Having somatic awareness and being aware of our bodies is fundamental to not only enjoying all the delights and wonders of the life experience, but also being open and able to feel the joyful, relaxed, and loving energy that is to be found in our relationship. Many of us live each day where the self-awareness of the body is rationed, even denied, in preference to favouring the mind about everything else. But what good is a magnificent mind if the body sustaining it is abused, neglected, lost, and treated as an inconvenience? What if, instead of exclusively valuing the mind, we decide to prioritise the body to achieve balance? What if we chose to listen to our body to value ourselves more holistically?
What is Somatic Awareness?
Learning to sense your body is what somatic awareness is all about. As easy as it sounds, this is the one ability that is both crucial yet likely to be completely absent in the majority of relationships. It is why most people's relationships end up being so unpleasant and unsatisfying.
Somatic awareness covers basic yet effective body exercises such as:
Remaining attached to our bodies even when faced with demanding or stressful situations
Acknowledging and releasing negative thoughts and self-talk
Fully feeling present and not hiding behind old defences
Letting pleasurable feelings in and allowing them to nurture and heal
Being present and conscious with a close friend or intimate partner as they experience feelings in their body
Learning to trust and rely on your body to talk to you and to let you know what it needs.
Why Do Relationships Suffer From a Lack of Somatic Awareness?
Many of us suffer and endure in our relationships because our connection with others is only ever as good as the relationship and connection, we have with ourselves and our bodies.
When you bring things such as playfulness, relaxation, openness, joy, and loving energy to a relationship, it is much more likely to thrive and succeed than one that brings, say, anxiety, tension, dishonesty, and coercion. At the end of the day, all that each of us longs for is to love and be loved. Blocking our path to love are all the difficulties, setbacks, discomforts, and traumatic experiences we have experienced in our lives.
It is these types of negative experiences, whether evident or subtle, that tend to leave behind a mess in the form of unresolved issues, which end up becoming lasting impressions that impact our subsequent relationships. The more of this baggage we drag from the past and into our present relationships, the more it weighs us down. Ultimately, our past interferes with our present, never really giving it a decent chance to be free
Tantra and Somatic Awareness Go Together
Tantra teaches us how to tune in and listen to our bodies. Tantra wishes nothing more for you than to be able to love your body and appreciate it for the exceptional container for our soul in this world that it is.
Our bodies are extremely logical and perceptive vehicles. It is a perceptive and trustworthy courier proficient in conveying vital information for our survival and spiritual fulfilment. Although the brain appears to be the central nerve centre of our nervous system, we must also consider the rest of our body.
Did you know the heart and stomach contain a staggering number of neuronal connections that convey vital information to not only our brains but also many other areas of the body? Even our souls aspire to use everything within us for a deeper and richer experience of life and living.
When walking through life directed solely by the mind, we end up disconnected from ourselves and the world around us. Once in this state, the experience of life and perceptions of reality can only be witnessed and felt through thought and what the mind tells us to see and feel. Naturally, many people are content to live a life where thought alone is sufficient to produce a coherent perspective of life and reality.
Those who do connect fully with themselves, however, those who learn to tune in to their instincts and feelings manage to hold a more expansive view in addition to being in touch with their natural and spiritual abilities.
Our Body Wants to Tell Stories
If we just take the time to listen, the body we live in has many tales and stories to tell us. When we allow our mind and body to relax, consolidate, and be heard, we can reveal buried secrets and concealed truths about ourselves. This is where the development of somatic awareness comes into play.
Because it is unable to verbalise using language, sensations are how the body communicates to us. Messages can also be sent to us through thought and intuition in an attempt to persuade us to pay attention to what it is trying to express if we refuse to listen to its sensations. Though it requires patience and skill to decipher the signs, it is not impossible to learn how to do so.
Somatic awareness, or consciousness of the body separate from the mind, may be cultivated by working with the senses, sensitivities, and feelings of the body.
Building somatic awareness allows us to have a more body-focused approach to life, allowing for a more prosperous existence. A body-focused approach indicates improved health and well-being, possible longer life, richer quality of life, and genuinely rewarding involvement in life experiences. What makes this happen? When our emotions form, we become mindful of where they originate and where they settle within us. In most instances, emotions are almost always accompanied by physical sensations in at least one part of the body.
Many things in this world can inflict pain, wounds, and trauma on both our mental and physical levels. When we are best positioned to be able to sense and feel where the pain and tension have manifested on the physical level within the body, we are ideally placed to be able to tenderly guide these back out again through directed healing to that area. By healing the body, we also heal our spiritual essence. The status of our mental and spiritual health and the health of our body are intrinsically linked.
Listen for a Healthy Relationship
By listening to your body's sensations, you will be awake to what it needs for support. It is ignorance and not knowing the messages when they come through that can lead, over time, to the formation of armouring, injuries, and scarring. Though the body takes this action as a defensive protective-like mechanism in a proactive attempt to prevent further harm, the side effects can make the body desensitised and numb to touch and feel.
In the longer term, this has the potential to lead to anxiety, depression, and even an acceptance of hopelessness as the new normal.
When you are disconnected from your physiological experiences, you are cut off from the link that connects you to your inner happiness, that of your spirit. You may address what troubles you, heed what begs to be heard in your body and connect with it through focused somatic awareness.
It is also about developing a strong relationship with oneself and utilising the light of your own awareness to brighten the dark areas inside of you that yearn for light to bless them.
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The information contained above is provided for entertainment purposes only. The contents of this article are not intended to amount to advice on your personal situation and you should not rely on any of the contents of this article. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of this article. The Writer and Shoshin Therapies disclaim all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this article.
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