Inner  Frontier
Fourth Way Spiritual Practice

 

Inner Work


For week of August 17, 2015

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Inhabiting Our Body

(Presence Tools: 7)

In Presence Tool 2, Living Like You Mean It, we addressed the question of "Am I here?" Now we put a specific target for that question, making it more practical and concrete: "Am I here in my body?" We work to be here in our body, to be the one sensing our body, to inhabit our body. We have practiced sensing our whole body. In doing so, we may be more or less present, in our body.

Now we turn to making it more. We feel that "I" am here in my body, that "I" am sensing my body, not just that there is this body or that there is sensation in this body. I occupy my body, continually. I stake my claim to the whole of my body, moment to moment. Doing this, I realize that I am the one experiencing being in my body, I am the experiencer.

If I do that for one moment and then abscond in the next, falling absent from my body, I am lost again. There may be experience, but no one is here to receive that experience, to engage with it. Experience is empty without an experiencer.

Inhabiting our body does not require tension. It just requires presence: my presence in my sensation, in my body.

The result is truly a wonder. Suddenly life grows vivid. We have a strong impression of our body and of being here in this place, in this moment, in this body. What my body does, I am doing. Or rather, my body does what I do. Or better yet, there is no separation between me and my body. I am fully in my body. More particularly, I am fully in the sensation of my body, in the sensitive energy filling my body. I and my body are unified in full awareness.

In this way, my body serves as the platform for my presence. I can be here, because my body is here. The stronger my contact with my body, the stronger my presence. If my sensation is weak or partial, I can nevertheless inhabit what there is, and by doing so, the sensation strengthens and spreads. Then I can say to myself "I am here in my body."

For this week, please practice inhabiting your body.


     

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