BEING EMBODIED
mindful practices that offers an expansive and human-centered framework for inquiry can help offset the toll of our digital and sensory distraction.
by addressing our primal need for safety and grounding first, these practices can help us stay tethered to reality, even as we interface with new technologies, and extend ourselves into new worlds.
by nurturing our compassion at the same time as our sensorial and mental acuity, these practices also have the potential to redirect our public discourse and strengthen our bonds with our communities.
you cannot take the mind out of the body, and you cannot take the body out of the mind.
thich nhat hanh, zen buddhist master
BEGIN AGAIN
in buddhist philosophy, the non-duality of the bodymind which fuses heartfulness with intellect, represents our truest source of wisdom.
retrieving the bodymind from the rubble of our inattention, and restoring access to the reservoir of our own embodied intelligence lies at the center of our practice.
the practices
anchoring
tethering ourselves to the present moment presents our greatest challenge.
while inattention is not a new phenomena, today's digitalized version seems manipulative and encompassing in a way that feels especially disempowering.
using a mantra or the flame of a candle in meditation as a drishti are simple yet powerful tools that promote our ability to refocus. using aroma with intention or articulated breathwork are two others.
what these practice tools lack is the overwhelming amounts of data and processing required of us by wearable technologies. by anchoring ourselves with low-tech/ high-haptic tools we can harness our attention in the simplest, most direct way instead.
engaging our senses with immediacy can help us develop our sensory acuity so we can register our emotional load and take action to remedy it.
grounding
accessing the reassuring stability of the ground beneath our feet is fundamental to our emotional recalibration and sense of tethering.
standing asanas in yoga such as warrior pose and tree pose offer opportunities to embody a posture that reiterates our agency.
planting one foot in front of the other when walking with intention can also be extremely centering. it can give our minds license to wander, to be creative and make new synaptic connections.
practice tools that mimic the sensations of grounding can also promote balance and calm, which translates into less reactivity in our decision making.
somatic experiencing
from a safe place of tethering, we can then begin to explore our internal landscape with less fear.
through moving meditations such as somatic foam rolling we can push and probe our fascia and muscle to find and release blockages and trauma that may be embedded deeply in our bodies. inscribing in a journal can become a visceral act of embodiment when we leave a record of our emotions on a solid surface. somatic practices and tools that intercede on our behalf, such as a foam roller or pencil, gather crucial information regarding the state of our wellbeing from our bodies.
meditation practices that emphasize non-striving can also help us access somatic awareness through stillness. supine practices such as body scans and yoga nidra, can help our minds wander, opening us up to new ways of thinking. by connecting seemingly disparate sources of pain they can also point us towards our healing.
as we become more adept at interpreting the cues provided by our bodies, we can also take this sensorial acuity with us to the rest of our day, using it to inform our interactions and decisions.
mindshifts
meditation and mindfulness can fundamentally shift our perception of the world around us, and our ability to contribute to the public discourse.
buddhists meditation practices such as metta and tonglen, can lead us to find greater compassion and understanding for ourselves and others.
interconnectivity and interbeing promoted by thich nhat hanh and jack kornfield among others, can also expand our world view and end the epidemic of our isolation. our disconnect with each other despite our apparent connectivity, lies at the heart of so much of our distress and distraction. addressing it through mindful practices is imperative for human thriving.
training for real life
by distilling mindfulness into nine component or attitudes, jon kabat-zinn presents us with nine pathway to develop our human acuity and moral dimension.
practicing with a beginner's mind for example, will allows us to observe a situation with less judgement and more openness. it will also makes our biases and priorities visible so we can set them aside to inform our decision making capabilities. such mindful practices will take reactivity out of the equation and replace it with considered responsiveness.
as we begin to interface with technologies such as AI in earnest, awareness, discernment, and reflexivity will remain pivotal. our choices will determine whether the technologies we develop allow us to thrive together or get left behind.
TAKING RESIDENCE
as our bodies are held and nurtured in practice, we discover that we can restore a more human cadence to our day without losing our sensorial acuity.
with our newfound awareness and powerful tools, we begin to move forward, this time, with our whole and steady self embodied, intact, and awake.
