Overview
This First step is designed to get you feeling more connected to your body. The closer and deeper you can feel connected to your body, the intelligence of the body becomes your ally in your body fitness and mind fitness. As you awaken, this connection will help you deal with the rigors of living. Your experience of life will be altered in a way you want the more tightly you are connected to your body.
PART 1
Feeling the Body
Step 1
Pick a simple exercise that you already know how to do and do it long enough that there is some “push” on you. It could be a push-up, a plank, or simple lifting your arms out to the side.
Step 2
Do it how you usually do it, and as many or as long as you would normally do (one set).
Jot down what you noticed, if anything.
Were you just doing it? Did you checkout, just going through the motion? Did it feel the same as it always does? Was there some mental resistance about doing the exercise? Did you notice if you were suffering, especially towards the end of the set. Or perhaps you didn’t notice anything. Whatever you noticed/didn’t notice, write it down or at least take a mental note of it.
Step 3
Let’s start “working-In. First, let the body recover and get ready to do another set. Notice your body without any push on it. How is it to just “be” before the exercise begins. Are your muscles ready to engage?
Do the exercise again but this time bring more awareness into your body. If you are playing music or watching a screen, turn it off; no distractions. Now, notice where in your body you are feeling this exercise. What muscles are you using? Do whatever you need to pay more attention to your body - like closing your eyes, slowing down the exercise, put your attention on your body. FEEL the exercise IN YOUR BODY. Keep doing this exercise with as much attention on your body as you can. When you are done with the set, keep your attention on your body until the force from the exercise leaves your body, that is, stay present when the exercise ends, do not collapse!
Jot down what you noticed, if anything.
What happened after you put awareness on your body?
What did you notice about your various body parts?
What did you notice, if anything, about your breath?
After you finished the exercise, did you notice anything different in your presence or state of awareness? Were you quieter (are you quieter now)? Did the room feel the same? Were your senses altered?
Step 4
Step 5