Exercise 22: Toning, Dynamic Kinesthetic Awareness and Overcoming Addictive Behaviours

Exercise 22) Dynamic Kinesthetic Awareness

This exercise is a significant extension of Exercise 14 (See main ‘Union of Mind and Body Page’ - link below) in that as well as inviting choiceless awareness, a state of stillness of attention (by effortless negation of internal dialogue) is used to detect, invite and allow amplification of, micro-body movement.

This permits the expression of unimpeded, wordless 'body intelligence', which if carefully observed and attended to will create interrupts to the programmed, habitual (and limited) fixations across the nervous system. Pure self awareness comes into being in the absence of the interfering, word structured memory. Paradoxically, it occurs in the absence of the self.

The body has it's own 'intelligence', the supposed 'thinking intelligence' being a culturally shared symbolic construct that interfaces with it/rides on top of it. The actual physical 'material' that makes up 'your' body is at least as old as the hills (molecularly/atomically) and as old as the universe itself (substructurally: this will be discussed elsewhere in this series). If you give your body the opportunity, it can and will, align itself in it's pre-cultural form and show you a thing or two - as this exercise will demonstrate.

As before, the exercise is described as Kinesthetic awareness, but owing to the nature of our bodies, attention, and the noisy world we live in, there will inevitably be intrusion by the sense of hearing - even in a setting of supposed complete silence. The exercise will first be described as if Aural inputs were absent & then the mechanism of dealing with them given.

WARNING:
This procedure will cause detachment from normal linear, 'word centred' consciousness and should not be carried out near machinery, whilst operating moving vehicles or in any situation where a loss of 'word' consciousness could cause harm.

a) The Basic Predicate
You have to do this such as to create the conditions for what come next.
Find a semi-dark, quiet place. In particular, distracting background sounds, especially those originating from 'speech' channels - in conversations, TV, radio and the like (since they will initiate reactive thought sequences and the noise of internal dialogue) should be absent as should disturbing or fixating intrusive variations in light, analogue sound (especially music) or mechanical vibration.

Sit, or lie down, relax, make yourself still and comfortable and then close your eyes - a favourite chair is a good place, provided you can get the quiet. In morning, in bed, upon awakening is the very best place and time, for reasons which will presently get revealed.

For the purposes of Exercise 22, you should ensure that irrespective of where you are, you are alone, or you will be most definitely get interrupted - and no alarm clocks ticking/radio or music either, since they are part of humankind's regular, symbolic conscious and culturally devised fixative patterns. To break habit, you break fixative pattern.

Once settled, and don't worry if you have to move about a little to get comfortable - you'll soon get there - then move into Exercise 14, (which is repeated below such as to keep the present exercise 'stand alone'):

"It is as simple as this: pay attention to the feelings in your body, as they arise, and, most importantly, WITHOUT NAMING THEM (indeed most don't have any names, which is a big help, so don't make any up) Notice how you have various sensations - maybe in one foot, then an arm, then the torso, then the back, then maybe a knee or the top of your head. Just let them come and go.

If you notice you are thinking, then just notice it and then let it pass away as the next body sensation comes along [if you have real problems with persistent internal dialogue, the run the thought tracking exercise {Exercise 12 in Union of Mind and Body} until you find the root of the thought sequence and then - in the blank that you'll get when you've rooted the thought - go back to the direct sensing of body feeling].

Follow the sensations as they move about your body: these sensations are with you, in various configurations, every day of your life, but you've probably never taken time to notice them before. As you notice these 'new' feelings, you are likely to become curious about them: that will make it easier for you to follow them, to observe what's going on.

b) Incorporating Sound
Even if you can find a soundproof room somewhere, or wear earplugs, you will not be able to eliminate Aural input entirely since the body generates noises of its own - breathing, heartbeat, digestive noises, slight movement against objects, etc.

Accordingly, rather than attempt to ignore the body sounds - and any slight extraneous noises - just let them be part of the awareness process. If a sound acquires your attention, then so be it: it won't hold it long since it will be superseded by either a body feeling or another sound.
Just don't bother naming anything (the naming reaction creates thought sequences) and let it pass. If you do name, let it fade as the next body feeling arises, or alternately thought track as given above."

c) Shifting from 14 into 22
Notice, and this means noting directly and kinaesthetically - without using words/internal dialogue or any other symbolic form of reference or interference (e.g. visual imaging) - that as the sensations arise in the body parts then they are accompanied by very tiny physical movements. Don't do anything about it, apart from notice these tiny micro movements; these are the body's/nervous system's ongoing responses to itself and its environment.
[One difference here, that is of particular importance for part d), which follows below, is that for exercise 22) you should ensure that your hands are away from sensitive areas on your body - particularly the sexual organs - since motion can and will create localised and unwanted feedback. Hand(s) above head or by side(s) is best.]

You will notice that the movements have the greatest amplitudes in the largest muscle groups (buttocks, thighs, belly, calves, back, shoulders, arms) with much tinier, but still noticeable, motions occurring in the smaller, yet more sensitive, muscle parts such as the face, neck and hands.

