Mental prowess and superiority are often praised as the pinnacle of the human experience and achievement. Mental intelligence is what often creates wealth, security, position and acknowledgement from others. The brain is often thought of as the most significant organ in the body, the director of the show, and it is to the brain that we often turn to resolve issues such as problem solving in everyday life, depression and mental health issues.
When we have stress, depression or anxiety we are offered ‘talking therapies’ that look at how the brain works and what we think about ourselves, and the world we live in.
Anyone who may be feeling generally unsatisfied with life may consider mindfulness, a technique that offers us, as the name suggests, ‘mind awareness’ and to some degree, a control or a quelling of the thoughts that disturb us.
Now there is some benefit in attempting to control the thoughts we have, for example if we keep repeating thoughts like “I am ugly,” “I am no good,” then yes, it’s fantastic if we can stop perpetuating these thoughts and say “no” when they enter. Mastering the mind makes sense, but attempting to do so while ignoring the rest of our sensitive barometer, our bodies, does not offer us the remedy that we seek.
Is it possible that mindfulness is an extension of the obsession we have with mental intelligence?
We place enormous importance on the brain and excelling in education and excelling in our chosen careers through mental recall. We place weight on the power of the brain over the rest of the body. Most mental health techniques, including mindfulness, neglect the most significant attribute that supports awareness, wellbeing and true whole body intelligence – the Whole Body.
And what is true whole body intelligence? I would say it is a wisdom, a deep knowing and understanding of life that comes from a lived, embodied quality of being… Now I state here clearly, it is awesome to be educated to grasp formulas, the details of life and the world, but not in isolation of the body and not to the detriment of the body.
When did so many of us become detached from our bodies?
A few years ago I could feel that my head ruled my life… it literally dragged my body along. My mind and body were not united. I lived in my thoughts, issues and opinions without considering or caring for my body.
If I had a mental block or indecision I would do mental athletics with all the alternative rationales and scenarios to work out what my next step would be – I would tie myself in knots in the attempt to problem solve.
Practising to include my whole body in life has brought a deeper understanding of life that is precious and my decisions now often come with ease. This is an inner wisdom that I am developing and I see no limits to its potential. I now understand that the way I put myself to bed, brush my teeth, hold my posture, walk, breathe etc., have a direct correlation to the quality of my thoughts and that the more I care for my body the more the quality of these thoughts is enriched, as is my experience and understanding of life.
When we rush, slump or put our body under stress, our thoughts directly correspond to these choices, so choosing to be whole body aware making this our starting point, allows us to connect with the present moment. In the present moment we allow ourselves the space to refine our behaviours and observe the quality of our thoughts to a depth that offers real healing and consistent foundational support in life.
Our whole body holds an inner wisdom that is available when we are ready to access it – true intelligence. And when we connect to this inner wisdom we not only access a clarity and understanding, we are also able to truly care and support ourselves.
Practically, when I honour how I feel I respond more efficiently to my body’s feelings, and in doing so maintain my function, vitality and ability to flourish… my homeostasis. Also when I am honest about feeling energy, the stuff we can’t see but all feel, I then have a deeper awareness of what feels true and not true for me.
Honouring that energy exists, that we feel energy – be it through sensation, feelings or an innate knowing from the body – is a step towards whole body intelligence. If I get cold, hungry, tired, upset, feel tension, do I push these feelings aside, attempt to ignore or deny them, or do I honour what I feel?
The body holds a natural self-awareness of homeostasis; the balance, harmony and functional efficiency is a wisdom that brings clarity and ease… a whole body intelligence is not to be underestimated.
I would suggest true whole body intelligence can only be connected with when we allow ourselves to surrender to what we feel from the body and allowing what we feel to be honoured.
Mindfulness will not offer us the answers that we search for; the mind is only a part of the beautiful whole that is our body. Body-full-ness, Whole-Body Intelligence, this is the way to true healing, wisdom and wellbeing.
By Anonymous.
Related Reading:
Mindfulness is not the Way Back to Who You Are
Whole Body Intelligence – it Lives Within Us All
Intelligence – Is it Embodied or Embrained?
I can feel just how much my mind is resisting the pull to deepen into my body, the battle is between the mind and the body, it feels as though my mind will loose it’s identity if it drops into my body and the spirit that dwells within us is all about self identification. Thats why it has no care for the body it dwells in.
We have an inner wisdom, do we connect with our bodies and allow that wisdom to flourish, ‘ I now understand that the way I put myself to bed, brush my teeth, hold my posture, walk, breathe etc., have a direct correlation to the quality of my thoughts and that the more I care for my body the more the quality of these thoughts is enriched, as is my experience and understanding of life.’
Sometimes what we feel in the body can hurt. So the mind is a great place to escape. However, I now know there are many layers to feeling within the body and often there’s a lot of gold to re-connect to underneath the layer of hurt. Connection cancels out hurt greater than escape does.
Absolutely, Aligning our body to our Inner-heart, Essence / Soul brings an intelligence or wisdom that is undeniable and one day will become the normal way of understanding life and how to be fully aware of how we can evolve.
gregbarnes888, Serge Benhayon uses the Ageless Wisdom teaching to show humanity that there is another way to live from our Inner-heart, Essence/ Soul any of these words fully connected to brings the movement or vibration of the intelligence of the universe through our bodies so we can live within that vibration again. This is how we will evolve.
I totally agree, now a days the buzz word is ‘mindfulness’ and there is such emphasis in the health care industry about healing with the mind and, exercise goes with the body. Which is no different to how we were before.
That ‘inner wisdom’, has no limits and I am tapping more and more into it and, the key is to ’surrender’ to what it is communicating to us.
What would the world be like if we committed more to the body instead of the mind? We would respond to wisdom instead of the intellect. Would exhaustion be eradicated? I would say so, this is worth pondering over…
Shushila I am beginning to appreciate what is on offer when you say
“That ‘inner wisdom’has no limits and I am tapping more and more into it and the key is to ’surrender’ to what it is communicating to us.”
Our spirits are grabbing whatever it can hold onto so that it does not relinquish its hold over our bodies, so to be in the reconnection back to the stillness that we all have within us is so beauti-full because the body can drop even deeper and from that deep place everything is different all the mind games that are played out has no oxygen at that level. It’s like stepping back from the world, while being in the world but from an observational level and not in the thick of it where our spirit can be in control through our minds.
Our mind can play tricks on us but our body always tells the truth.
Mary definitely agree, our minds do play tricks on us. Experiment and see how destructive our thoughts can be, and wonder what is feeding the mind then. It’s bit like the devil and the angel being in our minds, one feeds us thoughts that are destructive and harming to us, whilst the other, gentle and more loving. Thats how the body operates, treat it with gentleness and love and it will respond, treat it destruction and it will react.
I loved what has been shared here, we place so much emphasis on the brain and yet the body never lies or lets us down.
I’m working on something, when I receive these thoughts that are destructive or argumentative, I will actually call it out in myself and say something like, ‘oh you’re here are you,’ intentionally to stop me from going into my body. Our thoughts gets us into trouble so much, yet our body says, I’m here, right by your side to work with you.
If our minds were so intelligent, why then do our bodies, have these aches, pains, or conditions leading to diseases? The physicalness needs healing, but so does the root cause of it too…
We as a race of human-beings have fallen for so many lies and one of them is that
Mental intelligence is what will bring us all wealth, security, position, acknowledgement from our peers, which leads to a false sense of superiority over others. It’s a lie because if we were to connect to our bodies and act on the feelings arising from our innermost we would know that this life has been sold to us based on fear which leads to a desire to feel secure over everything and anything else. and we will fight others to get our share of security so that we feel safe.
It makes perfect sense to me now that when the body is nurtured, listened to, and well taken care of that this impacts our quality of thoughts. The mind is after all one part of the body and when the body is out of harmony or neglected everything will be effected. I know when I go for a walk that I feel much brighter and more positive mentally afterwards, the change can be quite dramatic from this one act of self care.
Melinda spot on, when we nurture ourselves and note the food and drinks we put into our bodies, the thoughts alter, they are more loving and caring. When we are careless and uncaring, it even brings us to the state of being, that our bodies are everyone else’s responsibility but ours – BIG difference.
Spot-on Melinda, taking our whole body for a walk and feeling every aspect as a focus, without any of the usual distractions, will one day be a part of the school curriculum, as it brings us back into our bodies and the wisdom that is evolutionary.
Going for a walk to connect, and nurture our body is a gorgeous way to bring care to ourselves.
What you are sharing Melinda is our movements affect the quality of our thoughts. The teachings of the Ageless Wisdom brought through this time by Serge Benhayon show beyond doubt this science and it is the most amazing science because it can transform our mental health. I have personal experience of this, I can say that I am fully integrated back into life again full of vitality, from being in a very dark and depressed state of mental ill health for years.
There is an article I read recently called “Do you have crazy-buzy-woman-syndrome?” – a great question but it is also exposing of the fact that this is a creation of the mind and all that it conjures up for us to do and to keep busy with without stopping to feel from the body what and how to do things.
When we keep our bodies busy and distracted with food, drink, sports, social media, films, books there are so many ways to race our bodies that there is no way it can be still enough to communicate with us its own intelligence. For many years I disregarded what my body was telling me and the easiest way to do this was with alcohol or sugary foods, alcohol is a form of sugar and this was more than enough to shut my body’s communication down.
The body is our barometer for truth, it is out communicating agent and our connection to Soul. When we get sick or unwell or something is out of balance, could it be that this is because we have ignored the subtler communications that the body has been giving us and is hence now having to speak louder?
This is a great question for everyone to consider, when we become ill, ‘could it be that this is because we have ignored the subtler communications that the body has been giving us and is hence now having to speak louder?’
This is a great question: “Is it possible that mindfulness is an extension of the obsession we have with mental intelligence?” – really it comes back to Body-full-ness for when we consider the body we consider the body as a whole which cannot but include the mind and brain, but when we consider mindfullness, it only considers the body from the mind and not from the whole perspective of how the body is actually feeling and what it is actually communicating.
I feel we live in a world in complete opposite to how it should really be and this blog is to me another example of this. We think of our brain as the most important part of our body, we think it rules the body. When actually if we lived from our hearts and not our brain we would all live in a completely different way. and there is now scientific evidence which proves that actually the heart is far more intelligent than the mind.
The mind is only ever meant to be a servant of the heart.
Mary this is an example where science is proving the teachings of the Esoteric-wisdom that has been shared for a long time and it can also be stated that the heart responds much faster than the mind!
Gregbarnes888 It is interesting to note that there is well researched scientific evidence out there that the heart as you say responds faster than the mind. But is it interesting that no one wants to know this. It ‘s almost as though there is an Elephant in the room that everyone is ignoring, and walking around it because we don’t want to admit that actually it’s not our minds that are smart but actually it’s our heart.
We do live in a world that seems to have so much the wrong way round, this blog being a great example of that, ‘it is awesome to be educated to grasp formulas, the details of life and the world, but not in isolation of the body and not to the detriment of the body.’
Most of us over ride what our bodies are showing us when we are young we think we are invincible. For example I have a young friend who runs and the other day she bent down on her knees and I could hear the clicking and cracking in her knee joints as she bent down and it did not sound very healthy. Too me this is a communication from the knees letting this young friend know that the running is causing a strain on the joints of the knees already at such a young age. If my friend keeps running as a way of staying fit and the body is not listened to I wonder what those knees are going to be like in a few years time? Our bodies are in constant communication with us but how many of us actually stop to listen or appreciate the wisdom they want to share.
This is so true Mary, when we are young we are never taught how important it is to honour, respect and care for our bodies, so many of us abused our bodies with activities like running – ‘Most of us over ride what our bodies are showing us when we are young we think we are invincible.’
I am sure there will be few of us who cannot relate to the often exhausting “mental athletics” we revert to as we move through our day, but how often does this way of approaching our daily challenges actually provide an instant and clear answer? Meanwhile we have a body, a very wise and all knowing one, who is trying to get our attention as it as the answer we are looking for. The ‘fascination of mind over body’ only leads to the ignoring of our natural intelligence, that of our body.
Moving from a place where I spent most of the time listening intently to my mind and as a result ignoring and hurting the wonderful body that was supporting me day in and day out, to a place where I listen to, honour and respect this amazing vehicle, has been like starting life all over again. Yes, I have days when I might not listen as carefully as I could to what it is trying to tell me, but I am finally realising that to work in harmony with my body is the most natural, valuable and supportive choice I could possibly make.
Beautifully shared Ingrid – and this learning to listen and heed the body is a life long process as I have discovered: you get to one point and then you discover that there is more to unfold and more to listen to in more and more subtler ways.
It’s like the gift that keeps on giving Henrietta, you never know what is going to be revealed under the next layer of wrapping – you simply keep on unwrapping without any expectations of what might be revealed next.
I am appreciating the word honouring when it comes to our body honouring what it knows how it can feel energy and the source of the energy is fascinating.
Like you Ingrid I spent my time in my mind completely ignoring what my body was so desperately trying to communicate to me. Listening to our bodies has to be very medicinal.
And the most wonderful thing about the body is that is doesn’t give up trying to get our attention although by the time we finally listen, what it has to say may a life-changing or even sometimes life-ending message. How different life would be if we were raised to listen to this wise ‘vehicle’ of ours from day one.
Absolutely, how ‘ different life would be if we were raised to listen to this wise ‘vehicle’ of ours from day one.’ I have no choice but to listen to my body now after years of over-riding its many messages, and this is a forever deepening learning for me.
“Mindfulness will not offer us the answers that we search for; the mind is only a part of the beautiful whole that is our body.” I love this reminder , for what use is a mind if the body has not been listened too?
This blog offers a clarity, understanding and awareness of the difference between mindfulness and whole body intelligence – the true intelligence that is innate to us all.
Stephanie Stevenson what we are being shown is how devious our spirits are because we have fallen for the trap and it is a trap of being in our minds rather than within our bodies. If we are trapped in our minds then the spirit has total control. The only way our body can show us that this is a trap is through illness and disease. If we have to be brought to our knees before we will admit that the mind is not it then so be it. It is impossible to go against the law of the universe. The spirit tries but what humanity is witnessing shows that it does not have the control it arrogantly thinks it has.
At the moment I know that I feel so much from my body and any time I live from my solo mind then everything gets upset and goes pear shaped. Sometimes it’s not huge and dramatic but an undercurrent of frustration towards myself for not honouring my feelings. My whole body knows it’s not healthy to live in the mind as I get bent out of shape when I do!
I had never come across the term whole body experience until I met Serge Benhayon, actually there are so many things I didn’t know or, more truly said, forgotten about in my body until I met Serge Benhayon. His presentations ask us all to consider the possibility that there is more to life than what we see on the surface. That just underneath there are riches beyond our current imagination it is as though we are looking at the world in monochrome and missing the beauty of the magnificent colours life truly is.
It is either something that resonates with you or it doesn’t the choice is always for the individual to decide. What has been presented by Serge Benhayon over the years as resonated with me and I would not change my current way of living for what I see around me. The difference is like chalk and cheese.
We are a very mind focused world, and when something is up our go-to tends to be the mind to think our way through. The problem with that is we are much more than a mind, yes we also have a whole body but we also have a being and an inner heart that connects us to our soul and our true source God. It may be that until we live connected to all these things we will only ever be providing relief to ourselves with approaches like mindfulness.
We are so much more than a mind as you say Melinda, ‘we also have a being and an inner heart that connects us to our soul and our true source God.’
LJ we have as a race of human-beings been so deeply lied to. The lies are being exposed because the truth will always out the lies. The truth is
“we also have a being and an inner heart that connects us to our soul and our true source God.”
One day we will all know this as the Ageless Wisdom has never been kept hidden from humanity, we are choosing to ignore the truth of the teachings.
A solution that my mind conjures up is often not to my body’s liking. I might feel a tightness, contraction, shrinkage, awkwardness etc. in the body that lets me know that not my entirety agrees with that. I kind of like that when I am made aware of this, it feels like a gorgeous invitation from the body to step in, but back, and surrender, and that feels very beautiful.
All these terms might sound very complex but I love how simple whole body intelligence actually is. All we have to do is feel our body and respond to its signals. As in putting something warm on when we feel cold or sense it is going to be a cold day and the more we truly listen the more in depth we will be able to feel our body and its intelligence.
It is really simple, and honouring of ourselves, ‘Our whole body holds an inner wisdom that is available when we are ready to access it – true intelligence. And when we connect to this inner wisdom we not only access a clarity and understanding, we are also able to truly care and support ourselves.’
The mind tells us what we want to hear, the body tells us what we need to hear. Which do we want to listen to most?
Doesn’t the mind tell you also what you don’t want to hear? The thoughts that need “control or a quelling” as pointed out in this article; the chattering voices…..
Absolutely, at the end of the day it sounds like we need to build a relationship with the mind that pays attention to what it is saying and discerning what we feel is true or not.
I love how succinctly you have expressed this Lucy. The truth of the body and the mind in one wise sentence, wisdom we would benefit from reminding ourselves of regularly. I also love the fact that I have finally realised that my body is definitely my best friend.
Having tried many forms of meditation in my life, I can say that being more aware and present in the moment is definitely a great step forwards in terms of focusing or settling the mind, however this never brought me much more than a temporary relief or respite from a deeper unease or tension I was feeling constantly in the background. Since practicing conscious presence which not only focuses the mind in the present but also reunites the body and the mind together and allows a deeper awareness and understanding of the quality of energy that is occurring within me and around me, I have a much deeper sense of settlement within.
I agree, Andrew. About conscious presence. It’s what I expressed in my previous comment about the word “mindfulness” and its sense of “pleine conscience” being fully conscious and in the moment and very much in the body. Being fully aware. As a whole.
Lynn Evans Davidson there is something about what you have written
“Being fully aware”
That suddenly gave me an understanding that for most of us we are not fully aware of our surroundings but have shut down part of our awareness so that it’s almost as though we sleep walk through life. If you watch a film of say a Cheetah it is using its full bodied awareness it has to so that it can catch it’s prey it hasn’t switched off. So I wonder what is it about us as humans that have switched off or dulled ourselves down so that we are not aware. What don’t we want to be aware of?
From my experience there is a distinct difference between observing and feeling the body from the mind and so our thoughts and feeling the body from the body. Whole Body Intelligence is established and developed through practicing to respond and support the body in all areas of life, in every moment, it is a sensitive, delicate and beautiful exploration. A client at work (I work in massage and exercise) said to me recently ‘it is amazing to feel my body and not just think I am feeling it, they feel really different.’ This is the beauty of going deeper and bringing the mind in unity with the body, but neither being more or less, or separate from one another, rather equal parts of the whole.
I agree entirely, there is an enormous difference between ‘thinking’ you’re feeling your body and actually feeling it. The story with your client is a beautiful example. We spend a lot of our lives one step (or more) away from that presence, that unity.
If we lack attention.
And how wonderful it is to become more fully aware of the body and its wonders. Too many of us live too much in the head. Hence, I believe, many of the imbalances in our world as well as our selves.
The mind is often equated only to thinking but it is also defined as the faculty of consciousness – of our bodies, feelings, being …as well as our thoughts.
The word mindfulness is therefore perhaps misleading and misunderstood. From my experience it is not a state of thinking or of mind over matter. Or of simply observing as some forms of meditation emphasise. It goes beyond this. ‘Bringing body and mind into harmony’.
In French the words “pleine conscience” are used for this state of being. In other words – being fully conscience, being aware and awake to the present moment, truly alive, present, at one. It’s about ‘the whole and the heart’. “Pleine conscience” might avoid some confusion and be a better expression to use.
I agree entirely with what is written in the comment; and I’m sure that Thich would too.: “This is the beauty of going deeper and bringing the mind in unity with the body, but neither being more or less, or separate from one another, rather equal parts of the whole”.
It’s a wonderful equation.
‘It’s a very interesting subject and a great article but my understanding of mindfulness is not one that negates the body. Neither is it solely concerned with the brain. (Although it’s true that it is often marketed that way with the emphasis on ‘thought’ processes).
On the contrary, mindfulness is a state of being fully conscious. it unites the whole of our being. Thich Nhat Hanh, for example, expresses it far better and more simply than I can
“Mindfulness is a source of happiness”.
In my experience this is quite simply and quite profoundly true… He goes on to explain a little:
“Mindfulness is the energy of being aware and awake to the present moment. It is the continuous practice of touching life deeply in every moment of daily life. To be mindful is to be truly alive, present and at one with those around you and with what you are doing. We bring our body and mind into harmony while we wash the dishes, drive the car or take our morning shower”.
