Inner Body Awareness for Improved Health and Well Being

The Flowering of the True Self

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Let me list you some benefits I receive from this practice that is the Art of Inner Body Awareness and Awakening.

• Increased health.
• Greater abundance.
• Deepening trust.

Increased Health Benefits

I am now in my eighth decade. I am probably the healthiest person I know.

Before I started the regular practice of inner body awareness, I could guarantee that each winter I would be in bed for 10 days with the flu. There would also be the odd cold during the summer.

Now that doesn’t happen.

I am much more sensitive to the body. I can tell the first signs of a cold or if I feel less than 100%.

In that case the most I take an over-the-counter remedy for cold or flu, which is a hot lemon drink with aspirin in it. Together with a few early nights, the cold or flu never manifests.

Another benefit of this practice in the physical realm is a great strengthening of the immune system, which occurs when you inhabit the body.  The more consciousness you bring into the body, the stronger the immune system becomes.  It is as if every cell awakens and rejoices.  The body loves your attention.  It is also a potent form of self-healing.—Eckhart Tolle The Power of Now.

Greater Abundance.

Since I began the regular practice of inner body awareness, I am experiencing greater abundance in all areas of my life.

This is because inner body awareness takes you into the field of infinite potential. Inner body awareness takes you out of your worrisome, overthinking personal mind.

It takes you (with practice) into a deepening sense of stillness. The paradox is that out of this stillness that seems like nothing, the Universe pours through you.

However, be willing to trust the process and be open in an embodied way to the flow of Y-E-S. The word Y-E-S is an acronym for “Your Energy System.”

Deepening Trust

With the committed practice of inner body awareness, you trust the body’s intelligence.

Your first challenge is to still the never ending chatter of the personal mind that is the servant running riot in the Palace of your true Self.

The more I trust the process that is the opening to the silence of the inner life, the more my life flows.

Rather than having to solve problems, I open to the experience I call “Being thought through.” This is where the Infinite thinks through you as it intended to think through you.

Awakening from the Dream

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Before I introduce you to the practice of inner body awareness or body sensing meditation, I would like you to explore the art of inner body awareness.

Like any art, it requires commitment patience and discipline. These are the three key aspects of any art. (Eric Fromm—The Art of Loving)

Inner body awareness is a practice whereby you listen to your personal Y-E-S.  In the listening, learning, living and loving that is the word Y-E-S stands for:-

Your

Energy

System

You require cultivating the following essentials, to cultivate the subtle art of inner body awareness.

• Commitment.
• Patience
• Trust

I will cover the practice in more detail later but lets explore the important need for commitment, patience and trust.

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Inner body awareness is subtle. It is a real turnaround in the way you focus your energy.

This is not something you can learn from a book. It is your unique journey of exploring your inner world. This is a commitment to exploring the depth of who you are and who you are created to be.

It’s your road, and yours alone.
others may walk it with you,
but no one can walk it for you.”

― Rumi

It is the commitment to reclaiming your Sovereign Self from the servant who has taken over the Palace.

The servant is your personal mind is like a never ending radio station that plays the radio station “Driven to Distraction.”

The commitment is to move your energy from the servant that is your overthinking mind to the Sovereign state of being thought through.

This is not an overnight event. It is your journey into alignment with the Secret of Secrets within. Inner body awareness is like a muscle. Learn how to put it to use in service to your highest good.

Inner Body Awareness NOW.

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Patience is a genuine issue for many people.

The problem with this practice of inner body awareness, or what I refer to as body scanning, is that it is so simple.

It’s not like going to the gym whereby you can measure your progress by the amount of push-ups you do or the time you spend on the running machine.

That at least gives you measurable results. It rewards you for the effort.

Inner body awareness practice takes you into areas of existence that you cannot measure. They are subjective.

You cannot measure the deepening stillness, the heightened energy, the degree of flow that are rewards of engagement in a committed practice.

There is also the challenge of dealing with opening energy blocks that inner body awareness will bring to the fore.

You will need patience and kindness with yourself.

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We teach you to trust your personal mind above all else.

This is that dynamic that the singer song writer Mike Scott of the Waterboys refers to as “The Madman in the Cave of Your Skull.”

Most of who you think you are is the collection of other people’s thoughts. This is the collection of other people’s thoughts passed on to them.

Much of what you know is “knowing about.” It is not from the experience of KNOWING and being KNOWN through.

I tell many people suffering to various degrees that they need to learn that their personal mind is not their friend. It is a servant and a great servant. They, like you, have allowed this personal mind to become a dictator.

Inner body awareness takes you into the Palace of Presence whereby you learn to listen to the still small voice within.

This is the voice that will guide you to manifest who and why you aer created.

The body loves attention.  It is also a potent form of self-healing. – Eckhart Tolle

This is learning to trust your own wisdom voice. We have not encouraged you to do so. The reason is that it will make you free.

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At the end of this article I share with you a guided meditation that invites you to experience what inner body awareness feels like for yourself.

Before you listen to this inner body awareness guided meditation, I want to prepare you for this experience and to encourage you to make a commitment to unfolding your INNER KNOWING.

I share this information from my continuing journey that is awakening to the KNOWING of the True Self.

Let me share with you:-

• Before the Practice.
• During the Practice.
• After the Practice.

Time for Inviting the Timeless

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The practice of inner body awareness that I use is called Yoga Nidra. I practice first thing before getting out of bed in the morning and last thing at night.

I also practice during the day if I feel I need a boost or I feel I am coming down with a cold or where I sense there is the need.

