Body mind awareness is when you invite the mind to be still, to be distracted less and to return to the present moment. You then become more fully aware of bodily felt sensations, your breath, and the way you move through space. You become more aware of the ground making contact with your feet, the smells and sounds that reach the one inside, the way the breeze feels on your skin, and the open sky receiving you from above.
Internal practices such as tai chi, qigong, yoga, and Pilates are known to include meditative movement. Heavy-duty muscle building at the gym, bulking up biceps, and sweating on the treadmill have the potential to push the body too hard rather than supporting its health and well-being. But not to worry, if you love these forms of exercise you can still receive benefits by shifting your awareness to the body.
Try it out. Instead of detaching from your body by watching the news on a big screen TV while you huff and puff on the bicycle, for example, bring your attention to the muscles in your legs, the breath in your chest, the way your arms are holding you to the handlebars.
This kind of meditative movement brings many of the benefits of meditation itself and helps us refine the physical component of exercise practice. You can better relax, soften what is tense, be more attentive to misalignment, and have less muscle strain and injuries.
In this way, you are engaging the mind and body together. With time, you will naturally have a regular dialogue with your body in a caring, considerate manner, noticing when health is out of balance and when assistance is needed sooner, when corrections are made sooner rather than later when illness becomes more solidified in the body’s tissues.
