Health begins with presence of mind and body
In order for profound-quantum improvements to occur in our health, there MUST be shifts in our mind and thought patterns that bring us more into present moment, heart centered awareness.
Stress is undoubtedly at the heart of many and most health issues. This fact is undisputed even by staunch allopathic clinicians. Part of the condition of modern life is that we are so swept away by what we need to do, what we want to accomplish, what needs to be improved or changed… we have entirely missed the aliveness of the present moment. Our modern, “results-driven” mentalities get us caught in a loop of continuously looking forward to fix/improve our situations and past-looking to analyze, ruminate and scour for things that could have gone better that we completely miss out on the “better than HD reality” that is surrounding us right now.
Right now your heart is beating and trillions of cells are orchestrating your continued existence and survival. You are alive! Can you feel the energy of your life swimming somewhere in your body? Can you notice now that you life is totally dependent on your breath cycle?
Right now, there are a multitude of sensations from temperature, light, color, smells, the pull of gravity and the sounds around you that are all orchestrating this moment you currently exist in. Have you taken any of this in yet today? Where is the sunlight landing in your current environment? What colors in your environment draw you in? What aspects in your environment bring you some peace? What in your now-environment can you appreciate?
Right now, your breath pattern is either continuing to activate a stress pattern in your nervous system -or- your lower belly and diaphragm are engaged with the inhale, and your chest, shoulders, neck are relaxing with each exhale. Are you aware of where your breath is in your body? Can you find in this now-moment how it is behaving?
Right now, there are sensations in your body that you may have been ignoring or not able to hear because of busyness and looking forward or backward. If you stop for a moment, what does that shoulder pain feel like? Is it stingy? Hot? Sharp? Heavy? Angry? Fed-up? If it had a message in this now-moment, what is saying? Can you hang out with a now-discomfort in your body for a minute or two to just be with it, to let it inform you somehow? To give it a chance to share its message?
In our striving mentality, in our struggle to accomplish, do and achieve our responsibilities… we have forgotten to engage life. And this is part of what creates physical discord which is a slow and steady movement toward dis-ease. Our society is oriented away from the now moment, unfortunately and we must make a decision to consciously engage it if we are going to find mind-body health and healing. There are thousands of “choice points” in each day.
Could you take 5 minutes before you get out of bed in the morning to place your hands on your belly and watch your breath, feel the sensations of your aliveness and listen-feel what existence feels like in this moment? You are alive…. Are you feeling life flow through you?
When you are sipping your morning drink can you choose to notice more deeply its now taste, temperature in your mouth and as it travels down your esophagus and how your body responds?
As you sit down in your car or train/bus-seat to travel somewhere, can you pay attention to your now posture? Are your hips comfortable? Is your neck relaxed? Is your lower back strained or relaxed? Can you take in the weather around you, what the wind/sunlight/clouds are doing? Can you find some now-beauty in the nature around you? Can you appreciate it for a moment?
When you are in an outside space, can you take in some of the sounds around you? Can you hear nature anywhere? Can you hear the breeze? A bird? Silence? Nature is orchestrating this moment around you. Can you feel it?
We may have busy lives and many responsibilities of family, work, home. Carving out multiple times to be present as we move along in life creates a practiced awareness. This awareness helps to re-orient our minds from the endless tasks of the day to the pulsating life in and around us. This is a first and essential step in helping our bodies release the stress of constantly striving and forgetting to -be-.
Some books that I love and that have helped me continue to practice presence:
THE PRESENCE PROCESS by Michael Brown
“When we live in time, we spend our days seeking the meaning of life. In contrast, when we are present, we enjoy a life saturated with meaning.”
LOVING WHAT IS by Byron Katie
“I am a lover of what is, not because I’m a spiritual person, but because it hurts when I argue with reality. We can know that reality is good just as it is, because when we argue with it, we experience tension and frustration. We don’t feel natural or balanced. When we stop opposing reality, action becomes simple, fluid, kind, and fearless.”
WHATEVER ARISES, LOVE THAT by Matt Kahn
“If your life were any different, you'd feel exactly the same. This is the irony of life's eternal perfection. Once you no longer rely on outside circumstances, in order to feel good, or even require feeling good, in order to be relaxed and open, something far greater than the tracking of ups, downs, gains and losses awakens within you. This is the heart of awakening.”
THE POWER OF NOW by Eckhart Tolle
“Time isn’t precious at all, because it is an illusion. What you perceive as precious is not time but the one point that is out of time: the Now. That is precious indeed. The more you are focused on time—past and future—the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is.”
A NEW EARTH by Eckhart Tolle
“You do not become good by trying to be good, but by finding the goodness that is already within you, and allowing that goodness to emerge. But it can only emerge if something fundamental changes in your state of consciousness.”
LIGHT ON LIFE by BKS Iyengar
“Breath is the vehicle of consciousness and so, by its slow measured observation and distribution, we learn to tug our attention away from external desires toward a judicious, intelligent awareness.”
A MIND AT HOME WITH ITSELF by Byron Katie.
“I discovered that when I believed my thoughts, I suffered, but that when I didn’t believe them, I didn’t suffer, and that this is true for every human being. Freedom is as simple as that. I found that suffering is optional.”
Here is an article that highlights some meditation apps to help you breath, be more aware, present and relaxed.
To your brilliant life. <3 Kerrilyn