Focus: Your Practice in Comfort

In the infinity of life where I am,
all is perfect, whole, and complete.
I recognize my body as a good friend.
Each cell in my body has divine intelligence.
I listen to what it tells me, and know that its advise is valid.
I am always safe and Divinely protected and guided.
I chose to be healthy and free.
All is well in my world.
             ~Louise L. Hay 'You Can Heal Your Life'

I love this quote: 'Each cell in my body has divine intelligence. I listen to what it tells me, and know that its advise is valid.'  This is the key to our practice. Listening to the body and finding the right range of motion for our practice each day.  It doesn't matter how large or small our movements are, how large or small our steps or stance are; what matters is listening and staying in a comfortable range of movement for our bodies today.

I often times see people holding stress and tension in their shoulders; sometimes from just stress, sometimes from an injury.  When we find tension or pain in a joint or part of our body, we need to focus our practice on releasing this tension.  I find the following guidelines useful in doing this:

• Mindfully move our body and notice sensations of discomfort
• Explore where can we move to to avoid discomfort and enjoy this freedom
• Focus on these areas - expanding the area on the inhalation and releasing on the exhalation
• Focus on releasing the areas above and below our point of  tension (for example if the shoulders are tense; think about releasing the neck and relaxing the elbows as you enjoy your practice)
• If we can't find comfort in a movements, modify it or skip it.

Then, throughout the day, use your breath to take your awareness to the areas of your body that you are working with and go through the same steps above as your enjoy a few moments of mindful movement and breathing.  Our body knows how to heal itself, we just need to listen and honor what we hear.