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Enjoying the feeling of letting go.
I usually begin my meditation with a full body scan starting at the top of my head. The first few times I did this I was surprised at how much tension I had all over my body, especially in my head and upper back. I started noticing how much tension other people were showing on their foreheads and eyebrows and it kinda freaked me out. Now I am able to relax the muscles in my scalp (I wasn’t even aware that I could do that before beginning my practice), then I let the body scan fall lower to my forehead and ears. Man there is so much tension there. Sometimes it feels like my eyebrows drop a whole inch when I’m able to let go. Then the scan hits my shoulders. BOOM! They drop like 2 inches (it feels like). If the tension doesn’t drop right away, I keep my awareness there and on my breath and with one out-breath BOOM, I can let go. I let the scan run over my whole body. It amazes me where I can find tension and where I can soften. Letting go of the tension in my stomach, it feels like I turn into a fat little Buddha. Noticing the tension in my hands, legs and feet and softening them. It all feels amazing.<O:p</O:p
Now what’s cool about all this is that it’s moved into my daily life. When I get into the car now and start driving, I’ll notice my shoulders are up by my ears (all tensed up), my eyebrows are trying to raise the roof, and my legs are ready to run a marathon but now I can let go of it all and just relax into the seat and drive more mindfully. When I lay down to go to sleep, I experience the same huge feeling of letting go of stress and tension and I sink deeper into the bed. Or standing in line at the grocery store, Ill </ST1:pdo a quick scan and realize I can let go of some tension standing in line. This has been a great experience that I know I couldn’t have experienced without my practice and I just wanted to share it with the world.<O:p</O:p
Now what’s cool about all this is that it’s moved into my daily life. When I get into the car now and start driving, I’ll notice my shoulders are up by my ears (all tensed up), my eyebrows are trying to raise the roof, and my legs are ready to run a marathon but now I can let go of it all and just relax into the seat and drive more mindfully. When I lay down to go to sleep, I experience the same huge feeling of letting go of stress and tension and I sink deeper into the bed. Or standing in line at the grocery store, Ill </ST1:pdo a quick scan and realize I can let go of some tension standing in line. This has been a great experience that I know I couldn’t have experienced without my practice and I just wanted to share it with the world.<O:p</O:p
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Comments
it's nice to realize these things...
I ask because I often start with a traditional Vipassana scan that I learned a while back which I find very useful for developing focus/concentration. I'll gladly share the technique if you're interested. :-)
tell me about it. i'm a massage therapist and it has completely changed the way i look at people. all i see now is tension and poor posture, haha.
on topic, i used to have pretty bad TMJD (temporomandibular joint disorder, aka jaw) issues. but for me, all it took was to realize that i am always clenching my jaw. mostly in any sort of irritating/stressful situation. but once i noticed this and worked to correct it, the pain went away. it's amazing what we do to ourselves when we're not paying attention.
take the following circular route, moving slowly and evenly along the surface of the body, pausing, noting, and letting go of any bodily sensations that arise:
1. crown chakra to back of head, circle around head (back, right, front, left, back)
2. down left arm, up right arm
3. down back
4. down left leg, up right leg
5. up front of body to crown chakra
repeat, if desired. if time is short, i'll do it once. if i'm in for a longer sitting, i'll usually go three times. it takes about 2-5 minutes at a good clip, can easily take 10 times that long if you go really slowly and stay with each arising sensation until it fully dissipates.
it's not as easy as it sounds! doing the full circle with unbroken concentrated even slowness of scanning is a real challenge. (and gets you all homed in for meditation, i find.)
Lots Of Love,
Nidish
http://www.vipassana.com/course/
as Andrew taught it, it's a technique to build concentration, grounding, focus, and to help one experience impermanence directly, by observing bodily sensations arise and dissolve.
i mean repeating the entire body scan, from crown through limbs/torso, all the way back to crown.
:-)
Thanks a lot!!!!!!!!11
Love And Light,
Nidish
The route I take is like coming out of a pool tension. I start at the tip top of my head (scalp) and I allow the scan to travel down the neck, into the shoulders. Then down into my chest and stomach, then the hips and thighs, then the calves and ankles.
Basically I am just "feeling" these parts, noting how they feel and any tension I feel. Its amazing how we don't feel our bodies in everyday life.