Mental Health Matters: Mentally Preparing for 2024 (Part II)

EVER felt that discomfort in your throat that almost feels like a ball stuck in there, seconds before you blink those tears down your cheeks and then almost feel relief from the awful feeling? Ever noted how in that moment, all your attention is on that part of the body, hence you feel the discomfort greatly. 

That very action is applying mindfulness through your body, but how interesting it is to know that this can be done intentionally as a way of applying and experiencing mindfulness through our bodies. 

Also read: Mental Health Matters: Mentally preparing for 2024

In Week 2 of six weeks of the Beginners’ Mindfulness Programme, we learn about cultivating present-moment awareness through our body. 

Week 2 is about bringing that awareness into our bodies. Starting the session, we did a stretching exercise with our facilitator, Louise Duys. This exercise includes slowly and alertly lifting each arm in the air and holding it up for a few seconds, taking note of any feelings and sensations arising in the body and staying with them. 

During the facilitation of this programme, Duys was guiding us to follow the arm with our eyes from the time we lifted it up right till it was up with our fingers pointing to the ceiling. This was a continuity of mindfulness, but now, bringing it to our bodies, or better yet, experiencing it through our bodies. 

During this exercise, I remember feeling great discomfort and wishing it would end already. Another thing that was brought to my attention was the difference felt in my arms – it felt like I needed to do exactly the same to the other arm to balance the weight out. Those were the feelings I observed and practised so as to not judge them. 

Also read: Depression is one of the most common youth mental health concerns

Further along the session, we practised the 15-minute body scan meditation, in positions that were comfortable for each one of us. Some were lying on the floor facing up while others were seated on the floor with their legs stretched out or folded. 

We closed our eyes, took a deep breath and phased out our surroundings to be in our bodies. The body scan meditation started by bringing attention to our feet and noting any kind of feeling and/or sensation as we moved along the body, focusing on different sections. 

For me, this meditation helped me discover a lot, like the fact that I had no idea how my feet felt because that is something I have never paid attention to. In some parts, I felt numbness, and I felt tightness along the chest area and a tingling sensation in my hands and fingers.  

For our home practice, we were required to apply a mindful, in-the-moment approach to a normally mindless activity of the day like washing the dishes, packing/unpacking the dishwasher and brushing teeth. For me, driving is the best activity for this. 

Also read: World Well-Being Week: Maintaining your mental health for well-being

We were also required to practise the body scan meditation, and for that, we were given a body template to plot and map what we found arising in our bodies. 

The body scan meditation was the most exciting part of the exercises for me. Starting early in the day, as I woke up, I would lie still in my bed and pay attention – from my feet to moving along my whole body, then right up to the head. 

While this exercise caused me to drift back to sleep for the first few days, with more practice, it became more fun just to scan through my body like that through focus. It was also pleasurable just to sit with myself and be present before I started planning for my day and rushing off to complete tasks. I found my head to be more clear and my body lighter. 

Week 3 was about bringing together the groundwork covered in Week 1: The Mind, and Week 2: The Body, to explore ‘Integrating our Mind and Body’. Read about this in next week’s article.

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