Soma
The word soma means body in Greek. For our purpose, it represents anything physical, physiological or pertaining to the body. In that dimension, you have to learn to observe your body: how it senses, its degree of comfort or discomfort, its level of energy or fatigue, its strength or weakness, flexibility or rigidity, etc. There is no need for elaborate analysis: just put words to what you experience physically. In this list of Words for Soma you will find suggestions for words that describe physical experiences.
As you will see, some words describe some negative bodily or physical experiences or states, while others describe positive ones. It can be useful to divide all these physical states into two broad categories: one for physical experiences that would be more conducive to happiness, and the other for physical experiences that would be predominantly non-conducive to happiness. Simply put, a conducive state would promote feeling rested, reasonably fit and as comfortable as you can, within the limits of any physical limitations or illnesses you may have. On the other hand, fatigue, lack of energy, lack of comfort and feeling considerable pain would be non-conducive to happiness.
For now, and for the next few days or weeks, simply record on template 3a, at least once a day, what you experience at the soma dimension, during a given moment of any situation you may choose (a point in time in any situation that you may “freeze,” dissect, observe and reflect on). Record it by listing words that describe your experience under “Soma” in the template. Reflect on your observations and on whether your soma states may be more likely to be conducive or non-conducive to happiness. Underline what may be conducive and circle what may be non-conducive. Carry out this exercise until you feel you can easily observe and label your soma experiences, at any moment, in several situations.
Watch the video instructions on how to fill out the Soma section.
Transcript (.pdf, 125 Kb)6m 06s
After this is done, proceed to the next dimension: Emotion.