Our body and mind in harmony is the essential characteristic. No separation.
And interesting also, is the etymology of the word ‘mind’, part of which is this “Old Norse minni “mind;” German Minne (archaic) “love,” originally “memory, loving memory”.
So perhaps it’s not all about our mental capacity and activity… but more about the whole and the heart.’.
Using the power of the mind over the body can more often than not end us up in trouble – at least this is what has been my experience….For example in just those little moments where the body says I have exercised enough, and the mind says ‘no, just one more lap of the field or one more stretch…etc’ and then too tired to function at optimal level, comes the accident or the injury. On the other hand, trusting the body and its capacity to feel, to know and to communicate as needed is an amazing experience – those little moments of feeling what to do rather than thinking what to do can be so fullfilling. Driving home and just getting the feeling to drive a different way and then encountering something very special along the way. The body has a way of connecting with the magic of the Universe and from this we can learn so much that life does not have to be a struggle but can be an enjoyment despite what happens around.
Beautiful “The body has a way of connecting with the magic of the Universe and from this we can learn so much that life does not have to be a struggle but can be an enjoyment despite what happens around.” Comments that expand and deepen the subject of whole body intelligence, we can learn a great deal through picking up on the details, there is magic in the so called subtle moments and insights that show themselves, when we are gentle and aware of our body as a whole.
Those words caught my attention too Samantha Davidson
“The body has a way of connecting with the magic of the Universe and from this we can learn so much that life does not have to be a struggle but can be an enjoyment despite what happens around.”
Coming back to the knowing that our bodies are in constant connection with the magic of the universe is very reassuring, knowing that it is a constant even if we turned our back on it and sought refuge in our minds, we can never not be a part of the universe.
Our world is geared to support living from the head, thinking things through, analysing things and making decisions based on the pros and cons that we have deemed are so from our critical thinking. And then we have mindfulness that asks us to be more in the mind, in some ways attempting to cultivate a presence and being in the moment but this too is a form of being in the mind and not bringing in the body and especially the quality of the body. The latter is how I used to live a lot – from the mind, making it about the mind and its intelligence. But thankfully I discovered that there is so much more to life than just this 2 dimensional approach and with the support of the Universal Medicine Modalities, I have come to appreciate deeply the intelligence of the body and being present with the body and with a gorgeous quality that feeds me back – life takes on a completely different meaning living like this. This is Gold to discover and it is to me important that people are aware that this exists and that they too have a choice to try it out.
Henrietta Chang the teachings and modalities of Universal Medicine will and do support us to come down from our minds and access our bodies again. I have experienced this myself. I was totally caught up in my mind and it has taken some years to trust myself to come back into my body. What I have found is that as you have said life takes on a completely different meaning. One that is more joyful, to wake up and just be in the joy of the day is an amazing turn around from a life of misery.
Trying to train the brain, or letting the mind have free rein can be very dangerous….see climbing the highest mountain, diving the deepest depths, running over 6 desserts, being the ruler of land….some may thing that this is the pinnacle of humans ability, but it is? What is the purpose in all of this when there is abuse, selfism and chaos below that mountain, above sea level, when people do not have a home under that ruler and all around the desserts is war fare? The mind is there to work harmoniously with the body to support a human being to live a life with other human beings, where the body and being is true nurtured, respected and loved. And so from that simply and without push, harmony, responsibility, love and brotherhood will arise.
love is inclusive
That pushing through the body’s communication is a bad habit from being told to suck it up as a child. We do it for others… yet if we truly offered our body love, self-care and made the relationship we have with our bodies about nurturing, then we would know exactly when, where and how to support another without leaving ourselves sick at the end of it.
The simplicity of wholeness and oneness.. if we live life separated to this knowing, by pushing and driving and striving, sooner or later this false movement and prioritisation of our minds over our bodies, shows up in our body, for us to deal with and learn from.
I would love to write about whole body intelligence so I can be with a fuller understanding and therefore acceptance of it. I understand it is cherishing the relationship you have with it in knowing if you do you can have more clarity. There is so much to feel, unlike the mind is already predetermined merry-go-round reaching a point that you ‘think’ is it but it has already been given to you. The body is continuously giving you more . . . . the mind has already given you a fixed point.
Rik, I have an understanding from my body of what you are saying that our minds are picking up thoughts from a predetermined collective pool of energy that we have all contributed to. I can feel that our bodies are connecting to a completely different source of energy one that is deeply loving, respectful and harmless.
The body holds a natural self-awareness of homeostasis… What a beautiful statement, and this is what needs to be felt, understood, and allowed to revolutionise what has taken the place of true connection within.
This makes me think about how the body is like a business. You can’t rely just on salespeople without the support of the back office staff, assistants, accountants, etc. If you place emphasis on one area only it’s just a matter of time before something gives. Our bodies are no different. Treat the body, or in this example the business, as whole for the most successful results.
Well said Nick, and I often talk about being the CEO of an important company (my body) and in order to run it successfully, it is up to me as CEO to ensure that all the employees (the organs and organ systems) are working well together and in harmony. It is a huge responsibility to be CEO after all!
Nick that’s a great analogy that our bodies are like a business and it requires teamwork to ensure that there is a flow and harmony to our bodies, in just the same way there should be a flow and harmony with a business because everyone relies on everyone else to do their part that’s the harmony. Not many businesses are run this way just as there are not many bodies that are run this way either. Is this why we are all breaking down with illness and disease because there is a lack of harmony in our bodies?
Surrendering, listening and responding to my body I bring all of my being to the fore. Ignoring or holding back what my body is communicating with me and then I hold back not only my evolution but the offering of evolution to others.
Recently at work I was shown a mindfulness meditation for pain relief and really they are no different to when I played video games with cramps. Because you are in your mind, intently focused upstairs, the pain in the body gets drowned out. It doesn’t make the cause of the pain go away but it distracts us from it. I’m not saying this is a bad thing to want to not feel pain, but when I feel the energy of the pain from my body then the sensation of pain reduces as the energy starts to clear out and the reaction to the pain is what is the most disturbing factor.
“Now I state here clearly, it is awesome to be educated to grasp formulas, the details of life and the world, but not in isolation of the body and not to the detriment of the body.” I agree entirely, we do need to learn lots of things about life but not at the expense of also being in touch with our body and the awareness and wisdom we can connect with via this.
The feedback from the body and the bodies of people around us is far quicker feedback than waiting for research. If there is even an inkling that something would be more caring, kinder and build a sense of brotherhood with each other then why wait for research to catch up?!
Time to make the Director of the show the Inner Heart ✨
Trying to solve the problem that the mind has created, with the mind only leads to more frustration and complication, being aware of what we are feeling in the body brings a truth and clarity to any situation.
I think it was Einstein (or some other onto-it being) that wrote something like – you cant solve a problem with the same thinking that created it. And that saying came to be when we try to solve a busy mind with our minds – it never worked for me!
The mind can only be fascinated by itself.
So true Michael and the mind arrogantly thinks it is above the body and is separate from it.
The body really does not like it when we ignore it. The more we ignore it the louder it speaks.
“When we rush, slump or put our body under stress, our thoughts directly correspond to these choices” This is an experiment we should all put ourselves on! We should never take this one as ‘just because someone said so it makes it true’ as it is far more powerful to feel what your body communicates with you in the rush, slump or stress.
Yes we want a solution so mindfulness will be what we accept till such time as we come to an understanding that it didn’t change how the body was feeling, it just built up some resilience to what was going on. I wonder whether we really want true change as we prefer the quick solutions.
Lucy we are all expressing as though we have a say in the matter, but what if we have no say that we are being moved by an unseen energy, that is just playing with us and moving us around as it dictates. Supposing we are just being manipulated, if this is true then where are we getting this so-called intelligence from? And doesn’t it rather put us in our place to consider the possibility that we do not think but are given what to think.
This article reminds me of a saying ” getting ahead of ourselves ” – it conjures up a picture of a body-less head moving around in space, but that is how we live a lot of the time, resenting this body that we have to drag around, until one day the body lets us know in no uncertain terms of its existence, whether by disease, illness or accidents, we are then brought to account.
This is really interesting; ‘I now understand that the way I put myself to bed, brush my teeth, hold my posture, walk, breathe etc., have a direct correlation to the quality of my thoughts and that the more I care for my body the more the quality of these thoughts is enriched.’ Reading this I can feel that it is the quality of our movements that are key.
The more we care for ourselves and connect to the present moment, the greater our inner wisdom, our clarity, and the more simple life becomes when we are able to live from a natural way of being.
“The body holds a natural self-awareness of homeostasis; the balance, harmony and functional efficiency is a wisdom that brings clarity and ease”.
I was just marvelling about this the other day as I am looking at how I go to the toilet – yep true story :-). When I get the call to go the toilet, particularly for number two’s. I am heeding the call and going straight there and then allowing my body to do what it needs to do (i.e. no pushing or forcing it to happen – or delaying it actually). And I was in awe of this process when you allow it to happen as it wants (i.e. no pushing/delaying) because our body knows so much. It knows how to process my food, and when it is time to expel it. It is then up to us to listen and honour that.
A ‘talking therapy’ can never even fathom to reach what we can get through a Universal medicine ‘walking therapy’.
Eduardo, you’ve reminded me that all talk and no walk gets us nowhere, as in we do not evolve at all if we rely on just talking. We need to walk our talk and talk our walk.
Walking and talking with a friend can restore harmony and bring much joy.
Recently I was involved in a team exercise where the mind was asked to be involved in some ‘mental aerobics’ by answering quiz questions that became progressively harder with each question. The team involved believed that it was important to do these regularly so that a person’s self esteem is increased. Competition, comparison and intellectual prowess overlooks the wisdom and awareness the whole body intelligence offers. When I have the opportunity to bring the ‘whole’ of my body to any situation, relationship or any moment, the fullness of who I am is confirmed and deepened. This experience is the opposite to the quiz question referred to earlier.
I am struck by the sentence “I lived in my thoughts”. We can live in the endless fascination and stimulation of our thoughts, however we completely miss the simplicity, beauty and power of living in the wisdom and knowing of our whole body intelligence.
The mind complicates with the thoughts running round and around in the head trying to figure out the best solutions to the problem that it more than likely created in the first place. The more we practice listening to our body the louder it will become in letting the mind know what will be truly supportive to our whole being. Why make life complicated when we can keep it far simpler when we simply listen to what our bodies are telling us, after all we all know the mind can play tricks – lie to us, whereas the body speaks the truth.
deidremedbury you have just described how we so easily complicate life
“The mind complicates with the thoughts running round and around in the head trying to figure out the best solutions to the problem that it more than likely created in the first place.”
We love to complicate life because in the complication we do not allow ourselves to have any access to the true intelligence that our bodies can offer.
Honouring that energy exists and that I can feel energy is so supportive to my health and well-being. Ignoring it breeds tension and miscommunication.
Our mind can convince us of the most ridiculous things when we do not connect with the intelligence of the body first, things like we have not been able to solve the level of poverty, abuse etc in the world but we are happy to send people into 0uter space.
The mind is the ultimate trickster and to base an entire technique on it, as in mindfulness, does not make sense. Our body holds the answer and the mind must be second to the heart. If not, we get forever more solutions, of which mindfulness is one, rather than true answers.
‘Our whole body holds an inner wisdom that is available when we are ready to access it – true intelligence.’ Well said, the bulk of humanity have championed the intelligence of the mind and always promoted it as being the ultimate. This is a limiting belief as it misses out on the true intelligence we all have access to that connects us to the grandness of universal intelligence and multidimensionality.
The mind has constant activity and is virtually impossible to shut up, and its role is to be active indeed. However it is the quality of that activity that is key and hence how we work with this active mind is determined by how the body is in its activity. So if we can work on the quality of the way we move then we can actually support the mind to be reigned in and calm down from its usual cacaphony that can happen when we allow it free reign and allow what I call ‘headnoise’ to take over. Now that’s food for thought!
Mind-full-ness versus Body-full-ness – body fullness never leaves any part lesser.
Mental athletics are absolutely exhausting… so true.
There is an intelligence that far exceeds the ‘mindful’ intelligence that comes from only the mind… and this intelligence is ‘Love’… And this intelligence of Love comes from our body… so it would seem fitting to caution soul-ly focusing on the mind as the source of intelligence and isolating it from the intelligence of the heart.
What about the things the body does without having to connect to the mind? Painters, musicians, accountants, and mothers for a few that do what they do because it feels right.
The conversation with our body brings clarity and ease, it is unfiltered if we allow ourselves to actually listen! What amazes me is how the mind interprets what the body communicates and can choose to numb it or change its communication to suit its agenda – e.g ‘I don’t need to go to the toilet yet, I am sure I can finish this document first…’ um…maybe not! Don’t you love the honesty of a child’s bladder – when they need to go they need to go!
Where we are given a choice and start to understand how our body operate without being mind-full our body quickly shares. When being mind-full it is so like trying to rule the hen house with the gate open, we quickly learn that they fly the coup or get eaten alive. As does our mind also wants to run a muck and leave the sanctity of the whole body, with the increased awareness that is always on offer, therefore we are like live bate waiting in our supposed safe little nest with the door wide open and never aware of what is pulling our strings, so we are awaiting in tension not knowing that “mindfulness is an extension of the obsession we have with mental intelligence”. Increased awareness knows when to open or close the gate, as it has a deep understanding of the whole body so we know if our strings are being pulled and what is safe for us to explore thus relieving any tension.
‘Mastering the mind makes sense, but attempting to do so while ignoring the rest … our bodies’ makes no sense and this neatly captures why mindfulness is too narrow, it doesn’t allow for our bodies the key in fact to our thoughts, for how we move dictates how we think.
Mindfulness…. A ‘mind-full’ of what? Is it full of thoughts images, picture that take us away from the body? … A body wherein lays the heart and doorway into our Soul?
A playful question, Johanne. Our minds can be so full at times that it has no space to move once it is clogged up with mental energy.
It is interesting how in society, there is a fascination of mind over body, but really, our fascination should lay with the body, as the body is like the doorway to the Soul. It is through the body we connect to this quality and space and not through our mind. Esoteric Yoga is a Universal Medicine modality that shows you this fact.
The mind can have us believing all sorts of things but the body is giving us clues all the time as to how to live in harmony. Esoteric Yoga bridges the gap and allows for mind and body to be one and for us to feel the fullness, stillness, and harmony this brings.
I was chatting to someone recently and they were telling me how they encouraged both their boys to go to university to get a degree to secure the best paid job with lots of money. Their son has a law degree but is not practicing law after all the effort to get the degree because apparently he cannot get a job in law. Their other son is a qualified medical doctor working all hours but is not reaping the rewards of his degree as he works long hours at a low wage set by the government. So the idea and belief that if we rely on our minds to get us a piece of paper that says we can recall/ regurgitate certain information is going to get us a secure well paid job is a fallacy. This someone owns a company and they have people with university degrees contacting the company for the most menial of positions just to get a job that on paper they are overqualified for. I do wonder if we put too much emphasis on going to university because we think it is going to secure us the best paid job, when in actual fact it doesn’t, and a lot of graduates end up with a massive debt to pay back.
Choosing a profession because it’s a good money earner must be a recipe for disaster; what can money do when our heart is not in it? How are the patients treated when the practitioner resents what they are doing and how poorly they are getting paid? How does the law graduate feel when he cannot get a job in his chosen discipline and what does he bring to the position he holds now?
To confirm the power of whole body intelligence all we have to do is experience a change in movement with our body and feel the flow-on effect. This immediately influences the mind and the connection and power the ‘whole body’ can bring working together is confirmed. All it requires is full presence in each moment and connection to our breath.
This article represents a science that many are loath to acknowledge, as to do so will mean looking at the life one has constructed, as quite possibly this life will completely change. Hear in lies the problem, as we already innately know it will (and actually crave for this to be the case) but struggle to allow that to happen.
Speaking from the mind one can literally say whatever they want. But the body the mind is held in is often conveying, through movements, gestures and expressions the absolute opposite to what the mind says. We all know this for ourselves and see it in others. This simple fact is proof positive that the mind working alone will often lie, manipulate or try to control. Where as when one is humble enough to say what one feels, truthfully, the mind surrenders to what the body feels. In my experience, the healing from this is huge and constantly on going.
The mind on its own has us running around in circles and is full of indecision, thoughts that seemingly come from nowhere and many curved balls.
Whole body intelligence is the key to our evolution, whereas the mind continues us on a course of destruction that cannot last.
Yes you can take a camel to a well but you can-not make it drink! So we can express the virtues of being connected but it is up to everyone to choose for them-self.
Understanding that when we step back from a watery problem life changes as we open our body to all that is around us. So being on a watery path and not getting wet takes our whole body to understand the water is only a medium or energy that we indulge in or float to the top so we can extract our-self. So it is the same with energy we come to an understanding that our body is all-ways surrounded by energy and it is our choice to use our whole body and thus move with our body that maintains the energy of Love from our inner-most-essence.
My head ruled the roost for a long time and my body was far more functional (walking, pooing, etc…) and I made it get quite fit and unfit at times. And I had to manage anxiety a lot during this time. It was only when I started to think of the body as a whole and not separate parts for separate activities, did the true healing begin and I started to feel much more steadier and much more capable within life. It’s quite obvious when you write it like this…if you have bits that are separated, they are never as strong as all the bits coming together. I have found Esoteric Yoga a great way to start to build a stronger connection to the body.
Saying Mantras and positive thinking is a common way people think they are supporting themselves, but how much of this is actually felt in the body is a completely different thing! What truly makes a difference in our lives, is when the body speaks and delivers. This is something that is not always that easy to do despite it being our natural and innate way of being – and this is because we have tread so far from this way of being that we have in fact ‘forgotten’ how to make the body our first and foremost leader, for after all the body is the bridge to the Soul.
Mindfullness is very body-numbing.
There is so much in what you share here, a whole world unfolds in front of us when we let our body show us the way through life, not by giving in to our moods but by building, through self-love and self-care, an ever deepening relationship with ourselves and our body, understanding more the correlation between how we are with ourselves in everything we do and the effects this has in how we will feel and what we will do next. What we do in one moment will set us up for the next.
Yes, everything influences our state of being, how we are with ourselves, what we eat, how we are with others, when we go to bed, those are all contributors to how we feel, what we think, how deeply we care.
At the moment in philosophy we are looking at what makes us ‘us’ – is it the brain, the body, or something ‘more’ or a combination of these things? In the most recent section they have begun to discuss consciousness and how we have ‘conscious thought’ like when we are doing a puzzle and unconscious thought which is common and all those times when we are on auto pilot, doing something and not with us as we do it like making a cup of tea that is so familiar we can be off thing about something else as we do it. They shrug this off as a normal part of life, missing what to me seems like a key part of the very deeply personal, philosophical and meaningful question of what makes us who we are. How could the very fact of us living so very disconnected to who we are not be worth looking at and considering? Surely this disconnection between the body walking, cooking, driving and us thinking shows there is a distinction between the two, and that surely begs the question of what happens when we spend so much time disconnected? We are not just a mind, we are also a body but what is running the body when the mind is miles away?
“Mental intelligence is what often creates wealth, security, position and acknowledgement from others” – it may well do sadly, though a body that is without the quality of love as the foundation of anything in life leads to a life of emptiness and void where no amount of money or accomplishment satiates. As i’ve experienced myself over the years the satiation point only comes with the arrival of (self) love.
If the mind is a receiver of images, thoughts and ideas, it makes me consider how ‘mindfulness’ encourages one to become more focused on the head and not be less in touch or feel connected with the body as a whole one unit. If we know that “Our whole body holds an inner wisdom that is available when we are ready to access it…” it would seem fitting for us to become more aware and connected with our body, and lets say ‘body-fullness’ in order to connect to a deep inner stillness that radiates from our heart centre.
To leave the body and its own intelligence separate from the mind does not make sense when it is our body that houses our whole being.
Yes, agree, especially, considering our heart centre is in the body. How can there be love in mindfulness, when the focus is on a movement away from the body and up into the head?
Recently I went to a specialist with my daughter who was very pro mindfulness meditation. It got to the point where he was very forceful with wanting her to take up the practice, and because we didn’t want to take on board what he was promoting, he got quite agitated with us.
If we live from the agenda of our mind we create inner conflict within ourselves, and all that entails, as our body has its own agenda, which eventually has to be honoured as it is the true one.
