Your Body Isn't The Enemy
There’s a Buddhist story about some monks who were meditating on the unattractiveness of their bodies. The practice was supposed to make them less obsessed with physical beauty. But their meditation turned into self-disgust, and some committed suicide. When the Buddha learned what had happened, he taught the remaining monks a different practice: mindfulness of breathing.
Most of us aren’t intentionally contemplating unattractiveness, but we’re remarkably good at making our bodies the enemy. We focus on how our bodies aren’t good enough: too old, too differently abled, too restless when we “should” be meditating, too tired when we “should” be working, too hungry for pleasure when we “should” be focusing on spiritual things.
But your body isn’t the enemy. It’s been carrying you around all these years, sustaining and healing you. And when life has been hard, your body hasn’t been the trouble. It’s been experiencing the trouble alongside you. So how do you relate to this constant companion?
Often, we relate to the body as if it were a slave. Our minds give orders our bodies are expected to execute: keep working till the project is done; go to sleep when the clock says so; be sexually responsive with your partner. But your body isn’t “being difficult” when it doesn’t follow orders. It may know something you don’t about your relationship to work, sleep, sex, or anything else.
I have a hormonal condition that sometimes gives me heart palpitations. The other day, I noticed myself thinking: “What’s wrong with you, body?” Then I realized the palpitations were difficult enough without fighting my body too. So I came back to my breath, as the Buddha taught, and tried breathing along with the palpitations rather than against them.
You can’t learn what you think you already know. Treat your body as a source of counsel, not a foot soldier to command.
As always, if you’d like to be held through your process, reach out and we’ll set up a free coaching call.
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