The Body Now

Awakening “The Body Now” Awakening, Being Present, Discovering Affirmation: I am ready to awaken to the experience of me in my body. I want to be in relationship to that which I am. There is no more important relationship than the one with our own beloved self and all of its parts: strengths and weaknesses, desires and longings, and hopes and dreams. Coming into relationship with our body is the beginning of coming home to that beloved self, to our authentic self. I believe that there is no healing, no transformation, no forward motion, and no sustainable change without a clear and moving relationship with the body. Awakening to our bodies, listening to our bodies, and actually inhabiting our bodies, is the bridge to reclaiming our soul’s journey, to remembering all that we have always known, and to retrieving all the parts of ourselves we have left behind along the way. We left them behind for good reasons at the time—maybe in order to be safe, to be loved, to get approval, or to fit in. Now we get to reclaim these parts in order to experience our wholeness. This beautiful and exciting process of awakening to ourselves is the bridge to remembering what we have always known and who we were before someone else started writing our story. And connecting to our own deeper essence is the path to connection with all of life. “The Body Now” mandala (p. ??), which grew out of my own journey back to my body, has been developed over the last 30 years of teaching and facilitating thousands people of all ages and backgrounds. It is simply the body in motion on the way home to its own true story, its own authentic journey. Wherever we enter the mandala and whatever path we take, we will land in “The Body Now ” and solidly enter into our own breathing, moving, flowing, throbbing body, where everything is possible. Getting Present The first step on “The Body Now” mandala, “Awakening,” is about getting present in the moment in our bodies. Really all of life is about getting present and then more present, embracing and following our bodies into living a life of authentically responding to each moment. We begin finding this presence by developing our own ability to witness ourselves, to notice sensations in our bodies, and to listen to the signals our bodies give us all the time. Ask yourself: “What do I notice right now, in this moment, in my body?” Scan your body for sensations, or vibrations. Notice how and where in your body you are breathing right now. This choice to be curious about our body signals, and to consciously listen to our body, is the beginning of a lifelong practice, as the body is a dynamic, moving, energy field and is therefore always changing. Tuning into the Body Cues Try the simple exercise below to get a taste of how easy and fun it can be to notice your body cues and get moving (Awakening). “Finding Sensation” Take a few moments to stand with you feet hip-width apart and take some deep breaths. Scan your body for any sensation: in your muscles, your breath, your feelings, your bones, behind your eyes, in your fingers, your belly, your back. Then just lovingly notice that sensation. Now just let your body move in response to that sensation easily and effortlessly. Let your thinking and self-consciousness rest for a moment and just let your body lead, following the sensation you found in your body. What does this sensation want to do, how does this sensation move if it is leading, does it have a sound that it wants to express? Is this sensation changing or moving to another place in your body? Is it intensifying, asking for more attention? Keep moving until you feel a shift in your body that lets you know you are in an easeful place in your body. Then just take a moment to appreciate yourself for your awareness and your willingness to move and breathe yourself into well-being. Facilitation Suggestions If you are leading a group and have participants who can’t find any sensation in their body to get started with, have them create a sensation to start moving from. They might make a fist, or tighten their jaw, or smile, or flex one foot, and then begin moving from there.