Relaxation exercises

I am used to exercises to relax and prepare to pray that focus on and relax parts of this body in turn until the whole body is relaxed. Some start at the top of the head and work down to the feet; some the other way round. For my money, the best end up in the belly.

I think these exercises are not primarily about relaxation. I think they about awareness, about noticing the whole of who I am, about allowing the whole of me to be present, and about the integration of all of who I am. They are prayer too, and praise of, God whose creature I am.

Identity

An assertion: my identity — my sense of self, of me — is rooted in the sensations of this body. If these sensations change, e.g. during serious illness, or as the result of an accident (as happened to me when I was knocked off my bike and broke my arm), then my sense of who I am changes too. There are times when we say, "I don't feel myself, today."

Movements

There are two movements:

1. outwards to the world — opening the pores of this body to sounds, sensations, the other, the Other — moving to an opening in and to love;
2. inwards to this body and attending to this body's voice, in tenderness and interest.

   "Breathing in I go back to the island within myself." (Thich Nhat Hanh)

Both are about being present in the present. Both tend towards love and compassion.

(See this blog post and this research paper on Open Monitoring and Focussed Attention.)