Power within – 12 Strategies – Part1 ART OF LISTENING TO THE BODY

Physical Strategy: 1

ART OF LISTENING TO THE BODY

"LISTEN TO YOUR BODY FIRST IN ORDER FOR THE BODY TO LISTEN TO YOU”

SUMMARY: Pain, heaviness, warmness are gross sensations. Throbbing, tickling, pulsating feelings are the subtle sensations. Art of listening is simply tuning to the subtle sensations in the body by which you will gain access to your involuntary system (autopilot mode).

SIMPLE STRATEGY: The art of listening to the body gets enhanced by the practice of yoga mindfully.

  If you are into the endurance sports such as marathon running then you must be well aware of the level of injuries that the beginners agonize. It is overwhelming 65% injury rate for the novices. The early enthusiasm that one has in developing the endurance skill diminishes at the later stage due to the injury factor. One of the main reasons for the cause of injury is the inability to focus and listen to the warning signals that spring out from the body. Yes, body has an inbuilt intelligence that breeds warning signals when one surpasses his own resource capabilities.

Mechanism: So, it is a common recommendation in this arena to “listen to the body”. What exactly does it mean listening to the body? For example, you are trying to run much faster than what your limits are. Your breathing is the one that distresses first. You may start to breathe faster. Since, you consume lot of energy in the faster running; your body naturally calls for more of oxygen to burn. As a consequence, Lactic acid forms in the body when there is depletion of oxygen. This lactic acid induces fatigue & hence, the brain generates pain signal in order for you to stop or slow down the running process.

When the distress occurs, the signals can be picked up at various levels such as breathing sensation, faster heart beat sensation, pain signals, heat sensations etc. These are the combinations of signals varying from the subtle to the gross sensations. Some of us feel the signals at the subtle level whereas others feel at the gross level. Some even ignores the signals.

  This process is not only transpires during the process of running but it is always there and can be witnessed for every normal happenings such as walking, sitting & sleeping.

Levels: Ignoring the warning signals is the worst thing and one can cause harm to himself. Pain, heaviness, warmness are gross sensations. One should able to acknowledge & honour these gross sensations. Throbbing, tickling, pulsating feelings are the subtle sensations. These are the finer signals that keep you in close proximity to yourself.

Power: Do increase the level of awareness & stay closer to you by tuning into the subtle sensations. By doing so, you will have the power to tap the whole gamut of the involuntary systems such as your respiratory, cardiovascular, nervous system etc. It is magical. It is the body intelligence that runs in an autopilot mode for which we have no control. Now , you get this power.This power changes the way you perceive your internal world. Obviously because of this same power, you start to experience your external world very differently.

Techniques: There are multiple levels of techniques defined in the yoga culture that gives you an opportunity to tap this power. The art of listening to the body gets enhanced by the practice of these techniques mindfully.

Live Large -Success Characteristic

Success:

Opportunity is presented to all of us equally. In fact, the opportunity is infinite. But, success comes only to the handful of people. These people have mastered to abode their awareness in the gradient zone and explore the things regularly in their area of interest irrespective of the results. These people, when the opportunity presents they have the upper hand over the ordinary because they get the ability to cross the tough boundary that the opportunity demands. Can you see the characteristics for the success here?

These people, when the opportunity presents they have the upper hand over the ordinary because they get the ability to cross the tough boundary that the opportunity demands.

Live Large - Solution

Design the platform that exposes the gradient of the comfort zone and discomfort zone vividly which provides an opportunity to tap the evolutionary energy.

We have been discussing, on one hand, the powers within and how to channelize those powers for our growth. Also, we have discussed the traps & limited belief which hold our progress. In this chapter, I would like to put forward the solution.

The solution is to create a right platform that provides an opportunity to tap the evolutionary energy. For this, whatever one does in his life, the platform should create an opportunity for an individual to push himself little further to the next level mindfully. This allows him to gain new learning & new experience.

The result becomes futile when one step into the discomfort zone mindlessly without utilizing his full awareness. This means to move mindfully from the termination of the comfort zone to the commencement of the discomfort zone. This transition is not a step response but it is a gradient. The whole point is to keep our awareness in this transition region (awareness area as shown below). So, design the platform that exposes this region vividly that provides an opportunity to tap the evolutionary energy.

Live Large - Limited Belief

Limited belief is a belief that one cannot execute certain task & he feels that he has limited resource and unable to perform the tasks. This kind of situation naturally constricts the person and eventually hampers the growth.

Initially, a person tries to do a new task which he has not done before. Let us assume that he has failed in executing the task. He tries again & he fails one more time. With multiple failures, he may come to the conclusion that he is not good enough to execute the task. This is now imprinted in his memory.

But the questions: What are his resource capabilities? What are the resources that the task demands and what are the resource gaps? Now, if one moves mindfully in extending his resources (not too far or too less) then he will get sufficient time to gauge in real time the resource needs that the task demands. Eventually, he may not end up completing the task at one go but he would have learned to step into that unknown area mindfully and get adapted to this new demand. This is really a big step and a great achievement. He has now experienced this area which allows him to stretch his resource little further next time when the opportunity presents. Over a period of time, he will develop the ability to enhance the resource to complete the task.

With the absence of the mindfulness, a limited belief constricts a person. Then over a period, this construction really takes a shape & practically starts to limit a person. It is unfortunate that we only nurture the construction that is being imposed upon us. We are not experimenting ourselves with the evolutionary energy & hence we are limited.