When clients lose their sense of aliveness and vitality, how can we help them reclaim it?
According to Dr. Tara Brach, we can begin by helping them notice the tension in their bodies.
In the video below, Tara shares a personal story of how this helped her reclaim her own sense of aliveness.
She also shares a simple practice that you can try right away.
Take a look – it’s about 5 minutes.
How have you used mindfulness to restore a sense of aliveness? Please leave a comment below.
Thanks for the video and all the great comments on the many ways to help clients to mindfulness. I teach clients strategies to relax the muscles around the eyes through deep breathing, palming, Chinese acupressure and self hypnosis.
Milton Erickson, the father of modern day hypnosis, suggested that consciousness was housed in the 6 strong muscles that surround each eye.
In our modern lives people spend too much time looking at close screens which means that the eyes muscles tense up.
Our eyes are designed to be farsighted and look far into the distance – as soon as clients take off their glasses and look into the distance their breathing deepens. In order to look through the fixed lens of glasses the muscles have to ‘hold the eyes’ in a certain position that reduces peripheral vision and breathing.
Norman Doidge’s book ‘The Brain’s Way of Healing’ has a great chapter on Vision that links to this.
Doidge’s book Ch. 8 also reports on the effectiveness of ear stimulation in three example cases: dyslexic syndrome, autism, and suicidal depression. My discoveries include the finding that the muscle of the right middle ear, the stapedius, controls the focus of the eyes. My innovative therapy of focused listening addresses a wide range of issues related to stapedius tonus. You can learn more at my blog Mental Health through Music. Thanks so much for adding to my information about the musculature of the body regarding the eyes.
Thank you for this reference. I have read that we each have one dominant eye that focuses on what we are doing and one eye that is involved in scanning our environment for danger. Also that when we stare at one point for any length of time we restrict our breath. So prolonged computer work with minimal eye movement could cause a holding in the breath. Another thought is that our health depends on sufficient REM sleep which involves eye movement – can’t be by accident we’ve evolved this restorative process as we sleep.
I recuperate the attention to the place of tightness in the body/ I have been using it for a long time, but asking my clients to look at it, and put its shape and co;lour and structure on paper and look at it. talk about the feelings it brings up, and then try and change the painting to elicit positive feelings. This works well, and brings always a smile and relief. From brain studies we have seen that by actually making feelings concrete in drawings we activate change and plasticity. So mindfulness and observation of feelings in the body combined with actions of cognitive awareness and change affect a more positive result.
I approach alliveness from the Reichian understanding of breathing, muscular armoring and the chronic tensions that hold against feeling and block our capacity to simply be present in a relaxed way.
And for me, where I find mindfulness to be an incredible resource and support, is at the end of the breathing and body/emotional release session when there is a palpable sense of energy flow in the body. Then, to bring in a guided mindfulness meditation, sensing all the nuances of sensations, energy flow, and relaxation, is a rich way to help people deepen the awareness of their natural undercurrents of vitality and aliveness.
Namaste, Aneesha
Always wonderful to watch you both. Thank you for sharing this.
Thank you for the insights. It is reassuring to recognize these tensions for what they are and to know where they come from. Kindness and patience toward oneself when using mindfulness meditation has really been helpful to me. I also practice tapping which really adds to my feeling of wellbeing.
Thanks to Ruth and Tara for sharing this, and thanks to Joe W for the exercise. I think this can easily be practiced/introduced to others free from any language of spirituality, or with the inclusion of language that is meaningful to a particular individual. I tend to suggest that people just give some attention to what’s happening inside their body, acknowledging tension, tightness, heaviness, etc. and then intentionally releasing it. I like the analogy of the clenched fist, and think that is something everyone can relate to.
Disappointed that there is a great deal of Buddhism in this presentation. Many clients are closed to mindfulness specifically for this reason. They value other faith values and are “afraid” to engage in anything that “undermines” their own spiritual values.