Trying to control thoughts by not thinking about them is like standing under a waterfall with an umbrella. Until we deal with the source of the water or just step out of the water and observe why we were standing there to start with we will continue to stay wet!
ha ha that is a very funny but a very true picture. The thoughts are going to keep coming if we don’t ask where those thoughts are coming from and why.
There are moments where you just simply have an absolute knowing, it seems to come from your body far more so than the thought in your head.
The body is a magnificent vehicle that continuous to amaze me in its sophistication and yet when truly living with it, its rhythm and natural working, life becomes very simple. To me this shows the grandness of the universe, it encompasses the all that there is and yet there is never complication but always a rhythm and flow working with the all.
I know a lot of people are quick to jump on the mindfulness bandwagon but aren’t so interested when presented with full body intelligence. Kind of crazy really when a head on its own wouldn’t be much use at all if it didn’t have a body.
This is a great and logical point you are making here, our head is nothing without the rest of the body and vice versa. It is the whole body that counts and never just one part of it.
We could definitely have some fun with this Kevin…. a sea of heads trying to get around on popsicle sticks having decided they don’t need the toes, feet, ankles, legs, torso etc. Presumably there would equally be the bodies waiting patiently on the sidelines for the minds to eventually figure out that they are meant to be a whole!
There is a possibility that as humans, we arrogantly think we can run the body as if it is our own personal slave rather than take in to consideration we are a whole, one, head to toe unit. The head can’t do without the body , just as much the body can’t do without the head.
Given that our body is the house of our soul the respect we offer it should be unsurpassable and consistent for it is through it that God comes through.
It is a choice – like choosing to just have a blinkered view and only see what you want to focus on, or being open to receiving information from and being aware of everything that is going on around you.
An example for me is driving: do I choose to only focus on the road ahead, or do I stay open to observing what is going on around me, what is shown in my side and rear mirrors and the sounds as I drive. Similarly in life, I consider it unwise to just focus on the thoughts we receive through our brain and ignore the depth of awareness that is accessible through the interraction our bodies have with the Universe at a particle level.
We know mental intelligence does not have the answers, people can be very clever but still have mental health issues and depression. The obsession of the mind trying to sort things out will never get the true answers, the truth comes from the wisdom from within the body.
There is something that strikes me as hilarious about mindfulness. The mind clearly has machine- or computer-like properties but there also seems to be something that is beyond these machine-like properties. Trying to get to these beyond items through a machine (isn’t that mindfulness?) seems to be a strange concept.
Yes, and this makes me wonder why would we even want to be and live machine like, when we have a whole body that gives us so much more than mere function.
‘mindfulness is an extension of the obsession we have with mental intelligence’ ….Yes ,we think that our mind is kingpin, because we can make anything up in our heads and that be a ‘reality’. But is it true, and does it take us anywhere… other than around and around in the same old circles? Does anything truly change? When we engage the fullness of the feeling body first and foremost, then we have the possibility of connecting to the truth of life, how we live and what that means.
Well stated.. “the mind is only a part of the beautiful whole that is our body. Body-full-ness, Whole-Body Intelligence, this is the way to true healing, wisdom and wellbeing…”
“The body holds a natural self-awareness of homeostasis; the balance, harmony and functional efficiency is a wisdom that brings clarity and ease…” – This line was a revelation for me. Not that I did not know that the human body is always moving to maintain a homeostatic state of harmony within it, but that if one thinks that the mind should be the focus of how, what, and why we live, then they are destined to be on a rollercoaster of mental and emotional energies as it negates the true wisdom of the body that can be the guide for us to come back to a harmonic state of being.
Our mind is only part of the show. Our answers are contained within our whole body. Also how we think, or the quality of our thought very much depend on the quality of our movements. Therefore we cannot leave our body out of this in favour of our mind or from controlling the mind.
The pride of my spirit does not like it, however the fact that the quality of our movements affects the quality of our thoughts is an absolute clincher on that fact that it is not our brain itself that is the one calling the shots.
Operating from the human mind at the expense of the body leaves scant space for awareness, fresh and revealing insights or forever new and often unexpected opportunities. Connecting to our body’s wisdom is very nurturing, vitalising and refreshing as it gets us out of the circulatory old patterns of our stale thought patterns which are habitually fixed on survival, security above all else and the pursuit of personal advantage, no matter what.
There could be a similarity here to spending one’s life in front of a computer or in front of one’s phone if one has to leave one’s home. It seems equally limiting.
Most of us have plenty of moments when we have a sense and awareness which cannot be explained by our mind, in fact at times I have chosen to ignore my feeling following the logic as dictated by my mind and have ended up seeing the error further down the line. It is curious that we keep insisting that the mind provides greater intelligence when logic itself would say that there is something more that we can sense with our whole being.
The head can literally feel like it is sending us round the bend, and puts us into overwhelm. The body will always support us to return us to our connection to truth when we choose to feel it.
” Mindfulness will not offer us the answers that we search for; the mind is only a part of the beautiful whole that is our body. Body-full-ness, Whole-Body Intelligence, this is the way to true healing, wisdom and wellbeing. ‘
Whole body intelligence makes sense, for when one looks and feels the energy of a baby one connects with the whole body and feels the love a baby emanates , its a whole body expression.
What is the old saying? A healthy mind a healthy body, but I feel we can safely turn that one around and say a healthy body a healthy mind.
“Body intelligence can only be connected with when we allow ourselves to surrender to what we feel from the body and allowing what we feel to be honoured.” This is significant, because for ages I could not understand what people who talked about the intelligence of the body were on about. It was because I was trying to work it out with my brain.
It has been a slow journey with the support of the various Universal Medicine modalities, and the Gentle Breath Meditation, that I have managed to surrender enough to actually start feeling the awareness impulsed from within my body. There is a huge difference between that level of awareness and how my brain ticks.
“choosing to be whole body aware making this our starting point, allows us to connect …” Body connection brings awareness and awareness in turn brings self care to the choices we make. Rather than ‘ticking boxes’ of self care, including the whole body develops a settlement and connection to love within.
How is mindfulness any different to any other form of escaping from the simple reality of what one is feeling in their body? It is from listing to and living life from our bodies that instigates healing and the personal growth we all essentially crave.
Connecting to what we feel and then responding to life from this depth anchors us into our bodies where one can feel content and truly settled.
For too long have we been acting as if it is all about our thinking mind. No amount of connecting to our mind, trying to let go or alter our thoughts, or controlling our brain function will ever bring what you have mentioned – feeling content and truly settled. Nor will it help us connect to our deep innate awareness.
My mind has gotten me to far darker places than my body has!
Yes, our mind can take us anywhere but always at the expense of the body because even with so called good thoughts we vacate our body and are elsewhere thus not conscious of what is happening with our body.
There is a branch in computing that is called black-box computing. The purpose is to duplicate an existing program without knowing how the programs works internally – all you have access to is the output. It is extremely hard to duplicate an unknown existing program and I wonder if we are in the same position when we work on our mind – we really don’t know how our mind works internally or even where thoughts come from.
Our mind is an amazing tool though given it is possible to make a choice with our mind at the expense of our body we need to consider that something is amiss. For when we listen to our body this does not occur, for example our body tells us when to stop eating, though we can override this message with our mind and keep eating.
It seems that we over ride the intelligence of the heart and love by our head/mind. It is the body that emanates these qualities, hence, this is where we should pay more attention to.
Mindfulness holds the thinking mind supreme without consideration for the quality of the source of intelligence, and completely negates the body. The human body never works in parts – it is an amazing flowing system of interconnectedness.
When I was just in my mind all it gave me was constant anxiousness and nervousness and wanting to better myself all at the expense of my body. All these mindfulness techniques and fascination with allowing the brain to lead the way all comes from the mind, so it shows how powerful modalities that focus on the body and connecting to our inner heart are for humanity.
Yes, there is lots to learn about the relationship between mind and emotions.
Everything in this life is geared around being in our head – so it can come as quite a shock that there could be another way to live. It’s like we exclaim ‘hey how come nobody told me?’. But our body has been telling us this ever since we were born. Thanks for clearing this up.
So true Joseph. Whilst we keep ignoring the wisdom which our body communicates to us constantly, we can carry in the illusion that our mental thoughts are our one and only source of intelligence. Yet as so many people have tried and testified, when you start paying attention to and honouring what is felt via the body, it becomes evident that this is by far the deepest and most reliable source of awareness.
The drive to develop our mental intelligence comes from the recognition that society feeds us as success and security. But true power comes from knowing ourselves from the body, from inside out, from within and living our quality of life from there.
I was presenting to some psychologists about actually reconnecting To their bodies… Building the bridge of reconnection, and within that reconnection feeling the truth of stillness… One commented that this was an amazing experience, to have mindfulness as an experience in the body rather than just on the mental plane
‘Most mental health techniques, including mindfulness, neglect the most significant attribute that supports awareness, wellbeing and true whole body intelligence – the Whole Body.’ It is interesting that the prevailing consciousness puts the brain, head and shoulders above the rest of the body (pun intended)! Yet philosophers such as Plato have been expressing for centuries that a part cannot be well unless the whole is well. This means that we have to consider the whole body when relating to health and to life.
This is such a relevant discussion point – that our mind and bodies do not work in union but that for the most part our mind seems to run the show. i certainly ticked this box – seeing it as totally normal because thats how the world was. But look at us – we’re getting sicker and sicker – our bodies are crying out – and now I actually know what it is like to feel my body and where I am at and it has supported me to take more care of my body.
Yes HM it’s clearly visible that living from our minds just doesn’t work. Living from our body and making choices from there is a form of medicine.
Mental intelligence has dominated us as a society but it is important to remember that the gut is full of nerve endings and the heart has its own neurons, so in effect its own nervous system, independent from the brain. It is being learned that the intelligence of the body is far greater than the brain.
Thank you I have been reminded of posture as I read your blog and how magic it is in reconnecting us to a clarity and uprightness that aligns us to a much more vital way of being. Awareness and appreciation of posture is a great way we can support ourselves, it takes only a few seconds to readjust and reconnect.
Controlling our thoughts or even changing our thoughts so we are thinking in a more positive manner may seem like a really good thing to do and may even produce a “positive change”. But is this true when our whole body contains the same intelligence and the intelligence is ignored for the betterment we are obtaining through thinking positively.
It is our mind that ties us up in knots and not our body. When we listen to the body life becomes very simple.
Hah! This so clearly shows the illusion of getting wound up with the antics of the mind and then having the mind to think up strategies to making it better.
It is amazing to experiment the whole changing the body posture thing when I have a negative thought. The thought really is halted when I change position, stand or sit more upright… it’s like an eraser rubbing out the mark. I can either redraw the same mark, or make a different one depending on how I chose to move my body next.
I love trying and experimenting with it as well Rachel – my mind still cannot comprehend or compute it but the thoughts are not there anymore. It is in these moments that I can find myself actively seeking them and trying to recreate them which shows me that I am starting to see my part in wanting them rather than simply blaming things outside of me. So then I have to ask why would I want to be anything less than the love that I am. What would it actually mean if I took full responsibility and lived the love I am in full without any holding back. It is definitely worth pondering on that each movement I am given an opportunity to bring my all or not.
What is so mind-blowingly simple is how taking care of our bodies enhances our whole experience of life – our relationship with ourselves, with others, with life.. the more we truly look after ourselves, the more at ease we start to feel, and more deeply connected to ourselves and everyone else.
What makes one cell more intelligent than another when each is so incredible in how it knows exactly what it’s function is, how to replicate itself, divide and repair?
This is a great lesson in equality, not championing one over others, but seeing they all make up the whole, are interdependent relying on each other, and if we don’t care equally for them all then the parts we neglect or mistreat will end up destroying the whole.
“We place enormous importance on the brain and excelling in education and excelling in our chosen careers through mental recall.”
I always found this a bit funny when at school the big deal about learning stuff, learning stuff thats in a book, and how ‘great’ a student was if they knew what was in the books.
Spot on John, intelligence in our current society is seen as that which one has learned from an external source, and there are no accolades for the intelligence that is innate to the body.
We want to detach for our body because it tells us everything that we need to know about life and how we could live it – and we do not want to take that responsibility. And the more we listen to our body, the more refining it asks for.
Honoring that energy exists and that we can feel it is huge because for most of us we have not been educated to understand energy in it’s true meaning. We are taught that energy can light up a light bulb for instance but it is all external. We are not taught that energy is flowing through us constantly and that it is this energy more than food that impacts us every second of the day.
Great point Ariana – to really be conscious of and present in your body feels so totally different to any kind of checked out state. There is an orientation to the sensation everywhere with no favourites, to observe what the story is and inform us of everything that there is to be felt.
No matter how big we think our brains are, our bodies are ten times bigger, and our heart is the true seat of our power.
I love this Simon, it highlights how much bigger we make the brain than it truly is. We take one part of the body and champion it above all else, all the while we have a whole body that knows so much more.
Yes, beautifully expressed Simon and when we champion one aspect above the whole, as you say Esther, we miss out on so much as we are the sum of the parts, not pieces.
Posture makes a huge difference to our thinking. Currently doing Esoteric Connective Tissue exercises for myself I feel the expansion from inside my body and the openness this also allows in my head. These exercises allow for there to be a natural flow of energy throughout the whole body including the head as part of the body.
Absolutely true Elaine, I love the way the connection to the body actually switches my head from over thinking. The more we feel the subtle movement in the body, the louder the body speaks to us.
We cannot control the mind. The mind runs its own agenda, at the expense of the body. What we can do though is to master the mind and bring it in line with what we feel in and from our body, whole-body-mindedness. The cardio-centric way of life has been known for ages and it might just be time that we make it our way of life; nothing else has worked, or has it?
Mindfulness leaves you with no clarity or sense of self, it is the complete opposite of living from your body.
Mindfulness is being taught to the children in our local school, because the teachers care and they can see that some pupils are sliding off the rails of life and they want to be able to offer them a tool so that perhaps they can save just a few. Mindfulness is what it is because there is nothing else on offer and so many people are seeking for something to help to alleviate the mental instability that seems to be taking over. Mindfulness is not, in my view, the answer. But that is only because I have had the grace of experiencing the Gentle Breath Meditation with Serge Benhayon, I am not lucky I just chose to listen. And its not that the Gentle Breath Meditation is the answer either, but it certainly offers a space in which to explore the possibility that we actually have all the answers already within our inner-most hearts.
A full mind often equates with an empty body. That is, if we allow the mind to be filled by external thoughts, beliefs, ideals etc. without letting the love from our hearts impulse what the mind then ‘thinks’, we become top heavy and bottom empty. This is how we have fashioned ourselves to move in separation to the part of us that is deeply connected to and in tune with our innate godliness.
Mindfulness-takes us out of our body and into our heads and when we are not connected to our body we are at the mercy of all sorts of energy.
There is so much more than what we have been told is intelligence, yet it requires letting go of the little mind we cling onto and opening up to a much more expansive form of intelligence.
Thank you for this very clear explanation of why any meditation or technique is not going to be the answer if it does not include the wisdom of the body and connection to the quality of our essence.
For far too long we have been relying on the limited intelligence the mind has to offer when there is so much intelligence to be learnt through whole body intelligence, feeling as well as thinking. When will it be that this can be introduced into schools right across the board?
The gut has a nervous system, and the heart has a nervous system and the whole body gives us messages. We do not need to focus on the brain for our intelligence, the whole body intelligence is the truth.
This feels very true, it makes sense to use whole body intelligence rather than only using part of our body – our mind, I love the simplicity and ease with which the body knows what to do compared to the complication of trying to work things out solely from the mind; ‘I would suggest true whole body intelligence can only be connected with when we allow ourselves to surrender to what we feel from the body and allowing what we feel to be honoured.’
The more we expose the false direction that mindfulness has taken us in the better… I observe the trap that it is as the new ‘trendy’ in our schools and communities; a further distancing from the true intelligence held in our whole bodies.
It’s great to bust the myth on the importance of the mind and bring it back to the whole body, it’s taken me a number of years to grasp the importance of whole body and connecting to my body but now I speak from a knowing that the whole body is the key to life and the mind is not the answer.
“My mind and body were not united. I lived in my thoughts, issues and opinions without considering or caring for my body.” And gosh that does not feel very nice. Last night I came home and was fragile and tired and my body wanted to be put lovingly to bed, my head wanted popcorn and to watch an episode of a show. My head got its way and today I feel super tired and my guts feel not very nice. When the head rules the roost without consideration of the body, the body suffers for sure. A loving work in progress to bring the mind in line with the body. Somedays I am all over it, some days not so much.
‘Mindfulness’, yet another cunning ploy to keep us in our heads and away from the truth of our bodies. Even when mindfulness teaches being mindful of the body, it doesn’t bring truth because it’s delivered by an energy that doesn’t want us to feel the truth. Only the truth can deliver us to truth.
The whole saying ‘mind over matter’ is basically the definition of mindfulness, using the power of the mind to control the body rather than being in rhythm with it
I feel the difference between mind-led and whole body-led activity very acutely these days. My mind on its own feels incomplete and unable to access a quality of stillness and space that my body knows and feels so well. My mind is brilliant at lists, function and to dos and is a super cool tool when used in collaboration with my whole body which feels and understands the much bigger picture.
Just the fact that with our thoughts we can ignore our body and so much else in life, while in contrast when we are in tune with our body, not only do we act in honouring of every part of ourself, but also we are naturally in harmony with everything else, reflects clearly that our mind is not where true wisdom lies.
Whole-body-full-ness brings in the innate-wisdom and therefore the realisation we are more than our thoughts. So as you have shared, our body shines a power-full light on ‘mindfulness’, which allows us to clearly see who we are.
” Mastering the mind makes sense, but attempting to do so while ignoring the rest of our sensitive barometer, our bodies, does not offer us the remedy that we seek ”
See this makes no sense ” mindfulness ” if we ignore the body then its just the ” mind ” being ” mindful “
Its deeply humbling and confirming to begin to tap into the magnitude of our true sensitivity to energy, indeed our bodies are the barometers through which we can feel and explore the true nature of our movements.
As human beings we love to pursue options and investigate possibilities, yet ironically as a race we seem to be stuck. This is fascinating because it seems to me the one thing we haven’t greatly explored is the chance that our mind actually is not ‘the boss’. The fact that we religiously ignore our body much to its detriment is to me and indication that something in this equation is not right. Thank you for bringing this up.
‘Is it possible that mindfulness is an extension of the obsession we have with mental intelligence?’ Yes , and if we let the mind-thoughts have their way, we are blocking ourselves from the gloriousness of full body intelligence.
I love this blog. There is such a whole-ness about it. The offering is to acknowledge our whole body, not just our mind. It’s like a big warm embrace.
Bringing in the detail with movements and the way we move fully present with ourselves has to be more true or in alignment to our truth because if we are saying mindfulness is the way, we are bringing focus to our thoughts which is great but there isn’t necessarily love within that because we all know we can think happy thoughts but if we don’t feel the truth of them in our bodies, its all just words/thoughts.
We could consider mindfulness as a way to go, but we have to ask ourselves what we are filling our mind with. There is nothing wrong with being present, in fact it’s important to be present, but in what quality are we present? Being present means being present with the body too. So what quality are we bringing to our presence? We cannot decide from the mind how we are going to be. If it is not a reality in the body we are just lying to ourselves. Healing starts with taking care of the body and being present with it. Nothing from our mind can change that.
When we get an infection, digest food, cut our finger or any other activity of the body our mind does not know how to respond – our body does and therefore I much prefer to trust that intelligence to know what is best for me. However, for long time I believed the mind knew best and so I am now having to re-educate myself.
It takes work and dedication to honour the body over the thoughts of the mind. I am finding Esoteric Yoga a great tool for reminding me of the body and its wisdom.
I agree Heather, the Esoteric Yoga modality supports us to connect to our bodies and to move through life with this greater awareness.
Well said. Trying to control what we think, well.. is controlling! and imprisons us from our bodies – the one place where the magic, spontaneity and flow of life can be felt and enjoyed.
I have meet people who say they study, teach, practice mindfulness and meditation and have done it for hours and to this level etc, but are still openly stressed, have anger issues and buckle when things become tense or a curve ball comes their, way, I say this without judgement but I do raise it as a valid point to look at the effectiveness of training the brain without connecting in full with the rest of the body. The excuse is ‘well when things get tough, it is normal to feel stressed’. Yes we can feel pressure and say so, but do we buckle? From my experience, I have been swaying but not buckling since I stepped up and took responsibility for developing a relationship with my body in full.
