Body Mandala

An experiential guide to using your body as the focus of contemplative practice • Presents more than 50 physical self-explorations that invite you to transform your sensory experience, expand your awareness, and practice embodied presence • Integrates movement theory, neuroscience, fascia research, and personal story to examine the structural foundation of the human body in motion and in stillness • Includes streaming audio and video links for each practice Integrating movement theory, philosophy, neuroscience, fascia research, polyvagal theory, and personal story, Mary Bond teaches you to unlock your body's inner guidance—its somatic wisdom. She reveals how the human body organizes and expresses movement through perception, looking in depth at the role of the fascial system as the preeminent organ of the mind-body connection. She also explains the process of internal perception, or “interoception,” the body-mind's ability to identify, access, understand, and respond appropriately to its internal signals. Offering an experiential understanding of the structural foundation of the human body in motion and in stillness, Bond presents more than 50 self-explorations that allow you to transform your sensory experience, expand your awareness, and make embodiment—your own complex body—the focus of contemplative practice. The author also includes links to audio and video instructions for each practice. Inviting you to awaken to the grace and wisdom of your body as a personal mandala that is always available for meditative focus, the author shows how conscious embodiment can help us not only improve our posture but also become more perceptive and more humane beings.

Mary Bond has a master's degree in dance from UCLA and trained with Ida P. Rolf as a Structural Integration practitioner. Former chair of the movement faculty of the Ida Rolf Institute of Structural Integration, she teaches movement workshops nationally, internationally, and online. The author of Balancing Your Body and The New Rules of Posture, she has also published articles in numerous health and fitness magazines. She lives in Los Angeles, California.

Foreword by Thomas Myers Preface Introduction: What Is a Body Mandala? PART 1 Orienting 1 Fascia: Organ of Embodiment 2 Grounding Your Experience 3 Sensing Space 4 Moving in Space PART 2 Deepening 5 Exercises for Interoception 6 Healthy Breathing 7 Embodying Structure 8 Sentient Foundations 9 Your Spine Is Not a Column 10 Tensegrity Tower 11 The Lid on Your Spine PART 3 Practicing 12 Embodying Tensegrity in Motion 13 Embodying Tensegrity in Stillness 14 Everyday Embodiment Epilogue Acknowledgments Glossary Notes Bibliography Index About the Author