Listening To The Body

Speaker 1 · 0:00When I sit, I'll start just the way that we often sit here, just grounding, feeling connection with the earth, sensing in the body, and noticing predominant sensations. Sometimes I'll notice a predominant sensation in the head or the chest or the belly, and I'll just kind of be curious about it. What is that? And then that will often dictate the direction of what I do next or how I respond.

Speaker 1 · 0:42So it just depends, you know, like if there's planning, like maybe the head is heavy, you know, there's a lot of pace with the thoughts, but it's about like doing, accomplishing, you know, getting fixing or whatever it is. It'll sense into the energy, like, oh, what is that energy? Both physically but also emotionally. What is this energy? And I'll just try to notice it.

Speaker 1 · 1:37Try not to judge it, just kind of be with it, and then after I'm with it for a while with that gentle curiosity, then I might segue into gratitude practice or concentration practice or loving kindness practice, or maybe the energy is not that intense, and I might just say, Oh, that's interesting. Okay, that's there. Now, can I just hang out with the breath for a while, or to see what else is in the body.

Speaker 1 · 2:26But for me, like mindfulness of the body is a is the core foundational practice, as it is for most mindfulness practitioners. So sensing into the belly as we breathe, sensing into emotions in the body, you know, sensing into sounds of the ears, sights in the eyes, smells in the nose, points of contact, elements of the body, temperature, movement, stillness, liquid, solidity, changing sensations.

Speaker 1 · 3:14You know, this very breath could be my last. You know, pleasantness versus unpleasantness. Um you know, for this year, you know, one of my uh intentions for the year is to open to more joy.

Speaker 2 · 3:47Why not?

Speaker 1 · 3:48So I'm like opening to joy. Oh, welcoming it, noticing it. Not suppressing discomfort, but also, you know, opening to the experience of joy too, and really sensing into that more and more.

Speaker 1 · 4:15So, you know, I don't have a you know, 8 a.m. to 8 45, this is exactly what I do, and then at 3:15 I do this for 10 minutes. You know, for better and for worse, I don't have typical practice. For me, it's very organic. My wife is the exact opposite, you know, everyone's a little different, and again, I think I might be like subconsciously rebelling against my monastic days, which were very, very disciplined.