I love the term ‘Body-full-ness’ as this is what it really should be about! Other wise the mind takes over, and when that happens it usually races ahead of the body leaving our very valuable vehicle behind!
Mental ability is very rewarded in our society for one can attain wealth, family, recognition and just about anything else the world offers in terms of temporal success. Though living life driven by the mind is a calculating and rather cold experience of life that is about predicting what’s going to happen next and trying to outsmart it, this is in contrast to using our feelings to navigate through life. Using our mind to get through life is a very insecure way to live.
Whole body intelligence is a fascinating science and can be easily applied and practiced. Even though I have heard presentations on this countless of times I am now only beginning to accept that my movement does affect my physical health and mental wellbeing.
Mindfulness makes us think about our body, but no matter how much we think about it, and even will become aware of it to some degree, this will not make us be fully present within our bodies in our everyday movements.
It is only by resurrecting the body over the mind that the Kingdom of Heaven will be resurrected here on Earth.
How do these thoughts get in? It’s ok as you say to monitor our mind but my experience is this is like plugging holes in a super old dam – it just doesn’t work for very long. What I have noticed is a direct correlation between the way I move and the thoughts that come in. So why not put this observation to practice in life? My body is begging me to begin.
We become attached to mental intelligence because of all the ideals, beliefs and investments that we take on. Let go of the need for recognition, security and superiority and what are we left with? Perhaps then we may consider to offer ourselves and another what it means to live from the true intelligence of our body.
It is interesting to ponder just how far back within our history have we championed the knowledge we have acquired and the successes these accolades carry as a society. But at what cost does the knowledge and or accolades strive from? From my experience of school all I remember was how bogged down we were with getting good results and test scores which was all based on how much we could remember from the knowledge we were taught. But what I have found so beneficial and simple today is the ease in which we have an abundant wealth of wisdom within our own bodies and how we connect with everything and observe life all around us which holds such intelligence. It’s a wonder it is not taught at school today. How different would the world be if we championed the intelligence from our bodies and not the outer intelligence we are fed.
Being in the mind is a habit that can feel very difficult to break, it’s as someone once shared that we are like hamsters on a wheel when the door of the cage is open, we can get off the mind merry go round if we are willing to feel our bodies.
It is true, because often people ‘think’ they are not still in their head when they are and so what can we do, choose to make a shift and reconnect? For me simple steps of observing how I treated my body was a real wake up call, the way I sat down, throw my dirty washing in the basket and brushed my teeth were illuminating concerning the movement and energy I was choosing, simple steps but huge revelations, and I began to reconsider how I moved and not take it all for granted as just the way I am. And from this steadily the quality and clarity of my thoughts have been shifting, from my experience I have no doubt that the movements we choose impact on the quality of our thoughts.
Coming out of my head and into my body was when life started to make real sense to me because i started to feel and sense life, situations, through my body’s communication and its natural intuitiveness. Being “body strong” instead of being “head strong” in ideal and belief, is the way to live life.
Great article! Mindfulness seems to promote the superiority of the mind over the body. With our worldly emphasis on ‘doing/ showing’ and ‘proving’ what we can see and feel, we limit our awareness, appreciation and understanding of the wisdom that the body is always revealing to us, if we connect to it. Even expressing what our body is feeling to share, can be uncomfortable. It feels easier and more ‘acceptable’ to ‘analyse’ with the mind first, rather than to honour what the body is sharing and allow the mind to be still. Exposing this pattern of behaviour may assist us to truly be more self-loving.
Developing a relationship with our body is key for our body knows truth and constantly communicates it…very clear messages when we choose to listen.
We can be endlessly fascinated by the ideas of the mind, but do we include the richness of the communication that we have from our bodies, and the wisdom of the inner heart?
Oh, there are these moments I would like to stop the busy-ness of my mind but it ain´t as easy as emptying the rubbish bin.
Coming back into one´s body, deepening one´s connection with it and changing the quality of one´s actions and movements is the only way to change one´s thoughts and activity of the mind, exposing that it is not the mind who is in charge although it likes to believe that.
Mind over body is not the same as mind with body. We are so used to using our mind to figure things out that we have lost touch with the intelligence of the body that lets us know very simply what is going on.
Most, if not all of us, have had those moments when all the observable facts seem to tick the box, but we just know deep down that all is not okay. So how come we have not been spending more time exploring and deepening that level of intelligence?
I know that when I focus on my mind, things end up going wrong, I forget things, I make mistakes. I find that listening to my whole body and being in the flow of life rather than mentally trying to make everything fit works better.
‘I would suggest true whole body intelligence can only be connected with when we allow ourselves to surrender to what we feel from the body and allowing what we feel to be honoured.’ I love this suggestion and am really enjoying exploring what surrendering actually feels like… it is scary at times because to surrender I have to let go of all sorts of weird bits of scaffolding I have gathered around me in the form of opinions, beliefs, rules and ‘shoulds’, but beyond that, when I go there, is a stillness, clarity and steadiness that is properly amazing to feel.
“Our whole body holds an inner wisdom that is available when we are ready to access it – true intelligence. And when we connect to this inner wisdom we not only access a clarity and understanding, we are also able to truly care and support ourselves.” Honouring the fact of energy and who we are is a beautiful reflection and way to live that changes everything with our body leading the way divinely.
Mindfulness, as the word implies, manages the mind, and if something has to be managed then there is tension which is being controlled. Controlling expends energy, exhausting and whatever is being controlled, kept captive, will eventually break free. So mindfulness is therefore only delaying the inevitable – it is far more constructive to face the cause of the tension and resolve it rather than finding a solution which can only be temporary – this is the case with mindfulness.
I love your description of whole body full ness being a homostasis, that is innate and beholding of life. It is the key to surrrnder.
Trying to work on the body and our well-being via the mind makes sense but why not go directly to the body?
Wouldn’t it be amazing if we used our brain alongside our bodies true intelligence and that we were taught how to do this from young. I feel it would change the entire landscape of how we live our lives. I agree with you that we need to have the understanding of the formulas that education can give us. But somehow we have created a world where we give no credence to what our bodies are showing us. And yet with the steep rise in illness and disease I feel our bodies are definitely shouting out loud that the formula of life is not correct. We are living in a way that is detrimental to our bodies and they are rapidly breaking down.
Great point, mindfulness as an extension of our obsession with the mind; it is the cardio-centric way of living life that allows the mind the space to fall in line with the body, with our feelings, with our sixth sense – the gift and offering of whole-body-mindedness.
You’ve coined a very important term that I’m now inspired to use – ‘bodyfulness’. Time to use that term and remind everyone of what we do all know – that it is our body as a whole that holds the intelligence to everything we need – and not the mind itself.
“The body holds a natural self-awareness of homeostasis; the balance, harmony and functional efficiency is a wisdom that brings clarity and ease… a whole body intelligence is not to be underestimated.” So true. How is it possible for one body part to function without the rest of the body being involved? As far as I am aware it’s not as everything about our bodies is innately connected. As you say, the intelligence of the whole body is something that we should never take for granted and defiantley not underestimate.
The name, mindfulness says it all really, and your only focussing on the trying to clear any negative thoughts that you are having but there is nothing about actually moving in a way that can stop all together those thoughts from entering in the first place.
It is very interesting how you have placed mindfulness in the context of there being an over-admiration for mental intelligence which has perhaps left behind the intelligence of the body. And so raising questions about what true purpose the well-known practise of mindfulness can actually bring to us all as a society.
Absolutely there definitely is that question there as to what true purpose mindfulness has, it does increase function and from the outside that seems a good thing but it is like settling for crumbs at a banquet beyond your wildest dreams. Divinity and connection to our divinity is the true purpose of life nothing less.
I have noticed that if I use my whole body and am present with it there is a space that I can feel all around me. If I narrow everything down and just use my mind I have noticed that the space has gone its really fascinating to feel the reduction.
When your mind is full there is obviously no space or awareness left for the rest of the body, but then the body may stumble or bump into something and suddenly the mind gets shaken a bit to remember it is carried by a body. Tcha, that’s how it works to awaken the mind.
Hilarious!
Love it. So simple.
Using your mind to control or change your mind simply does not work. If I ever want to change something in my life, I know that it has to come from my body and how it feels. For instance, giving up certain foods is easy when my body tells me it doesn’t like it. Whereas will power just creates more struggle (and often failure!)
‘Most mental health techniques, including mindfulness, neglect the most significant attribute that supports awareness, wellbeing and true whole body intelligence – the Whole Body.’ This is so true, taking the body out of the equation does not make sense.
The way our body is has a huge impact on the way that we think; how we move and care for ourself really does make a big different to the kind of thoughts we have in my experience. Serge Benhayon has helped me to understand just how important being aware of and honouring our whole body is.
Yes… I am learning about this all the time; realising the impact of how I care for and move my body, on my relationship with myself, others, work… everything actually. It is like, for example, if I slump or slouch in my chair or in the way I walk, I feel tired and start to think about when I get to have time off from whatever it is I am doing… it becomes a ‘fed up feedback loop’.
Mindfulness to me seems like a step backwards from actually being connected to the body. It would be like having Wristfulness or Shinfulness…. Like what do we get out of focussing on one bit and blocking out the others?
In the mind we can have all the answers…yet the true answers are not known for they come from the body.
Our bodies are constantly working to get back to a sense of harmony and homeostasis, so our every choice either undermines this work, or supports it. When we support ourselves by deeply taking care of our bodies, somehow there is less stress and more space.
Simply put, we are a complete unit encompassing our whole body, Yet I have tried and attempted to live my life from my head only. How could an intelligent person not see and feel that as a whole we are only a complete unit when we are fully connected with the whole of one’s being, including our body and mind as one and with the body, not the head, leading the way!
“We place weight on the power of the brain over the rest of the body” – If the brain is made up of cells in the same way our hair, hands, heart and blood are, then what makes it so special or more intelligent than every single other part of our body?
I love this Susie. It is checkmate. Out thinking mind can not argue with such logic. For to do so you would have to admit there is more, which is something it has been refusing to do.
Mindfullness … I just do not get this one … how on earth can we ignore the whole body!!!!!!!
Wasn’t it Plato who said something like you cannot treat the part without consideration of the whole. So using the mind without including the informing nature of the whole body is automatically an ill that leads us into those troubles we find ourselves in health-wise and ‘everyother-wise’ in society today.
For as long as I can remember the mind has been touted as the holder of our intelligence and our children’s education from day one is based on developing this form of intelligence. But if it is the superior intelligence that we are told that it is why is the world in the mess it is in and why is the health of humanity in such a dire state? I too have come to understand that our true intelligence comes from our body and it is living from and with this intelligence that our health will begin to improve as will the health of our world.
Yes, the reality of the state of humanity is very telling, we cannot explain ourselves out of the fact that on the whole we are in a miserable condition.
When I am feeling open and expansive in my body it is like my cells are singing and vibrating to the tune of the universe . My mind is the receiver of this whole body experience, as it still is if I am feeling closed and shut down. It is how I am in my body and being that then brings the quality of thoughts to the mind.
The more I connect to the expansiveness of the awareness and intelligence that can only be accessed through our whole body, the more I realise that the narrow vision of our mind is a self-created prison.
“Mindfulness will not offer us the answers that we search for; the mind is only a part of the beautiful whole that is our body. Body-full-ness, Whole-Body Intelligence, this is the way to true healing, wisdom and wellbeing.” Love this! We are not just a mind. Leaving our bodies out of the equation has brought us to where we are in the world today – not a great place when we look around.
The things we bolt on from outside of us can assist us to evolve.
We need to understand that the mind alone never has the true answers to what we are seeking and that it is, as you describe, our everyday way how we are with ourself and care for ourself, in every moment, that brings the quality to life that we then live from.
The mind disconnected from the body can be like a runaway train, going everywhere and getting no where. Coming back to the body can bring us on track.
“Is it possible that mindfulness is an extension of the obsession we have with mental intelligence?” – this is a great question and point to make… we have made our current intelligence about recall and our capacity to memorise things, rather than making it about the quality that we can operate in. As a result mindfullness can only be practiced when we make it about recall, and hence it is governed by the same energy as mental intelligence.
Body-full-ness is the way to go, as mind-full-ness really only gets us into trouble! At least that has been my experience so far! And to add to that, when we are used to a mind-full-ness approach, it can be challenging to switch over to a body-full-ness approach as patterns can be very ingrained. When aware of the body, it becomes about focus on the quality that we can allow through (body full ness), and for this experience the mind is too limiting to work from. What a blessing to have discovered this, and something I am still learning to master!
I agree, the more I care for and nurture my body with the qualities of preciousness the more every thought reflects this preciousness. That is by deeply caring for myself I naturally care about absolutely every one and thing equally.
‘…mindfulness is an extension of the obsession we have with mental intelligence…’ is really a very intelligent revelation coming from a place or form of intelligence that is obviously not invested in the mind needing to be the governing institution in our lives.
What good is a train that leaves all of its cars at the station or begrudgingly only brings a few select cars? We all start with a whole train so why separate ourselves?
Ha – love this analogy Steve – and this is so true that our current form of intelligence and mindfullness are certainly a way of working with things in a selective way that leaves parts behind!
Yes, this is indeed a very good and clear example of how we treat our body.
“it is awesome to be educated to grasp formulas, the details of life and the world, but not in isolation of the body and not to the detriment of the body….” Not to the detriment of the body is the key point as just focusing on one (mind or body) is like trying to use a knife and fork with only one hand. Working together enables true intelligence.
Who hasn´t tried to discipline, influence or direct one´s thoughts when suffering the ‘windmills of our mind’, with how much success, for how long? To master the mind we need to come back to the presence of our body first, then the mind very willingly aligns and becomes an integrated part of the whole body again.
Fascination is the correct word to describe the stimulation we are seeking when we use the mind in disconnection to the body.
The world is set up for us to be living from our minds so when I was introduced by Serge Benhayon, the teachings of the ageless Wisdom that it is our inner being aspect to the human-being that is our truth, it was something that I felt and knew was true. Re-connecting to my Soul and allowing this connection to the all knowing of the Universe to come through is one that feels extremely powerful and super natural. Everything in my body ignites and I feel alive and expanded. Sometime the old way of the mind trying to dominate will pipe up but each time I can feel the impact that this has on my body.
What you are sharing here about mindfulness makes complete sense, as you say there is such a focus on our minds and yet this is only a part of our body, to ignore the rest of our body and focus on only a small part does not make sense and yet this has almost become the norm in society, I find that listening to my body and its signals and honouring these means that I make much more simple, loving choices.
I know I used to get through life solely on my intellect and it did bring me success and security of sorts in my life, however no matter how smart I was and how secure, I could not shake a deep sense of unease and discontent and dissatisfaction with my life. Since studying the Gentle Breath Meditation which supports people to reconnect with their bodies, I have re-discovered another level of health and wellbeing which I did not think possible – all through the lived wisdom and experience of my body. I still use my mind to work and figure things out sometimes but nowadays it is in balance with my body.
I have similar experience Andrew – it is the balance with our bodies that we sorely need and that makes all the difference.
Our mind is ruled by images, pictures, ideals and beliefs. There is no truth in the mind of a body with no love.
Love that “There is no truth in the mind of a body with no love”. Bumper sticker!
Great blog and awesome read the clarity you share with mindfulness. It is fascinating how we try and compartmentalise things to one thing and think we have managed to do so when in fact it is not possible. We could ask if that is the cause of Ill-ness and Dis-ease?
A lot of people have jumped on the mindfulness ‘bandwagon’ and are using it as the solution to anxiety, stress and raciness for themselves, but there are also many programs within schools to offer mindfulness for students. We have quickly endorsed this technique, but are we looking with open eyes at whether it is truly successful and beneficial for all without getting caught up in the glamor of having a ‘new technique’?
I have noticed the propensity of schools to endorse mindfulness courses, yet if we did a study on all the people who have practised it in the system how much of a long-lasting and profound change would it have brought?
“Mindfulness will not offer us the answers that we search for; the mind is only a part of the beautiful whole that is our body. Body-full-ness, Whole-Body Intelligence, this is the way to true healing, wisdom and wellbeing.” Love this. Our body can tell us things our mind can override, hence ‘mindfulness’ is not all its cracked up to be.
Nothing we choose it in isolation of anything else happening on this planet. A mindfulness course for 6 weeks may offer some skills to begin to observe something, but sustainable change comes from reconnecting with our bodies and not thinking that if we do a course of any sort, but still neglect our overall health on a daily basis we will be well. Wellness comes from a Livingness, not a Thinking or a Doing.
Our body gives us simple true answers where as our mind gives us long winded untruths that we think are it. Wisdom only comes from the body, knowledge comes from the mind.
“Is it possible that mindfulness is an extension of the obsession we have with mental intelligence?…” This is a great statement that make you stop and realise just how much emphasis and importance we place on the mind, and yet, illness and disease of our organs what affects the body… (and mental health too over rules the body) so perhaps we need to be placing more focus on our body than we currently are…
It is so so true that life is precious and connecting to this preciousness comes through awareness and re-connection to our bodies. It is through the presentations of Universal Medicine that I realized this was the link to return to well-being and vitality. For all the therapies I did both medical and complimentary before UM not one offered the understanding of ‘whole body intelligence’ to support living the fullness and preciousness I am, that we all innately are. I know through much lived experience that the mind doesn’t even consider preciousness of the whole body in its quest to manage life with lineal logic.
“Our whole body holds an inner wisdom that is available when we are ready to access it – true intelligence. And when we connect to this inner wisdom we not only access a clarity and understanding, we are also able to truly care and support ourselves.” This really is divine simplicity in a nutshell. We literally have everything at our fingertips, when we choose to live in a way whereby we can access all that we need to know.
Yes so true, when I am in my head I get cold hands and or feet, feel tensed and like I am hovering above my body. It feels in a way unnatural. I love to be in my body and feeling it all, it is more warm and natural as well as it gives a true confidence, a knowing we are enough whatever we do.
“Mind over matter” is such a commonly used phrase but really isn’t at all helpful in my experience. What truly works, as you share and propose here is mind in unity with matter – that our matter, our whole body actually has an intelligence that is innately harmonious and responsive to the all we live in.
Thank you, I found reading this was a great blog to read and I could relate to so much of what you have expressed above. I have lived a lot of my life being disconnected to my body I was like a walking head, so caught up in my head that I often forgot I had feet that I was walking on. I find that every time I get caught up in my thoughts and then come back to my body I feel there is a heaviness present and I feel very tired. It’s like being caught up in your thoughts sucks away your natural vitality and leaves you feeling drained and exhausted.
When I started sharing with people about Esoteric Yoga, a lot of people said, ‘so its like mindfulness’. I had not experienced mindfulness, so I couldn’t comment at the time. I also spoke with a psychologist who said that mindfulness was very body based. When I experienced a session, there was a focus on the body but it was still using the mind to focus on it rather than just feel the body. I did not feel that mindfulness could re-connect you back to your soul, as Esoteric Yoga does and therefore there was only temporary relief and no evolution.
This is it “…there was a focus on the body but it was still using the mind to focus on it rather than just feel the body.” Mastering our thoughts and movements comes from establishing and responding to a relationship with our body in full.
“We place enormous importance on the brain and excelling in education and excelling in our chosen careers through mental recall. We place weight on the power of the brain over the rest of the body. Most mental health techniques, including mindfulness, neglect the most significant attribute that supports awareness, wellbeing and true whole body intelligence – the Whole Body.” – Our society sees the ability to recall and remember facts and information as intelligence, but where does this leave the body? And of what use is recall when there is no connection to another or to self?
Mindfulness seems to be the in thing, but it does not consider the body in its quality… you can be ‘present’ washing the dishes and brainwashing yourself by thinking ‘I’m washing the dishes, I am washing the dishes’… but when you bring in the body and the quality that you wash them in then this changes the ball game completely and is no longer mindfulness but it is body fullness – for example how hot or cold is the water on your hands? How many soap suds are produced? And what do they smell like? How are you standing and are you comfy or not and how gently can you handle the dishes or are you perhaps handling them harshly because you may have had a difficult day and are feeling frustration? This makes it about the body and the quality that you are in… a game changer.
Thank you – body-full-ness is certainly the way to go as mindfullness is not the whole picture!
Or you could say on the contrary that mindfulness is a mind full of pictures! Living from these images we miss out on the impulses of the whole body intelligence.
Thank you for exploring ‘mindfulness’ in this way – I have always felt considerable disquiet about the way it has spread so widely as the new fix it solution. It feels like it is leading us further astray from a sustainable, loving and respectful relationship with ourselves.