I have a description of some of the differences between “meditation” and “prayer” and “mindfulness” and psychosis under the CBT tab at my website Mental Health through Music. Your Christian client is correct that there are differences between some practices of meditation and of prayer. However, there is overlap. The famous Roman Catholic mystic Thomas Merton was seeking those points of cultural and spiritual contact at the time of his death. I think you can explain states of consciousness scientifically in terms of the influence of the ear on consciousness. If you can give your clients a scientific reason for paying attention to their own state of consciousness, that should relieve them of any religious anxiety.
Thank you. The observation that all muscle contraction is a defense and a result of not feeling safe was a helpful insight. It is useful to remind myself that I may not feel safe but that is either due to a fear of failure or rejection (projections rather than present moment truth ).
By coming into the body more fully, the projections are easier to see as fear. That allows us to access our coping resources – is there really a threat? What can I do? And sometimes this leads to more energy – or to acceptance. Either way, it is certainly aliveness. Thank you for this timely reminder !
I have a client that spent many days in bed for hours and hours. When I saw her a few weeks ago, I had her take a couple of slow deep breaths and then scan her body for a place in which she felt the sad feelings she had verbally expressed. When she found them in her heart, I had her stay there for a while and tell me what was coming up for her. When she came in two weeks later, she excitedly told me that she had begun taking walks. I encouraged her to do more body scans at home when she was feeling disturbing emotions. I was amazed how the body scan and processing of emotions of the prior two weeks had got my client functioning again!
Thank you so much for this reminder. I use the body scan technique to recognize my resistance to the present, but I had not thought of it in terms of releasing the flow of energy in order to reclaim vitality, an area in which I am in great need at present.
I discovered Vipassana meditation 30yrs ago. It changed my life.
Our bodies and senses are store houses of our past present and future.
Thank you Ruth and Tara.
Yes it is so much better when you stay I the present moment and breathe, I then start noticing any holding on or tension in my muscles.
Thankyou for reminding me of that.
Irene
Thank you.
It is always nice to hear and experienced therapist talk about their own experience. Then you know it’s true that is shared out of love. I have a an exercise that me and my client have found helpful over the years. I resist calling mindfulness as mindfulness is attaining the status of a buzz word. Nonetheless here’s the exercise and you can label it. It is important to do it with the breath. There is a progression of four parts. Speaking from the adult/healthy self to the wounded part feeling the suffering.
In breath Out Breath
I know you are there. I am here for you.
I know you are suffering. I am here for you.
I know you. You are precious to me.
I know you. I love you.
The client repeats each statement to themselves several times before moving on to next statement. While they are repeating the sentences to themselves gentle suggestions may be given. I will talk about how a begins to heal as soon as they are known. This breaks the isolation of the part. Next statement, I talk about the child’s (parts’s) suffering child deserves to be cared for and protected. Then I moved to how precious the child (part) is and how suffering does not change the child’s (part’s) preciousness and how all parts need to need to be seen as precious and is precious. And finally each child (part) needs be loved. This how they discover their own goodness and their power to heal.
This is incredibly helpful! Thank you for sharing it!
I have used yoga and meditation since I was about 11 years old at which time I was being treated for leukemia. I accidentally found /Noticed a book on yoga at the hospital Library. I was fascinated and ordered more books. I am now 70 so it has served me well. However I have lost my vitality and interest after nursing in my home my husband who died from cancer last month. I am hoping that Tara’s approach will help me regain interest in life, myself, and a return to my career which is a way of life I can’t really imagine not participating in but I just don’t have the volition. Before all this started, last year I watched a lot of Tara’s work and was very impressed.
Having lost my husband entering my third year I continue to have trouble with my previous sense of well being and enthusiasm. Added to my own bout with cancer shortly after his death. I watched my grieving process and realized how my life had been shattered. First three months shock. Gave myself permission to cry and cry, and friends gave what support they could. Talking with other widows seemed to be the most help. After nearly a year I returned to work as a pediatric psychiatric nurse practitioner part time. I monitor my energy and focus on my own woundhealing…little glimpses of light come through. I know I will always be sad because I loved him so much but I cry less often and a shorter amount of time. Hope this helps, so you can bring that tenderness to yourself that we need after such a loss. .
