Perceiving the Big Picture
Today I’m sharing a Take a Moment micro-meditation—“Sense Your Body”—paired with a quote from Jill Bolte Taylor: “Although many of us may think of ourselves as thinking creatures that feel, biologically we are feeling creatures that think.”
A Harvard-trained neuroscientist, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor experienced a severe hemorrhage to the left hemisphere of her brain in 1996. At the young age of 37, Jill lost the ability to walk, talk, read, write, or recall anything about her prior life. Her challenging eight-year mental and physical recovery process was simultaneously a powerful journey of awakening—a time when she experienced deep inner peace and gleaned powerful insights into how our brains create our experience of the world we perceive. When Jill’s left hemisphere ceased functioning, she explored life anew with a childlike curiosity, and felt a euphoric connection to the entire universe that was completely free of judgment.
Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor
In her best-selling memoir, My Stroke of Insight, Jill explains that while our left mind generates “brain chatter,” conceives of a past and future, and is often rushing, thinking, deliberating, and analyzing, the right mind only experiences the present moment—and each moment is vibrant with sensation. “To our right mind, the moment of now is timeless and abundant.”
She writes, “Our right brain perceives the big picture and recognizes that everything around us, about us, among us and within us is made up of energy particles that are woven together into a universal tapestry. Since everything is connected, there is an intimate relationship between the atomic space around and within me, and the atomic space around and within you—regardless of where we are.”
Characteristics of different parts of the brain
Jill explains that our experience of connecting with something greater than ourselves only occurs when we are fully present, and that we can all access this state by consciously slowing down and shifting our attention to what we sense in this very moment.
In the following guided micro-meditation, “Sense Your Body,” mindfulness and meditation teacher Katie Dutcher takes us through a sequence where we bring our attention to the sensations in our entire body, one area at a time. In less than two minutes, you will feel more grounded in present time. One of the great things about this simple practice is that you can walk yourself through it whenever you have a brief pause in your day and want to slow down and reconnect with yourself.
To learn more about Jill’s journey, watch her 18-minute TED Talk from 2008. With close to 30 million views, it was the first TED Talk to ever go viral on the internet. I had the pleasure of meeting Jill and hearing her speak in person over a decade ago, and it was a totally captivating experience I will never forget.