This article is really interesting and explains why mindfulness for me has not felt true. Listening to and honouring our bodies feels very simple and from my experience this is what works – being gentle with myself and honouring my body feels like true intelligence and makes sense because if we honour our bodies then this keeps us well and healthy, if we focus on the mind without honouring our bodies then our bodies show us by getting sick.
What’s fascinating is how many different ways we can invent to keep ourselves from feeling the truth. The number of ways that we could potentially invent is endless and so it’s just a question of when we choose to call an end to it.
A few years ago I could feel that my head ruled my life… it literally dragged my body along. My mind and body were not united. I lived in my thoughts, issues and opinions without considering or caring for my body. This is so relatable for me and such a great marker for me now as to how I chose to live in disregard and irresponsibility for most of my life, to how I choose to live now.
Any solution that only involves using our minds in separation from our bodies and our whole being unfortunately will only ever be a temporary one and not an answer for or attend to our woes and ills.
Our body reads energy all of the time and therefore knows exactly what is going on around us all of the time. Not only that but it is very well equiped to deal with all that comes before us. It seems to be the wiser option over the in comparison very narrow and limited mind.
Well said Carolien, our body is our barometer of ourselves and the world around us, where as the mind by itself alone cannot connect and work with the whole. And yet our mind is an amazing tool that brings much to humanity if and when it is under the auspices of the body governed and impulsed by the energy of the Soul.
This is an important factor Henriette, that the quality of the mind is governed by the quality of the body.
‘A few years ago I could feel that my head ruled my life… it literally dragged my body along. My mind and body were not united. I lived in my thoughts, issues and opinions without considering or caring for my body’ – when we allow our mind to drag our body forward it affects the whole of our posture and we end up being ahead of ourselves. Once we unite the mind with the body we move in harmony and feel at one with ourselves – and with those around us.
The mind is well known to be a transmitter and receiver, not an originator. This, to me, means the mind is limited in what it can deliver to reality.
It really is like exercising the muscle of our mind, getting it to focus and play out in our minds scenarios and fantasies and even striving to achieve mindlessness or not thoughts, are all activities of the mind over the mind. I have found the only way to truly ‘silence’ the mind is not to try and actually make it empty, but to bypass it and connect to the body and in doing so, bring the mind into obedient alignment or presence with what the body is doing. I have never felt a sense of settlement through the mind, but I have felt deep stillness when I have let go enough of the tensions and anxiety I can hold in my body and connect to the quality it offers.
This is super wise, the rest of our sensitive barometer, our body has the key to improving our mental health. And it’s in the way of being which is whole and naturally respects the body, which when lived can’t but have loving thoughts about itself.
A deeply wise understanding of our whole body intelligence which cannot be forgotten with the learning of the mind and intelligence from this in isolation to our wholeness and the acceptance of this and energy.True communication wisdom and knowing is at our fingertips to access if we choose to live in a way that allows us to feel our bodies and make sense of the world.
Body before mind – this is the opposite of everything that is currently taught to us from when we are born. Great that a turn around is beginning to occur, as nothing else has worked, and we can begin to truly listen to the wisdom of our body. Thank you Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine for presenting this awesome and very practical tool.
We have become obsessed with our minds and consider them the ruler and decider of all that happens to our body. However, since I have become more aware and respectful of my body I find it is my mind that makes abusive, selfish and harmful decisions that my body has to wear. I saw a news report the other night about people having their heads cryogenically frozen in case they can be brought back to life one day. This showed an extreme example of this glorification of the mind.
‘Mindfulness’ is an interesting topic and at this point I would ask what exactly is the mind full of? For if our mind is not being impulsed by the love that comes through the inner heart, then it is being impulsed by all that we seek elsewhere that will load us up to the point that we can no longer feel the love that we are and we come from. The tragedy here being that we then identify with what we have allowed to flood into the mind rather than allow our actions, thoughts, words, movements etc. to be informed by the love, wisdom and intelligence that streams through every particle of our human form.
Yes, what is the mind ‘full’ of, a question to be asked if we are to consider that the main activity of mindfulness is to observe thoughts, so what is observing these thoughts and how do we monitor the quality of the observer….Absolutely fitting to discuss the energetic foundation of what is being chosen, there is Love and not Love, there is Truth and not truth, we all know this from our bodies, but as you say we ‘identify; with the ideas we have habitually chosen rather than checking in truth the quality.
If we are truly connected to our bodies they will give us the answers to our questions by either contracting and coldness or expanding with a warmth and vibrational energy. I have experienced this often, but it is important to surrender to that still place inside, not from the mind but through the breath that brings us into a union of mind and body. The body leads.
I love how you simplify this whole new fad of mindfulness by talking about ‘whole body intelligence’ verses mental intelligence alone. Its very obvious how much we, as a humanity, struggle with the degree of honesty and truth that comes from the body.
I wonder how much people are willing to consider that the reason we are so driven to eat, drink or operate in daily activities in a way that overwhelms or ‘deadens’ the body is simply because we are trying to squash its innate intelligence.
Yes! So true, approaching life from ‘Body-full-ness, Whole-Body Intelligence,’ is the way to go as this approach does indeed without a doubt offer true healing, wisdom and wellbeing..
So, there is a completeness to this whole-body relationship with ourselves, that is so much steadier, more consistent and respectful than when we run ourselves from our minds alone.
I agree, it is a beautiful reminder of just how delicate and yet super powerful our bodies really are.
This is great exposure of mindfulness. It is not the answer, it does not bring true connection to the body at all, and the more articles that get out like this, the quicker people will see through it.
We can understand a lot with our mind, but only bringing this understanding to the body and living it from the body will eventually change patterns or break momentums down that used to govern us.
I absolutely agree – “Mastering the mind makes sense, but attempting to do so while ignoring the rest of our sensitive barometer, our bodies, does not offer us the remedy that we seek.” We have vast realms of true intelligence available to us once we re-connect to the wisdom and constant communication of the body.
‘If I get cold, hungry, tired, upset, feel tension, do I push these feelings aside, attempt to ignore or deny them, or do I honour what I feel?’ There is something so simple and therefore supportive about this question. And when I start from here, there is no ducking or diving or avoiding whether I am being honouring, respectful and responsible for my body and wellbeing or not.
‘Is it possible that mindfulness is an extension of the obsession we have with mental intelligence?’ From what I am observing the answer to this question is a big, fat ‘Yes’ and what I am also noticing is the tension in my body and around me when I have been in the company of those who glorify the brain. To hold myself steady knowing that truth and wisdom comes from within my whole body and not just from my mind has not been easy… what comes up as I write and allow myself to read and see more is the jealousy that can come our/my way.
The brain glorifies the brain…ironic hey…it is an obsession on our part that will not be quelled until we bring the health and well-being of our whole body into focus.
It’s wise to go to the whole—our entire body first and feel into it as a whole. As if we go to the parts (such as the mind or a limb), we only get a limited picture.
Through our mind we have the possibility to consider assess and understand dynamics of life, we can amass huge amount of knowledge, but through our whole body we have the potential to sense and know the wisdom upon which that knowledge rests.
The wisdom of our bodies is so profound… apart from the natural and innate balance it constantly comes to no matter how we treat it… we can have negative thoughts, and just by changing our body’s position, those thoughts will disappear.
Understanding life is important however… “not in isolation of the body and not to the detriment of the body.”
‘…our sensitive barometer, our bodies…’ I love this phrase – it brings me to a deeper sense of respect for my body and the amazing everything it does every day.
An important distinction to make Ariana, that when we feel we have everything under control in our mind we are in fact entirely out of control as we are not designed to be this way.
What is super clear is our mind makes choices that are in direct contrast to the care and love of the body that says it’s origin is not in alignment to the intelligence of the universe.
We disregard what the body is made of and numb ourselves so much, that we can’t feel the pain and hurt of it.
Correct, I have looked into the premise mindfulness, and its method is for the participant to observe their thoughts, and be none judgemental, but what is observing what? To be non-judgemental is great, but lets get honest about what is going on in the head and the body and how the head can lead us astray even when what we are doing supposedly looks good on paper. The mind alone can not mange the quality of the thoughts we have on a moment by moment basis, this is where, movement, posture, being breath awareness and consistent gentle connection and care for the body, listening to the true signs it shares, come in to play as true wisdom.
The example of someone who is studying for a PHD in Health and Wellbeing, they may get a distinction and awards for that PHD, but what about if their study regime had involved, copious amounts of caffeine and sugar to get them through, while staying up late, getting cold at the computer, slouching and not taking appropriate bathroom and stretch breaks, ignoring their relationships in their family because they are stressed and pushing their body so much to complete it that their immune system suffers and they have a horrendous virus for 2 weeks after completion and have to stay in bed….now this may not sound as far fetched as it appears because doctors, scientists, politicians, teachers, police offers, counsellors, yoga teachers many of whom are doing the best they can etc (with no judgement) offer the so called solutions to health, relationships, social issues but do not live what they say/think in their daily life, they speak, but they’re bodies are not in line with what they say.
The mind watching the mind….something to watch out for I would say.’The body does not lie’ Thank you God, Serge Benhayon offers what he does with Universal Medicine.
A true revolution that will bring sustainable Health and Well-Being for humanity…
I know that mind/body disconnection too. Sometimes I have been sitting at the computer, absorbed in what I am writing or reading, and then I notice my posture and realise how I have been sitting has not been supporting my body. We can work on the connection of mind and body every moment of every day.
Bringing my awareness back to my whole body helps me to be in touch with how things energetically feel – the energetic quality of them, both within myself, how I’m moving and feeling and around me, what a room feels like, another person or a theory or approach to something and this to me is crucial, to not ignore the ever present energetic aspect of our life alongside learning the knowledge and practical tools we need.
We can adopt the mind over body attitude and force the body to comply, but the body always wins in the end.
A great reminder Rebecca, the body holds an incredible wisdom we cannot ignore or fight.
Mindfulness is rife within the local schools, hospitals and GP surgeries where I live, as I hear it is across the UK. Your blog is a timely exposé on the truth of what we are bringing into our social structures as a ‘fix’, which circulates the same mental energy that disconnects us from our bodies, and the vast expanses of truth that we can access through the inner heart.
That is scary Janet… we are so obsessed with fixing – without discerning what is actually true for us all.
“Mindfulness – a Fascination of Mind over Body” – when I switched this around and made it about the body first, my whole entire life and wellbeing sense changed and thus grew a loving fascination about my body because of the quality my body carries, communicates, expresses…a loving fascination that continues each and every day for always.
The body really does have innate qualities and intelligence that expand and evolve when nourished with the richness of truth and honouring. Funny if I think of how the mind goes when over supplied with man made intelligence it tends to want to ‘im’ or explode.
Is it all possible that when we put our bodies under continuous stress day after day year after year that it breaks down through illness and disease? Our bodies remind me of a racing car all the components that make up a racing car are working together, from the smallest seal or grommet to the large parts of the engine all working in total cooperation with each other. The cars are continuously monitored as they race round the track and the second a fault is detected by the support team the car comes in for adjustments.
So how come we can be so detailed about a racing car and its performance and yet so neglectful of ourselves? Surely we are more important than a racing car? Surely we deserve to take care of ourselves, so why don’t we?
The more I listen to my body and not simply go with the thoughts that come into my head the more loving choices I make and consequently the better I feel. After all everything we do effects our body and so every choice has an impact on it and ultimately on the way we feel.
‘I would tie myself in knots in the attempt to problem solve.’ – when we are only using our mind to solve our problems, it can often become unnecessarily complicated as we are trying to find answers rather than feeling into what feels right, using our whole body intelligence. When we connect with our body, we already know what we should do next, if we listen.
Mindfulness is very popular in a lot of organised settings such as hospitals, schools and businesses. And this is perhaps because there is an awareness by many that there needs to be something more in place to support ourselves as we learn to handle the intensities of life. But is it possible that mindfulness is actually a product of the intense way of life that we have collectively created by our own movements – is it actually more of the same just with a different appearance?
I remember years ago reading an interesting book by an innovative author concerning the way we think. He told a story about asking a professor in his college psychology class “If everything that happens in our bodies comes from a source of energy to make it happen, and our brain tells for instance our arm to move, then what impulses or source of energy does our brain have? I was simply blown away by this observation and it really rang true for me and stuck with me for years. I now have confirmation of its truth via the teachings of Serge Benhayon, who has stated many times that we don’t truly own our thoughts but are actually impulsed by one of two energies, either our soul or our spirit and “If everything is energy, than everything happens because an energy made it happen.” http://www.unimedliving.com/unimedpedia/word-index/unimedpedia-spirit.html
In my experience the mental ability by itself is a useful tool but it needs to be combined to have an effect. This is often done by using a force, directing the intelligence to a particular purpose. There are some people with an extreme mental ability but no ability to direct it.
‘Mindfulness’ …What do we fill the mind up with? … Thoughts? images?… but doesn’t this just take us away further from ourselves? … Away from a body that deep down knows Truth and Wisdom? It seems like ‘Mind over Matter’ – a distraction or an avoidance of an issue. It may give a temporary relief but does this practice attend to a core issue?
I’ve seen mindfulness take over the entire workspace as being the thing that will help people deal with life, its amazing that in a couple of years it has been adopted by so many companies and people and yet those people are still often dissatisfied. I’ve found myself that only through the body and my connection with my body do I feel at ease and enjoying life.
This morning I started with and Esoteric Yoga session where it deeply supports us with connecting to our bodies from the inside out. It was such an incredible way to start the day and as the mind wanted to dominate at the beginning thinking of work tasks, today I said no and kept coming back to my body. Super powerful, yet a simplicity of feeling our bodies and listening to what it is it is sharing and communicating with us.
It is this simplicity that you talk about that I find so inspiring… we have made life seem so convoluted and complicated and it really isn’t.
Using only the mind to deal with the issues of itself can only ever feed the problem. The answer is realising that the mind is there to serve the body and not the other way around.
‘In the present moment we allow ourselves the space to refine our behaviours and observe the quality of our thoughts to a depth that offers real healing and consistent foundational support in life.’ Allowing ourselves space to feel instead of cramming our minds with thoughts that don’t allow us to feel anything.
‘When did so many of us become detached from our bodies?’ – A big question and as a humanity something we have gradually done as all the focus became more and more about the outer and the performance. Personally I can feel I detached from my body already as a young child, when I started to feel lost and a bit ailien to this world. To not have to feel all this I slowly but surely checked out of my body.
That is true. The difficulty is that when we ignore our body, we need to use a force to get anything done in my experience.
‘Is it possible that mindfulness is an extension of the obsession we have with mental intelligence?’ Absolutely! The mind is a great liar. What mindfulness is missing is connection to the body… the body is where truth really lies…
This blog provides practical wisdom in that the mind can never be tamed or controlled by using the mind itself, because it doesn’t want to tame or control itself: it likes having control and power. The way to address the mind is by building a connection to the body, and changing the quality of our thoughts through the quality of our movements.
It is true, as you say, the body is the most sensitive barometer we have to listen to, so when we turn off the mind, the messages from the body become louder and clearer. No trying needed.
Learning to listen to what our bodies are really saying, and acting on that, is an ever-deepening process, because so often the mind jumps in the way and tries to control the whole show. The mind is always driven by an insatiable drive for the next thing and the next, whereas the body is simply trying to always return to its natural state of equilibrium and is content with itself, not always searching for more.
Obsession is a great word for describing how we think we are our mind. The worship of the mind is a false truth that traps people away from the intelligence of their body.
Our bodies will always tell us everything we need to know about our choices, could this be why we go out of our way to avoid it?
Very true. Completely agree. I know I can say I’ve been aware that I’ve done this. Only when I’ve chosen to be in more connection to my body and listen to it can I look back and see this in moments.
Very true also Johanna only when we take a step forward can we see clearly the step we left behind.
This is true Elizabeth for the mind will never expose itself.
Mental intelligence gives us the illusion of control and personal might but this illusion can only exist if the majority join the game. It is as if we are all saying let’s pretend we do not have a body, if we do not feel it it is not there and we can do what we like no matter the consequences to our body. And let’s make sure our children lose this connection with their bodies too so they won’t out us in the game we play. And so we have set up our educational system to do just that. And all this to avoid the truth of who we truly are that would otherwise be shown to us by our bodies.
Gosh what a collusion we are all part of… a silent contract that allows this disconnect and waywardness to become our normal.
‘Mental intelligence is what often creates wealth, security, position and acknowledgement from others.’ – it also divides and conquers. Life becomes a competition where we are trying to get ahead and be superior to everyone else. We set ourselves up to be ‘always wanting more’ – nothing is ever enough. However, accepting that we are all already everything that we need to be in life changes our way of being completely. It allows us to appreciate all that we and everyone else already are, we no longer actually need anything other than to be our gorgeous selves.
“If I get cold, hungry, tired, upset, feel tension, do I push these feelings aside, attempt to ignore or deny them, or do I honour what I feel?” The first thing I notice when I get tired is how quickly the quality of my thoughts deteriorate and the want for food increases. What I’ve learnt to do and what supports me greatly is to choose to honour the fatigue and allow myself the rest that is needed to restore myself and voila, the negative thinking and desire for food disappears. In the past I’ve often slipped into the trap of thinking that because I’m tired I need food (and particularly sweet food) to keep me going which is simply not true.
It is true that we are fascinated by our mind and by our thoughts rather than truly wanting to know truth. We prefer to want to be entertained than reconnect to our inner truth that resides within via the body.
Even when you become a master of controlling certain thoughts, your mind will always find another way of keeping you busy. It loves its control and will not be obedient until the body is taking the lead.
Indeed, the mind is a control freak and will do anything to keep it’s position in the driver seat.
Always body first. My life changed completely since I listen and connect to my body and offering him space to communicate to me.
Mindfullness represents control and tightness- whole body intelligence feels for me expansive, unknown but absolutely known.
I love this about life… the unknown (by the head) but absolutely known (by the body)
The key for Evolution is being obedient to the master- the body.
“What is true whole body intelligence?” when we get to understand this and the implications of it we will be living as a totally different society – the wisdom, deep knowing and understanding of life that comes from a lived, embodied quality of being, married with an education in one’s natural talents is a recipe for a very loving and vital community.
It’s great to learn how to stay present in the moment, but in what quality are we in? If we are present in the moment but we are sitting in anger or grief or choosing to be stressed then the present moment is not healing at all. The ‘power of now’ is only powerful if we are in a quality that heals. Otherwise we simply magnify the ill energy that is there. The body is the vehicle through which we can choose quality – quality to move in or sit in or speak in. The mind cannot change our quality – only the body.
An amazing blog. The mind is only one small part of the body. It’s crazy really why and how we give it so much focus when it’s the body that reflects the truth of how we are with it and live.
I had years of talking therapies with Inner Child, Integrative and person centred Counselling, and even trained as a counsellor myself in order to help others. What has helped me more than anything are the Esoteric therapies that focus on the body such as Bodywork, Breast Massage, Yoga, Chakra Puncture, and Connective Tissue. Each one of those has helped me to let go of the tensions I hold in my body, something I was never able to do with my mind and just talking.
I know that the intelligence that resides in my body, when paid attention to, delivers resolutions that my mind can never conjure up, because it encompasses so much more than the mind alone can ever anticipate.
‘If I get cold, hungry, tired, upset, feel tension, do I push these feelings aside, attempt to ignore or deny them, or do I honour what I feel?’ I have been learning to honour what I feel and have found my body to be such a steady consistent guide in how I am taking care of myself and my body and how I am being in life, and does support to bring presence to the moment allowing much more awareness throughout the day.
“Now I state here clearly, it is awesome to be educated to grasp formulas, the details of life and the world, but not in isolation of the body and not to the detriment of the body.” And this is something we know and that has been known for a very long time but we have been ignoring it and instead search for the answers elsewhere and let our mind rule.
What a difference, mind over body and mind with body.
Samanatha, I can completely relate to ‘tying myself in knots trying to solve a problem’, I would do the same and absolutely exhaust myself in the process. Overthinking was something I would spend hours doing and reflecting on this now I can feel what a complete waste of time it was. Living from what our bodies are telling us is so much simpler and opens up space where we can feel what is true so we don’t get caught going around and around the same issue, or at least if we do we feel it and can change the momentum or pattern we are in.
It really makes no sense to give power to our brain at the cost to our body.
Often states such as anxiousness and overwhelm draw us towards mindfulness practices, however it can be a lack of connection to the body and in turn a breakdown of interrelation between body and mind that forms this disharmony. To truly heal, surely we must treat the whole being.
