How to practice embodied meditation
In embodied meditation, our intention is to be aware of our body sensations, moment by moment. What is it that we sense? Generally, we notice what calls for our attention. That is, areas where we experience some sort of discomfort or tension. When we only pay attention to the squeeky wheel of experience, we miss out on a big part of our inner experience, the parts of our body that respond to stress by shutting down or collapsing. A lot opens up when we start bringing our awareness to these parts. I invited Merete Holm Brantbjerg to talk about why it is important to pay attention to the parts of us that are silent and invisible, and how to do it. You will get the most out of this 20-minute video if you actively participate, following Merete’s instructions, the way you would if you were listening to the presentation live. Merete Holm Brantbjerg developed Relational Trauma Therapy, a psychomotor and systems-oriented approach specialized in including the invisible parts of us. She is an international trainer, group leader, and therapist based in Denmark. See her website and our other conversations . Belo, you will find a brief recap of the video’s ideas, followed by an edited transcript of the video. Brief recap As you sit in your chair, you are sensing the contact of your feet on the ground and your sitting bones in your chair. Notice how your breating responds to your feeling more grounded. Experiment with ways to bring energy to your collapsed parts: * Sense both of your feet and then make a tiny little push with them, a tiny little push into the ground. * Try the same thing with just the outside of your feet.. * And try it with just the inside of your feet. * Put your palms together. Then, push your hands gently into each other. * Instead ot the palms meeting, let the fingertips of each hand press gently against each oher. * Let your elbows find the back of the chair and make q tiny little push. * Shape your hands into hooks and pull with your fingers in each direction. In everything that you do, experiment with dosage. Try gently, and even more gently. Edited transcript of Merete’s talk I have worked with trauma therapy for many years. That’s not our context today. When you work with trauma, you notice that some things are gone. They’re gone from memory. They’re gone from sensory awareness. You just don’t feel them. And that’s a very different challenge compared to the noisy parts of us. And with “noisy,” I mean precisely what Serge said in the introduction: something is screaming for attention. These “noisy” parts are hyperactivated. They are tense, contracted, and holding something for us. Given how noticeable the sensation is, it’s relatively easy to track. This has been given a lot of attention. Many traditions are paying attention to these hyperactivated parts, including meditation. How do we think about the body when we sit in meditation? Usually, we believe we need to relax.
