Awareness of body and breathing

Tuesday- Awareness of body and breathing
**I tied these two together b/c i feel they closely related in my experiences. Breathing although takes on a physiological form which is awesome in itself

It was interesting how this subject changed for me, or at least took two different meanings for me. Being aware of my body at first, for me, meant how my body affects others (i.e. my body language). Not to psychoanalyze myself, but thinking why I automatically went to how others are affected, is a theme in my life. One that has its pros and cons. Cons being that I can loose myself and my voice in what I feel is better for others, or what I assume is better for others. I have gotten insanely better at being able to be true to myself while maintaining awareness of others feelings and thoughts, but sometimes I can let that get away and only focus on myself or others. It is a difficult balance, but one that I feel is important to strike.

So as I came home I wrote about the different ways I held myself in conversation and how it affected those around me, either making them feel less like they had to talk tough to feel like I was listening or feel like they could relax knowing I was taking in all that they were saying.

It wasn’t until reading some of the threads that I began thinking about how an awareness of my body could mean something different. So on Saturday, I began being aware of how I walked to and from stores. How I opened a door, sat down and ordered a sandwich. At the same time I even began becoming more aware of my breathing. I started breathing the correct way, as Olen describes in his post and how various people have taught me. I almost became more relaxed and more present. I started to feel more comfortable and, contrary to what I thought, more aware of my surroundings. At first I thought if I were to be aware of my body and breathing that I would lose all awareness of others and my surroundings. The odd thing was that the opposite occurred.

As I went home last night and thought about why I didn’t loose awareness of my surroundings and others, I felt I came to an understanding. For me at least, I am all too aware of my surroundings. In fact I take in too much observation and more times then not, am not able to weed out the important ones, or the information that will allow for meaningful and honest thought and expression. Sometimes I end up getting stuck on something that is not helpful at all and it takes over the big picture. By becoming aware of my body and breathing I was able better filter out my interpretations of what was going on and instead really see and hear and well, “sense”, what was going on. Olen’s description “Commitment to in-the-moment reflection grows and what is unfolding in the present moment is more compelling than simply downloading our past thoughts. Meaning is discovered and begins to flow,” says it best.

Breathing for me also took on another meaningful experience in itself. I find it simply calms you and allows you to just be OKAY with what is going on. There is a quote I like that I feel explains what I am saying. “True peace is not distance from the storm, but calmness within the storm”. I don’t want to beat a dead horse over the head, so I will leave it at that. I could talk about his all day if I wanted ;]