The Body-mind

The human body is the best picture of the human soul.

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Mindfulness is a form of Mind-Body medicine, a different way of knowing, a different way of being with our experience.  From an early age, and once we start school, our capacity to think and analyse is prioritized as the best way of working with what happens in each day. However, we learn in mindfulness is that through awareness there is a wider, kinder, less judgmental way of being with reality. We also come to see that there is a wisdom in our bodies which often “knows” much more than our thoughts. So tuning into our bodies is the fundamental daily skill of mindfulness. Broken down to its most basic from –  we focus on the breath in the body,  which allows us to notice our thoughts as they arise in the mind and, gently, gradually, let go of struggling with them. In this way we work with what has brought us to this day, as well as laying the foundations for greater happiness and health  in the future. Thubten Chodron quotes a Tibetan saying: If you want to know about your past life, look at your present body. If you want to know about your future life, look at your present mind.’  There is a great wisdom in this.

One thought on “The Body-mind

  1. This is something that our therapuetic world is lacking. The mind/body relationship is huge part in healing and improving. The breath as object is the perfect vehicle to balance the mind/body.

    Awareness of how emotions, fear, anger, shame or joy change and reveal their impermanence and mechanism. We are not our emotions rings true when we observe them without cognitively engaging them.

    We can link the body sensations with the feeling using Mindfullness. This will allow us to be friends with the inner world.

    nice idea.

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