Inner Work

For the week of: September 13, 2004

Body of Stillness

When we sit still, our possibilities increase for contact with with the sensitive energy in our body, for creating the energy body. In bodily repose, we can intensify and stabilize our attention to our whole body. The energy in the body can grow richly dense, solidifying our position in the inner world of presence. Ultimately, the concentrated, energetic stillness of the body can connect us to the pristine, timeless, and infinite stillness of pure consciousness. The traditional approach has us practicing this in the quiet of a formal meditation, in time we set aside to devote exclusively to inner work. But this unnecessarily and severely limits our work to a relatively brief block of time, a small percentage of the day.

We need more. So we look to any situation in which we sit still for a prolonged period. Riding as a passenger in a vehicle, be it a car, subway, plane, bus, boat, or train, leaves us with time and attention to bring to bear on our bodily presence. Similarly, we can sense the whole body while reading. Sitting in an audience for a performance, be it a play, symphony, opera, movie, TV program, or a lecture, also presents an excellent opportunity for building our energy body. We can give our mental attention to the event and reserve our physical attention for sensing our whole body, strongly and continuously. Rather than detracting from our experience of the event, sensing keeps us more totally present to take it in more vividly.

For this week, practice whole body sensation, as thoroughly and robustly as possible, for the duration of situations where you need not move and can safely and appropriately be present in the whole body.

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