In my last A Mindful Pause, the reflection was on how we tend to fill the spaces and silences of our daily lives and how it effects us. Building on this way of bringing mindfulness into our everyday actions, this week's Pause adds an embodied element...how do we move through our days. I won't be giving you physical exercises, but inviting you to have greater awareness of how you use your body and the recognition that you can choose to move in a way that feels nicer. I am finding this one so rewarding. It's tactile, specific, practical, and it changes how I feel when I do it. I hope it has that effect on you if you are willing to try it!
Mindfulness practice is not just mindful of our thoughts and words, but also mindful of our body, of being here, moving in this physical form. Often, we focus on working with our mind to be able to relax, bring more calm, ease, but we can also go the other way. We can adjust our physical body to help our mind and emotions. To truly live mindfully, we need to do both -– to integrate awareness of our body and mind. One without the other is not complete.
How do we become mindful of our physical actions? Just as not filling all of our spaces and silences, it takes intention and deliberate action. There are two areas I identified that we can bring our attention to in order to help.
Mindful of Effort
We can notice our physical effort when we do something and how much more we often use than is necessary to do any task. There are times and places where using effort and force are good and necessary, but often, it's as though we have only one gear. We can become more aware of how much effort we use to do simple things like sitting, opening a door, holding a steering wheel, picking up a mug, washing your body, closing a cabinet. How much do we contract our muscles throughout our body? In our hands, face, shoulders, abdomen? Checking in with ourselves like this and letting go of what isn't necessary is something we can do throughout the day. We can enjoy, moment by moment, experiencing greater effortlessness. We can ease up on our energy output.
Mindful of Touch
Mindful of touch, we can choose to be softer, more gentle, have a lighter touch, which also allows more ease in our body and mind. This one has been so powerful for me. To have a lighter touch takes being more deliberate in caring for things -- all living things and objects. When we live with greater awareness, we naturally gain a greater reverence for all of life. We see all that goes into something existing and we can touch everything with appreciation and care. It is more obvious in the life of people, animals, plants, and insects. But in all our objects, things we handle throughout the day, we can hold them, touch them, move them with care, too. So many people, resources, and elements went into making it. Most things won't even disintegrate and will be here long after we are gone. This understanding can help us want to make things last, to take care of what is in our possession. We live with such a disposable, replaceable mindset that we stop treating things with care. But we can do this differently and it feels so much better.
We know that being careless often happens when we are rushing, not present, overextended, angry, scared, tired, which is why our meditation practice is so valuable. We stop and refocus on what matters. We recognize when we are going too fast, doing too much, not taking care of ourselves. When we bring more care in our touch and movement, when we use appropriate effort, we treat our body and mind better, and other people and things better. Life is nicer this way.
How do we practice this? It might seem overwhelming, but it's quite simple as long as we remove self-judgment and the need to get it right. It is a moment by moment practice. I can handle something roughly, realize I am, and then change my touch, my force. I don't have to wait until tomorrow to start again.
Think about how you go through your day; imagine yourself as you get ready, as you move through your home, as you work at a computer, cook, drive, clean, do errands. Where do you know you tend to be heavy handed, use more force, grip something too hard, feel tight/contracted? Where are the obvious moments? And then try on what it would be like if you lightened up, got softer, more caring in your touch. How might your experience of living be different? Give it a try throughout the day. Begin again as many times as you need. Enjoy the gentle, tenderness of touching, moving, being, bringing care to this life that's here.
🍁
Jean
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