ASK ABDI: IS THERE A TRICK TO GROUNDING MYSELF INTO MY FEET?

QUESTION: We did a session in which you suggested I get into the practice of belly breathing and grounding myself into my feet for a month. I have been practicing, and I find it really helpful. I can definitely feel my hands, which is a great experience, but when I sit, somehow the feet feel far away, not my own, I feel my shoe or sock around them, or when barefoot I try to feel the floor, but it seems disconnected.

Is there a trick? Or just keep practicing? After each time I practice in the morning, I definitely have a different experience for the day, so that's progress. Any suggestions would be helpful!

ANSWER: Really wonderful that you are having the kinesthetic experience of dropping into your body. Is it not amazing that for many of us such an awareness is not a common experience? That we have become this free-floating head/mind with no body awareness? Do remember that body awareness leads to the relaxation of the nervous system. That is why you are having a different experience in your day after practicing.

Your experience of being aware of your upper body first is common. It takes time to fully bring awareness into the lower parts of the body. Kinesthetic awareness follows our conscious awareness. Since we spend nearly all of our days - from the moment we wake up to when we fall asleep - in our heads, that is where the awareness stays. So body awareness is a muscle that needs to be developed. It must be remembered, part of the reason we are so “head-heavy” is that this way of being is a form of controlling our anxiety. The deeper we drop into our breathing and body awareness, the more we can become aware of repressed emotions. So it is a process that needs to be tended to daily.

One of the ways I trained my own body awareness was walking in place on a container of small rocks daily. The initially unpleasant experience would force my mind to drop further down than it normally would. And sometimes, I would also place a coin or small object in my shoe when I went for a walk. Not something to injure myself of course, but annoying enough that it would bring my awareness to my feet.

You are on the right path, keep up the daily practice. And learn to tolerate the feelings that arise as you practice.

A standing meditation practice may be helpful as well, click here to view an instructional video.