Somatic Awareness
Listening to the Body
We live in a world where self-awareness is limited as the mind is favoured above all else and the body neglected and abused, often seen as an inconvenience in the striving for survival and success. When we value the power of a brilliant mind over and above the body, awareness of how we hold ourselves in space tends to falter. What does that mean? How many of you can admit you’re clumsy on your feet? Why do you think that is? You’re disconnected from them whilst you're top-heavy in your head.
What if, instead of valuing only the mind, we chose to bring the body to the fore for balance? What if we chose to see ourselves as holistically valuable?
With Tantra, we learn to listen to the body. To love it and respect it for the phenomenal vessel for our soul that it is. The body is highly intelligent. It’s an acute and reliable messenger capable of delivering crucial information for our survival and soul fulfilment. The centre of our nervous system may appear to reside in the brain, however, we also have to look to the rest of our body. Did you know the heart and gut also have an extraordinary amount of neural pathways responsible for transmitting highly valuable data to our brains and the rest of our bodies? And that our souls desire to utilise everything within us for a fuller experience of life and personal power?
Those driven by mind alone walk through life disconnected from the whole. They can only perceive the universe through thought. Whilst some may think thought is enough to generate an articulate perspective of life, those who also allow their feelings and gut instincts to navigate tend to have a more well-rounded view as well as access to their natural and divine power.
The body we reside in has many stories to share with us if only we would take the time to listen. It’s possible to uncover hidden truths about ourselves when we allow our mind and body to calm, coalesce, and be heard. This is where the process of developing somatic awareness comes in.
The body talks via sensations. It also sends signals through thought as a way of attempting to get us to understand what it’s trying to communicate if we won’t listen to its sensations. Deciphering the signals takes peace and practice. The practice of somatic awareness, awareness of the body distinct from the mind, can be developed through engaging with the senses, sensitivities, and sensations of the body.
Through building somatic awareness, we can lead a more body-centred approach to life which enables a more fruitful existence. A body-centred approach means greater health, potential life longevity, and deeply fulfilling engagement in experiences. Why is this? As emotions arise, we know where they come from within us and where they land. Emotions are accompanied most often by physical sensations from within the body. As trauma occurs and this challenging world inflicts wounds, we are able to feel where the tension and pain set in on a physical level and gently ease them out as we send in healing to those areas. Healing the body is also a direct pathway to healing the psyche. The health of the psyche and body reinforce each other.
Listening to the sensations within supports you. Without this, we accrue deep scarring from our injuries, forming gritty protective layers that become very hard to alleviate and clear. We develop protective, defence mechanisms on physical and psychological levels that disconnect us from our bodies and each other. We may even numb ourselves out to feeling anything at all which leads to lives lived in depression and despair.
When you are not in tune with your bodily experiences, you are excluded from the link between you and your inner bliss, that of your soul. With somatic awareness, you can address what ails you, listen to what begs to be heard in your body, and engage with it. This is also about building a healthy relationship with yourself and using the light of your own consciousness to illuminate the dark places within you that crave light to grace them.