‘When did so many of us become detached from our bodies?’ I was working with a young woman yesterday who shared that she did not have a clue what she was feeling in her body. This surprised me, but then I remembered feeling similarly overwhelmed and shutdown when I was a teenager. This is a time when love and support are especially important, when there is so much going on internally and externally.
Super interesting, Janet. A similar thing happened to me this week. I was working with a teenage girl and she said she had no idea about how she felt when she woke up in the morning, or on her way to the project we are working on together, or about being with friends… so without this relationship with ourselves are we then totally at the mercy of our thoughts? Absolutely yes, to support, listening, respect and love being an integral ingredient in every young person’s life.
“Most mental health techniques, including mindfulness, neglect the most significant attribute that supports awareness, wellbeing and true whole body intelligence – the Whole Body.” I have always found this an odd concept, that the mind is considered to be the most important organ in the body when it comes to intelligence, as without the body it would not function, let alone survive. How can the two be thought of/treated as separate, when they are both part of the whole?
I love the simplicity and practicality of this; ‘If I get cold, hungry, tired, upset, feel tension, do I push these feelings aside, attempt to ignore or deny them, or do I honour what I feel?’ It seems to be the ‘norm’ in society for us to often ignore these signals from the body and push through tiredness etc.. I now love honouring my body more, going to sleep when I am tired and wrapping up when I feel cold, these simple loving ways make a huge difference to how I feel about myself, others and life, now I care for myself more I am naturally much more caring with others and more able to stay steady in my day and enjoy life rather than life being full of ups and downs.
“Mental intelligence is what often creates wealth, security, position and acknowledgement from others” – and it can also create one’s downfall too. Because wealth without the impact and infusion of the soul is not true wealth and therefore anything without true wealth is where we fall down and is our downfall.
What is interesting here is the wealth that comes from a connection to a purpose that is not led by an individuals needs but that of the community. It is felt in abundance and can be shared with the same quality.
This blog is a great reminder that we have superhuman intelligence if we choose it, and not let the limited form that has been touted for so long take over anymore.
We may pride ourselves with the riddles that our mind can create and solve. Yet the intelligence generated by our brain can not possibly be so wise if it can ignore the awareness and wisdom offered through the communication from our body, and on top of that make choices that harm and numb it.
The body, the body, the body. It is the body that can get us out of any-thing and every-thing.
‘If our daily living was based on whole body intelligence’ then we would all be back in the loving arms of God in no time.
Mindfullness is a big fat red herring. People choose to buy into the belief that mindfulness is a way of bringing about a more even and meditative state, when really it’s no different to having a beer, it offers a temporary reprieve from the constant underlying tension, without budging the tension one inch. In fact it really is quite evil because at least those who choose to chill out with a beer don’t usually share the same belief as those who are practicing mindfulness and that is that they are on their way to some elevated state of being.
Wow. That is saying it, Alexis. The arrogance and smugness of thinking we are better than anyone else because our choice is more enlightened or something…
Matilda the arrogance and smugness that you have so rightly described are both characteristics that I have swum in for most of my life. I have imbibed the ‘better than’ belief through the consciousness of false yoga , the consciousness of spirituality, the consciousness of doing charitable acts, the consciousness of being a good person, the consciousness of doing the ‘right thing’, all of these false states of being have added to the disconnection that I was already in, not only from myself but also from everybody else. By dissolving these false ways of being I am instantly closer to me and therefore instantly closer to everyone else.
“Mental intelligence is what often creates wealth, security, position and acknowledgement from others”, true but all of these things can be attained by connecting to whole body intelligence as well. When these attributes are attained through the use of mental intelligence, then the benefits are received only by a segment of the community and sometimes just by a single member of the community and this is because mental intelligence comes from a segmented part of the body. Whereas when these achievements are derived from whole body intelligence then the whole of humanity receives the benefit from the achievements because whole body intelligence always considers the whole.
“Practically, when I honour how I feel I respond more efficiently to my body’s feelings, and in doing so maintain my function, vitality and ability to flourish… my homeostasis.” Absolutely as the brain cannot feel, so is not concerned about such necessities.
Since coming to know that we have a body that has such wisdom I understand more fully how amazingly intelligent our bodies are. Thank you for the reminder.
And life is never boring when we feel and listen to the beauty and wisdom our body has to offer.
‘Our whole body holds an inner wisdom that is available when we are ready to access it – true intelligence.’ … which is there for everyone, an intelligence that allows us to feel how we are part of something so much more magnificent that we can ever imagine – way beyond our current understanding. But we can feel with an absolute knowing that we are a part of this whole, along with everyone else, equally so.
‘When did so many of us become detached from our bodies?’ – great question. Life is set up to fool us into ‘thinking’ that it’s through our intelligence that we succeed in life, with a big emphasis on ‘OUR’. We then view life as an ‘individual’ in competition with everyone else, which causes us to behave in a completely different way than if we accept that we all have the same access to intelligence, which doesn’t actually belong to anyONE, but is there for everyone, equally so.
“…Practising to include my whole body in life has brought a deeper understanding of life that is precious and my decisions now often come with ease….” A whole-body intelligence brings an awareness of ourselves and to what is happens around us in life, enabling well informed self-care choices to be made.
And allows us to bring the greatest understanding to life and others, simply because we let ourselves feel what is going on.
‘Is it possible that mindfulness is an extension of the obsession we have with mental intelligence?’ love this question. I’ve spoken about being aware of my body and how I go for walks in this awareness and so often people are quick to label it as ‘mindfullness’ which I’ve said if it’s needing to be labelled like that it’s bodyfullness which includes the mind.
Totally – mindfulness is like the solution that has been sought for the woes we are in yet it is from the same source that created the problems – mental intelligence. So it looks like we are ‘doing’ something when in fact nothing is changing with the bodies as mindfulness does not come from the body but the tricky tricky head.
Our mind will always try to complicate and control everything outside of us, whereas our bodies focus on the harmony of our whole being… and then we simply take that quality with us wherever we go, in whatever we do.
Whole body intelligence is the origins of who we truly are, there could be nothing simpler, more honouring, loving or confirming than to stay with or re-connect to this truth. It is ours to access and live from, no permissions, education or approval required.
I had a six year old in my car the other day and they were trying to put on their belt. They had been trying for a few minutes and I turned around to offer assistance, and the biggest grin came over their face when they realised they had been trying to put it in the wrong way. The grin turned into a laugh and a fun exclamation of what had happened. I learnt so much from that moment, their mind did not get in the way and tell them they had ‘made a mistake’, they were connected to their whole body and laughed at what happened and then moved on. It was super gorgeous and super inspiring. There is such simplicity when we live from our whole body (our mind included).
It just makes sense that we don’t ignore the body, and yet I feel like I was only made aware of the thing dangling below my neck only a few years ago. Until then, unless I hurt my body and was aware of pain, I relied on my head for absolutely everything. And, yes, I lived on an emotional rollercoaster and chose to have no awareness around how my body was affected by my daily choices and actions. These days with the a great conscious awareness about my body I’m as steady as I’ve ever been, consistent in my way of being and generally so much healthier.
The mind helps us deliver, express what the body is feeling – so the wisdom of the body is the master and the mind needs to be aligned to that.
It’s beautiful to discover the true role of the mind in accordance with the wisdom of the body.
‘Is it possible that mindfulness is an extension of the obsession we have with mental intelligence?’ – Mental intelligence is what is running the world today – everywhere we look we live under the influence and pressure of mental energy, we are always ‘on’ and I’d say there is no coincidence we see an enormous rise in young peoples mental illness and suicide – the pressure on them to always be mentally available is constant.
We have become so focused on developing the mind, and turning to it when something goes wrong, we are not seeing that the very issues we are trying to solve come from the use of mind in the first place. When the mind is given free reign without the body to keep it in focus and bring it true awareness of life and our connection to ourselves and others, we end up with the cold, calculated, disconnected and intellectual world where slavery, domestic violence and abuse can occur.
“If I had a mental block or indecision I would do mental athletics with all the alternative rationales and scenarios to work out what my next step would be – I would tie myself in knots in the attempt to problem solve.” I can relate to this! It really helped me to not try and fix the problem or work it out but bring more presence and purpose to my movements. This approach has meant that I get the feeling the answers start to come to me about topics that if I tried to work them out in my head I would go nowhere with.
We are slaves to our minds unless we listen to and develop the relationship with our bodies.
The body’s natural homeostatic way, it’s ability to deal with an unimaginable number of signals and messages from all the cells that make it up, is a clear clue to the absolute wisdom that it naturally holds.
Brilliant summary about the limitations of Mindfulness, which has taken over at the moment as a solution to our ills. Controlling the mind is not enough to re-connect us to the boundless love and truth that resides within us, and can be lived in everyday life as whole body intelligence.
Mindfulness has taken off in a big way as we sense that there is more we can be doing to support ourselves, but anything that takes us away from the body as a whole cannot support us in truth. Through Universal Medicine and the Esoteric Healing Modalities, I am learning about the power of simply connecting to my breath and to my body, allowing my body to let me know where I have gone hard or am in protection or reaction etc. It also lets me know when I am on the right track, surrendered with a feeling of expansion. When feeling like this I always know what to say, how to say, it being able to read what is in front of me. The mind alone is not able to do this nor does the mind have to battle the body, seeing it as the enemy to overcome.
Compartmentalising ourselves and focussing just on our mind robs us of the opportunity to feel the settlement of being connected to the intelligence offered by our whole body.
These days I am aware of there being two kinds of intelligence to choose from. One that makes life revolve around my little world and me, accessed through my head, and the other that connects me to the grand scheme of all things which is felt throughout my whole body. The purpose of life then is to learn how to shift out of the little pond into the bigger one by learning to observe what is happening in my whole body, not just a small part of it.
Mastering the mind is still focusing on the mind. It does not include or consider the body. It’s a sure way to let the body go into atrophy. Mastering the ability to stay with the body is totally different, and allows us to stay in the reality of the present moment. Thoughts can be noticed and let go. No mastering of the mind required.
I find whenever anything is wrong the first thing I do is try and work out why and my mind and my thoughts go crazy trying to work it out, whereas if I take it straight back to my body, deeply care for it, focus on the way I’m moving, sitting and what I’m eating etc – I’m feeling myself again before I know it.
I have tried to think my way out of situations, to think how I should best be, thinking I can fit in, thinking about pretty much everything to get through life the best possible way. But the problem is with all this thinking I become completely exhausted and depleted, it was a struggle to get through the day and I essentially wanted my out moments, my time to escape and get away from it all. Whereas the more I listen to and honour what my body is telling me the more I am actually enjoying being in my body and enjoy each and every day and so no longer want to escape from life rather want to get involved more and more and no longer feel such a fight and struggle with life as I used to.
Having experienced ‘talking therapies’ for a very long time I can honestly say for me they didn’t work. I was just flat lining through life, using the therapist as a prop to help me to function and get by. I have discovered for myself that the mind plays tricks and is very deceitful, whereas the body if we listen to it doesn’t play tricks it isn’t deceitful and never lies. I’m discovering that actually it is my very best friend.
The word ‘mindfulness’ gives it away, a technique that makes it all about the mind and nothing about the body. Whilst mindfulness may provide some relief of symptoms it is but a delay in addressing what is going on in the body, a distraction that appears as the answer but in fact becomes part of the problem.
I love the simplicity of this; ‘true whole body intelligence can only be connected with when we allow ourselves to surrender to what we feel from the body and allowing what we feel to be honoured.’ Whole body intelligence is about listening to and honouring our bodies and from here we know what to do, how to move and what is needed, rather than the complications of the mind and the endless chatter and indecision that comes from here.
Is it any coincidence that mindfulness seems to have sprung up everywhere since more people are getting aware that there is such a thing as full body intelligence, and the crazy thing is people are so quick at jumping on this bandwagon but resistant to full body intelligence. It just shows how invested we are in the mind being king pin.
How come with all this attention on mindfulness and quietening the mind etc, sleeplessness is going through the roof? Bodies that are crying out for a truly restful night’s sleep are being kept awake and tormented by the mind – doesn’t seem very wise to me, and yet we call the mind the intellect of the body. Mmmm?
“I would suggest true whole-body intelligence can only be connected with when we allow ourselves to surrender to what we feel from the body” Unless we listen to the teacher, we aren’t going to learn; and God has gifted each of us with our own, perfect teacher.
“Mindfulness will not offer us the answers that we search for; the mind is only a part of the beautiful whole that is our body.” That is so true and it is worth it to give ourselves a chance to explore our body intelligence just a little bit more. Perhaps we will be surprise about the wisdom we will find.
When I try to sort things out but in my head it feels like mental gymnastics, strenuous and unproductive. I never reach a feeling of solidness this way and when I ‘think’ I have a solution I soon discover that I’ve ended up on the wrong track. Nothing can beat the feeling of surety and surrender that goes hand in hand (!) with whole body intelligence.
The mind can ‘think up’ so many things but the question is where are these thoughts coming from and is all that we think we think of true benefit for our whole beingness. When we tune in with our whole body the choices we make are completely different to the choices we make when we just rely on our brain.
Our mind has a relentless capacity to switch from subject a to b, and convince itself things have changed. The truth is the illusions just been rearranged. Our body knows the reality and as you show beautifully – it’s time we let it lead.
Is it possible that we are so disconnected from our body because it doesn’t truly feel that great as we keep filling it up with alcohol, sugary foods and drinks plus stodgy heavy meals that don’t truly deserve the label ‘food’?
‘When we have stress, depression or anxiety we are offered ‘talking therapies’ that look at how the brain works and what we think about ourselves, and the world we live in.’ There is a whole field of therapeutic support based on talking, and counselling definitely works better when we are encouraged to feel our bodies, to feel what’s going on and how our thoughts affect our physical state.
The more I connect to my body, listen to what is sharing with me and honour that, the more ‘whole body intelligence’ makes sense – it is so loving, liberating and empowering in the humblest of ways.
And that is in complete contrast to mind intelligence which is imprisoning and so very arrogant in what it sees as its (false) power.
The teachings and presentations of Serge Benhayon really flip over our conscious thought about thought. It’s as big as the world thinking that the sun orbited the earth, compared with today knowing that the earth orbits the sun. I have come to understand that our true intelligence is led from the body not the mind… and now it is for me to make the choices and to live it.
This is a very telling comment and supportive of what the article is exactly presenting to us. I didn’t practice meditation in this way but would be lost in my thoughts over every interaction I had. There was also a push to be better and the best person I could be. My thoughts were always to this perfection and trying to hone every part of any interaction to make it ‘better’ for the next time. I would replay things over and over until I was satisfied that I had got things as perfect as they could be. This exhausted me and it got to a point where “my physical fitness/health suffered immensely. A different track but a very similar ending from letting the mind run off without the rest of the body.
It is a big step to get away from the concept that our minds are what controls our lives.
What has helped me to question this concept, is looking at the world we have created using our mind. Has it produced the kind of world we want?
Is there another way?
We currently like to split things up, we have different streets, towns, states, borders, countries, etc etc. This then leads to us being able to have one part of our body running the rest of it. It makes no sense to consult one house to what the street may need or one community to what a state may need and equally just consulting one part of the body to what the body may need. What makes sense is to take in the whole of something to bring us to what is truly needed. Like we are seeing more and more the fuller things are the more they make sense and the more powerful they are. You only need look at any one thing and if one person attempts to make a change then we possibly don’t even hear it but if a street, town and otherwise stand up then they are heard. There is a true power to be surrendered to in allowing your whole body to talk and not just letting your brain and head run off, as the article is saying, “Mindfulness will not offer us the answers that we search for; the mind is only a part of the beautiful whole that is our body.”
The mind can tie itself in knots, play games and solve riddles yes, but it will never ever feel energy as we can with our whole body intelligence – the energetic dynamics that affect every aspect of our life, the key ingredient we have been ignoring at our own detriment for eons.
I agree Golnaz, the mind can lie to us.. how many people recall an incident in conflicting ways? What we see is not what we think we see, it is all a trick and a game, so it can be quite challenging to control the mind, but when we connect to the body, the message is very different. This whole body intelligence has access to true wisdom when we learn to connect to it.
Today someone asked me how come I always seem to have to much energy and ‘sparkle’ and I answered along your lines: ‘the way I put myself to bed, brush my teeth, hold my posture, walk, breathe etc., have a direct correlation to the quality of my thoughts and that the more I care for my body the more the quality of these thoughts is enriched, as is my experience and understanding of life.’
What a great answer Monika! Connection to the body is a constant choice.
A deliciously simple science; who needs a genius mind to know it, when the body can absolutely feel it?!
Yes, living in a way that is dominated by the mind reduces us and diminishes our inner sparkle.
‘Mastering the mind makes sense, but attempting to do so while ignoring the rest of our sensitive barometer, our bodies, does not offer us the remedy that we seek.’ – as with anything, when we give more consideration, appreciation and understanding to one aspect of the whole, we cannot truly understand or appreciate the enormous potential of the whole and, perhaps, therein lies our problem.
In order to fully understand the whole, it’s important for us to connect with and understand every part that makes up the whole. Therefore, when we have a problem, if we are not considering and listening to our whole body, we will only ever be addressing an aspect of the problem and the pattern will keep re-occurring until we involve our whole body, for that is where our true intelligence comes from.
It’s great to reflect on how I used to think all the answers in the world were in my head, that I could fix anything and had to take on everything. What is undeniable for me is that as I make life about the care and quality I feel in my body then everything flows, makes sense and actually works. To me this is proof that its not about the mind but all about the whole body.
The title “mindfulness” already revels itself. It is implying that it is all about the mind and is not bringing the broader body awareness that is required to truly settle the mind.
I know well that my mind affects my body because every time I think negative thoughts I can feel the tension it creates. Conversely then, my body affects my mind – when I make a change in how I move, from hard and jerky to gentle and smooth, my whole body relaxes and the negative thoughts disappear.
‘ I would tie myself in knots in the attempt to problem solve.’ yes the mind can lead us all over the place to find a solution but the body knows the truth of everything and in bringing the mind into alignment with the body, then feeling or sensing what is there, the truth can be revealed.
The more I allow myself to feel and sense – and then respond to – my whole body and being, the more ‘wholesome’ I feel generally. I then live with greater harmony in life. Focusing purely on the mind and mental aspects of life does not result in such ‘wholesomeness’ in my experience, and in fact brings a sense of separation that actually feels disharmonious and out of kilter.
“Mastering the mind makes sense, but attempting to do so while ignoring the rest of our sensitive barometer, our bodies, does not offer us the remedy that we seek” – i recall doing some spiritually-led meditations [prior to Universal Medicine], and always feeling discombobulated afterwards.. there was electro music, visualisations and robotic sounds… my head would be whirring afterwards and i would feel really peculiar/odd in my body. The meditation was supposed to “be good for you” my mind told me.. so I did it a couple more times before stopping completely. When i look back now, what that mediation did was to numb my senses and my body which i mistook for “being calmer”. My body was telling me just how far from true calm i actually was, and how further away I was moving from the naturalness of un-imposed gentleness – something which I now experience through The Gentle Breath Meditation as taught by Serge Benhayon.
The mind does not feel, and it does not have a heart. It is impossible to heal with the mind as it cannot feel the truth, only search for it.
I agree with you that mental prowess and superiority are often praised as the pinnacle of the human experience and achievement. However I am discovering that actually as you say we are not considering our whole body. I am fascinated that when a baby is being formed in the womb that the cells know how to grow and what to grow. That to me is true whole body intelligence that cannot be surpassed by the brain because when the cells that make up a baby are being formed there is no brain until much later in the fetal development.
Mindfulness is like re-creating the wheel, as in it is just another name for meditation. Change the name, give it a PR makeover and hey presto something new.
This is true – if there is no integrity in our posture, there is no harmony in our movements.
Changing our movement is key to a deeper connection and presence with the body by bringing the mind into alignment with it.
“When we rush, slump or put our body under stress, our thoughts directly correspond to these choices, so choosing to be whole body aware making this our starting point, allows us to connect with the present moment”.
