Standing@Attention – The Foundation (Day 155)

This week we're going to look at building the foundation of your @attention posture, the core support provided by your lower torso. Specifically, we'll build three aspects:

• Pelvic floor (for now, we'll include your upper legs as well, just to help turn the whole area on)

• Lower belly

• Lower back

You'll feel them all working together as a sense of gathering-up your lower torso. It feels a bit like being lightly swaddled. The pelvic floor lifts up, and the belly and back pull inwards towards each other. These three support the open breathing and upright posture that we looked at last week.

Note that we deliberately did it in this order – breathing first and then support – as it's very important that the strength we apply to the foundation doesn't result in tension elsewhere, especially in your breathing. Most people carry too much tension (from decades of unprocessed emotional reactivity) and need to soften-up first. Eventually, the healthy and dynamic tension of your core support will allow the rest of your body (and mind) to stay soft.

Sustaining your core support is a way to harness your body, and in so doing, eventually your whole mind.

PRACTICE

Look very carefully at what it feels like in your lower torso to get-up out of a chair, or to cough, or to do anything physically challenging. Whatever you're doing, try slowing it way down to feel how and when your core support gets involved.