Moving practices that incorporate mindful awareness can benefit both our bodies and our minds. Mindful movement can create change and transformation where there is stagnation and a sense of being “stuck” while leading us into a deeper relationship with ourselves. It does all of this while also building mental qualities that can lead to a deeper-seated meditation practice.
Mindful movement practices can be beneficial for anybody, even if you don’t practice meditation.
The Mind-Body Connection
The mind and body are completely interdependent. Changes in one lead to changes in the other: Any change in the mind is reflected somewhere in the body, and any change in the body has an influence on the mind. That’s why it is wise to pay attention to both and to attend to both when we are seeking to change or improve ourselves in some way.
If you already practice meditation, you may find it useful to incorporate your body into your practice in some way—in particular, practices that involve movement.
If you don’t practice meditation, moving practices that incorporate mindfulness principles are enormously beneficial for a number of reasons, which will be explained in a moment. They can also be an excellent way to begin building the qualities needed to practice seated meditation if you eventually want to try adding that.
Types of Moving Practices in Various Spiritual Traditions
Every tradition has its own way of working with the body, and each method has enough differences that it wouldn’t be doing them justice by generalizing about what each of them is trying to achieve. Each practice has its own goals and methods. However, certain types of practices apply certain common principles.
These principles are followed in many body-based practices, such as traditional Buddhist walking meditations; Qi Gong; Taiji Quan, and other martial arts; yoga asanas, and other similar practices. However, they may or may not entirely apply to moving practices that are forms of prayer, such as the Muslim practice of Salah, Buddhist prostrations, walking a labyrinth, etc.
When it comes to prayer, the mind is often also meant to be absorbed into the object of devotion, which may not involve the same sort of absorption of awareness in the body, depending on the practice, tradition, and teacher.
So let’s get into it: How can moving mindfulness and meditation practices help us?
Creating Greater Health and Balance
Most people in modern society need more movement. We sit for long hours and often don’t move our bodies nearly as much as we should for good physical and mental health.
For meditators as well, moving practices can be key. A sitting practice alone (without movement or taking proper care of the body) can lead to stagnation within both the body and the mind. This can lead over time to decreases in mental and physical health as well as a decrease in the efficacy and quality of the meditation practice.
For anyone who does not have enough healthy movement in their life, moving mindfulness practices can be a helpful addition to a balanced lifestyle that allows them to simultaneously improve the health of both the body and the mind.
Anchoring Awareness in the Body
Maintaining awareness of the body can be an excellent way to keep the mind from wandering into thoughts and emotions, which is unfortunately where too many of us spend our time and attention, causing all sorts of problems for ourselves.
Instead, with the body as an anchor for the mind, we find in the body an extremely healthy alternative to being in what meditators call “monkey mind” or “mind-wandering mode,” which is the all-too-common default for most people’s minds.
When we learn to step back from habitually engaging in a constant cycle of thoughts and emotions and instead root the mind in the body, our mental health and acuity increase, many problems may begin to resolve on their own, and we can more easily root ourselves in the “here and now,” which is the only place change can occur.
Developing a Deeper Relationship with Ourselves
Awareness of the body allows us to have a relationship with ourselves that goes beyond the thinking mind. This is so precious. The more deeply our awareness is able to soak into the body, the more we can become aware of subconscious and unconscious aspects of ourselves.
One thing I love about the body is that all of this can be done without ever having to develop a narrative about ourselves. Having a narrative or story about ourselves can sometimes be very healing, but often the stories we have about ourselves are also a source of many of our problems.
By allowing our awareness to develop a more thorough connection with our bodies—and by training our awareness to stay in our bodies as we move—aspects of ourselves can change on subtle levels without our even noticing and without having to develop a story around why we had this or that problem. Without having to engage in analysis, things can simply change.
Making These Practices Work
The key to getting moving mindfulness practices to work is having the right mental qualities. The mind should be gently but stably absorbed into the body. Let’s break down these two qualities further so that they can be applied to many moving mindfulness practices:
- Being Gentle: By keeping our minds gentle and at ease, we allow ourselves to be aware of whatever is present without interfering with it. When we can achieve this, it allows for the crucial ingredient to be present—the main ingredient that creates transformation: acceptance.
- Staying Stable: By keeping the mind stable within the body, especially as we move (which is an extra challenge), we can train our minds to be still and under our control. This allows us to better use the mind to focus its attention on things that will benefit us instead of having it be hijacked by thoughts and emotions that do not serve our highest good.
So, to put these principles into a simple phrase: Stay gently in the body.
Keep the mind anchored in the body in an increasingly thorough way over time. Be gentle and relaxed as you experience a graceful acceptance of whatever is presenting itself to your awareness. The change that can arise over time is immense. If this sounds good to you, I would encourage you to explore a bit and find what practices and traditions fit you best. I hope they help you as much as they have helped me!