Re-connecting to Spirit

This week the theme in my classes was about differentiating our experience of mind, body and spirit.

I was asking my students if they could get clear about when they are experiencing MIND; thoughts. Just to acknowledge this is the part of me that thinks.

To be able to clearly see: this is thought; thinking.

Then, can we pay attention to the BODY. Can we take our awareness and feel the foot for example. And what does the foot say? I suggest the body does not speak in English. The body speaks in sensations. If it were to say anything at all, I think it might be “oh, hey, thanks for noticing me.”

Our practice gives us the chance to pause and go inward and pay attention to the different aspects of Self. There is thinking and there is the body. If we choose, we can pay attention to the experience of either; both.

To have the capacity to notice what we are paying attention to is liberating. It gives us the ability to create some distance from the monkey mind or the pain in the body.

If we pay attention in this way we can become an observer versus identifying with the thoughts or the sensations in the body.

As we practice this inner awareness, it becomes obvious there is also another part of us. We recognize there is an aspect that is the observer. What we call this is more complicated. We might say this is Spirit. We might call this our higher Self. Our inner voice. Our eternal Self. The words we choose to describe this experience is less relevant than HAVING the experience.

Thinking about all this stuff matters, or benefits us, VERY LITTLE.

IT IS THE PRACTICE WHERE WE GET THE BENEFIT.

If you choose to pause each day and notice mind and body and also start to acquaint yourself with the part of you that is paying attention, you begin to connect to the pause.

The pause between thoughts, the pause between reacting to sensation, is a powerful place. In this pause we begin to gain access to choice.

This moment where we realize we can witness the mind and body, instead of identify with mind and body, is the moment when we start to be truly conscious.

We start to see we can shift our thinking. We start to see we can move away from blindly reacting. We get to see the way out of our patterns. We allow what was unconscious or subconscious to rise to the surface and we have the chance to let go of what is no longer serving us.

This process is profound; liberating. And again, it isn’t something you can think your way through.

Practice means you get on the mat and start to pay attention to your inner world. You learn to listen. What is your mind nattering on about? Listen. No judgement. Just awareness. Oh- yes my mind is all over the place. True. My mind is projecting into the future. Remembering things from the past. Analyzing. Explaining. Processing. Judging. Criticizing.

What is the body saying? Oh, it tingles there. It feels lighter there and heavier here. It is asking me to re-connect to it. To feel it. The body wants attention. It speaks in sensations. It is talking to us all the time. Can we listen? Not respond. Just listen. Is it possible to respond to the body in loving and attentive ways. Can we pay attention to the body without involving the mind (reaction, categorizing, remembering, imposing)?

The practice is what is powerful. Not intellectualizing about it. Not understanding what I am writing about with the mind, but ACTUALLY doing it.

When we have an experience of observing the mind and body, that is when we start to be able to hear this other part of us. By seeing we are able to observe these two aspects we start to come in contact with this third aspect of ourselves.

Try it for yourself!

This third aspect of ourselves is a part of us I feel we often neglect. Our modern culture runs in a way that has us overly identified with mind and body. We have few chances to be still enough to hear this other part of us speak.

By slowing doing in practice we gain access to this whole other piece of ourselves. In time, we see all three aspects are ONE. When we start to move in the world and have connection to all three aspects we experience true presence. We start to feel at peace and our lives take on a quality of harmony and easy.
I believe part of the struggle so many of us are feeling whether you experience it in mind or body, is that we have disconnected from this third part of us. We have overly identified with one aspect of who we are and there is another part of us that wants to be heard.

I believe everyone has a Spirit. An inner voice that is guiding us to our higher purpose. If you feel you have lost connection to that part of you, the good news it is just waiting for you to touch base.

I LOVE guiding people back to themselves. Reach out if you need help re-uniting with yourself. I have a simple framework to put the pieces back together.

You deserve to be free from feeling fragmented. We all deserve to experience whole health and wellness. There is a Path. Take the first step!

Want to hear my podcast on the same topic? Click here.

Want to see a video of this in action on the mat? Click here.

Want to talk to me about a first step? Book a call.