The Body Obeys, Even When The Mind is Unaware

Gently resting my forehead atop the foam yoga mat with my arms extended long towards the top edge in child's pose. This is only the second time practicing yoga over the last four weeks. From my previous yoga experiences, I know my body, and in turn how I move throughout my life, would feel better if I had a consistent practice right now, but I don't. And sometimes that's just the way it is. It's 6:00 PM and I recently pulled the trigger on an online monthly subscription to Fallon Lev's yoga classes. If you have been privileged to experience a vinyasa sequence by Fallon, consider yourself blessed.

We are still in the beginning warm-up phase of the class when Fallon says, "close your eyes. Spend some time welcoming consistency into the breath. Discover a deeper inhale and work towards a longer exhale." In this moment, I was only partially paying attention to her words, as my mind was preoccupied with the random thought track of when Instagram debuted their stories feature and I wondered how many users immediately hopped on that wagon. Was I one of them? Not a second later, my undirected reflection was interrupted by a novel knowing that something in my body had changed. Made known by the seemingly out-of-nowhere calm, oceanic sound of breath moving out of my lungs and creating a smooth audible brush in the throat and head space between my ears, my once shallow breath had distinctly thickened and slowed. This was the sound of my body and mind relaxing, and settling in to the abundance peace a yoga practice can provide. But how did this happen? I wasn't even actively thinking about the words Fallon was saying.

It's incredible how the body obeys and shifts with little to no conscious awareness.

The 'wires' of our nervous system exist in our brain and expand through every space in our body. And in these connections live a potential for communication - for messages to be sent to and from areas, including to and from our mind and body. Even without conscious awareness, my ears were still working to translate Fallon's gentle breathing cues to my mind. Even without conscious awareness, my mind was still working to make sense of the audible information and, in routine process, send usable information to the proper areas in my body (in this case, to my lungs and diaphragm). The subconscious but clear physiological end result of the exchange of information due to Fallon saying "work towards a longer exhale" was my lungs and diaphragm manipulating to produce a slower respiration rate. Thank you, Fallon Lev.

The subconscious life that lives within the body illuminates to us just how definite and intelligent this being is. And, fortunately, it doesn't require a high quality yoga instructor to unleash its power. The more you tune into and listen to your body, the greater your awareness and knowledge of this being becomes, and the more attuned you become to the subtle messages it sends to your conscious mind. To cultivate an intimate relationship with your body, you may begin by performing body scans in a quiet space. Moving your mind's eye and awareness from the crown of your head to the soles of your feet, spend time getting to know any and all physical sensations at each of the parts of your body, without placing judgment. These sensations may seem to cease to exist, be ever so slight, or be hard to miss. You may feel a lightness in some areas and a tenseness in others. All sensations are welcome and contain within them unique messages that only you can decode. Yoga Nidra and body scans through apps such as Insight Timer or YouTube may be a great tool for you to use to begin this exploration of your body.

As we know, the body obeys even when the mind is unaware. I hope this opens up your mind to the deep layers of knowledge that this often overlooked being of intelligence contains. Knowledge is power and the more you know, the more informed decisions you can make for your life and for your health. As we only have this one sacred vehicle to roam around our world in, it is in our best interests to regard the body as important and intelligent as the mind. There is much wisdom to be known from our bodies if we listen. Enjoy the process and enrichment of your life by getting to know this close, sometimes mysterious, and intelligent friend of yours.

Namaste.