personal reaction 3

According to the excerpt reading, we are all zombie-like, barely existing in the world. Personally, I can see how one may think that, but I also believe not all humans are living like that. Clearly the one who developed this theory was one of the exceptions, considering he was wise enough to notice the way we live.
However, I do believe there are ways that the theory proves to be true in our daily lives. We are often consumed with simply where we are going and the quickest way to get there. There are always new gadgets, new technology, that is supposed to make our lives more enjoyable but are simply taking away from our experiance. As we walk down the streets we don't notice the way the air smells or the way our feet are hitting the ground, because we are too consumed with drowning out the surrounding world with our iPods and trying our best to be as unnoticable as possible. We become so obsessed with miniscule things that we think will make our lives easier at the moment. We believe that paying 150 for a new pair of shoes will change the way we go about our daily lives because it will make us better and more presentable. But will we remember these things one day in 20 years?
Yet, at the same time, will we remember the way our foot felt on the pavement one day in 20 years?
Although we may not live our lives remembering every aspect of our dreams or our childhood, we still remember the most crucial and life changing parts. However, one can also say that at the end of our lives will we care about clothing and our best purchases, or whether or not we truly lived.
I personally think I have the ability to notice when the space between my thumb and forefinger has an itchy feeling, or that the way I'm sitting right now is slightly cutting off the circulation in my leg and hurting the bone in my butt, and that my pinky toe is hurting. Is this not experiencing what my body is feeling? I feel every aspect of pain in my body, and every part that feels fine, I just choose to ignore the parts that are hurting because I am in class and there are other things to be focusing on. Like writing what I'm feeling.
According to the sensory excersize activities we have been doing in class, we truly do not notice the tiny things in our life. When we ignore the rest of the things in life and simply feel what it is like to exist, we realize that the essence of living is much more complex than an iPod may lead us to believe. As I did the sensory awareness excersizes, I found myself doing routine, rhythmic things. Such as when we performed the sensory excersize in which we just stood in silence for 5 minutes, I would catch myself getting lost in counting the number of chips in the paint on the wall or the amount of tape used on the paper or reading the words on the signs over and over again. Sometimes I would also find myself tapping my finger or shaking my leg. These ritual things were probably a way for me to calm myself down without having to be so uncomfortable by just focusing on my heart rate or breathing. I would stand with pressure in my knees, and my toes would often wiggle in order to keep my balance. I would become more aware of the itches on my face, and they would probably be amplified because I was so focused on them and the fact that I couldn't move to scratch them. During one excersize, I stood with my arms crossed, probably to avoid having anyone look at my stomach completely relaxed. Due to the fact that I was standing so tensely, without even realizing it, I lost the ability to breathe deeply.
For one excersize, we were sent to the first floor, blindfolded, then told to find our way back up to the classroom. I realized the entire time I relied on other people or things. If I wasn't touching a wall or holding the railing along the stairs, or holding someone's hand, I would get dizzy and often loose my balance, or get completely turned around. Again, I would get lost in a form of counting, counting the number of steps for each landing.
As we did the yoga excersizes, I did notice that there were parts of my body that were very tense. Even simple parts of my body that I use every day, such as my calf or my thigh, were also stiff. What was interesting to me is that if I got into a position that would strain parts of my body that hurt or was uncomfortable, after a while my body would get used to it and accept it, probably the same way it accepts sitting in a hard chair for 6 hours every day. I walked out of that class feeling loose, and like if any muscle in my body needed to be used, it was relaxed and ready for the job. However, the next day I felt the after-affects. My body was very sore, mostly my stomach and thighs. The following days I would notice how tight my body felt, unfortunately this was how my body felt every day, I have just been so used to it for so long that I wasn't aware of how loose it could actually feel. I decided that as a way to help my body, I should make an attempt at doing yoga more often in order to feel that loose feeling again and get to a point where I no longer feel sore or tense the following days. However, chances are I won't have enough time, or I simply just won't think it's important enough to get out of bed to do.