Practice 1: Body Awareness

How to build up the awareness of the body. By standing. By practising some standing exercises. The feet are just about shoulder wide. The knees are very very slightly bend. The hip is tucked in. The lower back is pushed out. The chin you pull towards your chest. And the top of your skull feels like it is suspended from above. And just stand. There is no need to add any tension to it.

First of all just feel your own body. If you don't know what to feel, I can give you some example. Try to feel your spine first. Get a feeling for where your spine is sitting. Now make sure that the spine is exactely centered between the left foot and the right foot. Put the spine into balance in regard to left and right. If you now continue and pay attention to how is the weight distribution between the toe area and the heels, front and back in balance.

Afterwards from the lower part of the body, you are now using the mind. You are using now the mind and the awareness of your body to go step by step from each station, starting from the feet. You travel with the mind into the feet and ask yourself, is there any type of tension that you are consciously able to resolve. Next station. You're moving up to your ankles. The same procedure. Ask yourself, is there any type of tension that you can feel that you consciously can release.

You travel up to the knees, you travel up to the thighs, you travel up to the hips, you travel up to the lower back. You go in to the chest area, you feel the back, you feel the neck, your shoulders, the ellbows, the hands, and correct your posture again.

This is one part of wise, all internal, because the main work that you're in the beginning investing, the main work you are doing, on the outside you can't see too many things happening, because it's internal, because it's something that you are dealing with, that you are transforming, that you are changing, that you are paying attention to, which happens inside of your body, which happens inside of you.

(Master Shi Heng Yi 释恒義 - Shàolín 少林)