Body Awareness Exercise

A Body-Awareness Exercise That Opens Me Toward God 

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?

1 Corinthians 6:19

Written Instruction:

I settle into my place of prayer, where I feel comfortable, safe, and undisturbed. I take my seat. I sit upright on the chair, my lower back supported by the backrest. I begin with body awareness:

I sense the areas where my thighs, my sitting bones, and my back touch the chair.
From my sitting bones, I let my attention move downward and feel where my feet touch the ground.

I feel my weight — how I am being carried by the ground, by the chair.

“I let myself go, I allow myself to be carried by you, God, who carries me.”

Now I bring my attention back to my lower back.
From there I sense upward, along the outside, little by little…

I feel my neck and shoulders.

From there I move into my upper arms, sensing the skin in contact with clothing and body.

I continue downward into my forearms

and arrive at my hands.

I feel the outer surfaces of my hands and the inner surfaces.

Now I gently turn my attention to the movement of my breath.

I sense the tip of my nose and notice how the air flows in and out.

Perhaps I notice a difference between the cooler air as it enters and the warmer air as it leaves.

I notice how my chest gently rises and falls as I breathe…

how it expands and contracts…

and further down, how my abdomen moves forward and back.

Now I slowly turn my attention inward.

I notice my present inner state — without judging it. As I am now, I am allowed to be. I do not need to accomplish anything right now.

“I am in your presence, God, in your light. You know what I need.

I consent to your loving presence and your action within me.”