So definitely the first step to any wellness, is awareness. We need to be aware of where we are, aware of that there is an issue in order to address it right. We need awareness of where we're at, so that we can move to that place that we want to be. I think so often in this world we are moving so quickly, and we are filling ourselves to the brim. We are filling our minds and filling our schedules to maximum capacity. So we don't often have that moment or that mental space left for us to think about and to to really tune in to our bodies and find out where we are. I know several different professions where we are encouraged to keep going and we don't have that moment to really listen to what our body needs because of responsibility to students or to patients, or to clients of some sort. We have been trained to ignore those body cues, like hunger and thirst and having to use the restroom. Some of those basic needs, we have been training ourselves to ignore them, so that we can fulfill our responsibilities. What I'm encouraging you to do now is to take that time to purposely build in some time, a few times a day, maybe to check in, and really listen to those cues. Ask yourself, "Am I hungry? Am I thirsty? Do I need to use the restroom?". Listen to those aches and pains of your body. What are they telling you? What is it that your body needs? Being in the moment, and being present is the key. That's easier said than done, right? When we are in this, "Go, Go, Go" busy culture it takes some actual practice of mindfulness and being in the moment to get there.
What I love to do for this is a nice body scan. So this is something that I practice daily and I use this when I do my live guided meditations during the week. The reason why I love the body scan is because it gives you a systematic way to go through every part of your body and listen. You can tune in and have full awareness just on that body part, just on your body at the moment. It helps us to practice. That's what meditation is ... a practice ... practice bringing our minds back to the present moment. Our minds are going to wander! Some days more than others. And that's okay! The practice is bringing it back to the focal point. In this case the focal point is your body. When we can really tune in we will start to notice how we are holding our bodies throughout the day. Sometimes we don't realize that we're going through our days with our shoulders hunched up to our ears and then we come home with a neck ache or backache or headache and not really sure why. So, when we do this and we take this time to go through our body it helps us to tune in to get those cues from our body. The more that we do this, the more that will be ingrained in us to do this throughout the day so not just during a meditation, quiet, sit down time, but throughout the day as you're moving along. You'll be more apt to stop and think, "How is my body feeling right now?". Or you'll start to notice when something's tense, and you'll be able to then let go and release those muscles so that you don't end up at the end of the day with these aches and pains that we don't need to have. I encourage you to try this every day and you'll get to the point where you don't need the guidance anymore and you can you kind of know the process of going through each body part.
It really does amazing things for relaxing our body and amazing things for training us to be more mindful to be in that moment to tune into our bodies to our physical bodies. We do have several layers of our body and that's where I'll be going next time for some future videos. But wanting to tune in to where our physical body is is a great start. So slowing down ... presence ... checking in ... and then changing course, if you need to. If you're noticing that your body needs something, if you're noticing that your muscles need to be let go or need to be released, then you now have that choice. Now that you have the awareness, then we're empowered to have the choice to help our body, in whatever way it needs.