Body consciousness is the ABC’s of the work. Without this, we cannot do the rest.
How do you know when you are in body consciousness?
I know mainly when i’m not in the body consciousness.
And how do you know that you’re not in?
When i’m in inner considering.
Yes, body consciousness and inner considering, exclude each other.
For me, it is not very clear. I think when I’m in, it is less responsive, more centered. There is also a feeling of openness, and it is more creative.
It (BC) is also very connected with divided attention. Body consciousness facilitates divided attention and divided attention helps one to stay in body consciousness.
I am not in, typically, when I feel feverishness, when I am focused on a goal, with an expectation, an attachment to the objective.
Concentration and body consciousness mutually exclude each other, especially if there is an emotional attachment. Refrain from falling into the mechanisms of emotional attachment. As if there is a brake that you activate to not blow a red light! Then, that becomes automatic and the little devil finally dies of hunger from not finding his food, and he goes to look for it elsewhere : ) .
When I am in body consciousness, there is also a feeling of opening to 360°. It is more fluid, less filtered. I will say (a state) of silent serenity. When I’m not in, there is mentalization.
And what do you do, to not lose it?
I use the P. A. T. I. L. ; I put my attention on anything that is present: persons, activities, things, information and location.
Do you do the exercise to fall asleep and wake up, with body consciousness?
It is essential to go to sleep and wake up with it, to program oneself to do so and then it will become automatic.
When I get up at once, I am immediately with, but sometimes I hang out a little.
It does not matter. This is possible even in reverie, as soon as a small conscience is present. Nothing must be excluded from body consciousness, except in deep sleep.
If in the morning, you automatically focus on a goal, (for example) if when the alarm rings you say to yourself “Hey, but what do I have to do?”, replace this automatic response by something that brings you back to the body consciousness.
I exercise, it is very good to fall asleep.
The first thing that allows me to say that I am in, are contacts, supports.
And I think that I lose it, when I strongly focus on something.
I do not really know if I’m in body consciousness.
This may be because you compare too much to what the others said about it, and that you make to yourself a representation of what it is, instead of looking inside yourself.
Body consciousness is not associated with an emotional state. It is neutral, independent of inner states. It is elusive, intangible, indescribable, it is impossible to describe and it’s easy to make a false idea or a wrong concept.
The “feel” is very different from one person to another. Each must discover his way of living it.
When I am in, it is more calm. And when I’m not in, there is a physical tension.
I have a physical perception of my feet on the ground, and at the same time, it passes through me. But at the same time, it is beyond the body.
At first, I thought that it was (being conscious) of the body. But then I realized that body consciousness is not limited to body awareness. It is more encompassing than that. One day I heard a phrase that really touched me, “It is not the consciousness that is within us, it is us, who are in the consciousness.” This gives another dimension to body consciousness, more neutral and more stable.
What happens that I lose it or I can not find it, maybe it is the difficulty to let go of something? Is body consciousness progressive or is it a digital phenomenon?
Body consciousness is a digital phenomenon (On/Off). Either one is in or one is not in. It is activated or not activated. It’s like forgetting and rememebering. There is no gradual transition from one to another. And this mechanism is elusive. And besides, like forgetfulness/remembering, it is when you let go, that it comes back…
When I’m in body consciousness, I am consciousness. Whereas when I’m an observer, I am conscious, but I remain separate.
In fact, body consciousness is there permanently, but forgetting may occur. Forgetfulness is, the cause and the effect!
It is not because something masks body consciousness that causes one to forget it, but because one forgets it, that something can come to occupy the space.
Here’s the metaphor: imagine that you have parked your car in the parking lot of a supermarket. While you do your shopping, you’re not thinking about it, yet you did not forget. And it is when you go out, that you ask yourself the question: “where’s my car?” If you forgot where you parked your car, it is only at this moment that you realize that you have forgotten. Yet it is still there!
Body consciousness is the very essence. You are consciousness. The self-remembering born of body consciousness.
The apparent contradiction between being body consciousness and the fact of making an effort to stay in body consciousness comes from an inadequate dual vision. In reality, being conscious, you feed body consciousness.
Being in body consciousness, there is not an effort; if we must call this, effort, it is a non-effort (an effortless effort). Here is an image: imagine a wheel with letters E. F. F. O. R. T. on the rim of the wheel. We have to turn the wheel. This becomes a force, a running engine. It is therefore the wheel that makes the effort to turn, and you yourself let it turn!
