In a Mood? Come back to your Body
(Photo by Simran Sood on Unsplash)
In last week’s note I talked about the natural process of contraction and expansion. We all do it on every level: our bodies pulse, our thoughts pulse, our moods widen and draw in. All of it happens in a dance. And all of it is dancing because at the very heart of the universe there is pulsation. Think of a twinkling star dancing in the night sky and you’re thinking of exactly the same process that’s happening within you all of the time.
It’s so beautiful. Except when it’s not..
In a MOOD
I don’t know about you, but I can’t see the dance when I’m contracted. By contracted I mean I’m in “a MOOD.” It could be crankiness, irritability, negativity, agitation or sadness - any of these moods are really caused by contraction. When I’m contraction I don’t see beauty, I see ugliness. I see what’s wrong with the outside world. I see a lot of what’s wrong with me. It’s like there’s a veil between me and life that makes everything worse. I try to see through the veil but when I’m really contracted it’s so opaque that there’s no looking past it.
Usually when one gets caught in a contraction it’s because of attachment. We become overly attached to the future or to the past. We’re attached to how we want things to be rather than letting them be as they are. The contraction gets even tighter when we attach to how we want to feel rather than allowing ourselves to feel contracted. Attachment pulls us into the past or the future. Unfortunately, contraction can’t let go in the past or the future. Freedom and expansion are in the present.
Back to the Present
So how do you come back to the present? Get back to yourself. One of the most direct and simple ways of being present is to feel the sensations in your body. Your body is alive and pulsing. Sometimes that pulse is faint, sometimes it’s stronger, but it’s always there. When you feel aliveness, your mind returns to the present moment. You can’t think about it. You have to experience the aliveness of your body. The experiencing makes your mind turn around and get quiet for a second.
In that second there’s the possibility of an opening. You might open a little bit and close back up right away. That’s ok. The point isn’t to stay perpetually open. The point is to pulse. If you’ve been closed for a while, even the smallest opening re-starts the dance. Eventually the pulsations gather momentum and what felt permanently closed opens up for longer and longer times. Not forever…it’s still a dance. But for longer times.
Quick Ways to get back into your Body
Most of us have learned to ignore our bodies, so it doesn’t feel natural try to get back into them. Here are some suggestions for starting to experience sensations again:
Stomp your feet and feel the power of your stomp transfer up your legs
Walk barefoot outdoors and notice the grass or sand under your toes
Take 3 deep breaths with eyes closed or soft, notice the temperature of your breath
Bring one hand to your heart and one to your belly feel the warmth of your hands on your body
Go outside and safely experience the weather
If none of those are working - give yourself the shock of a quick cold shower
Any of these are simple ways to wake yourself up when you’re in the grips of contraction.
Dance into the Present
Again, you might only open a smidge. Small openings can feel frustrating when you prefer expansion all the time. But that’s not how things go. Things open and close. We actually don’t want to demand openness all the time because it’s a little outside the natural order of life.
The only place we want to linger for as long as possible is the present moment. Getting there is a dance between moments of opening and moments of contraction. Expand. Contract. Expand. Contract. When you get really adept at dancing between the two you’ll eventually start know that between them is a sweet spot. Right in the middle is your center. It’s not still, it’s pulsing too, but the pulsation is so fine and quick that it’s nourishing rather than depleting. It’s peaceful, not chaotic.
Centered
Once you recognize your center, your work is to enter it. Then, allow contraction and expansion to continue all around you. Moods come and go through you. You simply rest in peacefulness.