I have tried countless times to think my way out of a situation to find answers or a solution for things only for it to be temporary or to find something which seemingly keeps it at bay but leaves my body feeling restless as in a state of flux. Effectively my mind can band aid situations but what if the band aid comes off – so I could never truly rest. The only thing I have found that works is to focus on my movements and the quality of them. Now when I was 1st told this I thought its too easy, will never work etc.. so whilst tried it pretty much dismissed it and carried on with life! When I found myself in a very destructive behaviour and pattern and was feeling completely destroyed with no where else to turn knowing that nothing other than being with myself and my soul would bring any sense of solace – believe you me I tried almost everything! going for walks, continuously coming back to the way I am moving, what and why I am speaking etc. has been the only thing in this world that has brought back a sense of rest and contentment within my body. So whilst I can think I am intelligent it comes down to what energy is giving me my thoughts as ultimately it is either one or the other and the difference between the 2 gets more and more extreme the more we embrace either one. So will we choose love or not, that is and has always been the question – for the rest is a mere out play of events.
This is so true, that we shut down our body and listen and control from our minds after a certain age. This as I see it causes much disregard for the body that is trying to gain our attention and often causing illness to regain its voice.
A lot of people want to get mastery over their thoughts. In India I talked to a person doing a lot of yoga and I asked why they were doing it: “To calm the mind”. That made no sense to me.
We are very quick to praise the person who is clever and has studied hard to get qualifications but the body is a whole and a lot of what the mind thinks does not make sense. For example – it is ok to abuse the body a bit by our of behaviour drinking alcohol, the body tells us it is not ok with the toxins the following day. When we learn to connect with the body, and not calming the mind, a whole different message comes through.
When we live life from our heads and minds we remain focused on a wisdom that is connected with the world. When we connect to our bodies and stay tuned into what we sense, we re-connect to the deep wisdom of the whole Universe.
Food is a classic test of this, the mind will persist in telling you that you want chocolate, sweets, cigarettes or alcohol, but the body would never choose anything that would harm itself.
Great call! It is interesting that the body knows the truth instantly and the mind will work overtime to override this.
For many years I practiced Tibetan Buddhism in the vain endeavour of enlightenment through meditation of mental gymnastics with little concern for the body. When I was introduced to the Gentle Breath Meditation with the focus on connecting with my body I achieved more stillness and a sense of Oneness in those first five minutes than I had in the years of previous meditation. True mindfulness comes only with full engagement of the body.
Same here jstewar51, having practised meditation for many years, all I found was that I was becoming more withdrawn from life and less able to cope with people. With the Gentle Breath Meditation, there is none of that. In fact, quite the opposite.
So true, Julie. The Gentle Breath Meditation enables and supports one to connect to the reality and truth of life, rather as means to escape or gain relief from it.
When we regurgitate information from books are we not just parrots repeating someone else’s words? What happens when it just feels right in our body that we express, is this not true intelligence?
It’s true for me that using the mind alone often sees me getting into greater knots of tension and distress because all the thinking and mental intelligence used to work things out does so without consideration to the effects on the whole body.
I recently came to know the term transhumanism, and it was rather shocking to learn about what to me feels like an extreme form of disregard, or even annihilation of human body. It really is like a sci-fi movie in that some people’s desire to reach higher intelligence is so great that they would consider their human body to be a bit of a nuisance and willingly consider replacing them with technologically advanced synthetic parts. It’s just incredible as some are becoming aware and starting to reconnect with the whole body intelligence, the exact opposite is taking place.
Mindfulness keeps us segmented up in the loft of our heads, which means that we remain in separation from our bodies, which in turn keeps us in separation from ourselves, which therefore ensures that we are unable to feel God in our bodies, which in my books is nothing short of blasphemy.
You write with such laser like clarity. You have shared great wisdom so effortlessly and in such a digestible way. Fantastic stuff, a truly great piece of writing.
Nothing and no one knows us better, or has our best interests at heart more than our dear body, yet we have been conditioned to ‘thinking’ that our mind is the only intelligent part of our body, which is completely false and maybe the cause of many of our issues. Something is very clearly wrong at the moment as if we had everything figured out so well, humanity would not be in the enormous mess it is actually in today.
I love how you are so clearly sharing the truth of how we already hold the answers to so many of our problems. It’s about allowing ourselves to connect with and listen to our amazing body which is always sending us messages, supporting us to live in a way that is truly supportive and caring, bringing us back to live in a way that honours who we truly are.
‘Most mental health techniques, including mindfulness, neglect the most significant attribute that supports awareness, wellbeing and true whole body intelligence – the Whole Body.’ – which, as you share, is a problem as our mind is only a part of our body and to address anything affecting our body, we need to consider and connect with our body as a whole. We already have all the answers and are so much wiser than we give ourselves credit for. When we allow the space to deeply connect with our amazing body, as a whole, the wisdom it holds to share with us is endless.
For me, I see there is a great difference between mind-fullness and Body-fullness. The body feels everything whereas the mind does not. One separates but gives the impression that it feels connected, while the other takes you straight there, to inner-heart connection.
It is true that our inner wisdom is an intelligence beyond the physical form and existence.
When we emphasis a part over the whole, it leads to a clear and pervasive imbalance. We must attend to the whole and in doing so, each part will be taken care of.
“Is it possible that mindfulness is an extension of the obsession we have with mental intelligence?” A great question to ask. When humanity can understand that it is our bodies that hold true intelligence and not the mind, we will live in a world that is equal, harmonious and loving to all.
Great to be having this conversation, people are desperately seeking something to bring them back to their true selves. I have found whole body awareness and intelligence to be the way for me. We cannot be in a body and only focus on a single organ, our bodies are more integrated and intricate than that. Learning to move with presence and all of me brings a different quality and awareness to my life and daily activities.
I think we would be so better off without the mind/brain and just had to listen and respond to our bodies. I am so aware of how the mind thinks it is in the driving seat and goes off in directions that is not supporting the whole .. it can be very individual and separate if we let it be and creates separation rather than unity. The key is coming back and making it about the body and the whole body (whole body intelligence) being the driver seat .. something that is always work in progress for me! Great blog busting the myth on mindfulness. If we just use common sense how can we make it just about the mind and leave out the whole body!!!!!
I spent years with my mind full to bursting and it caused me a lot of grief. Surrendering to the depths of wisdom that is available from our bodies brings a settlement and ease with life.
“The body holds a natural self-awareness of homeostasis; the balance, harmony and functional efficiency is a wisdom that brings clarity and ease… a whole body intelligence is not to be underestimated.” this is so true and very much underestimated in our world that is dominated by thinking. And we only have to take a tiny look about and see that the world is not in a great place because of this override of our innate intelligence lying in our hearts and bodies.
This is a great blog explaining so clearly the limits of mindfulness, as in fact without the body we only have part of the picture and why would we do something with only a fraction, a needed fraction yes, but anything which does not encompass the whole misses the possibility of true healing and a connection to the vastness of who we are and where we come from … the whole body offers us the way in.
Is it possible that mindfulness is an extension of the obsession we have with mental intelligence? To me the name says it all.
There is a fashion and a fascination with mindfulness at the moment that detaches us from what the body is feeling. The body is a unit and all the parts need considering together as such.
Yes and it makes sense to me now but at the time I was just doing what everyone else was doing. Universal Medicine supported me to see again that consulting the whole ‘unit’ not only makes sense but should be the ‘norm’ for us. We constantly divide life into parts and in this way it gives us the thought that listening to one part of our body is the way to go. Even if we took the percentages you would want to know what the greater part ‘thinks’ overall and in this way the mind would be considered a passenger to the rest of the body. I am not arguing the intelligence part but more a common sense angle that if you have access to the entire unit of something why not listen to it?
There was a time when I thought that mindfulness was beneficial for an astute and steady mind, thankfully I found it tedious so didn’t get too involved and now I am very thankful that I didn’t.
Recently mindfulness was suggested to my daughter and me as a solution to a medical condition, and from what I have read, I am glad that we did not take the advice.
I have been quite shocked at how hard the body has to become to love mindfully, it is almost aggressive and none of our natural grace and beauty is expressed.
I can so relate to this, I am someone who lives quite racey and always in my mind a few steps ahead from where I am at. I notice the difference with whole body intelligence, when I connect to my body and how I am feeling in each moment, it creates a space in which I have the clarity to be able to observe things.
Great question… “Is it possible that mindfulness is an extension of the obsession we have with mental intelligence?” As a society we focus so much attention on mental intelligence at great expense to our bodies… as our current rates of illness and disease expose.
When we engage our whole body in our decision making the answers that we get are vastly different and that is because our body offers us a wise and loving way to conduct ourselves through life.
What I love about what you share is how it breaks down the notion of fighting your thoughts and instead understand and sees them as a marker of how our whole body is.
When my mind (and mouth) dictate what I eat, i often end up craving more and am left feeling a bit tired and bloated. When I check in with my body and listen to what messages it sends about what to eat and I eat from there, I am left feeling light and nourished. I don’t always choose/listen to the body, but the results dont vary.
I used to live from my head with very little connection to my body. After many years of slowly sinking into my body I have become aware that my body is communicating with me every moment. It is my choice to respond to it or ignore the signals. And yes when I ignore the signals, I find myself with different thoughts – racy or circulating- then when I take care of my body and its movements. Then I just know what’s needed next and less thoughts.
‘Mastering the mind makes sense, but attempting to do so while ignoring the rest of our sensitive barometer, our bodies, does not offer us the remedy that we seek.’ I agree, saying no to thoughts that aren’t loving nor supporting is very helpful but that is only a part of our answer. Without taking the whole body into consideration there can be no true healing.
I agree and especially when ‘we’ are walking into every situation. I mean there is a term to ‘throw your head’ into things but your whole body is there with you, at every situation, every turn and relationship. It just make great sense to consult it all rather then allow one part to run off.
I don’t know how many times I’ve said no to tormenting thoughts only to have them come back. It’s only when I change how I am standing/walking/moving do they actually go away and stay away!
Beautiful, exactly that, we try and try, to master our mind even when we think we have, it can still run riot. Bringing awareness to breath, movement, posture allow a whole body awareness to develop and as you say this is where true mastery and change occurs.
I have never felt clarity through the mind on its own. Feeling the truth from the body brings a level of steadiness like no other where the all is known and there is not room for reason or doubt.
I agree. I have felt more true steadiness from the connection to the fullness of my body than from any purely mind based practice.
I know I still don’t quite comprehend how much my body communicates to me.
Yes Michael I believe that we a mostly numb to the extraordinary body we inhabit and in that shut off from the magic and beauty of simply being.
Championing the mind is the accepted norm. Without the teachings and presentations of Serge Benhayon, I would never have appreciated the importance of the body compared with the mind. I would also not have experienced the vitality, sense of well-being, sense of purpose and clarity had I not made developing connection to my body part of my every-day life. The more I choose to connect, the more consistent I become the more awareness I develop.
A great sharing and a question that I’ve now asked myself is around the following “A few years ago I could feel that my head ruled my life… it literally dragged my body along. My mind and body were not united. ” my body was second yet to heal and resolve the issues in the mind I’m finding more and more that the only way is through the body, through the way I move and the commitment to feel my body actually deals with all the ‘mind mess’ that can go on. So the answer is not mindfulness in my experience but as you share whole body connection to which the mind is part of that.
This is such a beautiful bridging blog, offering insight into our true intelligence- body-full-ness.
‘When did so many of us become detached from our bodies?’ A great question to ask. I am spellbound when I look at young pre-school children with their connection to their bodies and the joy that comes with this. They are simply too scrummy for words! Fast forward to primary school and by year 1 many of those same children have begun to shut down. Fast forward to year 6 and this has happened to most of the children. Clearly in championing the intellect at the expense of the body and what it communicates and how a person is feeling, all communicate that feelings and the body do not matter, what we sense with our clairsentience does not matter and in so doing we compromise so much of our expression, reducing and reducing ourselves to a set of prescribed societal expectations; in the end, escaping into the head to not feel the pain of having done so and to function as we believe we must.
Michelle, how are the few that haven’t shut down at year 6 coping? Do they stand out?
The ones who stand out are the ones who are still very natural. They don’t tend to worry about what others think of them. They tend to still be spontaneous and light, open and full of joy!
The easiest way for me to feel when I’m using my body to express and communicate is how i feel a sense of ease, inner-confidence where nothing phases me. I just am. And I don’t need to know the answers or the questions in advance. When I’m coming from my head I need to know beforehand and find myself grappling to get the answers, and do as you share too “mind athletics” — and like any athletics, find the whole thing tiring and wasting.
When we detach from our bodies then the mind does take over and life becomes about achieving wealth, success, security etc. Which gives us this false sense of security, I use the word ‘false’ because no matter how much wealth, success or recognition we gather to ourselves we always seem to want more. So there is no true settlement in our bodies, which is the constant reminder that we are not using our whole body as our intelligence.
I used to live in my head too and when there was an issue, try to think my way out of it. Whilst sometimes I was able to find solutions and think more empowering thoughts, I continued to feel like I was going around in circles. Today I use my innate ability to feel and sense and find that through this there is access to a much wiser ‘body’ of intelligence – literally so in a sense, because it is in the connection to everything the body is and its movements that makes this possible. What I would say is in my experience this works and feels like pure common sense too.
I hear a lot about mindfulness these days and people seem to be so quick to get into it and think it is the answer, the bee’s knees if you will but mention the body and they tend to shy away, too much truth?
The fact that taking care of our bodies has a direct relationship with the quality of our thoughts is something very beautiful and totally makes sense and the more we appreciate this correlation the more it seems to be so.
“In the present moment we allow ourselves the space to refine our behaviours and observe the quality of our thoughts to a depth that offers real healing and consistent foundational support in life.” True evolution is about this, observing our selves so we can refine our behaviours and responses, appreciate our inherent qualities, bring to the fore our gifts and graces. Anything else is simply treading water.
“In the present moment we allow ourselves the space to refine our behaviours and observe the quality of our thoughts to a depth that offers real healing and consistent foundational support in life.” Just as staying present with myself has become more of my norm – my foundation – as you name it here, so too has that natural observation and questioning become more normal interaction in life, observing, asking and adapting have come to be a natural way that has combated the exhaustion I used to live with.
I recently came across a poster with a brain and a heart on it – the brain is quoted saying ‘I’m with stupid’. This gives a pretty typical snapshot of how the brain has put on a pedestal and made the lead character in our day to day drama, and so we have all these walking heads, fundamentally disconnected from the other 90% of the body that we inhabit. How is that working out for us? Far from being the most evolved species on the planet, I look at our so called intelligent behaviour and wonder if perhaps we are the least!
Imagine trying to use your mind to manage and control all the activities that occur in your body?
I still remember when the penny dropped so to speak and that I realised there was a difference between my mind and my body. It sounds crazy now but once upon a time I thought I was my mind – that’s how much it had dominion over my body – and soul.
Reading this I can feel how trying to mentally work things out is complicated and in my experience is hard work and does not work, I now go with my feelings from my body and make simple choices from here, this feels like a true and loving and ‘whole body’ way of making choices. ‘If I had a mental block or indecision I would do mental athletics with all the alternative rationales and scenarios to work out what my next step would be – I would tie myself in knots in the attempt to problem solve.’
“Mental intelligence is what often creates wealth, security, position and acknowledgement from others” – This is an excellent point. Mental intelligence, ‘superiority’ and bravado absolutely contribute to separation within our society, and this stems from the separation it establishes in our own body.
I find it interesting how we can place importance on the mind in separation to the body. We think by controlling our body through the mind we have the answers. Yes, to say ‘no’ to negative thoughts entering our minds no doubt supports us. The mind does have a purpose but that purpose is not to stand alone in ignorance of the body but come together as one in full presence with the body.
One day we all have to come to this conclusion that it is not the mind, our brain that should run the show, but our body instead as it is so much more intelligent than we now think our mind is.
To bring all our focus to one part of the body, in this case the mind, takes our focus away from the body as a whole and this we do at our peril. We have placed so much credence on the intelligence of the mind, that it is the governor of our lives, but when we look around at the state of the world this form of intelligence doesn’t seem to be producing great results. So if we brought our attention to the intelligence of our very wise body and allowed that to be our compass in our life I am sure that the state of our individual health and the state of the world’s health will improve – a lot.
“Now I state here clearly, it is awesome to be educated to grasp formulas, the details of life and the world, but not in isolation of the body and not to the detriment of the body.”
Totally agree when we live life only from the mind, we accept a function that misses out on the joy, confirmation and wisdom that can be offered by living life from the whole body.
You are putting into words what I have been feeling about mindfulness – the same old, same old in a new guise and again, at the expense of the body. Leaving the mind in the driver’s seat does not address the need to encompass the whole body and live life from the heart and body and mind as one, cardio-centrically.
When we are harmoniously connected to our body and not in any form of separation, the mind can be used as a beautiful tool. It all comes down to purpose and what energy we are expressing or to be more accurate what energy is expressing through us.
Awesome article, as you describe beautifully the difference between Mindfulness and Whole Body Intelligence. We are simply not a ‘head (brain) on legs’ – we are a whole body with a large surface area that responds to everything in life. Getting to know the ‘YOU’ within the body, brings one inwardly, to their innermost, their heart, to love, and Love does not exist in the brain, In the brain, love it is a concept. Love is felt from the body, so with Mindfulness, we are by-passing connection this totally.
I have been quite shocked at how hard the body has to become to love mindfully, it is almost aggressive and none of our natural grace and beauty is expressed.
I have observed those who move with their bodies v those who practice mindfulness and move predominantly from their heads and those moving in alignment with themselves and their environment have a grace and flow which is beautiful to feel.
Body-full-ness – a superb description that succinctly unites all the incredible communication within the body that assimilates all the information coming at us from the external environment. There is a world of difference from mentally attempting to work a problem out, in effect just using one dimension of our selves, and surrendering to what we sense and know within our bodies multi-dimensionally. Problem solving on this level delivers amazing results that are truly comprehensive, naturally inclusive and mutually beneficial.
Stunning article. Bodyfullness has been launched.
Beautiful words that ring true for me. Making our primary focus ‘whole body intelligence’ as opposed to ‘mindfulness’ is what will help restore our true wisdom so that the simplicity of this multifaceted and multidimensional intelligence can then inform all that we do, say, think etc. We have spent way too long championing the human mind as a solo agent that works in opposition and at great expense to the human body that enhouses it.
We even have an expression that states that life is a case of ‘mind over matter’, meaning we hold the mind superior to physicality/form. We then have the idiom that follows this that says ‘if you don’t mind then it doesn’t matter’ which we can see the humour in until we realise that this perfectly personifies our chosen and very irresponsible stance in life that we can do what we want and it doesn’t have an affect on anyone and anything and if it does, well – who cares?
Our body never lies and our body will always work to maintain the integrity of its form in relation to and in accordance with the Universe it is a part of, despite our mind at times running renegade to this beauty and this truth. Bringing the two in union with each other is the key to our return to who we truly are.
If the mind was the ANSWER to end all QUESTIONS, then we would simply not have the rise of illness and disease running rampant and literally the global epidemics that we are facing daily. True success of a species is not how many buildings, companies, institutions we can build, design or create. True success can be seen in a home, in a child’s eyes, in what type of adult they become, in the way a men and women relate to each other and in the body, that houses us all. Both fronts, the home and the body, need attention, and so, the isolating of the mind as having all the answers has not worked, the way we move, stand, sit, speak, all plays a part in returning us to even being able to see the true meaning of a successful society.
Mindfulness isn’t about controlling thoughts it is about being aware of your body and your thoughts and using your focus in the body to override the mind. It’s very effective but it is missing a key element the choice of quality to reconnect to our innate essence that is what really supports healing and our thoughts change naturally from this connection.
We cannot truly heal by focusing on a part without the consideration of the whole. In fact this is what is creating more issues for us, we are looking to the mind to come up with the solutions without respect of the body in lives within. It is the quality we live in that is affecting the quality of our thoughts and all our movements thereafter.
When I read this blog I am left with the realisation that asking the mind to manage itself is never going to work. It is like asking a corrupt politician to sort out the political system! The mind is the cause of the problem in the first place so if we bypass the mind and conenct with the intelligence and wisdom of the body then we can get much closer to real answers to our problems, hurts and patterns.
Yes, this is important to understand. We rely so much on our mind but never consider that it is the culprit in the first place.
As I was reading your blog, I remembered back to when I would let my mind run the show, give myself over to it, let it go on and on, over and over on something and how it could all get so complicated. I didn’t trust what my body was signalling back then as I had not learnt how to listen to my body and now that I have things are so much easier.
Honesty and honouring. I love the simplicity of these two words and what they offer.
I’m can say with a fair amount of certainty that if I had continued to let my ‘mind run the show’ my overall health would be very poor. Discovering through Universal Medicine that re-connecting to my whole body intelligence with the assistance of the Body-work Modalities have been an absolute gift and blessing from heaven. More and more my body and mind work together, in unison for the same purpose at the same time.
