How to feel your body? This video introduces ways to connect and feel your body in meditation.
It feels sometimes hard to… feel your body! Many people struggle sensing their body in meditation. They do not feel comfortable in the posture. This makes it harder to connect with the present moment.
Somatic practices are very helpful to learn feeling your body. There are many practices: Alexander technique, Feldenkrais, Klein Technique, Body Mind Centering…
Here is a short exercise to feel your body.
Start lying on your back, in semi-supine. Both feet are on the ground, knees up.
First take time to sense the weight of your body. You can start scanning your body. Feel your feet grounding. Sense your heels, your toes. Can you feel your skin there? The texture? The temperature? Then feel your chin bones floating up, making space within your ankles. Imagine your knees suspended. Feel your ties falling back down to your pelvis. Have a sense of your pelvis grounding. Scan your spine, creating space between each vertebra. Don’t force anything, just visualise the space. Feel the weight of your shoulder blades, your shoulders, your arms. Feel your hands, palms and fingers, relaxed. Finish with your head, releasing its weight completely. Your face is relaxed.
Then you can start doing gently very small movements.
You can roll your head very slowly to one side. Try sensing the weight, passing through every part of your skull. Eyes are soft and relaxed in your eyeball. Listen to your sensations, without judgement. Then, feel the resonance of this simple movement in the rest of your body. Gently come back, and do the other side. You can play with this movement as many times as you want.
You can also slowly lift your lower arms. Feel the weight falling back down in your elbows, upper arms and shoulders. Fingers are to the sky, without any tension. You can slowly draw circles with your lower arms. Again, it is not about shape, but about listening and bringing awareness. Keep noticing your sensations in your body.
Finally, you can slowly move your knees slightly to one side, and the other. Notice what is happening in your pelvis. What is the resonance in your body? Just play with the simple movement, with an open curiosity to sensations.
Links:
Discover Alexander technique, Feldenkrais, and Klein Technique.