Entry 174 - Lesson on Feeling the Inner Body

12/31/19

About 10 weeks ago, I took an online class called Conscious Manifestation with Eckhart Tolle. I came across a concept I've heard before, but I never really explored consciously until recently. Maybe in worship at church I've felt tingles all over my body or maybe when I felt very alive I've felt tingly all over, but it was a phenomenon I wasn't trying to be aware of, it just happened. 

Eckhart talks about a certain type of meditation called inner body meditation, and it focuses on being aware of your body and sensing it. It's very interesting. It requires one to be very conscious of the present moment, their bodies and how it feels and helps you in situations to stay grounded, present and aware. I grabbed a few comments from the course where people shared on how they were able to "feel the inner body" and hopefully it helps others become more aware of this phenomenon.

By feeling your inner body, that means being aware of the energy in your own body. I noticed it's easiest to feel it in my fingertips, but it's taken me some time to be able to feel and be aware of other parts of my body, but I'm getting there. Most times this phenomenon happens at spontaneous moments depending on what activity you're engaged in. The only difference is you are being consciously aware of it without any outside event inducing the tingly feeling. The good news is you don't need anything outside of you to feel alive, you can tap into your aliveness whenever you want.  

"Here are a few tricks I use to help me feel the inner body. Once you have used these for a while, you won’t need them anymore, and you will be able to access the feeling of the inner body almost anytime just by bringing your attention to it.

The first is one that Eckhart and Kim teach. Close your eyes and hold your hands up in the air so that they are not touching anything. Then ask yourself, “How do I know that I have hands, without relying on thought or memory?”

These others are pointers I have come up with in order to help myself during meditation.

Imagine someone had magically turned your body to stone, and you’re hoping that you have been magically restored to your usual body. Close your eyes and feel within to know whether you are still “made of stone” or whether you are alive. This will tune you into the aliveness.

A similar pointer is to imagine that your hands or feet have been turned into rocks or chunks of plastic. Close your eyes and try to feel whether they have been “turned back” into living hands and feet. By imagining what it would be like if the body or parts of the body were inanimate and contrasting this with our actual experience of the body, we can easily tune into the energy that animates the body.

Sometimes I also ask myself the question, “Is this space that my body occupies an alive space or a not alive space? This pointer helps me to feel the entire energy field of the inner body at once and to feel that it is without a boundary, which then makes it easy to sense that the aliveness of the inner body and my awareness of that aliveness, subject and object, are one. Awareness has become aware of itself.

Happy meditating! Blessings to you on your journey."

   - Comment from Eckhart Tolle's Consciousness Course