A Practice Within the Body
Reconnecting to the Body and Energy
Building a one-pointed focus has been a challenge for me. My awareness often shifts even in simple practices, like taking 50 deep, conscious breaths. For example, I’ll focus on breathing, feeling the air moving through my mouth, throat, and lungs. I imagine my lungs expanding like balloons inside my body, filling that space. I bring my awareness to the muscles involved in each breath, letting them relax.
Yet, there seems to be resistance—some internal fear or conditioning—that prefers to rely on automatic programs to “just work.” It’s as if we’ve been trained to de-prioritize our body’s signals, offloading them to the background while focusing on external things. But now, my body feels like it’s calling me back, reminding me that awareness of it is crucial.
Rediscovering Presence
This practice of returning to my breath has taught me something profound: the goal isn’t about reaching an endpoint. It’s not about successfully counting to 50 uninterrupted breaths. Living in the present moment isn’t a journey with a destination; it’s about trusting and surrendering to what is.
We carry so much distrust—toward others, toward life, and even toward our bodies. This distrust creates tension. Every time we feel let down or betrayed, we brace ourselves, tightening our muscles and protecting ourselves from further harm. These protective mechanisms become embedded, creating patterns of tension and disconnection in the body.
Over time, these layers of self-sacrifice and protection turn into a web of tension—an overwhelming sense of tightness or anxiety that feels too big to unravel. But by focusing on my breath, I’ve learned that even small moments of awareness can lead to release. Each conscious breath creates an opportunity to feel deeper into my body, to expand into the spaces where tension resides, and to begin letting go.
The Practice of Awareness
Sometimes, I feel frustrated by my inability to maintain perfect focus. I set out to take 50 conscious breaths but often lose track after 10 or 15. I might reach 20 or 25 on good days before my mind wanders. And yet, if I look at the bigger picture, I’ve probably taken 250 conscious breaths in a session—broken into smaller chunks but meaningful all the same.
I've found that the real value lies in spending time with my energy. It’s not about the number of breaths or the “achievement” of perfect focus. It’s about loving my awareness enough to stay with it, even when it’s hard. It’s about exploring my body and feeling the expansion, tension, and release.
The Forgotten Art of Being in the Body
It amazes me that this kind of practice—being in your body and connecting to your energy—isn’t universally taught. How is it not common knowledge to simply exist in your human body, to pay attention to it, and to open up to it? Instead, we’re taught to prioritize external achievements and to focus on status, power, or wealth.
Meanwhile, the body is where so much wisdom resides. The mind can travel throughout the body, using the nervous system to connect and explore. But when we’re constantly tightening and bracing ourselves, we lose touch with this awareness. It’s like clenching your hand into a fist—when it’s tight, you can’t feel the full depth of sensation. Only when you release the tension can you truly feel inside your hand.
This tightening isn’t just physical; it’s tied to our thoughts, beliefs, and emotions. The more tension we hold, the more it constricts our blood flow, muscles, and awareness. Releasing tension isn’t just about physical relaxation; it’s about unraveling the origins of thought and reconnecting with the energy beneath it all.
The Body as a Teacher
Science, too, is catching up to this idea. Studies on the placebo effect show the power of belief in healing. Yet, modern medicine often treats the body as something to fix or ignore rather than something to know and nurture deeply. We take pills to mask symptoms so we can keep ignoring our bodies and focus on external distractions.
But true healing comes from self-awareness, self-love, and connection to the body. The tension we hold is often the result of self-sacrifice—small betrayals we’ve made against ourselves to meet expectations or protect our hearts. Over time, these sacrifices disconnect us from our true selves, creating a disidentification of who we really are.
A Shift in Perspective
What if we prioritized self-awareness and embodiment over external achievements? What if, instead of chasing status or power, we taught children to live in their bodies, to understand their emotions, and to connect with their inner selves?
The body holds the key to so much of our well-being. When we tune into it, we feel the energy flowing through us. We can sense the tension and release it, unraveling the patterns of thought and behavior that no longer serve us.
This isn’t about perfection; it’s about practice. It’s about being present with your body, breath, and energy. It’s about returning, over and over again, to the truth of what you are—a soul having a human experience, here to feel and explore the fullness of life.
