HOW DO YOU ENTER inside your body’s knowing as has just been explained? Here are three short exercises to help you begin noticing some of your important feelings—and perhaps even MORE of your story that may be contained within them.
The First Exercise
(1) Imagine that someone you deeply love and care for is waiting to see you, and in a few moments you’re going to meet with him or her. Let yourself notice how you carry inside yourself the body-feel of that person–the sound of their voice, the image of their face, their smile, smell, little idiosyncracies, hair, touch, etc..
“Then, take a few moments to notice where in your body you seem most strongly to carry this person. Ask yourself, “Is it in my chest, solar plexus, face, all over, etc..?”
“Is there any word, image, or memory that connects with or best expresses my body’s sense for this person?”
Take whatever time you want in order to savor any further feelings that express your body’s connection to this person.
When you’re ready to move on, read the instructions below for the next exercise.
A Second Exercise
This time, we’ll try something different!
(2) Now, imagine that as soon as you’ve completed this exercise, you must go to meet the most difficult person in your life–someone who has really hurt you, or whom you fear might hurt you! He or she is nearby, and the confrontation will occur very soon. Close your eyes and notice what is happening in your body.
Ask yourself, “How is my body carrying this difficult person inside me?”
“Where do I most notice the feeling of this person in me? For example, in my chest, solar plexus, face, throat, all over, etc..”
Ask yourself, “Is there any word, image, or memory that comes and best expresses how my body carries this person, this relationship?”
Take whatever time you want to let any other words, images, or memories come that express your body’s connection to this person.
When you’re ready, continue with the text below.
A Final Exercise
(3) Now, take whatever time you need to notice the difference between how your body carries the person you love and how your body carries the person who has been so hurtful.
If you were to use a word or words to describe how your body carries each person, would that feel adequate to get at the complexity, the “more” of each relationship as your body knows them?
Allow time to notice how much of the “more” or “story” your body knows about these important feelings.
Notice that this is a “more” which your thinking mind can never fully capture in a word or concept.
It is crucial for each of us to realize that ALL our important feelings have this “more,” or some story, a meaning, a message they want us to know. The habit of noticing and nurturing opens us up to let these meanings get through. The habit becomes our body link to this world of the “more” in all our important feelings. Whenever a hidden story breaks through, you will experience that the way you carry the feelings in your body changes.
