Connecting with Our Bodies

These days, many of us are disconnected with our bodies and this affects our lives in many ways. Dr Jeffrey Brantley, MD, is the co-author of Five Good Minutes in Your Body, and numerous other books concentrating on psychology and mindfulness. We asked him a few questions about his philosophy on connecting with our bodies.

Why have we become disconnected from our bodies and what are the affects of that?

There are many reasons we are disconnected from our bodies. There are cultural and other values that place an extra weight on thinking over bodily sensations and feelings. There are cultural and other messages to ignore pain or deny the experience of the body, especially when that experience is related to discomfort, illness, or vulnerability. 

There are few cultural or educational messages to encourage us to "inhabit our bodies" (to pay mindful attention to the experience of being in a body, allowing the possibility of actually feeling the changing sensations as an experience). Instead, most folks are busy "using" the body, and also judging and trying to make the body over into some idealized something else.

The effects of this ignoring of the body are many fold. First by such inattention to the authentic experience, one actually misses the communication of the body necessary to maintain health and happiness.

For example, if one is out of touch with the sensation of hunger and fullness in the body, then the activity of eating can become totally disconnected from what your body needs. If one doesn't know when they are hungry, they are more likely to eat for emotional reasons, rather than for feeding the body; and if they don't know when they are full, they are more likely to overeat.
Another common unhealthy effect of ignoring the body's message is to ignore the message of feeling stressed. Muscle tension, teeth grinding, sleep or bowel disturbances, can be examples of chronic stress buildup in the body. Not noticing, misunderstanding, or denying these uncomfortable sensations can only lead to worsening them. Much healthier to notice, acknowledge, and take a wiser response to stress management.

How can we get back in touch with our bodies?

Getting back in touch with one's body can be as simple as recognizing that it is vital for health and happiness, and then making a commitment to become more aware of embodiment itself. In our Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction classes we encourage participants to become more "mindful" of their bodies in a variety of ways, all of which begin with paying attention on purpose to the body, in a kind and non-judging way, without trying to change anything, but rather to understand and be present for experience, moment-by-moment.
In our "five good minutes in your body" book, Wendy and I offer 100 easy to practice methods to bring more mindfulness to your body.

In short, to get back in touch with your body means paying attention on purpose in a kind and non-judging way to the direct experience of bodily sensation, moment-by-moment.

What happens when we start to reconnect?

One becomes much more in touch and present. This has enormous benefits from everything from healthier eating, to safer working and exercising (less likely to injure the body), to cultivating a deeper appreciation and affection for the amazing job the body does supporting your life.

What is the premise of Five Good Minutes in Your Body and how would you describe the kinds of exercises contained in it?

For many reasons one can become disconnected and even hostile towards one's own body. The cost of such self-ignoring and meanness is enormous in terms of health and happiness.

Yet, the capacity to re-inhabit one's body with awareness, and to become appreciative of its gifts, and grateful for its support is in each of us.

The realization of our capacity to discover embodiment comes through the simple but profound activity of paying attention on purpose to the sensations in the body with out judgment, with interest, and in a way that allows the experience of being in a body to reveal itself to our own hearts and mind. This is, in other words, learning to be more "mindful" of our own bodies.

All 100 of the practices in our book are aimed at supporting the interested person to "try on" this possibility of discovering embodiment for themselves. You don't have to do them all, you don't have to do them in any particular order, you don't even have to like them all!  

What counts is to find at least one practice that you do like and are willing to do, hopefully many times, to grow your awareness, in a kind and compassionate way, to include and know what it means to be alive in your own body.