Mindfulness and the Body
Remember hearing the sounds of your mother in the kitchen when you were a child, the clanging of dishes, the faucet turning on and off, the refrigerator door opening — how comforting it was, and how clearly those noises resound through the years? Young children don’t have to try to be mindful. They naturally live more fully in the present, and for this reason, their senses are more heightened. They haven’t learned yet to fill their minds with thoughts and obsessions and thinking processes that dull the senses. Young children don’t tune out the sounds of life. The child’s keen awareness of the senses or the sounds of life makes these memories so rich and fresh when they come back to us.
When you are in your body, the richness of the details of life — the sound of a clock ticking, the unique feel of an apple in your hand, a soft wind blowing across your skin — becomes apparent. You might even notice the sweetness of a stranger resting her chin in her hand. This is what it means to be present — mindful — in your ongoing life. This is what you might experience when your thoughts are out of the way.
The exquisite nature of life is drowned out by our noisy, thought-filled, device-obsessed world. And we miss out on our own lives. Instead of seeing the sunlight on leaves, we’re busy thinking about what’s next on our schedule. We overlook what’s happening now — something a coworker just said, the subtle inflection in a voice, sounds in the environment, the uniqueness of every moment.
Have you had the experience of noticing a sculpture or even a building for the first time, that you’ve walked past every day for years? And suddenly you see it. It’s kind of a shock, isn’t it, that we’ve missed these things that are right in front of us.
Amazingly, mindfulness is more about the body than it is about the mind. And contrary to popular belief, it isn’t the exclusive domain of meditation. Let’s look at these separately.
The very word mindfulness implies a state of being full of mind, yet during mindfulness practice (also known as meditation) you are instructed to focus on an experience of your body such as your breath or your feet. When you are fully in your body you are also in a state of mindfulness. You cannot be lost in thought and in your body at the same time. I often think bodyfulness would be a more accurate term.
Emptying your mind of thoughts is often associated with mindfulness, but that isn’t exactly it. It’s true that in mindfulness meditation, when you observe that you are having a thought, the instruction is to return your attention to your body, usually to the breath or the feet. But that’s because we haven’t learned to hold onto our sensate experience, and our minds become like wild animals that take all of our attention. So immediately upon observing a thought, you bring your awareness back to your body and you open a space to have a full range of experience. A state of being where your thoughts are included in your experience but aren’t the whole or the center of your experience. One Buddhist teacher likens the moment of recognizing a thought during meditation to a cartoon thought bubble. If a pin appears and punctures the thought bubble, it bursts. Puncturing the thought bubble is parallel to recognizing a thought. At that moment you have the opportunity to return to your body, to the present.
Until the 1960s and ’70s, when interest in Eastern spirituality grew in the US (thank you hippies), mindfulness was the province of spiritual traditions such as Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, and Yoga. Thanks to that era and the increasing popularity of yoga, the concept of mindfulness has made it into the mainstream of Western consciousness. You have so many opportunities to explore mindfulness practices through yoga classes, Zen centers, mindfulness-based stress reduction workshops, books, podcasts, the list is practically endless.
With all of this mindfulness training available, the huge role of the body in mindfulness is often overlooked or downplayed. Yet it is your body that can readily and actively bring mindfulness into your everyday life. Your body is so tangible, so readily available. Although it is not the focal point of most mindfulness practices, there are teachers of mindfulness who focus on the body. Reggie Ray of Dharma Ocean has worked extensively with the role of the body in mindfulness practice. I recently attended a series of talks by Zen Buddhist nun Florence Caplow, who spoke a lot about the importance of feeling your body, feeling your feet. So it’s getting there.
For now, here are some BodyMind suggestions that might really be useful at times when your thoughts are churning. For example, you might find yourself in a situation that catches you off guard, or that makes you feel anxious or put on the spot. Maybe your Uncle Schmuck is once again telling blonde jokes at a dinner party and you’re a feminist blonde. These are all times when mindfulness might help.
- Feel your feet — This is your go-to come-back-to-my-body mindfulness strategy. Feeling your feet on the ground allows you to feel the foundation you are literally standing on. It helps you to feel your own solidity, what is solid in you, your substance. From your feet, you can start to feel the rest of your body, either in parts, legs, torso, arms, hands — or most of the rest of your body all at once.
As you approach a situation you know is likely to cause you to feel some unease such as making a cold call, entering a difficult meeting, or stepping up to make a presentation, feeling your feet on the ground and then feeling more of your body will help. Keep your knees soft and unlocked if you’re standing. If you’re sitting, start with feeling your feet, then feel all the places your body is in contact with another surface or part of your body such as your seat on the chair, your torso resting against the chair back, your arm resting on the table or on your lap, everyplace gravity is pulling on you.
2. Breathe — Feel your body breathe on its own. You might find this can be calming. I’m not suggesting you take a deep breath or any particular type of breath. Simply tune into your body’s natural breathing, and allow your body to breathe without effort, on its own terms. Focusing on the breath is standard in mindfulness meditation, as is returning to the breath when you realize you’ve started spinning thoughts again. If you’re anxious, focusing on the feel of your breath can take your attention away from the source of your anxiety, and can make it more manageable. For more on tuning into your breath, see item 4 in my article Positions for Success.
3. Notice what position you’re in. Here are some suggestions for checking in on how you are positioning yourself. This not to imply that there is a way you should be standing or sitting, but rather to offer some possibilities that may (or may not) apply to you. What you notice and how you do tend to carry yourself is what matters here.
- Is your posture expansive or collapsed?
- Leaning forward or back or fully centered?
- Is your weight on one foot or both, or on one foot and a toe?
- Shoulders up, down, forward, back?
- Which way are your toes pointing? Straight front? Turned in or turned out?
- Are your knees locked or slightly bent?
- Does your posture feel rigid? Relaxed?
- Are your arms crossed? What position are they in?
These are important because being aware of your posture can help you not only to be mindful but also to give you more choices. Being mindful of how you carry yourself gives you the option to stand in a different way, such as in a position that might help you feel more grounded and self-confident. Again, for more on this, see my article Positions for Success.
Being tuned into your body includes all of your senses, but not necessarily all at once. Anchor yourself in the feeling of your body — the movement of your legs and torso, feelings of tension and ease, even emotions (which are physical sensations) — and you may be more open to all of your five senses. The scent of sweet honeysuckle or the pungent aroma of rain on asphalt, the clang of a bicycle bell or the hum of nearby bees, seeing a bird take flight, or feeling soft folds of fabric on your own garment that your hand brushes past.
Naturally, you notice unpleasant as well as lovely views and events. The benefit here is that awareness allows you to avoid what is unpleasant or potentially dangerous. The smell of exhaust from a city bus, an ugly, industrial part of town, the shrill, irritating pitch of a mosquito buzzing in your ear. All of these affect you whether you notice them or not. But awareness gives you the option to avoid getting behind the bus, to drive down a different street, and to slap the mosquito before it bites.
Actively practice mindfulness throughout your day for a rich and rewarding way of being. Sitting meditation can be helpful if you want a true mindfulness practice. But whether you choose to sit in meditation or to increase your awareness while walking down the street, mindfulness can contribute to a meaningful life. And being tuned into your body is central to both. There is a Zen saying that first, the mind meditates, then the mind and body meditate, then the body meditates. I say start with the body.
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