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In this meditation, we explore the subtle body, the energetic connection between body and mind, through the lens of Tibetan Buddhism. It’s part of a broader conversation we’ve been having about art, embodiment, and Buddhist practice.

Together, we’ll gently guide our awareness through the body, connect with the breath, and reflect on how our mind and body are not separate, but deeply intertwined. We’ll also explore how this energy body shows up in movement, creativity, emotion, and everyday life.

Scott Snibbe: This is a meditation I’m calling Meditation on the Subtle Body, and it’s paired with an episode about my artwork, as part of a larger series we’re doing on art and Buddhism.

In this meditation, I wanted to go over an aspect of Vajrayana Buddhism, a type of Buddhism I don’t talk about that much on the podcast, but it’s actually the main tradition I practice, and the one most Tibetan Buddhist practitioners follow. It uses certain ways of working with the body and feeling embodied that create a deep sense of connection between you and yourself, to put it simply.

What are the three bodies in Vajrayana Buddhism?

In this tradition, the easiest way to explain it is that there are three bodies we consider a living being can have, or does have. We also talk about enlightened beings having those bodies too. And that’s where Vajrayana Buddhism can start to seem a little more supernatural to people who aren’t Buddhist.

But I’m going to talk about it in a way that anyone (even those who aren’t Buddhist) can benefit from, especially through this way of thinking about the connection between the body and the mind that Tibetan Buddhism offers us.

To explain it simply, there’s the idea of a physical body, which we can all see when we look in the mirror. I’m seeing it right now on my camera screen. There’s the mental body: our thoughts, feelings, emotions, the immaterial aspect of ourselves.

And then there’s also a body in between, which we call the energy body. Sometimes it’s called the light body, and it’s the link between the two.

I’m using that body right now as I speak. It connects my mind, my thoughts, to my physical body so I can speak and communicate my thoughts and feelings to you.

We’re said to use that body anytime we connect body and mind. Exercise is a great example. We also use it in sensuality, when we play music, in any form of creativity. And more generally, it’s something that helps us feel healthy: a healthy sense of connection between body and mind.

Even people who might call themselves hardcore scientific materialists, they still like to wake up early and work out for an hour to create that connection themselves: the connection between body and mind.

In this meditation, we’re going to explore that idea a bit and see if we can feel a greater connection between body and mind. Some of us are more physical, we really feel like we are our body, and that’s all we are.

Others of us are more stuck in the world of the mind. Robert Thurman said it in the funniest way. He said, many academics think of their body as just something to carry their brain from conference room to conference room.

Many academics think of their body as just something to carry their brain from conference room to conference room.

This meditation will help us avoid those extremes. It’s a meditation on the subtle body, the energetic body, the connection between body and mind.

Settling into the meditation

Let’s do the meditation.

Settle yourself first into a meditation posture.

You can sit cross-legged on the floor, like I am, with a cushion under your seat to raise it slightly. If you’re sitting in a chair, keep your legs uncrossed, feet flat on the floor, planted firmly.

Place your hands in your lap, with your thumbs touching. I’ll talk a bit about a beautiful way of connecting body and mind through this hand gesture, or mudra. In meditation, mudras are gestures that enhance your practice.

Place your right hand on top of your left, with the thumbs gently touching. The left hand is said to represent wisdom: the understanding of interdependence, the nature of reality, and that we’re not separate from anyone or anything.

The right hand represents action: specifically compassionate action, doing things to benefit others. The thumbs touching is said to represent concentration.

This simple gesture becomes a way to connect body and mind, to make our gestures symbolic and beautiful.

As you go through your day, you can bring this mindset into ordinary activities. Like when you’re going upstairs, you might think, I’m ascending to a higher state of consciousness, a deeper connection with myself and others.

I’m ascending to a higher state of consciousness, a deeper connection with myself and others.

When you’re cleaning, sweeping the floor, you could imagine, I’m sweeping away my delusions, disturbing thoughts, and emotions. There’s a way we can use the body to enhance the way we think.

There’s a way we can use the body to enhance the way we think.

Again, place your hands in your lap like that. Leave a little space between your arms and your torso so air can circulate, you won’t get too hot that way. Then straighten your spine. That’s the most important part of starting to unite body and mind.

The word yoke means to connect one thing to another, and that’s the root of the word yogi.

Most of us think of a yogi as someone who does physical yoga practice, but in Buddhism, especially Tibetan Buddhism, a yogi is someone who connects body and mind. Someone who yokes their mind to virtue, to benefiting others, to healthy ways of thinking and being.

