Body Talk

Body is real as perception creates our experiences. Pain and pleasure, moment by moment, tell us that body exists. We do not like pain and find solace in pleasurable experiences. We like to continue that pleasant times always. So, we strive for it and wish that everything in life has to be leading to some form of sense pleasure. When we get attached to these memories, we are always on a run to indulge, but find it really hard to maintain that endless chase, obviously. Meantime, life happens.

Now the real frustration starts. Body shows pain and discomfort by falling ill or getting old. Deaths of our loved ones eventually make us skeptical of our 'pleasure trip' objectives in this life. Is this the method to have lasting happiness? Now that is not a very comfortable question to ask, really. Because from childhood onwards we have been practicing this idea that always in a pleasurable state is the ultimate aim in life. That was a convinced 'stable foundation' for our life to build on. Practicing this simplistic path of indulgence leads one into a kind of a pitfall in the real world. But to realize this, one has to go through some form of acceptance of the reality. Is that a choice? Well, who hasn't gone through that 'noble pain' once in a while and learned a thing or two? So, what can be done to make all these life lessons more useful? How to get rid of the elements that make us to cling on to old habit patterns and conditionings?

Now, where does art practice fit into all these? Our visual faculty is like a bloating paper that is eager to suck the nearest ink drop. We assimilate millions of visual information, among other forms of sensory data, most of which is not relevant to the art practice of the time. So, there should be some form of heavy editing mechanism in place to figure out the ones contextually needed. Otherwise mind will create a chaos which will finally fall on the creative process like a wet blanket. Thus, a blanking method to the mind's screen regularly has to be brought in and it has to be simple as well as powerful. What to do if you are not impressed with the religious practices to calm your mind other than going for temporary fixes like listening to music or traveling to the mountains?

As Anakarika Munidraji once said: "If you want to know about your mind, you have to let go, sit still and observe the mind. As simple as that." So, one has to start at some point. Better late than never. As a fundamental teaching to cultivate stillness and awareness, here are the four foundations of 'Sathi'(mindfulness as a bad translation!), straight from Buddha’s Sathipathana Surta, not from the religion called Buddhism, I may add;

1. Awareness of the Body

What is happening at present in my body? The body is always talking to us. But our mind is not listening all the time. Every cell of the body is in the present and feeling something, but we are somewhere else. Our mind is either anxious about the future or immersed in the memories of the past. So, by making conscious attempts to come back to the body, each organ, each cell, if possible, one can be with the body sensations. By listening silently, by contemplating the flow of the moving body parts, the rise and fall of the stomach when we breath for example, or to be with the deeper rhythms of our heart for instance, we can be one with the body. Most of our inner organs are working without our conscious awareness but we can try to be with them as much as we can when we scan deeper and go deeper. “The basic starting point is solidness, groundedness. When you sit, you actually sit. Even your floating thoughts begin to sit on their own bottoms. You have a sense of solidness and, at the same time, a sense of being.” -Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.

2. Awareness of the Feelings

This is also similar to the mindfulness of the body. What am I feeling right now? Feelings happen in the present moment, not in the past or in the future. So, if we come back to the 'now' we can pretty much figure out what emotion am I feeling in the present moment and to achieve this one has to let go the past and come out of the thoughts about the future, right away. It can be a challenge sometimes, but not impossible.

3. Awareness of the thoughts/mind activity

This needs much more effort and practice. What kind of mind quality do I have now? What kind of thoughts are generated in my mind right in this moment? are they relevant and true based on reality? or are they existing just in my imagination? Is this 'fear' for instance, my own creation? or is it reasonable? Generally what is the state of my mind right now?

4. Awareness of the rest of the phenomenon

This is of a much wider scope as everything in this micro-macro system is happening at the same time, in this moment, but we are limited by experiencing it only through our sense organs. So, all we can do to bring more awareness to our faculties is to get rid of the obstacles and hindrances that reduce our mindfulness of what is happening in 'real time’, not in our mind or just within our perceived world. Our perception of the real has to be 'as it is', not tainted by our colored 'judgements'. This practice will at least bring us close to the reality within our given limitations. So, by being objective and rational as much as we can by using all our faculties, it is possible to expand their capabilities it seems.

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Illustration: Sebastian Varghese C. 2017- 'Micro-body and the sensations in the organs'

Reference on Sathipathana Sutra: Joseph Goldstein, Gil Fronsdal.