by Kino MacGregor: The mind enjoys putting on a melodramatic show. From the thick plot of stress, anger, pain and loss, it proclaims that we are “just fine”, “coping quite well” or “not really bothered at all”. The body, by contrast, doesn’t lie for very long if at all. 
Its simple proximity to nature cannot go on with show forever. If stresses like lies are present, the body will hold it in the belly for a period of time and then, after a critical turning point, it will give up, give in and collapse. Some of you may be all of familiar with this state of your body.
If you want a gauge with which to measure yourself in various situations, tune into your body. Like a reliable tool that you carry with you all your life, it perfectly tests your emotional state at any given time. If you’re about to leave or enter a new life situation, such as a job or relationship, use the body as a testing instrument. Imagine the scenario you are about to face while checking in to the internal world of your body. Feel your heartbeat, your blood pressure, your muscles, your breathe, your joints, your digestion, your organs, or your energy. Be real and honest with yourself about what you experience. Look deeply and you will be able to see almost instantaneously whether there is an opening or a contraction, relaxation or tension, freedom or constriction, etc. If the proposed direction is dissonant with your true life path, signs of closure and tension often appear. Sometimes the only sign we get that a decision is counterproductive to our most enlightened course of action is a vague sense of disease.
The mind, home of the great trickster ego, weaves a patchwork defense, forming intricate patterns of rationalization, excuse, justification, righteousness, depression and everything else it can grab onto. Underneath the thin veneer of this powerless power, the body suffers and takes the shape of personality. It is the mind-made sense of self-created right and wrong that compartmentalizes reality. Yet no absolute right or wrong can point at the deepest truth there is. Instead, there is another way of being with reality, one that is both soft and strong.
The pathway to an integrated life experience lies in the realm where the mind and the body are friends, working and playing together. Within the paradigm based on listening, asking and co-creating, body and mind work with each other, listening when it’s appropriate to listen, asking when it’s time to take action and working synergistically in every moment possible.
The Buddha said that it is the sensuous connection to the present moment that sets you free from the illusion of the external world. Awareness of the body is a field of knowingness in which you grow. The hidden key to consciousness lies through not against, around or avoiding the body. The wisdom of the body often lies just under the radar of your busy thoughts, remaining steadfast in its truthfulness. If choppy ocean of your mind settles down, there is no truth you cannot feel just under the surface of your skin.
