By DR BHUSHAN KUMAR UPADHYAYA 

 

 

Recent studies in neuroscience are telling that the body has its own deep wisdom and it works independently. This bodily wisdom has evolved through millennia. It is the intelligence of the body which speaks to us. Experts are of the opinion that we need to develop skills and awareness to listen to the body. There is a need to interpret the language of the body. The connection to the body is non conceptual. It comes to us through feelings, not through thinking. The communication to our body is anchored in present moment experience. The classical western thinkers have propounded that the body and the mind are two separate entities. But advancements in the fields of neuroscience are proving that both the body and the mind are so intertwined that they can not be separated from one another. There is a need to deepen the sense of embodiment. Embodiment is to be grounded in the feelings of the body. Somatic attention is to be cultivated. Deep listening to the body is practised. The mind may lie, but not the body. The feelings of the body are true and happen in the present. So a person grounded in the body is always in the now.

 

Worries of the past and anxieties of the future are the play of the mind. Since the body feels in the present, so it is always in the realm of the present. The mind ruminates, but not the body. Hence, the body is in a position to teach the mind. Through its feelings and sensations, the body may convey a true picture of our dimension.By diverting attention to the body, one does not whirl in the thoughts, but remains stable in the present. The great Indian traditions have visualised the significance of the body since the time immemorial and have always advocated body based journey at the initial stage. In all the spiritual traditions of the east, the body is said to be the temple of the divinity. All spiritual andYogic practices are initially centred around the body.Yoga Nidra involves rotating our awareness from toe to top and feel the bodily sensations.

 

Asanas and Pranayamas are the Yogic methods to connect to the body. The higher practices of Yoga calls for listening to the heart beats and other somatic sounds the body produces. In recent times psychotherapists have started treating traumas and other psychiatric problems through body based exercises. Peter Levine is said to be a great pioneer in discovering the somatic methods to successfully treat traumas. Breathing with U sound has been found very effective in calming down the parasympathetic nervous system which is responsible for rest and digestion. It is found in the research of neuroscience that there are so many somatic practices which send signals to the brain to calm down. As a result the brain feels safe and sends messages to the nervous system to be relaxed. Asanas and Pranayamas are found to be one of the most potent somatic activities to produce soothing effect on the the body and the mind. (The writer is Former DG Police & CG, Homeguards, Maharashtra)