I recently began my morning sit with recorded guidance from Steve Armstrong, one of the teachers I study with on retreat at Insight Meditation Society. Steve suggested that it might be helpful to get clear about what we are actually doing when we meditate. What are we interested in? Simply put, "we are here to train the mind, in a very specific way, to remember to recognize the present moment's experience." That's all, just remember to be aware of whatever is happening, moment by moment. Awareness is not difficult, it's always "there," waiting to be accessed. It's remembering to awaken that's challenging.
One really good way to remember to recognize is to tune into the body. That's how most formal meditation practice begins, and it's a reliable way to show up in everyday living, too. The cascade of physical sensation is constant, so cultivating a practice of sensing the body is a beautiful anchor for awareness. Sensation can be pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral. Eating something really delicious, seeing a beautiful sunset, or hearing a great song -- these can all bring us right into the moment (a moment we typically try to hold onto or get more of, but that's another discussion).
Within this wondrous ocean of sensation, what we feel most readily is tension, discomfort, or pain -- the signals that tell us something is not in balance. We are hard-wired to be on the lookout for any threat or potential problem, and pain signals seem to be more pronounced than sensations of ease and vitality. I used to think having discomfort was a problem, that it shouldn't be there, or wouldn't be if I was really present and aligned in my life. (There’s a good example of delusional thinking.) Now I understand pain as a "mindfulness bell," the signal that more or less demands my attention, and serves to help me "remember to recognize."
Jaw tension is a common body-based mindfulness bell. Nearly everybody holds tension here, because jaw clenching is a reflex. When we have tight thoughts or intense experiences, our system is set up to bite down. After a while, we walk around with clamped jaws most of the time. This leads to all sorts of other issues: headaches, neck pain, breathing issues, digestive disturbances, and more. Here’s a short piece about freeing your jaw, and how you can use the sensation of your tight jaw as a way to keep waking up.
Still, wouldn’t it be great to become more oriented toward the ease and freedom in our bodies instead? What if our default was to look for sensations of high functioning, or balance, or unity and connection? If awareness is always present and ready to be accessed, then recognizing and supporting ease is merely a matter of intention and practice. Sure, it’s great that my brain can warn me when there’s a predator lurking nearby, but I also want to know when I’m gliding as I vacuum the rug or when a delicious meal is being digested without effort or when my heart opens whenever I am hugged by a loved one.
Remembering to recognize pleasant or even neutral bodily sensations provides “mindfulness bells” too.
Bodymind Experiment
Try this:
Arrange your body in a comfortable, supported way. Bring attention to the sense of support you feel.
If you’d like, you can take 3 deep mindful breaths, in through the nose and out through the mouth. Then let your breathing return to normal.
Now simply attend to any sensations that are arising in the body. See how many different places you can feel moving, pulsing, twitching, itching, tingling, or any sensation.
Notice what you feel most easily – is it tightness or tension? expansion or contraction? intensity or numbness? Or do you feel release or energy flowing or the subtle dance of balance? Perhaps you are mindful of all of this, and more.
If something is particularly uncomfortable, perhaps invite it to let go or soften. If something is especially pleasant or powerful, maybe encourage it to spread throughout the whole body. If there doesn’t seem to be much happening in the field of the body, attend to the feeling of emptiness or blank sensation. What is it like, this quiet body with nothing much to say?
Observe your capacity to be with whatever is expressing itself in the body, appreciate your awareness and the fact that you can choose how to respond to whatever the body might be doing (or not doing).
Feel free to carry this deepening awareness of pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral into whatever is next for you.
Namaste.