times of the day. Do it in fields and meadows on
occasion, under trees, in the rain, in the snow.
Bring particular attention to your body as you are
going to sleep and as you are waking up. Even for a
few minutes, stretch yourself out straight, on your
back if possible, and just feel the body as a whole
breathing. Give special attention to any regions that
are problematic for you and work at letting the breath
invite them back into a sense of membership and
wholeness with the rest of your body. Keep your
emotional body in mind. Honor "gut" feelings.
Getting Your Body Down on the Floor at
Least Once a Day
There is a particular feeling of time stopping when
you get your body down on the floor, whether it's to
practice a lying-down meditation such as the body
scan or to systematically work the body gently but
firmly toward its limits in first this direction, then that,
as we do in mindful hatha yoga. Just being low down
in a room tends to clear the mind. Maybe it's because
being on the floor is so foreign to us that it breaks up
our habitual neurological patterning and invites us to