Everything we experience is a combination of our physiology and our psychology

When I work with clients, I usually find myself drawing two circles in the air with my index finders – one representing our physiology or biology, the other representing our psychology. Then I move my hands together to indicate that these two circles are more overlapping than not.

This is how it is for us, whether we are conscious of it or not. There is no separation between our psychology and our physiology, our minds and our bodies. We use various language to describe this:

“I’m sick about it”
“This warms my heart”
“My stomach did a flip”
“I have a lump in my throat”
“I want to crawl out of my skin”

We use these phrases that indicate a clear connection between emotion and  sensation, but unless we bring conscious awareness to this phenomenon that is constantly arising, we don’t truly understand it.

That’s where mindfulness comes in. We can choose and practice to become more conscious of the overlapping circles of our physiology and psychology.

When we sit in meditation, we allow our bodies, minds, and hearts to be as they are. We just sit and feel the breath while everything else is allowed to be as it is. By doing this, we begin to tolerate whatever arises. We also notice connections between bodily sensations and emotions, between the texture of our thoughts and our physical and emotional states.

Like observing a conversation, we see how our bodies are communicating to us and reflecting whatever we are feeling in our hearts and thinking with our minds. And vice versa.

So intelligent, so receptive, so sensitive – your body and mind together receive from and offer to the world. Please treat them with the respect they so richly deserve.