FPIAFW Week 2: Keeping The Body In Mind

[FeeHutch]

'The body is acutely sensitive to even the tiniest flickering of emotion that move constantly across the mind.'

- page 92

'The judgements we make from moment to moment can be significantly affected by the state of our bodies at the time we make them. For some, this will make disturbing reading, but it's also heartening because it means that simply altering your relationship to your body can profoundly improve your life.'

- p93

I have written before about how it was this aspect of mindfulness that had such a big impact on me initially. Getting my brain and body to listen to each other is an ongoing task but getting them to have that first conversation, was a real revelation. It makes sense that we embody our emotions and thoughts and that they have a profound impact on each other.

'To cultivate mindfulness truly, we need to become fully integrated with our body once more'

p95

When I followed this course the first time, I noticed that I unconsciously clench my jaw almost constantly. I reflected on this idea and came to realise this was the physical symptom of the way I was always gritting my teeth, deliberately ignoring the way I felt, the state of my physical self, striving to hit one more goal. Then, I always reasoned, then I would really try and take care of myself. It was a pretty big insight for a pretty small physical response.

So, this weeks main practice is the body scan. In my experience this seems to be a real marmite of a meditation, people seem to love it or hate it. Now I found it a real toughie to start with, not least because it was the first time since the SAH I allowed myself to really pay attention to my body. It was the first time I really experienced the difference in sensation and strength between both sides of my body. It was painful but also promoted a lot of self compasion and acceptance. What are your thoughts about the body scan?

Week 2:
The Body Scan twice a day for 6 out of the next 7 days.
'There will be times when you feel it is impossible to allocate the time for this... Meditation is here to nourish you, so those days when it feels as though there us simply no time to squeeze in a fifteen-minute Body Scan may be just the ones when it's most important to persist with the practice the best you can.' p97

[b]Habit Releaser: Going For A Walk[/b]
At some point this week go for a 15 to 30 minute walk - or longer if you like. Notice your body, notice your surroundings, smells, sounds and sensations. Look up as well as down. There is so much going on above eye level that I only noticed when I consciously tried to look around me.

Bring to mind 10 things a day you are grateful for. 10 will seem a lot but encourage you to remember the tiny and usually unnoticed things.

Carry out a routine activity mindfully. This week I am going to go for washing my hands.

[JonW]

I remember doing my first body scan and being amazed by it, the power of connecting with my own body, a reminder that mindfulness was nothing less than an agreement with myself to be here with what really is.
My routine activity for the week is to pay a little more attention to my cat, Bilbo. I've noticed that my spaniel Banjo has been hogging my attention of late. And Banjo always shoves Bilbo out of the bed in the middle of the night so he can rest his head on the pillow next to mine. It's only fair that they take it in turns. Banjo needs to be more mindful.

[Hambostein]

Yo !! me again ..... I've just received the FPIAW book, it's here beside at my office desk - I have a job in IT, looking after ancient, creaking systems from last century that nobody understands, all my job is to make sure these keep ticking over ok, which they are at the moment so I have a fair deal of spare time on my hands - which is good as I can spend useful time on other things like my new FPIAW book (and getting paid for it as well !!)

We do a Bodyscan type meditation at the weekly class that I attend, and I've been attempting that nightly before falling to sleep, and if waking during the night.
I'm going to jump right in with the FPIAW book on this chapter, at first glance the FPIAW Bodyscan Meditation is a slightly different variation of the one that I'm doing, and I'll catch up with the previous chapters as I go along ......

The "listening to the body" idea has intrigued me, I'm looking forward to reading that part, that's something I've always attempted to do (i.e. food cravings for specific foods telling you that you are short of certain minerals/vitamins) and will be interested to see if the book is saying the same sort of thing.

I'll get back to all

Hambo

[FeeHutch]

Great, looking forward to hearing how you get on

[Steve]

I'm always amazed when doing a body scan how still the body can become, all fidgetting seems to fade away. Sometimes you wonder if the body can move and a very conscious effort has to be taken at the end to move your toes and fingers as if to bring them and the rest of your body back to life.

Do others experience this? How does this fit with the intention of being aware of what's going on in the body, how its feeling etc (if its so still that it doesn't seem to exist?).

How's everyone else getting on?

Steve

[JonW]

Hi Steve,
I experience something quite similar - an extraordinary stillness. At the same time I feel an intense vibrancy in each part of the body as I go through the scan. I've always used guided meditations for the body scan. Tomorrow I'm going to try without the vocal accompaniment and see how that goes...

[Bitterballen]

Hope people don't mind me chiming in here! I am on Week 7 currently but Week 2 still feels fresh enough to offer some thoughts!

Like so many above I was amazed by my first body scan, the very first part when we are asked to feel the sensations of the body with the floor/chair really surprised me, so many different sensations I felt all over my body and particularly in my legs. I realised that these feelings were always there but I was only now actually waking up to them!

Has anyone got any particularly daily tasks that have changed since doing Week 2? For me it was brushing my teeth - I used to be hunched over the sink with one of my legs straining at a bad angle...after the body scan I realsied I was actually in a little pain every time I did this but I just couldn't realise it. I really changed the way I stood when I brushed my teeth after that...and eventually looked to improve my posture in other areas

[JonW]

Hi bitterballen,
You're more than welcome to chime in. Any time you like.
Sounds like the body scan is working for you.
Biggest change for me was a new awareness of just how much stress was stored up in my body on account of my endless ruminating and worrying. To paraphrase Jack Lemmon, I was the only man in the world with clenched hair.

[FeeHutch]

I'm paying attention when I was my hands this week, makes me feel like I am taking care of them

[Vixine]

I noticed during the body scan week that as the week went on I noticed more and more sensations in my body. I became more attuned to those subtle feelings of tingling, pulsing, or just that feeling of that part of the body 'being there' even when there wasn't a sensation. The parts I have the most trouble with strangely are my ankles and knees. I just don't feel anything there... maybe that's a blessing