Straightening your spine helps you become a more successful yogi. As you straighten your spine, you might already feel your mind clarifying, becoming more focused.

Straightening your spine helps you become a more successful yogi.

Then relax the muscles in your shoulders and neck. You can gently roll them around, squeeze them up, and then let go.

Tilt your head slightly downward, and relax all the muscles in your face, your eyes especially. They say that half-closing your eyes can be very helpful, allowing you to go inward without falling asleep.

Just notice what that’s like right now.

How does your body feel?

How does your mind feel?

Do they feel more connected, more at ease?

Set a motivation for your meditation

Even before we begin the actual meditation, simply settling into this posture can bring a greater sense of connection. Now, set a motivation for your meditation:

To become more connected with yourself.

To integrate the parts of yourself that often feel separate—your body, your mind, your activities.

To feel whole.

To cultivate a sense of ease, confidence, and strength, especially for when life becomes difficult.

And now, think of someone you really admire who embodies these qualities. Someone who seems whole, who feels connected in their body and mind: healthy, creative, expressive.

It might be a great musician, athlete, or actor, someone with ease and presence in their body. It could be a dancer.
Or it could just be a regular person you know: someone grounded, vibrant, authentic.

Picture that person. Notice how good it feels to be around someone like that. There’s a kind of magnetism, a draw to people who feel whole and connected to all parts of themselves.

And also recognize: they worked at it. They’ve put in the time, sometimes hours a day, to care for their body and mind. They’ve trained, rested, practiced. They’ve cultivated healthy habits and let go of less helpful ones. And they keep refreshing it every day.

We can do that too, in our own way, through meditation, through movement, through nature, creativity, maybe sports, whatever it is for you.

Focus on the breath

Now bring your mind to your breath. For one minute, we’ll focus just on the breath. This is one of the clearest and simplest ways to connect body and mind.

What is life, after all? It’s that cycle of breath. And what is it that ends when we die? When we exhale… and don’t inhale again.

The breath is the strongest, most obvious signal of life: the connection of our body and our mind.

The breath is the strongest, most obvious signal of life: the connection of our body and our mind.

And so, look at it for a moment, with wonder, with a sense of awe. That this, this breath, is your life. It’s the sign of your life.

Just for one minute.

[pause – one minute of breathing]

Grounding the body

Now, let’s move on to the meditation on the subtle body, the connection between body and mind, and how we can deepen that connection to feel whole.

First, let’s ground ourselves in the body.

Bring your attention, your awareness, your consciousness, your mind, to the top of your head.

Notice that when you think of a part of your body, it’s like your mind is actually there.

Notice that when you think of a part of your body, it’s like your mind is actually there.

So let your mind settle at the crown of your head. Just see how it feels. Relax that area. Send a kind of warm, relaxing energy there. Even the top of the head can hold tension.

Then let your awareness begin to scan downward, slowly, like a glowing circle of light moving over your body. As this energy moves down, let it touch your eyes and ears, relax them. Become aware of them.

Bring your awareness to your nose. How does it feel? Relax that space. Then your mouth: soften it, relax it. Become aware of the sensations there.

Your neck.

Your tongue.

Your shoulders.

Let the energy of your mind be there. Invite those parts of your body to relax, to soften, to become calm.

Now become aware of your chest and your upper arms. Feel your awareness touching those places.

Bring your awareness to your belly. If you notice you’re sucking it in or pushing it out, just let it be. Relax your belly.

Now move your awareness to your seat: where your body touches the earth or the chair. Feel the support beneath you. Let your attention move down to your thighs… your knees… your calves. Let them soften. Let them relax.

Then bring your awareness to your feet and toes. Feel the energy there. Relax and soften those parts as well.

Now, think of everything you know about your body: from school, from science, from medicine.

What an extraordinary thing it is: teeming with cells, blood, electrical signals. An intricate, intelligent system of living processes. Try to see your body as an incredible collection of trillions of living cells: millions dying every second, millions reborn.

Try to see your body as an incredible collection of trillions of living cells: millions dying every second, millions reborn.

See your body the way we understand it now through science. Try to also see your body as a collection of atoms, particles, and elements, because it is all of these things.

Ask yourself: is one more true than the other? Is the macroscopic sense of being a whole person more true than the sense of being many parts and organs? Or the sense of being made up of many cells? Or even smaller, many molecules, many subatomic particles?

These are all ways of physically being a body. Is one of them more real than the others?

