Have you ever told yourself to ‘just calm down’?
Or heard that it’s good to ‘become more in touch with your body’?
The benefits of connecting with our bodies are almost as many and varied as there are grains in the sand, but for many of us, a relevant practical question remains …
HOW – exactly – do we connect with our bodies, so we can experience the benefits?
Well, as I learned by being a participant in our recently completed The Deeper Work: Knowing Yourself Webinar Series, the key research-proven way is by doing an activity called a ‘Body Scan’.
I’m going to share a streamable Body Scan audio session delivered by our series expert, Emma Furner, with you below …
But first, I thought you may be interested in hearing about my first ever experience doing a Body Scan!
As you’ll see, even as a trained psychologist who has done plenty of relaxation and mediation before, my experience with the Body Scan was more than surprising:
(Note, I posted this in our Transformation Support Community Facebook group – I have slightly edited it to take out the context about the series, which we were undertaking live at the time!)
“Hey guys, I just thought I’d share my profound experience with the last webinar’s Body Scan …
Normally, (or should I be optimistic and say ‘historically’?) my packing up of the office after work takes a long time. What would maybe take 5-10 minutes to be quite ordered, often takes me up to 20 or even 30 minutes. A huge part of this is that – if I am stressed or anxious or my nervous system is elevated (say, by delivering a webinar!) – OCD-like compulsions to triple check things, straighten stationary several times, and have the room ‘perfect’ take over.
After last night’s webinar, which I attended live, I felt so relaxed and peaceful after the Body Scan, that I set an intention to leave the room as is – and go and watch the second half of the State of Origin with my family (very unlike me, previously, I would have packed up the office to ‘perfection’, probably taking longer due to the anxiety of the time pressure, and have gotten there even later!). My plan didn’t go exactly, BUT here is what did happen: I quickly decided to ‘just do a little clean up’. And I did! The position of my candle on the table, my glasses in their case, and the pens in the pen holder were ‘good enough’. The whole process of packing up the office felt smoother and calmer, like a little ‘finishing off’ and a celebration of the day that was. And I tidied to maybe eighty percent of what I would have previously and thought ‘that’s fine … let’s go’!
While I was taking in the information on stress from the webinar, and it had a couple of light bulbs even for a seasoned psychologist, I attribute all of this deep sense of peace, relaxation, and aliveness to the Body Scan … who knew that there was so much power to find a deep relaxation simply and just through the breath (certainly not me, even though I am very familiar with relaxation and mindfulness meditation).
Finally, to reinforce the power of this work in a way I hadn’t expected, one of my family members called me the next day and said ‘thanks for coming to the game, and for being so fun and happy with us after a long day’ … it seems that the effects of the Body Scan were not just noticed by me, but pleasantly noticed by others (who, may have – without me realising it – been feeling the effects of my stress!).
Anyway, it was quite a profound experience, and one that has left me very hopeful for continued benefits to come (even if they are just many repeats of the same benefit – being more ‘peaceful and flowy’ is my mental goal for the year!). I want to thank Emma for the experience, and – if there’s anywhere to share it it’s here – so thank you for listening, and I hope this message helps you in some way on your quest of doing the ‘Deeper Work’.”
Of course, I’d love YOU to experience the benefits of the Body Scan, so here is a link to a 6-minute Body Scan that you can do as many times as you like, whenever you like:
The complete Deeper Work series – including all live recorded webinars, three additional Body Scans, and a 150+ page workbook – is now available on demand, ready for you to explore at your own pace.
So, if you’d like to experience the profound benefits of doing the ‘Deeper Work’ that myself and so many of our online community members are enjoying, please feel most welcome to explore the series yourself!
(It’s a really beautiful series, and the feedback has been that it’s even more powerful, and far less scary, than many people expected!).
Yours in getting to know yourself a little better,
