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Body awareness meditation – benefits of and a guide to practicing awareness of the body
Submitted by RagsToRich on Mon, 2010-01-18 13:07
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One of my favourite types of meditation is the body awareness meditation. This is maintaining a focused attention upon the sensations and feelings of the body with as much equanimity as possible. That means, to observe the experiences in the moment in as much detail as possible, but as much as possible not affecting those said sensations with your very awareness of them.
The process of observing bodily sensations and functions is one component of traditional Buddhist mindfulness meditation (sammā-sati). The other components being content of consciousness, and awareness of consciousness.
When practiced on it’s own without these other mindfulness components, while still being a good insight meditation, body awareness on its own becomes more of a focus meditation.
The many benefits of body awareness meditation
In other words through this practice a massive amount of concentration can be trained within the mind. I am far from discovering the limit of that focus. However the implications are very positive and very numerous.
Anytime, anywhere…
One of the things I really like about this kind of meditation is that it can be practiced literally anywhere and at any time. It absolutely does not matter what you are doing, you can practice this meditation.You could be sat a computer desk, out running, lying in a hospital bed, flying on a plane, practicing martial arts, etc. I actually can’t think of a situation when you’d be unable to practice body awareness meditation.
I am an enthusiastic practitioner of martial arts, and of course this is a perfect time for me to utilise this meditation. To be fully aware of all the sensations, the pressure, the pain, the ligaments stretching and the sweat running down my brow.
A greater tolerance of pain and other sensations…
Because of the nature of this meditation, that is non-judgemental awareness of the sensations of the body, over-time a greater tolerance develops of pain and discomfort sensations.
I actually actively use this meditation whenever I know that my body is going to be put through a state of discomfort. By observing the sensations with neutrality I find myself able to endure, withstand, and accept a much greater sense of intense sensation which would otherwise cause me to flinch or buckle.
The nature of pain sensations is such that when this meditation is applied in these situations the pain actually acts as a motivator to obtain a deeper focus. Some monks actually utilise intense pain or discomfort situations in order to train a deep sense of awareness of the moment (not recommended for normal people!)
As such a painful illness or headache now actually becomes a great reason to sit down and enter a deep meditation session!
A greater awareness of the capabilities and dexterity of the body…
Practicing this meditation on a regular basis trains an ability to know the definite position of the body, and also to know the capabilities of the potential positions of the body.
In other words it’s great for anyone who regularly takes part in sport or dance and wants to gain a greater understanding of the position their body currently is in and the positions which it can be put in, and how to get to that position in the exact way they intend.A friend of mind has a very focused sense of body awareness. He does not actively meditate any more but trained the focus in his youth. His ability to know the position of his body and move it in the way he exactly desires is now quite extraordinary and magnificent.
A route to “being in the moment”…
A lot of meditation enthusiasts talk about this these days, not the least of which being Eckhart Tolle. As Eckhart points out himself in The Power of Now, being aware of the sensations and feelings of the body is one way to obtain and maintain a connection to the present moment.
The deeper that focus, the more present your awareness is.
How to practice full body awareness…
If practicing formal sitting/standing practice, then follow from step one. Otherwise, skip to step two.
1. Formal position...
Either stand, sit on a chair, or sit on the floor. If you feel so inclined then you may wish to sit in full-lotus and with a straight back, but it’s by no means necessary. As much as possible you want your lower abdomen to be unhindered so take off any belts and wear loose clothing.
2. Moving your attention to the body...
Gently move your attention to the sensations and feelings of and within the body.
To begin with you may wish to focus on any sensations of pressure. Such as the pressure of your feet against the floor, or the pressure of your chair against your back.
You may then wish to focus more on the internal feelings within the body, the sensations of relaxation in your legs, or the sensations of warmth in your arms, or the feeling of your skin on your face.
3. Moving the awareness all over the body...
After entering this state of awareness by focusing on whatever part of my body which your attention was drawn to, then repeat the process for other parts of the body.
Actively move the focus all over the body until as much as possible you have and maintain a focus of the full body sensations all together.
At this stage you may wish to as much as possible increase the detail and focus of your attention on these sensations. To be as fully aware of them as you possibly can.
It is important to maintain a high quality of practice – and with this meditation you are aiming for as high a quality as possible focus upon all the sensations of the full body, moment by moment.
4. When you become distracted...
At some point you may find that you have lost focus, or that you have become distracted by a thought or sight or sound. When that happens just re-enter the process at step 2.
This process performed correctly is very enjoyable, and can also be either very relaxing or very pleasurable. However it is not necessarily neither and it’s best to have no expectations of the process – but instead to just give it a go and find out for yourself what your experience is.
For more instruction on the process of a full body awareness meditation I highly recommend looking into reading or audio by Shinzen Young.
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Amiable brief and this entry
Amiable brief and this entry helped me a lot in my college assignment.
Thank you for your information.
Happy to help.
Happy to help.
amazing post
I have just tried this meditation and I think it's brilliant. I much prefer this to breath sitting. It feels like I have so much more to think about and focus on.
Can you recommend any books?
Hey everyone!
Hello pell.
The Power Of Now is my favourite. You can get it really cheaply on Amazon - well worth it.
Re: Body awareness meditation – benefits of and a guide to ...
Pell,
Shinzen Young is your man to check out. Especially his audio product entitled the Science of Enlightenment as a primer.
Cheers,
Rich
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