The only thing I can trust is my body. It is always here, solid and unwavering. It never lies. It functions in accordance with its creation. I cannot say the same thing about my mind or my feelings.
When my mind is 'connected' to my body, an alignment emerges and a visceral 'sensation' appears - I begin to inhabit my existence, to occupy my life. The impressions of warmth, tingling, pulsations, energies, movements, vibrations, smells, sounds, all become alive - I am nourished with a vitality - I AM present.
Unfortunately, most of the time this connection happens involuntarily - and almost always in the context of injury or illness. But sometimes it comes of itself, out of nowhere, spontaneously, like a cool summer breeze.
In quieter moments, I see that if my mind is not connected to my body - tethered to corporeality - I am simply lost in dreams, fantasies and reactions. I live in a very small part of myself - trapped, suffocating.
We have all had the experience of a 'numb limb' - either induced through cold weather or limited blood supply - where there is a complete cognizance of the absence of sensation. This eerie perception, where 'I know' that this limb is my limb but 'I can't relate' to it, is the hallmark of the human condition.
When the feeling of need arises to connect with my body from the relentless awareness that I am almost always completely unaware of it, something can change for me.
I begin to understand that I need to find a way to develop an active, voluntary attention that is strong enough, embracive enough, to include and sustain a connection to the whole of my body - from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. This will not come by itself. It requires work.
Instinctively, we sense the difference between something that is alive or dead by the difference in presence.
The degree of contact between my attention and body sensations determines the strength of the energy field that surrounds me and moves through me - or what we would call presence - a property of the middle part of the Soul. Presence can extend from a few inches/centimeters from the body to many feet/meters.
The coherence and quality of presence has the remarkable ability to stimulate commensurate presence in others. In this way, a higher quality of presence alone can be of benefit to the world and those we interreact with. Quality calls to quality.
Alternatively, if my presence is almost non-existent, remaining at the level of vegetative sleep and idle dreaming, then the effects on those around me will be equally predictable.