One-Minute Sense Pleasure | Yoga 15

I struggled with eating disorders for 10 years. First anorexia, then bulimia. One of the problems with these conditions is that you become increasingly numb. You learn to override hunger and fullness cues, press mute on your senses and gradually become less and less connected to reality. Over the last few years, I have been working on bringing that sensitivity back with short daily practices that I have designed. With great success, I am pleased to report!

There are many reasons that we lose sensitivity. Much of what we do becomes habitual and automatic, we take painkillers so that we don’t have to feel physical pain, we suppress uncomfortable emotions and build walls to protect ourselves from repeating painful experiences like heartbreak, abandonment and failure. The consequences of this are not good.

When we ignore or suppress sensation, our bodies learn quick. They become quiet. Distress signals are harder to detect and our ability to tune in is diminished. We become detached, disconnected and disembodied. We start to live too much in our heads, taunted by that relentless inner critic. And lose access to aspects of our personality that might open us up to emotional distress, like vulnerability, authenticity and an adventurous spirit.

Here is one of my daily practices. It’s one of 12 daily to-dos that I mark off on my Streaks…