The body so lovingly communicates what is truly going on for us, it is very honest. Life lived from the connection and honouring of our movements is great medicine; to feel the mind and the body working as one.
So awesome to debunk this latest fad… whole body intelligence is key. For too long we have compartmentalised our bodies, and yet it is honouring our whole body that brings true and lasting transformation in all areas of our lives.
The body is the school building the spirit visits to learn the truth of life. The spirit may choose to be a naughty student, a bully or drop out, an over-achiever or whatever it likes to be, but never can it escape the lessons being taught.
Beautifully expressed Alex, and it is a school that the student, the spirit, that will never leave until has learnt all the lessons that are to be learnt.
Yes changing the way we think about ourselves is great but I noticed in myself that only changing my thoughts does not work, it needs to be deeply felt in my body and then my thoughts can change and confirm it too. The mind sort of just mimics what the body is already communicating in its movements.
Our true inteligence lays in our heart and not in our mind. Hence when we only focus on one part of our body (our mind) we leave the whole body short – that is no intelligence.
The other aspect of this blog reveals to us that everything we energetically choose is related and reflected in our daily living. As below shared, quoted:
“I now understand that the way I put myself to bed, brush my teeth, hold my posture, walk, breathe etc., have a direct correlation to the quality of my thoughts and that the more I care for my body the more the quality of these thoughts is enriched, as is my experience and understanding of life.”
‘Body-full-ness, Whole-Body Intelligence, this is the way to true healing, wisdom and wellbeing.’
So simple the answer to so many of our problems right here in a one liner.
Hi Monika, yes a very simple answer to many of our nowadays problems and available to all of us at no extra cost. No expensive workshop or medical treatment is needed, just the simple application of living in conscious presence with our bodies instead.
So true Monika, and when we tap into our whole body intelligence we feel empowered and plus it is free. Our body naturally holds this intelligence and it is available for us to access at anytime and anywhere. How amazing is that!
Great article. The mind without the intelligence of the body is half baked and offers no real support, yet we as a humanity live under the illusion we can wrestle out an understanding with the mind.
They have started teaching mindfulness in primary schools here in England, but it will be a great day when all schools are teaching about full body intelligence, that is when the world will truly change and our evolution will speed up beyond belief.
When we read the energy of any given situation and not just look at what is playing out we get to the truth of the matter.
I was typing our the word body and twice what I wrote was ‘bosy’. Is this what happens to our mind over our bodies when we place more importance on our minds capacity and our thinking abilities?
They are great questions that you ask. Living our lives from the basis of our minds rather than our bodies prevents us from connection to our being. The essential part of us that gives us life. We all know that we are more that physical and we have all had experiences where our mind goes off on all sort of tangents and sometimes thought can be rather unruly. Listening, knowing and understanding our body and living from this is the pathway to our being. The more we honour what we feel in our bodies and live from that, the less power we give to the mind.
The love of the mind only is always at the expense of our body. Interesting that there is so many mindfulness techniques and tools cropping up everywhere. Whole body intelligence and Body-full-ness offers true connection and shows the interconnection within our selves and how we all are interconnected as one.
Yes I get what you are saying here “The body holds a natural self-awareness of homeostasis” if we combine the mind with the body we have a good outcome – one that takes everything into consideration. When we look at one part in isolation we never support the whole and there is a nagging unease.
‘A few years ago I could feel that my head ruled my life… it literally dragged my body along.’ I can relate to what you share with this. It was like I had a disconnect from my brain and my body. I lived so much in my head I wasn’t aware of my body most of the time. Being aware of the body and building a consistency with that develops a whole different relationship with life.
I can relate to this as well, and it is still interesting to observe when the mind tries to take over. It can happen in a split second. However learning the difference between the from reconnecting to my body has given a whole new compass to life.
This blog is so interesting to sit with and feel. When I consider many of the things that truly define me; my sweetness, transparency, commitment, loyalty, open-heartedness…these are all movements and expressions that come from the body and all feel like expansive and whole representations of who I am. And then when I consider my mental attributes I immediately feel a disconnect within myself and also a plethora of doors fly open through which all kinds of things like comparison, jealousy, self-doubt, arrogance…can all come flying through. Thank you for inspiring me to pause and feel all of this to a deeper level.
Mindfulness is a curious thing. It offers respite via mind control of what comes to you within the pattern of energy you are locked in. That can be easily felt when you feel into any picture of people practicing it. The denseness of the emanating energy is easily felt. So, in a sense is a technique that allows anyone to become more comfortable with swimming in the pranic waters of his/her own choice. It does not offer a way out though.
I know that true appreciation is one of the greatest medicines for humanity and that true appreciation can only come from the body. It’s fascinating to play with this, to try to express appreciation from the mind; for me, it very quickly turns into something quite different – gratitude – which contains the poison of self. This simple experiment demonstrates the truth of what your blog is expressing.
Interesting Otto to see you expose the self in gratitude, I will ponder on that more. I find that appreciation from the mind is limited to listing things I have done well which is all about living up to pictures we have adopted and it doesn’t offer a different Quality in my body. Where as to appreciate from the body it is a sense of Quality within me that is not dependant on what I do and therefore confirms who I am.
Oooh. I like that a lot. I often write an appreciation diary at the end of the day and often it refers back to how the day has gone, the moves I may have made. I also express how my body is feeling and how those moves are now feeling within me. But your comment is going to inspire me to deepen that and then flavour it with appreciation. Thank you.
And your comment inspires me to take time out at the end of the day and look back in appreciation!
Having mind over body is championed as something great but it is like championing having a little patch of dirt that you could impose your will upon as opposed to having access to a whole forest full of wonders that has a natural flow and magic to it.
I often say I prefer bodyfullness to mindfulness as the mind is full enough as it is..
Ha, ha, ha, I like your playfulness Carolien and it is so true. I too prefer bodyfullness because I know it is the intelligence of our body that connects us to our true wisdom and our multidimensionality.
Oh I live that, yes the mind is so full and so very often with unwanted thoughts.
Thank you – I love this great analogy for the body – our sensitive barometer.
“Mastering the mind makes sense, but attempting to do so while ignoring the rest of our sensitive barometer, our bodies, does not offer us the remedy that we seek”.
I agree, the more we are re-connected to our body, the less we get caught up in the scenarios of the mind and its constant striving, seeking and searching for solutions rather than true answers as the body-mind together in ‘body-full-ness awareness..
“Body-full-ness, Whole-Body Intelligence, this is the way to true healing, wisdom and wellbeing.”
Letting go of the barrage of thoughts and coming back to our body, with our mind in allignment to what we are doing, makes so much sense.
Whole body intelligence thinks of others, the mindfulness looks like its thinking of others but it is for self-gain. When you truly consider others things will fall into place more quickly and simpler. It’s a no brainer what intelligence serves best.
“If I get cold, hungry, tired, upset, feel tension, do I push these feelings aside, attempt to ignore or deny them, or do I honour what I feel?” This is such a great question that I suspect if you asked anyone, they would recognise that ‘pushing them aside’ is detrimental to our body and being. And yet pretty much all of us do this most of the time. Not very intelligent by anyone’s standards!
Honouring what we feel is really the cornerstone for real change.
A great question; our body does it’s bit in maintaining homeostasis, but do we do ours? Or do we actually make choices that create barriers and more work for the body to do to keep our internal environment balanced?
So true Susie! If we simply choose to eat in a way in which our body is not supported, our bodies feedback/intelligence is muffled and we miss out on the beauty and grace that is offered through our bodies intelligence.
Well it seems that we do not generally know enough about our body and respect it enough. I know that I lived for 30 years of my life without ever considering the magnificence that it is and due to my choices, I made my body have to work a lot harder than needed and now I still have the evidence of those choices with me in my body.
And what a fabulous question, this snaps straight to the core – “Is it possible that mindfulness is an extension of the obsession we have with mental intelligence?”
Great question Rosanna. I would say yes absolutely. There is something ‘clever’ about this approach to because of the calming result that it provides for some. So in effect it is offering a solution to our busy lives. Therefore we could ask is it true if it first of all doesn’t provide a true connection to our inner most or does it even prevent it? Then does it assist with re-connecting us to the wisdom of our bodies and all that it communicates? I would also ask does it cement even further our obsession with mental intelligence?
Yes Jennifer, it is a way of controlling what is felt in the body as the ‘out of control’ or overwhelm – that happens when we ignore the body and our connection with it.
“I now understand that the way I put myself to bed, brush my teeth, hold my posture, walk, breathe etc., have a direct correlation to the quality of my thoughts and that the more I care for my body the more the quality of these thoughts is enriched, as is my experience and understanding of life.” Being present in the moment with these minutiae of life, we offer ourselves deeper insight and understanding, this is hugely precious.
Our true wisdom and understanding of life comes from our bodies and our movements not our intellect or memory.
There’s such a beautiful simplicity to this isn’t there? – and it changes our whole approach to life and learning.
“Mindfulness will not offer us the answers that we search for; the mind is only a part of the beautiful whole that is our body. Body-full-ness, Whole-Body Intelligence, this is the way to true healing, wisdom and wellbeing.” So very well said. How can there be true and complete well being unless we fully incorporate and engage with every part of our body?
‘… a whole body intelligence is not to be underestimated.’ – Not just that, we can ignore and override it but never can we escape it just like we can be brainy as much as we want but only as long as we live in a body. It is the body, whereby the brain being a part of the body, that hosts who we are and serves as the vehicle for the being to express in physicality. The guest by the unbalanced use of the mind can pretend to be the sovereign of the body but in the end it is the host that sets the rules of the house and the guest can´t but abide.
What you are sharing here is a massive shift in consciousness. To understand that true intelligence comes from the body and that it is our movements that precipitate our thoughts clearly exposes how wrong we have got it in championing the mind at the expense of the body!
Like a career politician the mind takes the truth and reframes it to fit it’s point of view – which is whatever it can do to delay and avoid the fact that it is not it, just part of a much grander picture. Thank you for the re-mind-er.
Thank you so much for this beautiful and informative post. The mind is what tends to get us into trouble in the first place, there’s no way I want to make it ‘the boss’. The body takes the well-being of one and all into account.
Love it, thank you. Such a simple formula: take deeper care of the body = improved quality of thoughts = enriched experience of life and connections to self and others.
And thus are cleared the gazillions of miles of shelves of self-help books in the world!
This is true and I know because I have tried and tested it myself. When I don’t care and I eat junk, my thoughts are like junk too, yet when I do care, the way I think and move is completely different… and I know which feels better that is for sure!
Great summary Bryony, it is simple and it is something that I am aware of and working with on a daily basis as a massage therapist. Over the weeks of people coming to the clinic I have often seen huge changes in their emotional well-being due to changes in posture, and deeper body awareness.
‘The body holds a natural self-awareness of homeostasis; the balance, harmony and functional efficiency’. A simple example is when we get the message it’s time to sleep, the body let’s us know, but the mind denies this request of the body and decides to drink coffee, or alcohol, or do some computer work or watch tv… which is the more intelligent choice?
Very relatable examples John, things I have done for sure and can attest to the absence of wisdom in such choices. When I pay attention and respond to the messages, I find my body and my whole being more harmonious as a result.
I feel that when we are young we are encouraged by the current education system to develop a mental adroitness. We are encouraged to compete with one another for that top spot of being the brainiest in the class, those that are brainy are looked upon as ‘special’ deserving of ‘special’ treatment. So the blog you have written is I feel asking us all to look again at the education system, is it possible that we are failing ourselves because we are forgetting the important role the body actually plays and that to have the mind and the body in synchronicity is the way forward.
Yes, what happens at school is brain recall, not blossoming into our bodies and learning how to support them so we flourish, much of the study is focused on remembering so that exams, tests and statistics can be undertaken, not about the wisdom that naturally is within every child.
Yes when we address the mind without the body, we are left short of the whole. Whilst a solution of sorts can be achieved, we become a slave to keeping up the solution for the underlying issue is not being addressed.
…Yes ….and what we get is millions of us colluding with the idea that the mind rules, and even if a Doctor is seriously ill due to lifestyle illness, they can still tell their patients how to live well, or a counsellor can have dysfunctional harmful relationships and offer marriage counselling and no one blinks and eye lid….it is considered normal that we can say one thing and do another….only a manipulated brain playing tricks on itself for self preservation of it habits and identity can think that this makes sense.
It makes sense that the brain can bring us only a part of all there is to know and see as it is a simple fact that it is only a tiny part of a whole system that the body is. So the more we are in union with our whole body the more access there is to all that there is.
Indeed Esther, the body is the frame that communicates the truth of our minds focus, through movement we are offered an experience that registers the outplay of our thoughts; whether this feeds us or drains us.
Wow. Your words of wisdom are so powerful and direct from your body. “Body-full-ness, Whole-Body Intelligence, this is the way to true healing, wisdom and wellbeing.” Said with such a claimed knowing and with such love.
The mind can easily be manipulated, the body can’t, it will tell you the truth of what is going on inside.
Thank you for sharing this very practical and real understanding of the importance of Whole Body Intelligence – it is very clear we cannot get anywhere near the same quality in our body and being by accessing the mind only.
Once I observed how much my mind controlled my whole body, I was aghast to realise the drive it had over me, like being trapped in a cage by a maniac. I used to occasionally rely on hunches and gut feelings but then sometimes they were totally wrong too, a great trick to make me doubt the body. It has taken some time to change this way of living but now I know the body has the true inner wisdom of true intelligence we can access with our connection to it, it never fails us.
Only in the mind can we override our body’s wisdom and common sensical approach to life and end up in a situation where we wet our pants because we have held on too long whilst we made ‘work’ far more of a priority.
Yes indeed, or carry too much, stay up too late, eat food that does not support us, great point you raise here that the mind can override the body at its detriment and so it is clear why it is so essential to read what the whole body shares and not just the mind.
When I was a young man, my thought processes were really not very supportive of myself. They were negative and largely self-depreciating. I did a lot of work on changing my thoughts and belief systems and as you suggest here, it is an improvement. However, it is only since I have learned to reconnect to the fullness that is my whole body, the wholeness of my being, that I have truly felt any sense of wellbeing and settlement. Whilst I was using mental activity to reach for betterment, this sense of wellbeing was a goal to be pursued. Having embraced the full body ‘mindedness’ it has become a reality.
This is great in that you have offered a platform for understanding that as wondrous as our thinking minds can be, there is indeed more that can be accessed once the body is brought in to that process of reading and discerning the energies and the sensations of life.
The mind has been our focus and obsession for far too long. It is a welcomed revelation to acknowledge the ‘beautiful whole that is our body’, Body-fullness and Whole-Body Intelligence.
Our whole body intelligence is never ceasing universal wisdom, knowing and awareness at the micro and macro level.
“My mind and body were not united. I lived in my thoughts, issues and opinions without considering or caring for my body’ – i used to be the same here too. Truly caring for myself began when i started to focus on the effect of choices, my thoughts upon my body – the body became the primary focus over the mind that often went against and abused the body through simple things like forcing myself to go out when i was not feeling like it or tired but went anyway to not upset anyone. When we don’t care for our body the only body that gets upset and usually with illness, disease, strain on wellbeing, is our own body.
I know that the way I care for my body, how I exercise, walk, sit, stand etc makes a big difference to the quality of thoughts that I have; love what you share about not dismissing the innate knowing or intelligence that we have within our whole body.
A great blog that shows the tricks we can fall for, whilst the mind maybe where we ‘think’ we have the problem, the issues etc.. its only when we look at the whole that we start to appreciate that its through the body where we connect to true wisdom and in turn that heals the whole body including the mind.
‘This is an inner wisdom that I am developing and I see no limits to its potential” This is lovely and to be appreciated. Very rarely are people appreciated for qualities of the heart: sensitivity, kindness, loving, caring, integrity, intuition, and wisdom. Blogs like yours invite us to question, qualities previously valued and re-consider the true depth of the human being and all we have to offer that goes way beyond mental capabilities..
It is such a difference when we walk with our bodies. Our minds certainly can rule the show – but as you share here – this is at the expense of our choices and movements and a general state of wellbeing. To understand that it can be different- to feel in my body what it means to have the mind and body work together is so beautifully powerful.
Mindfulness is solution based, managing the stress without resolving the cause. Consequently the cause gets buried deeper and healing delayed.
Beautifully and very clear phrased, Jonathan, I couldn’t agree more. No true healing is possible if you don’t take the root cause in consideration and only look at a certain part and forget about the whole body.
Love this post – it makes so much sense. “Is it possible that mindfulness is an extension of the obsession we have with mental intelligence?” It is therefore no surprise that mindfulness is being taken into all arenas as an answer to stress – just more mental energy. It is our bodies that we need to connect more with – really very simple.
It feels like exercising the brain is a tightly confined exercise that all too quickly gives me a headache, and I feel the field narrowing, while exercising the body creates a warmth and flow that loosens everything up – including allowing my brain an expansion and space that allows it to see the horizon beyond.
Midfulness vs Body-full-ness. The focus of a part or the plenitude of our wholeness? It’s clear that if we want to really understand what is happening to us and respond to life with our full potential, we can’t separate our body in isolated parts, but feel and honour it as a whole to fully live aware into our life.
The term mind-full-ness speaks for itself. A mind that is full is not healing.. We spend way too much time in the mind. Time to change the conversation to true full body intelligence. Let us breath, walk and express from our hearts and all of us, Thank you Samanaha.
A beautiful sharing and honouring of our true body awareness and who we are in our way of living that is so supportive and loving. “true whole body intelligence can only be connected with when we allow ourselves to surrender to what we feel from the body and allowing what we feel to be honoured.” Absolutely.
You pose a great question – is mindfulness our obsession with the mind…. It has reminded me of a documentary I saw a few years ago where an expert in their field was saying that this now is the ‘era of mind’. I remember back then wondering about this, and how we have based so much importance on our intellect. In so doing, we remove ourselves even more from our connection with our body – which is ultimately not very intelligent at all.
Body-full-ness – I love it. We like to make things super complicated with our minds but our bodies are super plain, super simple and super direct when they talk to us.
And with that simplicity there is an ease in our bodies that is replaced with tension when we are dealing with the complication of the mind.
‘Mind over matter’ is a saying that should be rewritten. When we are attuned to the wisdom of the body we know we are offered the truth.
It is though the connection to my body that I feel when something is not true; my mind cannot support me in this way for if I listen to my mind it just keeps on pushing through ignoring what is truly going on.
This is a powerful article and great to highlight that focussing solely on our mind is not the answer, I have found that listening to my body and simply honouring what I am feeling, such as going to bed when I am tired, not over riding my bodies signals and being gentle with my body feels like a truly intelligent and loving way of being.
It is like going to the gym in order to pass math exams. There is a small benefit but there is something much better around as the body is considerably smarter than the mind.
A few years ago I could feel that my head ruled my life… it literally dragged my body along. My mind and body were not united. I lived in my thoughts, issues and opinions without considering or caring for my body. This was definitely me some 9 or so years ago, so nice now to give my mind a break more and focus on my whole body, particularly my movements with my body, as that is an enjoyable time indeed.
With Whole-Body-Intelligence and being connected to our essence, which is a key to learning to feel what the Body is sharing so we can “honour” what we are feeling and make an adjustment so we can learn from what has been given. Then we can start to heal.
As you have stated, there certainly is a benefit to gaining more awareness of our thoughts and attempting to limit those that are negative towards self and others, but this does not ever get to the underlying cause of these thoughts, which are directly correlated to the level of awareness, movement and nurturing of our whole body. It has already been proven that the quality and type of people’s thoughts change when they change their posture from say a slouching one to one with a straight and elongated spine. Even by focusing on one’s breath and making it as gentle as possible can completely transform one from feeling stress and anxiety to a state of calm and centeredness. I have done this myself numerous times with great results. By merely making our minds and their infinite thoughts the focus without ever considering the quality of those thoughts/emotions and how they effect our bodies and how we move in life, one could be led in so many different directions almost like a fishing boat in the middle of the ocean without a rudder. But by bringing our present awareness back to the whole body and responding to what it is telling us we can begin to reconnect to the even greater wisdom that it has inside, which is from the Divine source it originated from, and then move our bodies from that source of energy accordingly.
So true, using the mind to stop the mind going off on tangents or negative speak is like having the best conversation with yourself where you never disagree – it is great as long as you don’t want honesty! Bringing the body into the equation changes the thoughts that are on offer, and with commitment and dedication leads to lasting change.