Opposites
* (Bonus video following this post) *
I love playing with and exploring my capacity to hold opposites.
Take a moment to come to stillness. Now notice where stillness settles into your body. Can you feel the stillness in your legs, hands, feet, arms… where else do you feel still? After exploring stillness for a while, let that go.
Now shift awareness to your breathing. Notice how even the subtlest breath moves the body. Notice the movement on both the inhale and exhale. After a few moments here, let that go. Begin to notice how you can feel both the stillness and the movement, holding them both in your awareness at the same time.
Let’s keep exploring. Bring your attention into where you feel the coldest, it might be a slight chill, or a vivid experience of cold, either way find the place that you can settle your mind into the coolest temperature you are experiencing at this moment. After taking a few breaths with your awareness on the cold space, let that go.
Explore for the warmest area in your body. Again it might be extreme heat, or a subtle warmth. Focus your attention there for a few breaths. Then let that go. Now notice how you can be aware of both the cold and the heat in your body at the same time. Breath with that for a few breaths.
I encourage you to keep exploring opposites within yourself, comfort and discomfort, heavy and light, etc. Noticing one extreme for long enough that you fully know it, the size, shape, texture, temperature, etc. Then switch to the other extreme and hang out there getting to know it. Once you’ve experienced both, hold them in your awareness at the same time. You have the capacity to hold these extremes, to shift your focus, to be with it all.
-Amanda
As promised, the following link will lead you to a video which I have created to accompany this edition of Mindful Moments.
