How Body Awareness Can Help Reduce Stress

“Body awareness not only anchors you in the present moment, it is a doorway out of the prison that is the ego. It also strengthens the immune system and the body’s ability to heal itself.”

— Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth

Body Awareness

Body Awareness is one of the guiding principles of sophrology and can be different for everyone. At the end of each sophrology session, I ask each person what he or she felt physically, mentally or emotionally throughout the exercises. Sometimes the answer is purely physical, pointing to feelings of heat, tingling, or pulsing, and sometimes the answer is filled with vivid images or deep realizations.

And sometimes? The answer is “nothing.” But even nothing can be something if it’s truly a conscious realization.

All feelings – even the lack of feelings – are valid. People are different and we all experience things differently. Some people find it easy to tune in to the body and travel with their imagination, while others find it more of a challenge. Sophrology can help to re-establish that sense of body awareness through tapping into the sensations and discovering them, as if for the first time.

The feelings one might experience during a sophrology session might feel like “nothing” because they seem insignificant. How can warm hands mean anything? Well, acknowledging those warm hands is doing a couple of things:

• It’s increasing body awareness
• It’s bringing you into the present moment, thus making you more mindful

When you drink a glass of cool water, you can feel the glass on your lips and the cool liquid make its way from your mouth down your throat. You can probably tap into that cooling feeling for a couple of seconds before it’s gone. That’s a great start!

Likewise, when you’re shaking your hands in the air and then you stop, you’re likely to have a sensation in your hands. What is that sensation? Tapping into that sensation is part of the work.

Busy The Body, Calm The Mind

When we are stressed, classic meditation can feel difficult because we can’t turn off our racing minds. It’s like telling a hyperactive child to just calm down. But give that child an activity, and he or she is likely to naturally calm down.

With the guided exercises in a sophrology session, you get into a meditative state, but you’re doing it by focusing on your body, instead of your mind. You become aware of the various parts of your body and observe your feelings or sensations in the present moment.

You’re getting grounded in your body and calming your mind.

And that meditative state, otherwise known as the alpha brain wave state, is a place of deep healing. This is why people have been saying that meditation has changed their lives (but those of us with busy minds have never been able to sit still long enough to see what everyone’s raving about)! This brain state can help to balance the central nervous system, minimize depression, stimulate creativity and allow the mind and body to relax.

As you actively practice getting into this state, your resilience builds up, as does your self-awareness. By creating a more conscious mind-body connection through sophrology exercises, you are naturally more aware of how you feel throughout the day and are better able to nip stress in the bud. Sometimes that means taking a break, finding balance through some self-care, or scheduling in some downtime before anxiety or overwhelm takes over. You learn to read the signs in your body and can be proactive in your own wellbeing.

Some Body Awareness Activities

Here are some body awareness exercises to try out:

1. Body Scan Relaxation: feel each body part as you relax

2. Five Senses Meditation: use your sensory capacities to feel your environment

3. Creative Walking Tour: tap into your senses as you go for a walk.

Lastly, in your everyday life, as you go about your activities, really tune in to what you feel in your body.

• What does the water feel like as you do the dishes?
• What sensations do you have as you type on your computer keyboard?
• List out your sensations as you drink a hot drink or eat a snack.
• Wherever you are and whatever you’re doing, tap into your 5 senses, one by one.