Discovering The Body

[Rilles]

Body awareness journal for 2021.

Daily feeling.

"You can become aware of every cubic-inch of your body" - Peter Ralston

[Rilles]

Its amazing that there are places on my body I have never thought about. I never realized the foot has so many sensations. The foot is not just the foot. There are 5 toes, a bridge, an ankle, a sole, the ball of the toes, a heel, so much to feel into.

Earlier today I was feeling anxious and discovered the bridge of my foot had alot of tension. I dont think I have ever put awareness on the bridge of my foot. I certainly have never thought about that feet can feel anxious. So obvious now.

Edited December 24, 2020 by Rilles

[Rilles]

Felt my tibia/shinbone for the first time. Without any physical pressure from the outside. 
 

You can feel alot. But it takes tremendous focus. All the sensations are already there, its only the mind that is in the way. 

Edited December 24, 2020 by Rilles

[Rilles]

The sides of the torso are the most numb, and the sternum.  

[Rilles]

On January 1st I will start a proper daily body feeling routine. 30 minutes a day laying down. 365 days. Missed days will inevitably happen but I will try to keep them to a minimum of 1-2 days and swap it for general mindfulness throughout the day. 

[Gesundheit]

@Rilles Amazing and inspiring! I think I will join you with this.

[Rilles]

15 minutes ago, Gesundheit said:

@Rilles Amazing and inspiring! I think I will join you with this.

Go for it! 

[Rilles]

I wont necessarily follow a certain pattern of toe to head. I will just feel into whatever is there. I will however make sure to focus on neglected parts of my body, like the top of my head, the sides, elbows etc, if I focus too much on one place. 

[seeking_brilliance]

Please try my daily check in if you haven't... It will guide you to full body awareness if you can relate to a narrated guided meditation. 

[Rilles]

43 minutes ago, seeking_brilliance said:

Please try my daily check in if you haven't... It will guide you to full body awareness if you can relate to a narrated guided meditation. 

Absolutely! Thanks!

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This video is a good primer.

 

[seeking_brilliance]

@Rilles thank you for the video, here is mine.. It is a guided body scan

 

 

[Rilles]

11 minutes ago, seeking_brilliance said:

@Rilles thank you for the video, here is mine.. It is a guided body scan

 

 

Thanks! I will use it tommorrow. ✌?

[Rilles]

Insights today: Its difficult to tell the difference between thinking about feeling and feeling. One way I think you can make a distinction is... Feeling is always there. You dont need to use your mind at all. Whatever you feel is happening all the time you are just not aware, you dont need to "bring" awareness anywhere, the entire body is already aware. 

Another insight, feeling the face makes me very relaxed, more than any other part, so far.

Some issues: My throat tenses up tremendously when I focus on my legs, maybe I can start sessions by feeling my throat and face. 

Edited December 27, 2020 by Rilles

[Rilles]

When I was a kid around 9 or 10 years old we used to go to Bible Studies/Church in the evenings in a small baptist church in our neighbour. Im not particularly fond of religion but one thing I remember happening which was real strange to see in a stage Blue environment was this. There was a older man there who visited once, maybe around 70 years old, he was really friendly and curious about me, good with kids I would say. Heres the weird part, he told me to lay down and close my eyes and then proceeded to... I shit you not... Guide me through a meditation! He basically told me to focus on my body and mind to relax myself completely, I dont remember the details because it was so long ago but I remember that I actually became super-relaxed. I think it went on for about 20 minutes. Pretty crazy to experience that in a Stage Blue church environment. He basically introduced me to what I do nowadays. There was no talk about Jesus or God or anything like that, just a meditation, I really wonder who that man was, I never saw him again.

Edited December 27, 2020 by Rilles

[Rilles]

A tip for myself: If feeling like you want to quit during regular meditation, feel into where that tension is, where in the body is the "I want to get up and play!". Feel that part and melt away the tension by being conscious of it. Could be useful for SDS meditation. 

[seeking_brilliance]

On 27/12/2020 at 9:53 AM, Rilles said:

Some issues: My throat tenses up tremendously when I focus on my legs, maybe I can start sessions by feeling my throat and face. 

A possibility... Throat closing up is a classic emotional response. If you are like me and hold traumatic tension in your legs, then focusing on the legs may be releasing a subtle amount of traumatic energy and causing throat to close up as a secondary response. Have you ever tried TRE? 

 

 

[Rilles]

3 minutes ago, seeking_brilliance said:

A possibility... Throat closing up is a classic emotional response. If you are like me and hold traumatic tension in your legs, then focusing on the legs may be releasing a subtle amount of traumatic energy and causing throat to close up as a secondary response. Have you ever tried TRE? 

 

 

Yes!!! I tried it yesterday for the first time! Unfortunately my legs didnt start shaking... But I will keep trying it. 

Its certainly possible my throat holds trauma, my whole life has been about social anxiety and issues with self-expression, "the quiet type". 

[seeking_brilliance]

Awesome... I have tried it before but didn't commit to the preliminary exercises, but I'm thinking of starting immediately because my legs are always painful from tension

Just found this... The official instructions 

 

[Rilles]

6 minutes ago, seeking_brilliance said:

Awesome... I have tried it before but didn't commit to the preliminary exercises, but I'm thinking of starting immediately because my legs are always painful from tension

Just found this... The official instructions 

 

I tried this one, dont know how legit it is but Im willing to shop around.

[seeking_brilliance]

@Rilles I like the video you shared, she has a really good way to explain this... But what I'm noticing is you will want to do the full set of exercises, which she isn't doing here.  And in the official explanation video, he says that it's important to do the exercises in order, because it pushes neurons up into the spine.