<p><em>New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers.</em></p> <p><em>---</em></p> <p>It's such a common desire to get out of our heads — to escape the nonstop, mostly self-referential chatter, the habitual storylines, the ancient resentments and the compulsive self-criticism. Many of us take elaborate and even drastic measures in this regard like self-medication, shopping, tech addiction, and so on. But there's a much healthier option that is readily and perpetually available. In fact, we're dragging it around with us all the time, the body. </p> <p><br /></p> <p>The Buddha is said to have laid out four ways to be mindful. In other words, to be awake to whatever is happening right now. The first of these four foundations of mindfulness is mindfulness of the body and todays' guest, meditation teacher Dawn Mauricio, will walk us through the practical applications of this foundation. </p> <p><br /></p> <p>Mauricio has been meditating since 2005 and is a graduate of <a href="https://www.spiritrock.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spirit Rock's</a> four-year teacher training program. She is also the author of the book, <a href="https://dawnmauricio.com/book" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Mindfulness Meditation for Beginners: 50 Meditations to Practice Awareness, Acceptance, and Peace</em></a>. Dawn's been on the show before to <a href="https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/dawn-mauricio-395" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">talk about how to handle difficult people</a>.</p> <p><br /></p> <p><em>This episode is the first installment of a series we've launched on the four foundations of mindfulness.</em></p> <p><br /></p> <p><br /></p> <p><strong>In this episode we talk about:</strong></p> <p><br /></p> <ul> <li>What it <em>actually</em> means to get out of your head and into your body and all of the practical ways to get there </li> <li>How strong emotions and seductive technology can work against us</li> <li>And what to do when being aware of your body might actually not be the best thing for you</li> </ul> <p><br /></p> <p><br /></p> <p><strong>Full Shownotes:</strong> <a href="https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/dawn-mauricio-498" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/dawn-mauricio-498</a></p>
Actionable Insights
1. Orient Attention to Body
Consciously direct your mind’s attention to the sensations in your body to move away from unwholesome or unhelpful thoughts and reduce suffering. This is a back-and-forth process, and aiming for short moments many times is effective.
2. Heed Body’s Signals
Pay attention to the constant signals your body sends, such as hunger, fullness, nervousness, stress, or need for a break, as these are direct messages often ignored.
3. Deconstruct Emotions with Body
When experiencing strong emotions like anger, turn towards them and observe their physical sensations (e.g., buzzing in chest, heaviness in head) to break them down and make them feel more manageable, often revealing underlying messages without the harmful intensity.
4. Uncover Emotional Roots
Tune into unpleasant body sensations (e.g., contraction, sinking) during emotional states to uncover the root cause, such as feeling unseen or hurt, allowing you to tend to the underlying wound.
5. Cycle Through Senses for Anxiety
When anxiety arises, cycle through the raw data of your senses (sight, smell, sound, taste, touch) to create space from worrying thoughts, or physically ground yourself by looking up at the sky or squeezing your legs to shift attention from your head to your body.
6. Practice Felt Sense with Hand
Look at your hand, notice thoughts, then close your eyes and keep awareness on the hand to notice raw sensations like temperature, pulsing, or tingling, which helps connect to ‘felt sense’ (feeling from the inside out).
7. Expand Mindfulness to Senses
Extend mindfulness of the body to include awareness of all sensations entering through your sense doors, such as sounds and smells, as these are processed within the body and evoke internal reactions.
8. Practice Mindful Tech Use
When using technology, periodically check in with your body (e.g., every minute while scrolling) to notice sensations like contraction or shortness of breath, which can indicate if the activity is truly beneficial or causing stress. Start with less engaging activities like emails and gradually apply to more immersive media.
9. Mindfulness in Heated Discussions
During contentious conversations, name your own physical sensations (e.g., ‘I’m feeling hot’) to create space and prevent reactive behavior, and observe the other person’s body language (posture, voice, expression) to understand their emotional state.
10. Practice Mindfulness in All Postures
Broaden your understanding of meditation to include being mindful in all daily postures—seated, standing, walking, or lying down—integrating awareness into everyday activities like exercise instead of just formal practice.
11. Approach Body Mindfulness Carefully
If you have a history of trauma or abuse, do not force yourself to practice mindfulness of the body, as it can be activating; instead, approach it gradually, potentially with the support of a mentor or therapist, or explore other foundations of mindfulness.