Currently recovering from back surgery and a long time practitioner of Mind Body Medicine techniques of Jim
Gordon, this was helpful. Made me revisit the how much power I give worry. I will want to use Tara’s wisdom as I heal. Thank you!
I find that a daily practice of giving thanks for life, for family and friends and for what I am able to do in the world
has helped me to divert energy away from worry and inadequacy and towards energy and fulfillment. Tapping at the beginning of the day has also been very helpful. It has increased my awareness of how I am living my day and made me more open to the needs of others.
To remind me to be open to whatever I am experiencing and to use the awareness that brings rather than to try not to experience something. In other words, mindfulness helps me trust myself.
Thank you for sharing this wisdom of perspectives that can renew and enliven our experience of living.
Hi. I have been using fasterEFT and as a counsellor I am working towards accreditation with Robert G Smith. It is similar in identifying tension or resistance and tapping it away. I have praticed mindfulness and feel it is beneficial like time out and observe your body’s reactions. Faster EFT or Eutaptics recognises the programs we are running from our perceptions and therefore memories and reprograms by forgiveness and recognition that ir is only our perception of events. Find it very freeing of old programs so I can live in the aliveness that we naturally would have access to without our blockers if you like. Huge topics ut v exciting so many people recognising mund body as one and pain as signposts seeking attention.
Thanks for sharing.
I use mindfulness for myself and with my students. Once you recognize the anxiety than you can work towards disputing it. Very good. Thank you for sharing.
Seems pretty easy and cordial to me.
Thank you
Great video, I use the ap headspace which has really helped my meditation become more habitual, and i completely agree that worry can choke us up. Letting go is key! Thanks for a great reminder!
She’s talking for a camera and she’s not an actor. I had to remind myself of that.
On camera with all this information straight thru with no added words like um and uh and and so, etc. doesn’t feel natural either.
Just a thought
I suggest mindfulness to feel alive and get out of overthinking or worry with a back to basic approach of focusing on the senses: intentional focus on an invigorating scent, a visually calming scene or setting, hearing beautiful music, a favorite flavor, the feel of wind through your hair or grass under bare feet, so simple but all these connect you to feeling alive!
Thank you for this video and all the other ones I find very interesting, supportive and inspiring.
When I totally leave everything into His hands, God’s hands, (in more concrete words let go, trust, don’t cling to anything kind of mind set) I then feel lighter and attaining a sense of flow is much more easier specially when I cultivate a connection with His presence, thus stop on a regular basis and connect with His presence within.
This works for me. Body work is also key to calm down and bring peace through my body what is necessary if I want to be able to touch-in.
Thank you again. Peace.
JF
Thank you for this wonderful succinct description.
I liked the idea that resistance is a kind of “clenching” because this implies that we have a very immediate capacity to release to this natural state of vitality. Also seeing that we can use our anxious, edgy, energy and liberate it back to a sense of flow and vitality is so useful in not labeling these energies as something negative.
I’d love to hear her speak about this without the Buddhist jargon.
It’s culturally narrow.
I’d be interested to know how you might explain this without the perceived buddhist jargon please?
strange controlling manner…
we all have our own unique perspectives.
When I am not feeling alive (or cut of from my vitality), it is because I am feeling numb. The problem is I’m not feeling much of anything. The technique mentioned is helpful when I’m feeling sad, depressed, insecure, or anxious because I can feel those in my body. If I’m feeling numb, I often can’t find the tension in my body either. I’d be interested in other techniques to tap the emotions first so that you can then move onto the next step. (Note: I’m a patient, not a practitioner.)
