The more I practice mindfulness of the body, the more I realize that relaxing my body can be a pleasant and enjoyable experience. In fact, having a completely relaxed body can be a source of happiness for me. It sounds so simple, but it really is a difficult concept to put into practice daily!
I am so grateful that my mindfulness practice focuses on relaxing my body, or allowing my body to relax itself. When I am practicing formal meditation, or throughout my daily activities, I send the intention to let the tense muscles relax and release their tension. Relaxing my body has become part of my “sacred pause” practice, or stopping during my daily activities to take three mindful breaths, and relaxing my body on the out breath. I am trying to be more mindful during routine activities, like brushing my teeth, and relaxing my body is part of that practice. I also enjoy trying to relax while walking, so that instead of accumulating tension while I am walking somewhere I can actually arrive with a little bit less tension and tightness.
When I bring my mindfulness to my body, I allow my body to relax, and it feels really good! I often feel a sense of ease, and sometimes when I’m really relaxed I feel really happy.
This happiness might be a form of happiness as relief, that is, I am happy because I am relieved of something unpleasant. I am happy when my body relaxes because I am relieved of the discomfort of a tense body. The more I do these practices, the more I notice how much tension I carry throughout the day. This tension is there so much of the time, but below my level of awareness. As I write this, I stop to think, “Is it possible to not have that tension there in the first place? Wouldn’t that be more skillful and enjoyable? Or is this even possible to be completely free from tension all the time?”
Mindfulness can be a source of happiness when I can take delight in having a relaxed body. This is so important for me when I see how mindfulness is a source of happiness, and this source of happiness comes from within myself. What a radical concept! I don’t have to go anywhere to get it, I have it with me all the time, I just have to decide to use it. I don’t have to go anywhere to buy something to give me this happiness, but instead I can produce happiness on my own.
A meditation I have begun to take as my primary practice is relaxing my body. In the style of Thich Nhat Hanh’s guided meditations, it goes:
“Breathing in, I am aware of my entire body. Breathing out I release all the tension in my body.
Breathing in, aware of body. Breathing out, relaxing body.
Body…relax.”
With metta,
Andrea D