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WELL-BEING<br />
Thirty Years Before<br />
Mindfulness…<br />
Finding Focus through Tactile Sensations<br />
BY SAMANTHA BEDERMAN WELLNESS CONTRIBUTOR<br />
F<br />
rom the time I was very little, my uncle used to always applaud<br />
how tactile I was. Everything, for me, was about how it felt, or<br />
how it made me feel. Every little thing…from the tags in my clothes<br />
to the finest seeds in my foods, these sensations had the power to<br />
ignite feelings of lightning bolts shooting through my nervous system.<br />
When my son was born, I noticed this infant seemed hypersensitive<br />
to every kind of stimulus around him - from puppy murmurs to the<br />
hum of the lights. This complex and overactive ‘sensitive’ gene had<br />
been duplicated, and it was at that moment that I knew why this child<br />
found me.<br />
Being perceptible to touch is really about a communication signal.<br />
Animals communicate using signals, which can include stimuli<br />
that are visual, auditory, chemical, and tactile. Communication<br />
behaviours can help animals find mates, establish dominance,<br />
defend territory, coordinate group behaviour, and care for young.<br />
As humans, if we can tap into this kind of awareness, we are more<br />
capable of making transformative change occur. Eugene Gendlin, a<br />
well-known psychotherapist during the ‘50s, called this “felt sense”:<br />
When your body knows more about situations than you are explicitly<br />
aware of, and the body picks up more about another person than you<br />
consciously know. The sensations, and all the ‘feels’ you have, are part<br />
of an internal dialogue that your body and mind are having.<br />
So, from a yogic perspective, how do we train our ‘monkey minds’<br />
to stay focused long enough to identify a felt sense, so ultimately, we<br />
can create a felt shift? On average, people experience about 70,000<br />
SAMANTHA BEDERMAN is a Certified Yoga Instructor and Iyengar trained. Sam uses Yoga to assist with healing from injury, surgery, as well as managing chronic<br />
pain and auto-immune symptoms. Visit YOGABODII.COM<br />
30 VILLAGE LIVING MIDTOWN<br />
thoughts a day. Practising Dhāraṇā, might just be the key...the practice<br />
of Concentration (Dhāraṇā) teaches us to ‘zoom in,’ so we’re able to<br />
focus on one thing alone. Much like any network, Dhāraṇā needs its<br />
sidekick, Drishti, to be successful. Your (Drishti) Gaze is one point<br />
of focus, a non-moving point in front of you that is your sole focus<br />
when practising your yoga poses. This Drishti will not only aid in your<br />
postural alignment, but will support your mind’s ability to concentrate.<br />
Drishti is the yin to Dhāraṇā’s yang, for both asana and meditation.<br />
Simply put, Dhāraṇā means to concentrate without interruption from<br />
internal or external disruptions. This is helpful in an asana practice<br />
because without Drishti and Dhāraṇā, the mind chatter runs wild<br />
(What did she just say? My muscles are starting to shake. When can we<br />
release? Boy, it’s getting hot in here! Remember to pick up milk on the way<br />
home. Hmm, wonder when I will be able to walk the dog. Did I fold the clothes<br />
in the dryer?). Seriously, I’ve been there!<br />
Finding your Drishti in each pose will guide you towards deepening<br />
your posture by virtue of your focus and concentration. This will allow<br />
you to zero in on the meditation in action, and the transformative<br />
changes will be on your horizon. Your deepened sensations will now<br />
guide your journey to a place where more focus is attainable, and your<br />
yoga becomes the medicine for the unsettling and restlessness of the<br />
mind. Namaste<br />
“The brain is the hardest part of the body<br />
to adjust in asanas.” B.K.S. Iyengar