Part 2: Enlightening Exercise
in Part 1 of your training you felt your body in a deeper way when you did an exercise. In Part 2, you will learn how to bring into your exercise the connective power of “Matching.” In this exercise set you are going from reacting to force and how it feels in your body to acting upon the force before it hits your body. This will change the experience in your body: the force or push from the exercise is reduced, you will feel more ease, and you begin to experience the the “joy” of exercise.
You are going to do the same exercise once again.
1. Before you start, notice that there is no push on you, no suffering, no discomfort.
2. Quiet your mind. Notice if there are any thoughts and let them go. Some people focus on their heart area as a way to quiet their mind.
3. Match the movement: step 1 feel it; step 2 = become the movement. Integrate your feelings and your movement. Then thinking will intertwine with the feeling. If the feeling gets too intense, then the mind will take over and separate from the feeling.
Become One With Your Movement.
When you start, bring your awareness into the movement. As tightly as you can, bring your awareness into the movement. The moment you start, bring your mind/awareness to every movement. Your mind is tied to the movement. Don’t let your attention wander, keep tightly focused on the movement. All your presence is tied into the movement. At the same time, you are also feeling the muscles in your body. Feel the movement in your body. No separation between the movement and You. Wherever the arms go, you are following. The only way you can change force is to be so integrated into that movement - you are equaling the movement, you become the movement. No matter what speed is happening, you are not letting go. This prevents you from checking out. You become one with your movement.
Brain is mirroring the movement.
If you are holding a position, like holding your arms to the side or a plank, then time is the movement. Movement is still happening in isometrics, but time is the movement. There’s a position in this feeling. Moved your self in the place, holding the position is the movement. Mirroring the position. If you stop in the position, you are still in that position. Still bring yourself into that position. Mirror or match the position. Stay with the position. Don’t leave the position. Completely stay in the position. Stay present. (people think about getting to the bottom position, then the top position. They leave the place they are currently in!)
When the exercise is completed, jot down what you noticed.
Are you more present than normal?
Do you feel more connected to the exercise?
Was there an ease to it or was it more challenging to stay in the presence?
Did your mind wander?
Did you speed up the movement so you could finish?
Reminder: We are being the exercise, not doing the exercise.
When you integrate your being-ness, the less force will have a hold on you. Which means you can ultimately handle more force. It will help if you start out very slowly so you can discern the subtleties of the movement.
The idea is that you are integrating the movement with the feeling. There is an intelligence in the body that knows when you are not doing the exercise correctly. We are merging the feeling, thinking, and body intelligence. The body intelligence will arise when the mind is fully tied to the movement. This will also result in a quieting of your mind. The chatter will die down and your stories and history will fade away.
Repeat and repeat some more. This is important so that it becomes second nature for you. Right now you are bringing a lot of awareness to it, but with repetition, the awareness and the movement will be automatically integrated. Then as soon as you move, the awareness is already there. It’s a lot like playing a sport. For example, take tennis. The first time you swing a racket, it’s awkward, and you need to bring a lot of awareness to it. But after a few thousand swings, you need less and less awareness to the swing, and you just play.