your weekly mindful morsel

mindful morsels appear every Wednesday

Happy good Wednesday to your soft spirit, Reader 🫂

When I was in yoga teacher training, I was having trouble understanding the mechanics of some movement in my body, and I asked to be helped with my alignment in front of a mirror so I could visually see the shape and then notice what that specifically felt like in my body. I was shut down and told I didn’t need that. That instead I just needed to feel into it. But I didn’t understand what feeling into it meant or how to do it.

It felt disheartening and dismissive. I wasn’t trying to get it perfect; I was trying to orient myself to this new experience using a method I was already familiar with.

We don’t all have the same foundational knowledge or life experience, so how you get to know your body is likely entirely different than the way I get to know mine (which is super cool). Yoga is centered around honoring where you’re at, which includes where you’re coming from. And where you’re coming from includes the tools that are already at your disposal.

There is so much value in connecting to new ideas and experiences through what’s already accessible to you. If you have no idea what sensing into your bodily experience is like, use what you’re already familiar with as a springboard. Create a shape with your body in a mirror, then close your eyes or soften your gaze and get curious. Do any feelings come up? Is anything in your body feeling tense or tight or fatigued? What do you start thinking about? Any and all information has the same importance here. Notice it.

Mirrors not your thing? Notice where your body makes contact as you stand against a wall or lay against a floor; this shows you where your shoulders and hips are in relation to each other and where your typical alignment is without effort. Notice the wear on the bottom of your shoes; this shows you how you distribute your weight as you move about the world. Notice if you typically lean to one side or the other. Whatever you can connect with already.

Get curious and let yourself take the journey a bit at a time. You don’t have to know all the things right now (no one does!). So set your own rhythm and use what you can 🙂

With well wishes and bright sunshine,

Welcome to Zenful Mindings

I'm Brianne, a trauma-informed yoga & somatics facilitator, Reiki practitioner, and mindfulness advocate. I specialize in body literacy to help people reconnect with their bodies for a stronger sense of self, autonomy, and connection to natural rhythms.

If someone forwarded this to you and you're into it, subscribe.