Decide on a time that suits you. Give your full attention to this practice. Commit to not being disturbed or “distracted by distraction.” Commit to making this time with Y-E-S a key priority.

This will signal to your subconscious mind that you are honouring the wisdom waiting to unfold through you.

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I practice inner body awareness techniques lying on my back on the bed in the Savasana pose or Corpse pose. (See further benefits of this practice)

I then move my awareness through the body. In the beginning I used a guided yoga nidra meditation.

Now I am practiced enough to guide myself through this body sensing exercise.

There are two important things to be aware of as a beginner. These are:-

• You will probably fall asleep.
• Your mind will distract you.

It’s OK to fall asleep but try not to.

Do not concern yourself if the mind occasionally draws your attention out of the body and you lose yourself in some thought.  As soon as you notice that this has happened, just return to the inner body.

Please note: Your personal mind WILL distract you.

A focus of fifteen seconds may not sound long to a sage such as Eckhart Tolle, but for the average distracted Westerner this is probably equivalent to eternity.

One should expect to be distracted by the mind because the mind is like a monkey on a chain; it goes everywhere other than be present in the moment.

You have not failed because you find that your mind has wandered off to ‘think about’ whether you have enough time to juggle with the tasks that are part and parcel of your everyday life situation.

The extent to which you notice that your mind has wandered means that you have become attentive and present.

Don’t get into a success versus failure mindset!

Don’t entertain thoughts like, “I’m not good at this.”  Be gentle. Be kind.  You are at the cutting edge of evolution here.

You are, as Eckhart Tolle says in The Power of Now, awakening from the dream of form, the separate sense of personal self that is the primary cause of most unnecessary suffering.

The paradox is this.  You awaken from the dream of form by being well in-formed and fully present in the form called the body.

In this simple practice, you follow the invitation that opens The Power of Now.

You are here to enable the divine purpose of the universe to unfold.  This is how important you are.—Eckhart Tolle

In time, and it takes time, there comes the spiritual sign or signs that there is a deeper intelligence running your life beyond the sense of the personal self.

This is where you are attuning with the Presence within. Life becomes less routine and more magical.

All this is happening from within. You turn within and allow the Presence of the One Life to live through you and as you.

When you are unoccupied for a few minutes, and especially last thing at night before falling asleep and first thing in the morning before getting up, “flood your body with consciousness. – Eckhart Tolle

Close your eyes, Lie flat on your back. Choose different parts of your body to focus your attention on briefly at first.

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What you do after the practice depends on when you do the inner body awareness practice and your everyday circumstances.  Technically speaking I am retired, so I have the time to engage with this practice when and how I wish.

When you practice in the morning, you may have to get up and go to work or take the kids to school. However, you begin your day be mindful of how your personal mind will take over the sense of Presence you are inviting.

This is normal. This is what the mystic teacher Eckhart Tolle refers to as “The normal insanity.”

I recommend that you support the art of inner body awareness through spiritual journey. It is where you do not fight the antics of the Madman in the Cave of the Skull, but you become a witness of the drama.

Do not immediately tune into the collective madness of the culture with its focus on fear and separation and the never ending sound of voices talking. Learn to stay awhile and abide in the Stillness that Speaks and guides.

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I have been practicing inner body awareness techniques for around twelve months. Here is what find working for me and within me.

• Less Anxious.
• Peace of Mind.
• Love of Silence.
• Higher Energy.
• Flow.

One thing I have discovered is that I have no need to, metaphorically speaking, “Push the River.”  I stop looking for results. I am no longer goal orientated.  I am flow orientated.

The most profound part of this journey of cultivating the art of inner awareness is how much I love the deepening stillness that I find within.  It has become a kind of love affair. I love it.

It seems that nothing is happening, but I become a happening. There is the flow of Being rather than the never ending need to do. Life does through me, and I am its servant.

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Think about it.

There is no such thing as peace of the personal mind. The personal mind is the madness of the never ending, ever on never enough dialogue in the head. This is the voice of never enough.

Peace of mind is the peace that passeth understanding. It is not logical. It is not personal. It is the experience of inner allowing. When the personal gets out of the way, the communion with the Divine is available.

Less Anxious.

I have a needle phobia. When I used to have to go for blood tests I wouldn’t sleep for two nights and would ruminate about it for weeks beforehand.

Now I lose no sleep. I still have the phobia, but I witness the fear and do it anyway.

This practice of inner body awareness that I use (Yoga Nidra) is used to treat PTSD.

The Experience of Flow.

In my experience the less there is of “me” as the overthinking, trying to fix it all personality the more there is of Presence.

Life flows. It is exciting. It is new. It isn’t being driven by old thought patterns that repeat and repeat.

I need not know what is happening. I trust that what needs to happen will manifest.  This I have found to be kind of miraculous. However, it requires that you trust the Universe has your back.

If you have trust issues, then this is the way to heal such issues.

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I have researched and listened to a good deal of body awareness guided meditations. This guided meditation for total body awareness I consider one of the best there is.

I value this recording because it is:-

• Professionally recorded with no distracting sounds (as happens with too many presentations)
• Calming and powerful feminine voice of the presenter which instills real confidence. (very important in guided meditations)
• Valuable preparatory instructions for the practice of total body awareness.
• Great opening guidance on facial awareness (we all hold unrecognized tension in our face).
• Full guidance into whole-body awareness
• Period of silence (important)
• Closing affirmation and return to outer awareness.

This guided mediation gives you a marvellous experience of what body scanning feels like and what inner body awareness feels like.

This is the gateway into the magic of Presence. I recommend that you listen to it as and when you need a boost of real energy.

Other Related Information re Inner Body Awareness