Besides what has already been said, I notice that when I’m in body consciousness, I detect the tensions of the other, more easily.
I think that at a period, I have observed and learned to discriminate the content of the mental. This allows me not to identify myself and lose myself in the mental concepts. Now, I listen to them as the radio… When I lost body consciousness, after a while, there is a shock and I realize that I lost it and vigilance is back into place gradually.
There is something impersonal. It’s like talking in the third person.
When I am not in, I’m in separation. I hear, then my answer to the context goes through the head and a response comes that makes no sense.
When I am in, I do not know. I can only analyze it afterwards to answer the question… In fact, when I am in, I’m in, simply. If I focus on certain bodily sensations, I am aware of certain sensations that otherwise I do not feel, and that it would not even occur to me, to focus on.
When I am, I don’t know it, I live it.
What makes me lose that? It’s a contraction due to the avoidance of necessary suffering at a given time. At this instant, I am no longer in presence, which for me is another word for body consciousness. I do not know if the contraction comes after or before the escape. At the moment when it happens, I see it happen, then there is a void, then I know I got trapped. I can switch back in the present, but this is possible only if I’m alone.
There may also be a belief that it is not possible to always be in.
It is important to know that it is possible to be there permanently, and the fact to authorize oneself, to lose it, even occasionally, is harmful. It makes a big difference, a quantum leap when one is permanently in the body consciousness.
Then there is no return (or it is very unlikely). We must be prepared to let go, to jump into the void. Knowing it, helps what has to be let go.
It’s natural for me, since ever, to be in the body. And I know for me, that there is no turning back. I need to be vigilant in reverse. I have to remind myself why I’m here. My vigilance is to always be open for others.
Slowing down, helps.
No, wrong track.
When I go faster, I feel that my divided attention is reduced.
It’s normal. The key is that you stay in the divided attention at 360°. It is as if a film is accelerated, you capture only an image on 3!
An element that makes body consciousness wobble is an external event, a criticism that confronts me with the necessary suffering, to the original belief. Here there is a little tension, then I welcome it, and it relaxes, and I recover the body consciousness.
I have found something else that loses body consciousness, it is the thought that fires in certain contexts: brushing teeth, driving the car. It is as if there was a habit to use these moments to think about all sorts of topics, functional or not, but then, I’m stuck in my thoughts and I lose body consciousness.
This will not happen if you leave your thoughts in the body consciousness. These thoughts have some things to tell you. When you make permanent the body consciousness, there will not even be the smallest tension.
Body consciousness comes and goes, but I lose it, a lot, as soon as I do something, I make a comment on it.
Have you ever taken an existential decision? To put body consciousness in priority? It would be to apply and to not lose it for example for one hour. Such a decision involves a personal ban against failing.
And also in this decision, there is no tension.
We can also call it, a commitment within (and to) yourself.
See what one misses when one does not do… to not be in body consciousness permanently, it is a disability, it is a failure. And at the same time, it is not hopeless. One must take responsibility to provide oneself the means, to apply, to settle oneself into body consciousness.
Is there an attachment or a fear that prevents you from doing this?
Inner considering! Image of what others expect of me… and to which, I was facing…
… And of which you were proud of.
Somehow I’m afraid to be unreliable, not being able to keep my commitment, my responsibilities.
The reliability is responding to its commitment in the extent of what is possible. Then, it’s life and you cannot control everything.
I lose body consciousness when I let myself become distracted by my thoughts.
The problem is not, to have thoughts, but to be distracted by thoughts.
I find that being more in body consciousness, the production of thoughts is naturally reduced by itself. And then, the thoughts that come are useful thoughts.
These thoughts, then emerge from the void.
What is interesting is that these thoughts do not make me lose body consciousness. It can happen to me when I work. The difference between a distracting thought that comes from the mental and a useful thought that comes from body consciousness, is very clear and very easy to distinguish.
There are also distractions related to fears or anticipation. Again, it is imperative to not be distracted. Otherwise, there is attachment, and we let ourselves be invaded by something we do not want.
When one learns to tame his attention, we learn to stay quiet, in the present and the existential relaxation, and everything that can distract us, we denounce it immediately. The more one practices it, the more it is automatic.
