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9. Mobile Body Awareness Body awareness is normally centered in the eyes, but it does not have to stay there. Mobile body awareness (MBA) — the ability to focus body awareness on any specific part of the body —i s simple and easily learned, and is an extremely important skill. Combined with other techniques, it enables the dynamic manipulation of the energy body and its energy centers, or chakras, allowing specific parts of the energy body to be directly stimulated, and the flow of energy into and through it to be increased in a controlled way. In the coming exercises, a deep level of relaxation or trance is not required. Light relaxation is quite adequate. Just close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, and allow your mind to wind down and settle for a few moments. This is all that is required. I suggest that you do not use a bed for these early exercises, unless you really have to, but instead sit in a comfortable chair with your shoes off. Place a cushion under your feet, wear loose clothing, and do not cross your legs. In these coming exercises, lightly scratch or rub specified body parts as needed, using a small stick or ruler if you have difficulty reaching some parts. This helps to highlight and target specific areas, so that body awareness can be focused more easily and accurately. This scratching is not necessary after you become used to the technique; you will be able to target specific areas with body awareness alone. Repeat the MBA exercises below without scratching and see how you get on without this aid. Try to do this with eyes closed, so you are focusing with body awareness only. Use your eyes if you really need to, but do without using your eyes as soon as targeting can be done with body awareness alone. To demonstrate shifting your center of body awareness and targeting specific areas on the body, lightly scratch the skin of your left knee with your fingernails, just hard enough to leave a slight tingling sensation after you stop scratching. Close your eyes and feel this tingling area with your body awareness. Become intensely aware of that area. Highlight it with body awareness. Feel for this tingling area with your body awareness alone, with your sense of touch and feel. Forget about the rest of your body for now. Next, feel for more of the same knee and become more acutely aware of it as a whole joint. Feel its outline and shape and really get the feel of it with your body awareness. Your center of awareness is now focused entirely in your left knee. Shift your point of body awareness to your right knee, scratching it first to highlight it. Feel its shape and outline with your awareness. Center your awareness entirely in your right knee. Shift your point of body awareness to your right big toe. Scratch it on top of the large joint, where it joins your foot. Wiggle the toe a bit to help you get the feel of it, so you can zero in on it with your body awareness. Feel the whole toe. Feel the tingle on top of it, then feel its outline and shape with your body awareness. Center awareness entirely in your right big toe. Shift your point of body awareness to several other parts of your body — anywhere you like — highlighting them first by a light scratching or rubbing. Feel these different areas as you target them with your (now mobile) point of body awareness. Increasing Sensitivity To improve your body awareness sensitivity, do the following MBA exercises as often as you can until you get the feel for this technique. They will progressively improve your sensitivity, which is extremely important for all the exercises and techniques given in this book. When first learning to move awareness through the surface of your body, it helps if you trace the pathway along your skin with fingertips or a paintbrush, to highlight the path for your body awareness, making it easier to follow with your point of awareness alone. If this is not enough, lightly and slowly scratch or rub the pathway along your skin with your fingernails or a ruler. Follow the slightly tingling trail this leaves behind on your skin with your point of body awareness alone. For tracing and learning wider energy pathways, I suggest you use a paintbrush of the appropriate width. You can do this yourself or have a partner do it for you while you follow the 47