Getting To Know Our Body... And Loving It

Hi,

I'm Nora Sophia.

Thank you for meditating with me.

Today I want to talk about getting to know our body.

We live in a time in regards to our bodies where maybe physical fitness is something that people see as caring for their body.

And yet,

I meet so many people that are more out of touch with their bodies now more than ever.

We see stress related illness,

Exhaustion,

Obesity,

And even eating disorders on the rise.

Even though personal health might be featured on the covers of popular magazines and apps,

It just seems like our environment and the conditions get worse and worse.

And there's no lack of information on how to achieve health between working out,

And yoga,

And diet,

And which fad diet is in now,

Cross cultural healing.

Yet,

Nobody talks about the intuitive self knowing of what our own bodies need.

Or the motivation to stick with anything long enough so that it can actually do what it's supposed to do.

And how many of you get that our bodies are so smart they can heal from the inside out?

So where's the disconnect?

I believe the disconnect is that we have almost layered concerns about health and fitness.

And it's combined with almost a disdain or distaste for the human body.

It's a challenge when you think about it to try to care about something that you don't like.

And how many of us like looking in the mirror?

How many of us really appreciate our body?

When you think of the love that we have for things,

We love our pets,

Right?

We love our neighbors,

We love our kids,

But some of us have a hard time loving our body.

And the first step in my opinion to achieve health and strength and beauty is to fall in love with the body that we've been given.

But here's the caveat.

To fall in love with it just as it is right now.

Then the motivation to exercise,

To eat well,

To seek inner healing will arise as a natural response in the conversation that we're willing to have with our body.

And it becomes more organic.

When we love something,

We instinctively and intuitively figure out what it means.

Our motivation,

Our choices comes from a deep understanding.

There's more wisdom in it.

Usually it's more sustainable.

And it's just like any relationship.

If we try to,

For example,

Discipline our children without love,

Then the child sees it as being wounded,

Being hurt.

But if we understand how our child responds,

Then we know how to show it will up and we know how to respect our children.

And we know how they will respond best to the direction that we're trying to give.

So it's good to experience and understand our body.

How it responds.

And interestingly,

Our body will respond less to thoughts and ideas.

And so the exercise and meditation that we're going to do together is to help us to fall in love with the miraculous functioning of our body.

So that we develop a spontaneous and genuine desire to care for it.

This can help teach us to do any work with the body,

Whether it's recovery,

Getting fit,

Losing weight,

Sexual healing,

Even incorporating the body into a spiritual understanding of the self.

We can gain a lot from getting to know our body better.

So if you'll join me,

I just want you to get comfortable whether you're sitting in a chair,

Lying on the ground.

Close your eyes.

Take a few minutes just to quiet your mind and open your heart.

When I'm doing body work,

I really like the soft belly,

Breathing,

And meditative work.

So what that looks like is just taking a long and deep breath,

Following it all the way down to the bottom of our belly,

To the spot just below the navel.

We hold the breath gently in that place for a second or two,

And then slowly release the breath.

And as you breathe in and out,

We can repeat to ourselves so we remember soft belly,

Soft belly,

Just to remind ourselves to relax any tightness or anything we're holding onto.

Just breathe like this until you naturally feel that place,

That space,

Soft and deep in the center of your body.

And now as you're relaxed,

I want you to imagine yourself in the most beautiful space,

Just drifting down the Amazon or the Nile or any river that you have never been to.

I want you to visualize yourself sitting on a raft and just seeing the colors of the muddy water,

The jungle foliage,

Feeling the sun on your back.

I want you to smell the air.

Is it moist?

Do you smell the vegetation?

I want you to hear the sounds of the river,

Calls of the birds,

And as you sit in your meditation,

I want you to speak out loud what you see,

What you hear,

And what you smell.

And again out loud,

I want you to describe the sights and sounds in detail,

Visualizing the river life.

The fish,

Alligators,

Maybe even snakes.

I want you to notice any wildlife that's on the banks of the river.

Any monkeys,

Maybe you see beautiful,

Colorful parrots.

I want you to picture any plants that you might see in this beautiful rainforest.

There's probably tropical flowers like orchids,

Trumpet plants,

Rubber trees.

I want you to take some time to just complete the journey down the river.

And after you have vividly painted this beautiful,

Imaginary landscape,

I want you to open your eyes,

Stretch,

And then come back to your meditation posture.

And now relaxing again,

Breathing slowly in and out.

Let your breath fill your lungs,

Fill your chest,

Expand and contract.

And now I want you to take even deeper breaths and feel your belly rise and fall.

I want you to put your hand on your belly and feel the breath moving deeply within.

Now I want you to close your eyes and picture yourself on a raft again.

But this time,

This time you're floating through your own body.

You're floating through your blood stream.

And I want you to start the journey as if you had entered through your body,

Through your mouth.

I want you to visualize your teeth and your tongue as you're floating down the stream.

You're passing your pharynx,

Your tonsils,

The epiglottis,

The esophagus,

The trachea.

I want you to be aware of the thyroid gland and the thymus gland.

Note their shape,

Pay attention to their size.

And now see yourself going along the spinal column,

The spinal nerves,

The ribs that protect your lungs and your heart.

And you're just sitting on your raft watching your lungs fill the chest cavity,

Listening to the rhythmic beating of your own heart as it circulates blood throughout the body.

I want you to continue floating through the holes in your diaphragm,

Observing the major blood vessels on their way to and from the lower body.

You're passing your liver,

The adrenal gland.

You're passing your gallbladder and spleen.

You're passing your kidneys and your pancreas.

I want you to take a note of the colors and the texture.

Notice the movement.

Then finish up by swirling around in the stomach the large and small intestines.

Now we're going back up toward the mouth opening and we're going to just dock our raft by our jawbone.

Now we're leaving the internal body.

I want you to take a few breaths,

Open your eyes and stretch.

Did you find it easier to visualize the Amazonia River in a place that you've never been,

Than to picture yourself within your own body that you've walked around in,

In some cases like mine,

For decades?

Was it easier to consider and work it,

But had no idea what your epiglottis or pancreas looked like?

Was it easier to visualize the color of the river water sensing the towering height of these beautiful rubber trees,

But not the color of your own liver or the size of your spleen?

Isn't it interesting that most of us probably know more about our cars,

Maybe even our computers,

Than our own bodies?

And yet we rely on our bodies to function,

To carry us,

To be good to us.

It's easier to care for our cars and wash them and detail them than it is sometimes to enjoy our own body,

Caring for it,

Washing it,

Detailing it.

We have to make space to get to know how we function,

Why we function,

Have love and gratitude for this body that carries us about daily,

To get to know it so well we walk around in its skin.

So this will be a series on meditating and learning the body.

I hope you'll join me for the rest of them.

Thank you for your time today.

And as you go about your day,

I challenge you to really feel your wisdom in your body.

Feel yourself walking around in it.

And be appreciative and grateful for it.

I'm grateful for your time today.

Namaste.