CAN WE FOCUS OUR ATTENTION ON THE BODY?
Photo by Sarah Hannigan
Our nervous system needs us now. We’re all in a state of collective trauma. “Too much, too fast,” is how I’ve heard it described. Our systems have been overloaded and the more primal parts of our brain have been triggered, compelling us to fight, flee, or freeze. Thinking our way out of a hijacked nervous system is not possible, no matter how hard we try. If we don’t find ways to discharge this energy it will lodge itself inside our bodies and keep reminding us of its presence until we attend to it.
Now more than ever we are seeing the wisdom of paying attention to the body. For me, the easiest way to do this is to focus on the breath. It’s a tool that is always there for me. Regardless of the state it’s in, I can watch it come in and go out. No matter how many times my mind wants to take me for a ride down a rabbit hole, I have the opportunity to bring it back to the sensation of my belly rising and falling, or the cool air entering my nose and the warm air exiting it. And the more I do this, the more I strengthen this pathway so that it becomes my default when I need it most. As I settle into my breath it becomes an expansive embrace around the twisted, tense, and tight places in my body, allowing them space to release. This experience of being held by my very own breath is a tender practice in self-care.