Now, notice that your body is tense in some areas, but don't do anything about it apart from notice. It's 'hands off' time, like learning to ride a bike: ALLOW the micro-movements to fully express themselves (you actually don't 'do' anything here except pay very, very close attention, without thinking, and the body will begin to modify those motions as it becomes allowed to express itself freely and breaks out of its fixated/habitual patterning and tensions.

By observation, this occurs first of all in the legs/back/solar plexus - when your legs/belly start twitching and kicking, just let them get on with it, but don't concentrate on them or any body parts - just follow the sensations, twitches and jumps as they come and go and let them happen wherever and however they do.

That they will is for sure IF YOU LET IT HAPPEN without interference in the form of thinking or physically resisting (both of which are pattern fixatives). The sensations you are having occur all the time - it's just that you don't notice them and actively suppress/override them owing to your internal noise and learned patterning - so let them have full sway for a while and permit free, expressive physical inter reaction and observe silently, kinaesthetically (i.e. 'feel' the direct experience, not think or imagine). If you experience some fairly dramatic jumps and jerks, don't worry about it - it's part of the unwinding process - but best to keep yourself to yourself (e.g. in bed in the morning) and not let others get concerned.

The movement of this direct 'feeling principle' unhampered (by word and image) creates immediate, enhanced physical sensitivity and, with continued silent attention/non-critical observation, a transformation in consciousness. As you permit this new feeling aspect to develop you will become aware of some quite incredible sensations as the body joys in itself.

d) Awakening to Parallel Sensation
So far, this exercise (and 14) have indicated that both the kinesthetic and aural awareness that occurs are in themselves (and by implication together) happening in a linear time sequence with (say) an itch on the foot following a sensation in the back and being succeeded by (say) a feeling in the chest - al occurring against a continuous panorama of noise generated by the body and from external sources.

The alert participant will already have observed that this is not the case and that many of the kinesthetic sensations are in themselves occurring in a parallel manner - as well as being in parallel with sound sensations that are naturally detected as 'chords' of multiple sounds.

To actually observe this natural parallel kinesthetic behaviour (let the hearing look after itself for now - it will fall in later) demands close and intense silent awareness and, reciprocally, the greater the actual awareness of the physical sensations, the greater the attention and sensitivity. As awareness increases, so will the extent/size of the kinesthetic 'chords' such that ultimately they can be felt across the entire physical system, with hearing becoming part of the 'whole' feel.

If your body keeps on moving/stops moving as you move into this phase, don't bother about it either way. You find out for yourself what comes next; it should be a quite pleasurable collection of experiences. Be sure to take it easy/break off for the day if, in any session, you begin to feel excessive heat or discomfort arising in any parts of the body.

Note that the effects of this exercise are cumulative in that it is highly likely that your will encounter 'new' sensations and groups of sensations every time you carry it out; your body, particularly the nervous/memory system which extends throughout it, has been subject to years upon years of conditioning and neglect owing to attention and energy being directed to many largely unnecessary speech patterns and linear conceptions that accrue through them.
It will take time, and repeats of this exercise, for it to realign and neurally/muscularly decondition.

e) The Feeling Principle
In the beginning of parallel body awareness and intelligence lies the arising of intuition - the process of direct knowing by parallel sensing across the system.

The totality of a human being does not exist within boundaries confined by extant linear language systems and cultures deriving therefrom, indeed it extends vastly beyond them into wordless and symbol free vistas as exercise 22), if diligently pursued, will demonstrate. Given development of the necessary sensitivity in carrying out the exercise in your 'quiet place' then you should find that you ultimately become quite spontaneously 'body aware', sensitive and internally silent in other far more diverse and noisy situations. Engaging in speech, or linear (word) thinking, in such situations will of course immediately re-energise the limited set of 'sound' processing neuronic tracks and desensitize you - but your should, with ongoing practice and attention, find your overall sensitivity and stillness in the midst of the noise increases in time.

Once you have set this process in motion you will begin to learn things directly for yourself as your ancient - but hitherto suppressed - body intelligence engages and increasingly interacts with the world through direct feeling.

The electrons are ageless: every second those in the body make millions of bits of information available - but the structure of the 'conscious' mind (=interferenece of reactive 'word' memory) filters them down to less than a hundred by its linear word processing. Learn to listen and feel - directly - and you may crack open the door to the rest.

Exercise 21) Toning the Sleeping Area

Exercise 23) Overcoming Addictive Behaviours

Practical Choiceless Awareness
Union of Mind and Body: Awareness Exercises
Patterning and Consciousness
Eprime
Presupposition
Language Abuse
Atonal Therapeutic Chant
Overcoming Conditioned Pattern Repetition and Habit
This Statement is My Testament
More Language Abuse
Prince and Magician Index
Eprime2
Countering Language Abuse
Koan
Cliche and Word Journey
Neologism and Cliche
Foiling Cults
Metaphor Problem Solving
Logic Tests
Reverse Anchoring
ULF Pitch and Rhythm in Music
Omananda EBooks
Pomes and Lyrical Page 2
Spare