Thursday, September 14, 2017

Somatic meditation: resources, experiences and reflections on my big toe

As I drive around town I've been listening to an audiobook by Reginald Ray called Awakening the Heart: a somatic training in Bodhichitta.  While it might sound really esoteric, it's really incredibly tangible and real.  Our bodies are the most tangible thing we've got going; way more than our thoughts. 

There's so much to unpack that I think it will take way longer than a blog post to do it justice.  The bummer is that I had to return the audio book to the library because 18 people have holds!  Clearly a popular topic.

Luckily Reggie Ray has a great web site, so I will have to satisfy my learning needs that way for now.  Go in and explore.  It's pretty rich from my initial look.  I am so grateful that the site offers guided meditations.  The ten point meditation practice is one of the foundational practices in the audio book, and one that I found quite challenging.  I love that he pokes fun at it, i.e. joking that we might find it challenging to make time to breath into our big toe. Really that is part of the 10 point practice. No joke.  I found it challenging to even notice any feeling in my big toe.  One of my observations is how numb or disconnected I seem to be from many parts of my body, and that according to him, this is not unusual for people in the modern West.  It's even worse if you are a survivor of trauma.  I guess I hit the jackpot.  Must be why I am so passionate about yoga and movement at this stage of my life and journey.