Emotions: Body, Mind & Spirit
“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.”
In January 2020, I traveled back to the Midwest to celebrate the life and mourn the death of my last grandparent. Reflecting on her funeral and time with family, I was reminded that emotions are more than mental thoughts about a topic or situation. They are somatic expressions, i.e. deeply held experiences that we carry in every brain cell, fiber, organ, bone, and tissue in our bodies. Our emotions are in constant dialogue with each other with our minds and our physical bodies. To feel the weight of emotional valleys and peaks with our bodies and minds is to experience the primary colors found in the kaleidoscope of the human experience.
More than any other manifestation, emotions profoundly reveal the interconnectedness of body and mind. Or in the famous words of Hellen Keller - author, activist, and the first deaf-blind person in America to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree - when she stated, “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.”
“Trauma is not just an event that took place sometime in the past; it is also the imprint left by that experience on mind, brain, and body.”
In his research and work with trauma patients, Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk highlights the phenomenon of body-mind connection as expressed in how the body remembers traumatic events and experiences. In The Body Keeps The Score, he writes, “… trauma is not just an event that took place sometime in the past; it is also the imprint left by that experience on mind, brain, and body. This imprint has ongoing consequences for how the human organism manages to survive in the present.” Recognizing this, one comes to acknowledge that an ingredient of mental and physical health then, is to identify where these far-reaching emotions reside and how they impact one’s perceptions and actions; to reveal how the body-mind system reflects one’s emotional history.
The greater attentiveness and safety we feel and experience in the body and mind, the more keenly aware we become of our emotions, our perceptions, and our inclinations that guide our lives for better, or for worse. By engaging in a body-mind practice, you create the physical space and mental space to survey and heal the emotional landscape of your human experience, a poetry of rehabilitating movements.
One way to cultivate this body/mind attentiveness is through the artful practice of Yoga. The ancient wisdom and philosophy of yoga is built upon this mind-body connection and accepts that by becoming more attentive to the psychosomatic reality of the human experience, people lay a foundation for body-mind health. With each breath exercise, meditation, and physical asana, yoga practitioners often experience an emotional surrender that not only releases toxicities but also creates a mindfulness; a mindfulness that Dr. Van Der Kolk says, “makes it possible to survey our internal landscape with compassion and curiosity [and] actively steers us in the right direction for self-care.”
“Yoga is the artwork of awareness on the canvas of body, mind, and soul.”
More than a fitness routine, the practice of yoga has the capacity to create a psychosomatic discernment, an opportunity of bringing clarity to the bodily patterns that house mental and emotional pain. Or as Dr. Amit Ray poetically states, “Yoga is the artwork of awareness on the canvas of body, mind, and soul.”
As you consider ways to feel deeply the emotions that rest in your body, mind and spirit, explore this simple and introductory yoga posture and meditation exercise.
YOGA POSE: SUKHASANA (EASY POSE)
Easy Pose: Step-by-Step Instructions by Yoga Journal
Step 1: Fold a thick blanket or two into a firm support about six inches high. Sit close to one edge of this support and stretch your legs out in front of your torso on the floor in Dandasana (Staff Pose).
Step 2: Cross your shins, widen your knees, and slip each foot beneath the opposite knee as you bend your knees and fold the legs in toward your torso.
Watch a video demonstration of this pose
Step 3: Relax the feet so their outer edges rest comfortably on the floor and the inner arches settle just below the opposite shin. You'll know you have the basic leg fold of Sukhasana when you look down and see a triangle, its three sides formed by the two thighs and the crossed shins. Don't confuse this position with that of other classic seated postures in which the ankles are tucked in close to the sitting bones. In Sukhasana, there should be a comfortable gap between the feet and the pelvis.
Step 4: As always, you should sit with your pelvis in a relatively neutral position. To find neutral, press your hands against the floor and lift your sitting bones slightly off the support. As you hang there for a few breaths, make your thigh bones heavy, then slowly lower your sit bones lightly back to the support. Try to balance your pubic bone and tail bone so they're equidistant from the floor.
Step 5: Either stack your hands in your lap, palms up, or lay your hands on your knees, palms down. Lengthen your tail bone toward the floor, firm your shoulder blades against your back to your upper torso, but don't over arch your lower back and poke your lower front ribs forward.
Step 6: You can sit in this position for any length of time, but if you practice this pose regularly, be sure to alternate the cross of the legs. A good rule of thumb: On even-numbered days, cross the right shin in front of the left, and on odd-numbered days, do the opposite. Alternately, you can divide the practice time in half, and spend the first half with your right leg forward, and the second half with the left leg forward.
MEDITATION:
Step 1: Gently close your eyes and draw your attention to your body and the physical space that you are inhabiting.
Step 2: Scan your body looking for places to soften or disengage your muscles - beginning at the crown of your head; slowly making your way down, across your forehead, eyes, jaw, neckline, shoulders, torso, etc. making your way to the soles of your feet.
Step 3: Focus your attention on your breath; noticing as your belly and chest rise with each inhale and release with each exhale. As you breathe in through your nostrils, breathe out through the mouth by ever-slightly constricting your lips (e.g. like your blowing out a candle on a birthday cake). Establish this slow and rhythmic breath, deepening your breath with each inhale and lengthening your breath with each exhale.
Step 4: Now, draw your attention to the mind. We often buy into the lie that we can be in two places at once, we cannot. We can only inhabit the here and now; the gift of the present moment. Therefore, any thoughts that would seek to draw you away from the present moment, allow them to pass by. And any thought that would help facilitate your awareness of the present moment, hold onto lightly. When it no longer serves you, allow it to fade as well.
Step 5: Now with a calm body, a rhythmic breath, and a still mind, begin your meditation by setting an intention, a prayer. The suggestion for this meditation is the phrase quoted earlier, “All is well, and all manner of things shall be well” (the famous phrase from the 12c-English Christian mystic, St. Julian of Norwich). Repeat slowly this phrase, matching the phrase with your breath (e.g. “All is well” on the inhale breath, and “all manner of things shall be well” on the exhale breath). Repeat intention/prayer for several minutes.
Step 6: To exit practice, return to natural breath and softly open your eyes. Next, take a moment to journal your experience.
Written by Mark Carter, Spiritual Counselor and Bereavement Coordinator at Topkare Hospice.