdom!
Body awareness meditation
The body knows.
Listen to your body
Embodiment
Come into your body
Have you heard these phrases before and not know what they meant?
You aren’t the only one and it’s not your fault that you don’t because most of us have grown up in cultures where we are reinforced for staying “safely” in our heads.
We learn to check out from our bodies and feelings, we escape into our minds where we can hide out.
Unfortunately, without conscious intention to shift out of our heads we will most likely repeat the cycle of staying in them.
Luckily! There are so many ways to develop the security and capacity for coming into our bodies! While we might have not had the control of how we learned to seek refuge in our minds, we can make the choice today to be willing to do things differently.
This meditation is a great start for understanding what it means to check in with your body.
Keep in mind, people fall on a spectrum of balance and the two extremes are 1) not having an awareness of the sensations, feelings and felt experiences in the body and the opposite side of the spectrum is 2) experiencing overwhelm because it appears like there are so many sensations, emotions and felt experiences competing for attention.
Both of these extremes are examples of a nervous system that has been over and under regulated based on life experiences and it is possible with both to come back more towards the center!
Check out my body awareness meditation and let me know what came up for you!
[youtube=://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HP_uQ2kOBM&w=854&h=480]
Can you pick one thing you noticed?
Did you feel differently before compared to after with the meditation?
I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences!
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What To Do When You're Feeling Stuck In the Same Patterns
This rich and metaphorical poem is one of my favorites over the years. Take a peek and let me know what you think!
Autobiography in 5 Chapters, A Poem by Portia Nelson
Chapter One.
I walk down the street. There’s a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost. I am helpless. It isn’t my fault. It still takes forever to find a way out.
Chapter Two.
I walk down the same street. There’s a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don’t see it. I fall in again. I can’t believe I’m in the same place! But it isn’t my fault and it still takes a long time to get out.
Chapter Three.
I walk down the same street. There’s a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it there. I still fall in. It’s a habit!My eyes are open. I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately.
Chapter Four.
I walk down the same street. There’s a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.
Chapter Five.
I walk down a different street.
There was an interesting commentary on Elephant Journal by Barbara Becker where she states that her Meditation Teacher explains to her that there is a Chapter 6.
I find this to be really interesting because it has been almost 8 years since I originally read this poem.
After my own personal journey and witnessing it among clients, this sixth chapter, according to Becker and her teacher, is that once we head down the new road, there is another hole, and we fall in again.
I have to admit at first glance reading this I didn't really want to hear it. I mean, who wants to keep falling into holes? It's exhausting right?
I want to get to the road where there are no holes. Where the streets are paved with gold like my Uncle would say.
And yet, as I continue on my own path I keep seeing that yes, there are always some more holes.
It doesn't mean I don't get better at climbing out .And I find that there happens to be a lot more time spent on certain roads now without the holes.
But inevitably, there will be ups and downs. It's not about having those downs that means we have done something wrong.
It's how can we be more compassionate to ourselves, more curious and get more information about what's happened and how we can apply it (gently) to what comes next.
Image by Sherry Riter of www.theredheadriter.com
Do you want to fine tune your Inner Radar with crystal clear clarity for Love, Wealth + Freedom? My Free Start Up Guide Includes my 5 Star Process To Become the Intuitive Rockstar of your #5StarLife! This process transformed my life and is the foundation of everything I do in my life & biz! ⭐️🙌🏼👯♀️
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Slow Down in Forward Fold
I remember when I started yoga, I was still living from my perfectionist, do gooder, all or nothing protective parts. I wasn't even aware of these parts (which I have to say, was quite nice at the time for as most of us know on this journey, ignorance in the short term is bliss).
My first yoga class was at 18 and through my 20's I would practice off and on. Gentle, hatha, ashtanga, yin, flow. I'd take two classes in a row. Feel blissed out afterwards, then check out at home..because that was what I did.
I'd take a yin class, love the way my muscles felt, but the chatter in my brain was so loud and critical and judgmental I eventually stopped going because I couldn't stand the teacher any more.
At the time, I felt like he chatted so much, I couldn't find stillness, I felt overstimulated. I didn't realize at the time his chattiness was competing with my own minds commentary.
So where does a forward fold come in? I have to smile when I think about how much I get out of ONE POSE now.
My previous self would have called me lazy, weak, unmotivated. Luckily, I don't listen to that voice nearly as much anymore. Doing ONE POSE is so completely nourishing, such a great way to listen to the conversation within our bodies between the muscles, emotions, and thoughts. And does it help release!
If you can do an entire sun salutation and stay connected and release, that is wonderful. Keep doing that which feels good. But many of us are on a different stage of the process and we have to start slow to stay connected.
Over time, the nerve connections will start to gel and the mind body will be more integrated and you can "do more" (to satisfy that achieving brain:).
That is if you want to. No presh. But remember, less is more as my Restorative Yoga Teacher always would repeat. There is so much MORE in this moment. So savor it and listen to it for all it's worth.
Feel into the pose completely.
Feel every breath, texture, fiber, and sway of energy and let yourself be immersed in it. This is how we heal. Through releasing as we are connected to the compassionate witness within. This is the true surrender.
Which is why I chose Forward Fold. What's more surrendering than a pose that can be done almost anywhere, by almost anyone, at any given time. What's more releasing than letting whatever you don't want anymore roll off your back, giving it up and sending it off into the earth?
To Forward Fold this Way or To Forward Fold that Way- That is the Only Question :)
Some places to practice!
In a Chair:
At a Desk
Sitting on the floor or on a bolster or blanket
Standing
Enjoy!!
No need for perfectionism
'Be content with learning, and not impatient. We will not be, and cannot be "abruptly lifted up and hurled into reality" (ACIM T-16.VI.8:1). It would terrify us, like a child in kindergarten abruptly being made President, or a first-year piano student being forced to do a solo recital in Carnegie Hall.
Each of us is exactly where we belong, learning just what we need to learn. Let us, then, enter wholeheartedly and joyously into the process, practicing our holy instants, receiving our little glimpses of the real world, each one assuring us of the reality of our goal, and the certainty of its attainment.' ~Allen Watson
I love this. So often in sessions, clients dismiss those special moments of shifts and love, waiting to only give themselves credit when the goal of everlasting happiness is DONE. I do this too. With my own personal work. With my art. Jonesing for an outcome when the fulfillment comes in the now, regardless if it's a beginning, middle or end.
Knowing that we are exactly where we are meant to be and that these glimpses of joy are strengthening our capacity to accept this love is a beautiful way of looking at the process of being patient with where we are at.
Do you want to fine tune your Inner Radar with crystal clear clarity for Love, Wealth + Freedom? My Free Start Up Guide Includes my 5 Star Process To Become the Intuitive Rockstar of your #5StarLife! This process transformed my life and is the foundation of everything I do in my life & biz! ⭐️🙌🏼👯♀️
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