Listen to your body

Our conscious choices, the ‘efforts’ that we put in create ‘causes’ in our internal world as well as our external world. In fact, the experience of our external world is nothing but another representation of our internal world. Our internal world is nothing but our subconscious programming of our conscious efforts. Majority of our behaviors and actions in life are automatically governed by our own subconscious programming. It is said that 95% of our daily actions are subconsciously programmed and we are programmed to react or act in specific ways. We act consciously only 5% of the time and the rest of our actions are on an autopilot mode governed by the subconscious mind.

Subconscious communication: Since, we are majorly controlled by our subconscious mind, it is important to understand the communication media of this subconscious mind. The communication of this subconscious mind appears as bodily sensations. The degrees of the sensations vary from gross to subtle. Now, we know why we need to listen to the body so that we have better understanding of our internal world and hence better external life experiences.

Sensitivity: The sensitivity of picking up the body signals varies from person to person. Those with better sensitivity have better control of their life. They stay in a balanced state which is by definition our default state. Those with good sensitivity have ability to capture not only the gross signals but also the subtler signals from the body and those with less sensitivity have ability to capture only the gross sensations from the body. In a way, sensitivity defines our closeness to our subconscious mind that governs our internal world.

Let us take for example that we develop cold. At the beginning stage of the development of cold, the body signals out subtle signals. We either do not have the sensitivity to pickup these signals or we simply ignore those signals. Over a period of time, this unbalanced cold state moves to a different level and this time, our body signals out gross signals like runny nose, blocked nose etc. Now, even if one picks up these signals, it is going to take a long time for him to get back to his balanced state.

So, developing sensitivity keeps us close to our default balanced state.

Advantages: There are many advantages of listening to our body. It helps in

-          Improving the self healing capacity

-          To stay in a balanced state

-          To understand our internal world

-          To improve our performance in the activities that we get involved in.

Techniques: Any form of mind-body exercise like Yoga helps in developing a better sensitivity. If you are wary of doing yoga then let me suggest two simple practices to improve the sensitivity. First, develop a simple habit of listening to your breathing rhythm. You may pick up this rhythm at your tummy, tip of the nostril etc. After few days of regular practice, move on to listen to the rhythm of your heart. This can be felt easily by touching the thumb and the index finger. The meeting point between the thumb and the index finger gives the sensation of your heart rhythm. These two practices help in developing your sensitivity that keeps you in a balanced state.