Begin With the Body
We sit together, not with our heads, but with our bodies.
Returning to the Animal that is our Body:
Before we understand, before we adapt, before we transform—we feel. We sense. We breathe. The body remembers what the mind forgets: that we are creatures first. Beings of rhythm, of energies, of pulses, of gravity.
The practice of sitting invites us to return to this animal knowing. It is not a cerebral exercise, but a homecoming to something much more fundamental. A place where we lay down the burden of performance and optimization and rest in the dignity of our aliveness.
To sit is to become aware of our weight—not as heaviness, but as belonging. To feel the breath as our interconnectedness. To let the tension in our shoulders tell us it's here, without needing to be improved or fixed in that moment.
In sitting, there is no ideal posture and no correct state of mind. Only this moment, as it is. The body, as it is. You, as you are.
When we begin with the body, we begin with something true. Not the kind we need to articulate, but the kind we need to feel in our bones. This is the experience of groundedness that says, “I am here. Now.”
Sitting is not about fixing the body, or trying to escape its limitations. It is about reconnecting with it as a sacred companion.
That’s why we let the breath lead us into this moment. And then the next moment. It’s why we let the floor—the ground and the earth—receive our heaviness. It’s why we let our physical sensations speak to us and tell us what they are. It’s how we know who and what we are as human beings.
We sit together, not with our heads, but with our bodies, and the ground beneath us.
The Practice: Begin With the Body
Below is a lightly edited transcript of an introduction to a Sitting Lab sitting.
“Welcome. As we come into our sitting practice today, let’s begin with the body.
Not as an object to be controlled or a tool for performance. But as a living, breathing animal. A friend. A sacred companion.
Let your attention come down into your body—into the places that connect you to the earth, to this moment, to sensation.
Notice your breath. Not to shape it but to feel it. Let the breath do what it does. Let the breath lead.
You might feel the gravity of your body, or the way your spine holds you up, or the shifting currents of tension and release.
There is no wrong way to sit. There is only your body as it is.
Let the sensations be what they are. Not to fix or judge but to simply feel.
We begin with the body because the body brings us home.
Let’s continue now quietly, breath by breath, moment by moment.
Feeling our way. Together.”
The sound of three bells and then silence.
Each weekday, a small group of us sit quietly together four times a day, using Sitting Lab’s community platform. We invite you to check it out and join us if you believe that a regular, deepening sitting practice could help you become the fullest version of yourself.