A Day at a Time – Coming Back to the Body – 27/3/20

https://yestolife.org.uk/day-at-a-time-a-daily-blog-of-life-in-lockdown/

Loving my morning exercise, Sculpt on Zoom, feeling my muscles working and really enjoying stretching every muscle out, releasing all the tension that builds up in the body and discovering my breath becoming deeper. Such a helpful start to the day. My intention for today is to bring my attention back to the sensations in my body as often as I remember.

It is my mind where all the trouble begins, a phone call yesterday with a friend reading me the riot act on how at risk I am, urging me to self-isolate from my son. Conversations about elderly parents. A letter dropping on the mat from the NHS spelling out again how at risk I am of severe illness if I catch Covid-19. Aware of how many others across the country are receiving the same information. The fears can take hold so quickly and I may busy myself trying to suppress them, but my body is tensing up all the time with this effort to avoid how I feel. Eventually, it’s too uncomfortable being in this fright state and I remember that what I need to do is take care of myself and STOP (see 24/3/20 for details of this practice). Becoming aware of my full experience, thoughts, feelings and sensations in the body, feeling some ground again. Bringing some kindly attention to how hard this is for all of us and remembering that I am doing what I can to protect myself and others. I decide to do an activity to really bring my attention into my body – I choose bouncing on the trampoline. It’s an unbelievably vigorous activity ……. how do youngsters do it for so long!!!!!

Talking about fright state, my beautiful son commented on how similarly we react at times to this CV pandemic and lockdown – the difference being that I tend to go into fright and him to fight!

Hint:

The body is a place we can choose to be as a refuge from the mind, a physical anchor to come back to, an alternative place to be. If our attention is fully in the body, aware of the position of the body, the posture, the sensations coming and going, the aliveness that is there then we cannot at the same time be caught up in the imaginings of the mind.

Practice: Grounding Practice

Find somewhere comfortable to sit and take a moment to settle yourself. Closing your eyes if that feels comfortable to you. Noticing where your feet are, feeling the contact the feet make with the ground. Noticing the temperature of your feet, are they hot or cold? Bringing your awareness up and noticing the pressure of the chair against the thighs and buttocks. Feeling the weight of the body supported by the chair. Moving the attention up your back and feeling the pressure of the chair against your back. Noticing how your shoulders are and perhaps letting them drop. Noticing the touch of clothing on the body and the feeling of the air on the face and hands. Noticing how the hands are positioned, one in the other or resting on the thighs. Noticing sensations in the hands… temperature, touch, energy. Gently taking this time to get in touch with how the body is.