And what brings these particles to life? What makes them capable of moving, of sentience, of thoughts and feelings? What makes them capable of love and sadness?

Notice your mind

Now, become aware of your mind. Just watch it. Notice how thoughts, feelings, perceptions, memories, and plans arise, almost on their own.

Where do they come from? Where do they go?

For one minute, just observe your mind the way you’d sit on a bench and watch people walk by. Watch your thoughts pass. Be curious about your mind and its contents. Let things come and go, without reacting, without pulling anything forward or pushing anything away.

[pause – one minute observation]

Now, try to become aware of the space of the mind: the space in which thoughts and feelings arise. Approach it with curiosity, with openness.

Does that space feel big or small? Does it feel bright or dim?

Clear and knowing

In this tradition, when we look directly at the mind, when the mind looks at itself, we sometimes describe it as clear and knowing.

Try to see your mind that way now: a space of clarity, in which anything can arise, like reflections in a mirror.

That first moment of perception, before we label, before we separate into parts. And then, there’s knowing, a way of perceiving experience.

Clear… and knowing. Just meditate on that for a moment. However those two ideas, clear and knowing, manifest in your own mind.

At this point, you might feel a little detached from your body. And that might actually be a nice feeling. Still, it can also feel… distant. So now, try this:

Imagine a body in the same place as yours, made of mind. Where your body is now, picture a skin of light, a shell formed of what we’ve just been meditating on: clarity, awareness.

This light takes the shape of your body: weightless, energized, radiant. Notice how there’s a mysterious way that our mind connects to our body. Even science doesn’t fully understand it.

How does a thought become movement? A thought to move your hand… and your hand moves. A thought to speak… and you speak. Mind can move matter.

Feel that again now through your breath. Breathing is one of the most immediate, natural ways we connect body and mind.

Breathing is one of the most immediate, natural ways we connect body and mind.

Feel your chest rising. Feel your shoulders subtly rising and falling. Feel your hands resting in your lap, made of light, energized.
There’s a strong connection here, between this subtle aspect of your mind and your luminous body.

Now imagine yourself speaking, how speech is an expression of the mind moving through the body. Imagine smiling. In fact, try smiling right now.

And you’ll see, it kind of works backward. As Thich Nhat Hanh says, Sometimes happiness is the cause of our smile, and sometimes a smile is the cause of our happiness.

Sometimes happiness is the cause of our smile, and sometimes a smile is the cause of our happiness.

Let your smile become the cause of your happiness. Even though it starts as a mechanical motion, you can feel it, the smile brings a real, inner joy.

Visualizing love

Now imagine petting your dog or your cat, if you have one. Or hugging your partner, your child, someone you care about. Feel that strong connection between your body and your mind.

Why does it feel so good to hug someone, or to be hugged? It’s because it unites our body and mind. We feel whole.

Now think of yourself exercising, in whatever way you do. Even just walking. Imagine yourself walking through the street, or a forest trail. Maybe you’re running, doing yoga, lifting weights at the gym, playing baseball, surfing, whatever it is for you.

Even if it’s just walking, picture yourself doing it, fully absorbed in the movement, and happy. Imagine this light-energy body, this subtle, vibrant body, engaged in that activity. You’re embodying it now.

Now think of other things you do with your body that help you feel whole:

If you play music.

If you create art.

If you dance.

If you experience intimacy or sensuality.

Think of the other ways in which your body connects to your mind. And in each of those, imagine your body made of light: energized, whole in that state.

Feeling connected

Now, come back again, back to the sense of being seated. Feel yourself resting in your seat as a light body, an energy body, deeply connected. Your body and mind, feeling whole.

And as we begin to ease out of the meditation, try to maintain this sense of your energy body: this body of light, clarity, and awareness that is your body. Feel connected. Feel yoked to yourself—

To your body,

To your mind,

To your energy,

To your creativity,

To your kindness,

To your compassion,

To your love.

See if you can carry this feeling forward, this energized, whole body. One that is not fragmented or disconnected, but deeply, continuously connected, body and mind united through the subtle energy body.

And now imagine: as you end this meditation, you stand up and move into the rest of your day, still carrying that sense of connection.

A connection between body, mind, energy, creativity, expression… and love.

If you’d like to deepen your meditation practice and connect with a community, exploring the ideas we talk about in this podcast visit our website. There you can sign up for our newsletter and join our Train A Happy Mind community, which offers weekly lectures, meditations, classes, and discussions.

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