There are events where it’s hard to stay in body consciousness and where one must switch in the welcoming of the necessary suffering. This is the only way to stay clean in body consciousness, and avoid attachment. In the experience/feeling of being in ones shit, there’s not much difference, but at least we know that the bottom of the self, the “I am” is not affected.
Sometimes, we talk about getting rid of the superfluous, but sometimes we must speak of sacrifice. It is even harder. It is not a work, it is a decision to be taken, and to take immediately. The more you wait, the more difficult it is.
The sacrifice may appear in various contexts. It’s an active participation. In fact, it is to get rid of an illusion, but the attachment to this illusion is very real. It is a warrior gesture as described in the texts of the Bhagavad Gita. These attachments seem natural to us. They can be “transmitted” by our loved ones…
So sacrifice unnecessary attachments, that prevent you from going towards what you really want in yourself.
Another element that breaks body consciousness: is judgment, comparison, the waiting for things to be other than what they are. Because body consciousness does not separate, while judgment separates.
Silence helps immensely to be in body consciousness. That is why it is best to avoid chatter. One must realize that when you are not in body consciousness, you are separate from others. And when you work together on a functional project, it is as if you had distorted the game and the relationship.
How is life in body consciousness?
This is. But we talked about the fact that it is digital. It is or it is not. I feel that it is more or less encompassing.
Maybe there is more or less when you are there, but there is no transition to go from body consciousness to non-body-consciousness.
Maybe you make more allusion to divided attention.
I know that I’m in body consciousness when I have a feeling of transparency.
Beware, it can be a trap to encode it into words, to freeze a representation.
Yes, there is no “real” felt with body consciousness. This is pre-sensory.
It is as if there was something behind the self, and we were ready to fall.
And what about the possibility of anticipation which comes, with the pre-sensory perception? And also, of the faculty to consider a maximum of unfiltered information in the moment?
Yes, without filters, we can take into account a maximum of information from within the context.
Absence of beliefs, absence of a priori.
It comes from an inner certainty, not shareable, but right and just.
It seems calming to say I’m in body consciousness and I can allow a simple and fair solution to appear. But it’s amazing, what is stripped away, in order to get there.
The certainty that you have when you’re in body consciousness does not need to be justified or defended. But this is only possible when you have a certain knowledge. If you are not in body consciousness, you impose your knowledge like “the knowledge” and you’re going to confront the other with that knowledge. Whereas when you’re in body consciousness, it becomes something you offer. And if not, you may feel that you betray yourself.
But sometimes you are forced to let go, to go with it, because it is impossible otherwise. Also, if I say something erroneous, and the other is in body consciousness, then I easily integrate his/her answer and I can change my opinion and change my point of view, because what the other says is just as valid. But if the other is not in the body consciousness, it is blocked.
We know each one from where it’s coming in me and in you and it is ok.
When I give it, I offer it to the other, it is no longer mine. And sometimes I feel it, but I do not say it, because I do not yet sense that the other is ready.
In order for that to operate, it must come from a certainty in oneself. If the slightest doubt infiltrates, it’s not going anywhere.
And for that, the “I am” gives this self confidence. This is not I have the confidence in me but I am the confidence in me.
That’s why you have to be permanently in body consciousness.
Absolutely, and even if one is into it 99% of the time, going to 100% is really a quantum leap. After, there is an authentic evolution, real, which is activated at that time only. It is a new birth, a rebirth, and the end of something also, a death.
It talks to you, when I say “I am the confidence in myself” rather than “I have confidence in myself?”
The “I am” does not tell me much, but I’m conscious nonetheless of something deep basically. I begin to sense a little better what you say.
And if you said it, does it create in you a difference between saying “I am the confidence in myself” rather than “I have confidence in myself?”
I will not say it.
Yes, but if you say it, what does this create in you?
I would say it’s like a force, something very centered. If I do not put a comment, it’s just amazing to me. As a warrior!
By saying “I am” , it’s as if the conscious me, want to see me, and then, there is nothing.
The “I do not know” is also very useful to stay in body consciousness. This is closely related to humility.
Yes, one must keep things open.
It reminds me of the 3 sentences from Ivan Amar:
- 1. I do not know.
- 2. Everything is real.
- 3. Everything changes.