February, for Mind Body Align, is the month of Self-Love! MBA’s intention is to offer you permission – yes permission, to take a month in which you can focus on self-care, self-compassion, self-discovery, and personal healing.
So take a moment right now to notice what’s happening in your physical body, thinking mind, and emotional body. As you read through these cues, let your focus soften. Keep a sense of the space around you; sense your physical body and your awareness as a part of the sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and textures that are around you as you move your attention inward. Keep your eyes open, or closed, whatever feels right to you in the moment.
Straighten your spine and rise up through the crown of your head.
Pause and take a deep breath in… and out
Notice where you might be tense and allow your breath to caress those areas of tension.
Balance your feet on the floor, and if you’re seated, balance your sits bones on the seat.
Pause and take a deep breath in…and out
In the pause there is a pool of stillness… Listen into that stillness, to your body, and hear your body’s unique vibration?
Feel into and notice the felt sense of your physical body.
…Breathe
So this process of moving your attention into your body, the practice of conscious breathing and intentional body/mind attention has no end point.
There is no moment when you’re done, and no “destination”; there is no place, experience, or quality of knowledge that you are attempting to reach, have, or gain.
This is an ongoing practice of self-inquiry providing information about your “self” (physical body, emotional body, and thinking mind). It supports you in pausing for a moment in order to sense yourself and the world around you as it is. It’s an information gathering tool which, with practice, will allow you the space to act rather than react to any given situation.
A comment offered by Sally Gesouras at our January Coffee Talk is coming to mind, “In the event of an emergency, place the oxygen mask on you first, on you first, before assisting others”. Thank you Sally! Think of this practice as placing the oxygen mask on yourself first.
Annamarie Fernyak is the founder and CEO of Mind Body Align LLC based in Mansfield, Ohio. She is a certified life coach, mindfulness meditation teacher, and serial entrepreneur. The development of the MBAwareness Education Program was conceived while Annamarie was volunteering to teach mindfulness in a local middle school and found that the teachers and students were struggling to grow calm for their guest teacher, students seemed unable to pay focused attention, and the teachers were growing frustrated.
Annamarie’s focus was to create a program that would transform the lives of the students. She focused on hiring a licensed teacher to create and instruct the mindfulness-based social and emotional learning curriculums to elementary and secondary school students and teachers. Due to the challenges associated with global health concerns, Annamarie’s mindfulness education program is further now evolving into online mindfulness education focusing on teaching tools that reduce stress and support a life where people can feel more at ease. We also teach as a part of corporate wellness programs.
In 2017, Annamarie launched Align Mindfulness which is a FREE app downloadable from your app store that sends prompts a few times a day, bringing attention to what’s happening in your world. Intentionally simple, these reflections help you build a well-rounded “mindfulness” muscle by offering variety in where you place your awareness.