The Whole Body

[James123]

Hi Guys,

Good site, this. Well done to whoever thought of it and runs it.

I'm half way through week 4 of Mark Williams/Danny Penman's book and one of the aspects I'm struggling with is the whole body awareness thing.

Has anyone got any tips on how to get a sense of the whole body sitting, breathing & being aware of sensations all the same time?

I tried visualizing my body having a force field like the Ready Brek Man (I know ) but I'm just not "getting" it.

So how do you guys get a sense of the body as whole, breathing, feeling sensations and sitting all at the same time?

[Cheesus]

I think it's difficult to take in the entirety of your physical experience all at once. There is so much going on with the body that it would be like trying to watch 50 TV screens at the same time. I think what they are getting at here is just that you should see if you can feel an overall sense of what it is like to have a body and to experience things physically. I don't think they want you to be aware of everything in detail. Rather than paying attention to what is happening on all 50 of the TV screens, just get a sense of what it is like to have 50 TV screens in front of you at once.

If you can't get an overall sense of the body, just see what the mind notices. If it flickers from your bottom on the cushion, to the rise and fall of your abdomen, and then across to a gentle breeze brushing across your face, then that is fine.

Hope this helps!

[Vixine]

This is interesting, because I have been thinking lately that I find it much easier to focus on the body as a whole rather than focusing on the breath or one body part at a time. I think like Cheesus said, you don't have to be aware of every sensation of the body at once, but rather just 'feel' a sense of having a body. Feel the outline of your body all around the edges, or notice the pulsing/vibrating/tingling sensation that many people notice in their bodies if they really pay attention. Also, when you are noticing your body as a whole, if anything draws for your attention you can focus on that for a while - if you have an itch, or a part that has pain or tension, you can put your attention there.

Probably the main thing is not to feel that there is any particular way you are supposed to do it, or a particular way you should feel when you do this. It's self-discovery and you can experience it any way you like!

[James123]

Thanks guys, appreciate it.

Well as I found out that I'm dead from the waist down after the Body Scan week I shouldn't be surprised that I'm having difficulties feeling the body as a whole, but with practice I'm sure it will come.

[Gareth]

I'll make a little admission here in that I never, ever do a body scan meditation. I used to experiment with it lots and lots in the early part of my practice, but I have always found it much more difficult to hold my attention than in sitting practice. For this reason, I always came out of the meditation feeling like it had done me 'less good' than sitting and watching the breath or listening to music. I wondered if I should persist with it simply for that fact that it was difficult, but in the end it just drifted away.

Mindfulness courses talk about the practice being about you after week 8 has passed, and that is the way that I am squaring it with myself at the moment. This way of practising feels right to me, and I think that's what's most important. I do recognise the benefit of body awareness though, especially living with MS, so I am trying to build up a daily yoga practice instead.

[fryfan20]

I don't think I could be aware of all of those as well, maybe it is easier to take one at the time. This is also what
I have been taught.

[@AshRoyHelps]

In my experience you start off 'watching' bodily sensations one small part at a time. The 'body awareness' is something that grows over time and you just become more adept at feeling larger portions of the body as the 'awareness muscle' develops.

[JonW]

"In my experience you start off 'watching' bodily sensations one small part at a time."
Yes. By focussing on each part of the body, we not only begin to appreciate the sheer aliveness of parts of our body that we wouldn't normally pay much heed to (i.e. our toes), we also begin to see that my paying gentle attention to the tension stored in parts of our body, that tension dissipates.