I have recently been blending techniques of meditation and those of body awareness into a single meditation that I call a somatic meditation. What I am going to share with you is a way to use the concentrated awareness of meditation to more deeply sense the physical body. Observation of the physical and emotional states of the body becomes easier, and patterns of behavior and impulses can be felt using this process. Some of these may be noticed immediately but it’s more likely that gradually, over time, as with physical training,  you will begin to become more familiar, day-to-day, with these previously unconscious patterns. There is more to this of course: certain illnesses and dys-regulations and stress and trauma symptoms respond well to a process such as this that allows them slowly to be reintegrated into the everyday experience of the body. For now here is a basic meditation that begins to form a more conscious mind and body communication. Some of this sounds like your normal guided meditation, but be patient, because it ends differently than you might expect.

The meditation

• Start by sitting comfortably and just let yourself begin to settle into your seat
• Feel the energy and activation of the past few moments as it dissipates and flows out of you.
• Scan your body starting with your head — let the remaining pockets of tension soften – Jaw – neck and shoulders – spine relaxes – arms – hands – chest – abdomen – pelvis – thighs – knees – ankles – ball mounds of the toes – toes
• Wait. let the body continue to slow down,  staying conscious of the settling process in the body.
• When that seems to level off – gradually become aware of your breath
• Stay present with each in-breath and each out-breath
• As your awareness deepens and drifts beyond the breath, concentrate this expanded awareness back on the breath. Stay here at least five minutes.
• Next, while still attending to the breath, slowly begin to become aware of your body. You are now starting to practice a duel awareness (of breath and body) – think of your breath awareness as if it were the awareness itself and from there begin to notice what else gets your attention. You may start by noticing the effect of your breath in the body – how it creates expansion in the in-breath and relaxation on the out-breath. And then gradually bring in awareness of more of the body, letting the sensations of your inside physiology enter your awareness as you also stay with the breath.
• Then become aware of the whole body, from the inside, still anchored in the breath
• As you sit with the sense of the whole body, continue to let the information from your body flow, uninhibited, into consciousness. You are now in a curious, non-judgemental state of observation.
• After a few moments allow yourself to feel the relationship of the body to the outside,  sensing with your skin your contact with your seat and the room.
• complete the transition back to “normal” by allowing your sense of hearing, and last, sight to help you re-engage with the room
• All this time you are still anchored in the awareness of the breath – which remains even when you are fully returned from the practice.
• Just before you move away from breath awareness make a bridge back into what you recall as the deepest part of the meditation.  Notice what it is like to make this transition. Stay here for just a moment before crossing back over the bridge.

Please check the Workshops page for a description of my new workshop on somatic touch. But first, the inspiration: I was recently in California for a training/reunion with graduates of Kathy Kain's certification program in Somatic Experiencing Touch. We practiced going deeply into the body by using a combination of visualization and focused sensing with our hands. (Sensing also uses the conscious whole body as part of the sensing instrument – the hands are just the contact point and happen to have lots of sensors). The reason we brought in visualization was that we were sensing and trying to effect change in some of the internal systems such as visceral, endocrine and fluid systems. These are not easily palpable. There is a period of sitting, waiting while your sensitivity develops, and while the subtle movements in the client's body begin to come into focus. Visualization helps you move your awareness. It keeps it from remaining on easily recognized structures. So we assisted ourselves by guiding awareness with a combination of technical knowledge (where is the hypothalamus?) and narrative about letting yourself imagine the flow of hormones from the brain to the glands along the midline of the body. And we also visualized the general sense of the endocrine system, for one, gathering information from throughout the body and then sending its regulatory response back into the body, creating a loop. There was something about the visualization that let you begin to feel into the actual experience after a period of time. The client, also, in this kind of work, is participating in the sensing. So whatever benefit there may be in helping regulate and balance these systems, the client has been consciously involved in the process,  so can continue to move on to further embodiment work. 

I thought it would be interesting to introduce this kind of work to a few other people here in Maine. My expectations for this first group will be to 1. practice sensing through layers of the body, and 2. to begin to get a sense of what I call a dual awareness – the ability to ground awareness in one place and then let it also move elsewhere so that you can facilitate communication between systems. 

I have been practicing Qigong (art of working with chi energy).

A few minutes ago as I was practicing forming a chi ball between my hands, I realized that whatever else it is chi is part of the atmosphere. Open your car window and press your hand into the air at 25 miles per hour and you will feel the pressure of the substance of the atmosphere.  At a stand-still, that substance is still there and will move with any motion you make. It seems silly after stating that, but  I feel compelled to make a point of the fact that you can feel the air. And, that you can manipulate it; stretch it, compress it. When you (borrowed from Qigong) gather the chi and move it toward the body, which can also sense, you will have an internal sensation that corresponds to the movement of the chi, toward and into the body. What I know from somatic touch practice is that each body, and the same body in different circumstances, will have a unique response to a given event, and the movement of this substance as I am now beginning to experience, is reacted to as well.  Some areas of the body that are constricted, or otherwise unavailable, may take longer to "open" to its  influence.  When it transfers from the external, general force, to the body's internal reaction, The outside force becomes part of the organic structure of the body. The body resonates with its influence.

How this can be applied therapeutically is suggested above regarding the uniqueness of individuals. The symptom in the body tend to be highlighted when conscious attention is brought into the body. Both the internal attention and the influencing effect of the "chi" energy help bring the dynamics of a symptom forward and create an opportunity for a balancing or reintegration with the whole body. 

In my work I have the opportunity to teach people techniques I have learned in my own practice. There are a number of experiments I've put together as hybrids of various practices. One of these brings progressive awareness, along with progressive energy, to one, and then another area of the body. Starting with the hands and wrists for example; and then continues to add areas of awareness and energy until you have incrementally raised the levels of both of these and have created a noticeable sensation throughout the body.

Why would you want to do this? It is, admittedly the basic, avenue to self-healing. And the beginning of the ability to sense and manipulate the space around you relative to the movement of your body. In my understanding,  this is the sense of the Chi. It is also a way to sense your own body at a deep and nuanced level. 

The energy that you build on top of awareness is a second level of consciousness. It adds vibrancy because it is more physical, and because it is more physical, it is more noticeable to the brain and mind. It gets the attention of the mind in the same way digestive and other sensations signal and alert the brain. When this new layer of energy is added to awareness awareness can be more intentional. Power develops, in the sense of control, over the distribution of the awareness and energy.

The next level is the relationship of the sensation in the body to the movement of the body in the forms. When I am in Qigong mode, it can become intense to the point that the chi will resist even the slightest movement.  I may feel the whole body activate to support a slight movement of an arm. The internal sense, especially when the body is relaxed and receptive, is one that is the exact parallel of the resistance and movement of the chi. More on this later.