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To feel thinner, to distinguish bodily signals more clearly, to use the resources of the body more fully, bodily practices help to restore internal contact with oneself. If you are often tense, depressed, do not accept the appearance, take note of these exercises.
Working with the body is not only relieving muscle tension or correcting posture. This is a good way to become more sensitive to yourself, better understand your states and more effectively realize opportunities.
Exercises will help you align emotions, consciousness and bodily sensations and see how closely they are interconnected. They are offered by body-oriented therapist William Lee, author of Body Therapy: From Ida Rolf to Feldenkrais.
1. Change the mood in contact with the body
Think about the last time you were upset, depressed, or saddened by a loss. Imagine and/or feel what the body was then. The shoulders are slumped, the ribcage is depressed, as if you are protecting the heart from even more pain. Did you lower your eyes? If you were lucky and a friend or partner hugged you, did the touch let you straighten out a little, feel less alone in your body? Could you take a deep breath? Did the physical comfort affect the emotional state?
If you’re upset or depressed right now, straighten up, but don’t tense up. Raise and spread your chest to straighten your shoulders. Raise your head, then look up at the ceiling with your head tilted back. If you feel that you are ready to cry in a situation where it is inappropriate, look up and the desire to cry will disappear. Try to stretch and straighten your back while driving a car, pressing your buttocks into the seat and trying to reach your head to the roof of the car. Do not hang over the steering wheel, but straighten and stretch your arms.
Once you have changed physically, calmed down emotionally
When dealing not with sadness, but with other emotions, you can try another exercise. Even if you are not currently angry or annoyed, you can practice imagining someone or something that infuriates or causes fear. Create the most realistic picture in your imagination. Feel it. Then pay attention to how you breathe. Has your breath become short and shallow? Heart pounding? These are some of the physical sensations that accompany anger or irritation. Now consciously begin to breathe slowly and deeply: inhale completely with your stomach, chest, then gradually release all the air. Do this until each breath cycle is effortless. Notice how once you have changed physically, you have calmed down emotionally. You have used the body to influence the mind.
2. Show respect and love for the body
Divide a piece of paper in half to make two columns, or fold it lengthwise. On one side, list twenty things you value about your body: a long neck, strong shoulders, thick hair, good eyesight, dainty fingers, and so on. If you can’t handle twenty, write ten. If this is a lot, then remember five. If you find it difficult even with five, write at least two features, but no less. Once you’ve done that, put in the other column just the one flaw you don’t like about your body. Take a look at the sheet. Try to appreciate the body more than condemn it.
If you find it difficult to make such a list, formulate a positive statement about your body, even if it seems strange, for example: “I love my stomach.” Then write down each critical statement to the contrary until you exhaust all negative thoughts. Once you’ve done that, repeat the positive statement and try adding another one to it.
In a sitting or lying position, close your eyes and carefully mentally examine the body from top to bottom and from bottom to top. Is there a part you skipped too fast? Is there anything that you rejected and didn’t allow in the body image? Is there an area that you don’t feel and sort of reject? Is there anything that you don’t like and call disgusting or unpleasant? Pay attention to this area. Does it have a distinctive feature: color, appearance, temperature, structure, other sensations? Now, with each breath, fill your heart with energy from whatever sacred source you believe in. With each exhalation, direct love from the heart into the rejected area. Breathe until you notice a change. Do you feel relaxed? Do you have compassion for yourself? Have the feelings changed?
3. Feel the lies and truth in the body
Try to remember how you felt the last time you told a lie. Have you lowered your head and looked down? What were your feelings? And what did they encourage you to do? Did you do anything to avoid what you felt? Did your throat, chest or stomach get a little tight and you had to eat something? How is your body reacting now to this memory?
Now remember how you felt the last time you spoke the truth. What sensations did you notice in your body while you were remembering? Is it a feeling of warmth, fullness, lightness?
If you’re having trouble remembering a specific incident, try this. Alone with yourself, speak out loud some obvious lie and see how the body responds. Notice the sensations. Now tell the truth. Again pay attention to how you feel in your body.
Source: “The discovery of the body. Guide to the methods of body-oriented therapy “(IOI, 2017).