Spring Washam – BHNN Guest Podcast – Ep. 87 – Befriending Your Body

Spring Washam offers Middle Way reflections on befriending your body through the lens of Buddha and Metta.

This talk from Spring Washam was originally published on DharmaSeed.org

I Am A Fiesta: Metta & Befriending You Body

Sharing a dharma talk at the peak of a meditation retreat, Spring Washam explores how metta practice affects our bodies, relaying how we can transform our relationship to our embodied experiences in the world through this subtle shift into loving kindness. Contemplating one of Jack Kornfield‘s favorite Eduardo Galeano quotes, Spring reflects on how the body has its own agenda, rhythm, and beingness.

“The church says the body is a sin, science says the body is a machine, advertising says the body is a business; the body says, ‘I am a fiesta.'” – Eduardo Galeano

RamDev & Chris Britt explore inhabiting the body as a path to awakening, on Ep. 71 of Healing at the Edge

The Middle Way: Buddha, Body, Mind, & Senses (8:01)

Outlining The Buddha’s journey of awakening through the lens of his relationship with his body, Spring offers insight into Siddhartha’s early period of intense renunciation where he was attempting to overcome his body, in comparison to his discovery of the Middle Path, which included an encompassing embodied love and care for his vessel. Through this lens, Spring tells stories of Dipa Ma and Mingyur Rinpoche, highlighting perspectives for healthily inhabiting the body in our modern times.

“When we’re filled with anger, there’s a certain toxicity that we feel. When the mind turns really dark we almost feel we’re going to vomit. When we’re really noticing, we feel sick, like we’ve been taken over by something. When we’re filled with metta—when the metta’s really flowing—there’s a certain energy, a lightness, a being—we feel radiant, we feel energized. Love is a very energizing emotion. When people have no energy, I say, ‘Do metta.'” – Spring Washam

Joseph Goldstein offers stories of Dipa Ma’s life, amidst four mind-changing reflections, on Ep. 26 of the Insight Hour

The Bittersweet Body: Balance & Wisdom (27:07)

Diving into the benefits and pitfalls of being embodied in human form with all its back-and-forth pleasant and unpleasant sensations, Spring shares on finding balance and love in working with our body’s wide range of experiences. From here, she reflects on how we can learn to listen to the vast wealth of inherent wisdom that is naturally encased ancestrally and genetically within our truly ancient bodies. Spring closes with mind-blowing facts about the body before leading a short meditation.

“How do we learn how to respond with love? I think that’s what we’re doing by these practices—we’re learning how to respond to this form and this mind with a loving response.” – Spring Washam

“Here’s what’s beautiful about the body. I didn’t have to say, ‘Body, will you heal my cut?’ There’s something very powerful and organic that’s moving us towards healing, moving us towards awakening.” – Spring Washam

Ethan Nichtern reflects on the importance of reconnecting with body and mind, on Ep. 16 of The Road Home

   

Art via Olga Strelnikova