Ep. 1: Learning to Listen to Your Body

In this episode, Dr. Larry Ward offers insight on how to listen to your body's reaction to the news—before responding. To take a step back and pause so that you better understand the messages your body is receiving and can then respond in a way that doesn't harm yourself or others. Learning to live in the world with your heart undisturbed by the world is not easy, but it is an essential practice to help us live a life with equanimity. It all begins with recognizing, naming and responding to the sensation in the body as we receive the news. Every news story mentioned, whether from the past or current, is a teaching example.

Go deeper:
Tracking and creating your own language of your body sensations. Create a journal. Call it “Befriending my nervous system”. Write down the times when you notice sensations in your body that are pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. Create your own language of these three sensations that you uniquely feel. And note how you want to respond to the information you receive in the news.

Notes:

• Buddhist sutra on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. The first being mindfulness of the body in the body.
• The vagus nerve. The longest nerve of the autonomic nervous system in the human body. Carrying signals between your brain, heart and digestive system.
• Somatic practice of tracking bodily sensations.

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Beyond the News is made possible through the generous support from Hemera Foundation and the Frederick P. Lenz Foundation. You can help us continue our podcast offerings by giving to thelotusinstitute.org/donate. Your generosity is a gift that supports our programs and events, and the Lotus Institute's global community of friends like you. In gratitude.