Great question! Sometimes I find movement helpful. You could find some inspirational music, put it on and just start dancing even if it feels weird and mechanical. Breathe deeply and keep moving until you start getting a sense of how your body and emotions would like to move. Then just let the energy flow with acceptance as you love yourself through whatever comes up to be loved. Much love and joy to you. 🙂
I saw a talk by Qigong Master Nan Lu in which he said when you find in your meditations that you reach a certain level of penetration into your spiritual state, and your meditations seems stuck in that level and you don’t go any deeper, he suggested that you try “love” in the meditation. I tried it and immediately found so many blockages exposed as names, feelings, situations, and flawed forgiveness just spoke to me and begged for relief. Trying “love” perhaps accomplished for me what the tension, depression, and insecurity relief methods that Tara described accomplished for her. Hope that is helpful.
If you are comfortable with using mindfulness you may find that numbness has a physical quality that you can feel into
Thank you Tara, You are always an inspiration. This short piece confirms my experience in this morning’s meditation. The day after we celebrated Independence Day, I recognize that it is our interdependence that is truly our liberation. I am recognizing more and more how the flow of my vitality comes from the All rather than my own tiny piece of willfulness.
very very practical and helpful
thanks
Thank you Tara! What a lovely and simple way to notice how drivenness acknowledged can transform into aliveness.
Hello
I go in my garden and release into the atmosphere ,smell the air, feel the breeze pn my skin.
I go in my garden and release myself into the atmosphere like you would jump into a swimming pool.I close my eyes and smell the air, feel the breeze on my skin and join the aliveness of nature.
There is a great app named Calm that is available for Apple and Android phones. I have my clients download (it’s free ) and use the “Seven Days of Calm” program as homework. It’s a great way to give them a guided process to start incorporating mindfulness into their lives. The presenter is really outstanding.
Thank you for this suggestion. I downloaded it, and I think it is fantastic!
The idea that when we are tense we are trying to ward off the present moment is very helpful. Thank you.
Tara continues to inspire present-moment compassionate awareness. I have noticed her influence within the Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy community such as shared in the bodyscan Tara presents here. For me, this mindful practice of listening with compassion to cues from my body and holding a neutral and /or gentle kindness breathes a relaxed spaciousness and openness. That space and openness makes the possibility for me to choose how i next respond as i grow new tools for living. Thanks Tara for sharing your work; keeping going!!
Through Qi Gong movements, I have taught my clients to identify tension in the body, and help them to feel their Qi flow. Ray Blume, LMFT
Doing what Tara explained so greatfully, paying attention to the air coming in and out from my body, and/or practicing mindful movements.
Thank you very much for sharing with us so worthful resources!!
I use mindfulness to recognize that all is well in this moment. Once I feel that all is well, I am freed up to do the things that bring me joy. But it isn’t a one shot deal. It is a practice.
Thank you Ruth and Tara. I couldn’t agree more. I have noticed tension in my breathing. I practice yoga and deep breathing. This has helped release the tightness. It’s also made me aware of other peoples breathing. I call it the trauma breath. Short and shallow. That lead me to why oxygen is so important to the brain and body and so on. Just noticing and choosing something else opens a door of exploration. Amazing share and insights!
Thank you for sharing. I am aware of tensions and a tightness of my muscles within my body. When this comes into my awareness I practice tensing my shoulders and releasing slowly. The clenched fist metaphor that Tara used as an example really hit home to me the importance of practicing the body scan on a daily basis and monitoring the result.
Watching this has also reminded me that this exercise/practice would be a beneficial tool to practice with the clients I work with who struggle with addictions and substance misuse.
I love the line that “tension in our body is a contraction against the present moment.” This is so true and we do it so often if not as our normal method to avoid. I plan on using this as often as it can come to mind and encourage clients to do the same. Thanks for passing on your wisdom.
I use mindfulness with clients, by asking them to pay attention to their bodies, particularly when i notice clenching or tightness. It often takes the conversation or awareness to a deeper level. Its a wonderful way of working with resistance that expresses itself physically. I use it myself to distinguish between my own tension, and that of the client – to notice if i am contracting as a client speaks, and to then notice why, and respond rather than unconsciously react.
Excellent exercise for self help and for client work . I have used the present moment and breath work with movement to help release tension held in the body , this compliments it and gives a fuller explanation from a Mindfulness point of view.
I have used mindfulness in conjunction with art therapy both with clients and my own practice.