Experiencing the whole body

After bringing awareness to our breathing, the next step asks us to experience "the whole body". It's less clear just how we might do that. Unlike the first two steps where there is no mystery, for once we're aware of our breathing we can simply know each in-breath and each out-breath, this step calls for us to train ourselves to experience something.

Yet this is the key element in the first phase of the practice. At this point it becomes clear that Anapana practice begins with a form of Mindfulness of the Body. Knowing the breath was only a warm-up for this, though a necessary one for as we bring mindful awareness to the body we'll continue to know all the sensations of breathing.

As we move on from Step 3 what we experience will come to include the stillness of the body. It's this experience of the body and of its stillness which prepares us for the second phase of the practice, in Steps 5 to 8.

Step 3

3. One trains oneself, "Experiencing the whole body I'll breathe in;"
one trains oneself, "Experiencing the whole body I'll breathe out."

To know our breathing is actually the first part of experiencing the whole body. That word "whole" seems to draw a contrast with Steps 1 and 2. There we were aware of our breathing, here we need to enlarge our awareness to the whole of the body, so that we may experience the body. Here are some suggestions for doing that.

Continuing to know each breath

It may be obvious but it's worth remembering that as we practice Step 3 we continue to breathe in and breathe out. Continuing to know each of our breaths is part of our whole-body experience.

Broadening our awareness

Until now we've been focussed on hearing (Exercise 1) and on our breathing. Now become aware of the whole body, all the way from head to torso, to arms and hands, to legs and feet. Be aware that the whole body is sitting, each part is present. You may even be aware of sensations in arms and legs and other places. Yet try to maintain a sense of the body as a whole, rather than one divided up into different members.

Knowing our body-posture

How did the early Buddhists practise "experiencing the whole body"? We don't really know, but there is a curious little exercise found in another text which may be one way they did that. The Sati-paṭṭhāna Sutta ("A teaching on attending with mindful awareness") is a compendium of mindfulness exercises. It actually sets out a different meditation practice, but its first section is devoted to mindfulness of the body. It's a later practice than our Anapana practice, and it starts by quoting Steps 1 to 4 from the Anapana Text. But its next exercise involves knowing our posture.

Another thing. If walking, a meditator knows, "I'm walking." If standing, sitting or lying down, a meditator knows, "I'm standing," "I'm sitting," or "I'm lying down." Whatever posture the body is in, a meditator knows it.

This isn't just an intellectual "knowing that" the body is in a certain posture. This is an internal knowing, an experiential knowing. When we stand the body has a different feel to it from when we sit or lie.

You may find it fun to play around with this. Try adopting a series of different postures and notice how your overall sense of the body differs in each one. With eyes closed, sense what the body feels like when it sits, when it stands, when it kneels and lies down. Stay still in each posture for long enough to get a sense of how the body feels in it. Then try variations of these basic postures, like sitting straight up or leaning back, crossing or uncrossing legs or arms; standing in different postures; lying on the back or on one side, lying straight or curled up.

Then sit once more as you do for your Anapana practice, in a straight but balanced and comfortable posture. Now notice your overall sense of the body, sitting.

Bringing the whole body into your awareness

I find it very helpful to whisper or think to myself what it is I want to focus my awareness on. So I might say something like "This whole body, sitting." Or I might break it down a little and allow my awareness some time to spread. Something like "Head and neck, arms and hands." As I say or think those words slowly, I really focus on those areas and feel whatever sensations there may be in them. Often they seem to come alive as I focus my awareness on them. But don't spend too long on each part of the body. We're trying to build up a sense of the body as a whole. We'll do a more detailed body-scan when we get to Step 5.

So as soon as I'm aware that those areas are alive, I continue, "Head and neck, all the torso." To be honest, at present I feel very little sensation in the torso, apart from the movements involved in each breath. But bring awareness to it anyway, and then carry on.

"Head and neck, arms and hands, all the torso, legs and feet." As I bring awareness down the whole body, I often feel the legs and feet in a way that assures me they really are alive.

And then I try to remain aware of the entire body as a whole. "This whole body, sitting, breathing, hearing," may help to crystallise that awareness of experiencing body as a whole.

Is it alive?

This may be the easiest of all approaches, but you may need to work through the other ones first. Aware of your breathing, of the whole body, and of its posture, can you now feel any sensations that tell you your body is alive? Have you any sense that this is a living body, the whole of it? If so, you now have an experience, a whole-body experience, that fulfils Step 3.

If so, then sit and experience this whole living, sitting, breathing body. Enjoy this experience for as long as you like, until you sense that "enough is enough" for now.

Exercise 3, Experiencing the whole body, summary

• Sit straight, but in a comfortable and balanced position. Relax.
• Let your eyes close, and Just Hear each sound that arises.
• Become aware of your breathing as well as the sounds.
• Notice whether your breaths are deeper or shallower than normal. Notice how your pattern of breathing develops.
• Now broaden your awareness to include both your breathing, and your whole body. Become aware of its full extent.
• Notice your overall sense of your posture, sitting.
• Can you feel the whole body is alive? Sit and experience the whole body as you breathe in and out.
• If not, try expanding your awareness by saying slowly something like, "Head and neck, arms and hands. Head and neck, arms and hands, all the torso, legs and feet." Be really aware of each part as you say or think these words.
• Enjoy this whole body-awareness for as long as you like, until you feel "enough is enough" for now.
• Then open your eyes, and move on unhurriedly to whatever awaits you next.

These suggestions for Step 3 may sound a bit complicated, but as you practise it you develop a kind of "muscle-memory" which enables you to return to the whole-body experience much more easily in future. You sit and when you bring awareness to the whole body, you feel the whole living body in that sitting posture.

Step 3 is the first step that involves an element of training ourselves, so don't be discouraged if it seems difficult at first. Continue to repeat the exercise as often as you can, and you'll find you become more and more aware of the body, the whole body.