Svādhyāya - the study of (or sense of) self. Our in-tuition.
As embryos, our hearts form above our heads, but as our back body develops, the spine envelopes the heart, eventually unravelling to shift our head above the heart.
Though the electromagnetic energy of our heart is 5k times stronger than that of our brain, the mind often takes precedence over our felt sense.
We analyse and theorise feelings, misinterpreting them, shifting them. We think our way out of feeling.
Social media and media overstimulate the brain, so we end up overriding the felt sense further. We’re told how to think, how our relationships, our work, our home, appearance and general demeanour should appear.
And the sheer amount of information we receive disrupts our sense of self more. We’re bombarded with other people’s opinions and communications; distracting pings of emails, messages and calls. Taking time to feel falls by the wayside.
We either misinterpret our feelings with other people’s thoughts. Or we’re so unaware and distracted, we simply don’t know how we feel.
If we allow our attention to be stolen longterm, we forget our unique body language altogether. We might feel. It’s just we no longer understand the dialogue of our own sensation.
A friend recently commented how it’s unfortunate that we don’t receive a guidebook for optimising our body. Like one would when purchasing an appliance or motor vehicle.
But we don’t need a guide book. Not so long ago, we were in nature, our work was predominantly manual labour, we had less information bombardment and less access to media and advertisements. We instinctively knew how we felt. Besides, one guide book wouldn’t work due to our bio individuality.
We don’t need a guide. We simply need to “be”. We need to navigate back to feeling and being.
Sometimes I crave the time I first discovered Yoga. I walked out of that room forever changed. I felt more alive in those moments than I had in years. I’d shut down. Yoga gave me back life. It woke me up and I instantly knew all the facades I’d adopted, all the moments I needed to let go, and where I needed to be.
Ever since, I’ve never been more sure that feeling is better than numbness. Even in the most painful moments, I’d rather feel every piece of pain than be empty of emotion.
The study of self doesn’t have to be a heavy matter. Consistency matters most. Taking time to ask where we are feeling in our bodies and how it feels to be here shifts everything.
My sister says it turns the world from black and white to colour. It’s like painting a canvas. Forget paint by numbers. To know ourselves is to create chaos and calm, smudging the edges and being okay with the imperfect messiness of art in progress.
Pathways to presence and sense of self includes less technology - having offline time.
Be in nature: walk, run, swim, lie on the ground and see the world in all weathers.
Practice breath work to feel and feed the lungs and centre space. When we feed the heart energy, we rebalance the inner energy and begin to use less intellect and more intuition.
Practice movement and learn what your body likes and work on shifting your energy.
Everyone knows our comfort zone won’t encourage growth, so be okay with discomfort, do the things that scare you. Do the things that make no sense but feel right.
Good nourishment and hydration are key to the body being able to process information and receive the signals.
Always ask where is what you’re feeling coming from. If the body is sending a strong message, pay attention.
It’s called intuition for a reason - the source of knowing is inside, from within.
