The Full Body Yes(with an example)

In my interview with Scott Shute, I asked about the concept of Full Body Yes and how he beautifully explained the 4 stage process in it with an example. Scott Shute sits at the intersection of ancient wisdom traditions and the business world. He currently leads Mindfulness and Compassion programs at LinkedIn. After twenty five years of customer-oriented leadership roles, he found his dream job, where he gets to utilize his entire skill set and embrace his passions. In this work he explores the possibility of human potential, helping employees become the very best version of themselves.

Here it begins:

There is a four-part teaching arc that we go through.

1) The first stage is to really Know Yourself. You need to understand your own story, like understanding your body, why do I get upset, what do I act like when I get upset or happy or whatever it is, and understanding the external systems — who am I trained to please? When I make these decisions, who am I making these decisions for? And having a deep appreciation for your own story.

2) The second part is to Love Yourself, to see yourself as more than this body and this emotion, but to start to recognize that deepest part of yourself. And it’s that voice, that voice from that deepest part of you that we’re trying to listen to. This is where the message of the Full Body Yes comes from. But it’s that part of ourselves that we don’t access all that often.

3) The third part is to Master Yourself. And this is where it’s hard, right? This is where the work comes in to realize that I’m the only one that’s responsible for my life. It’s shifting gears from viewing that life happens to me and I’m a victim to one where life happens for me. And that each lesson in my life is so that I can learn. I can learn how to give and receive love. Ultimately, so this mastership is the difficult part.

4) And then we learn to have those same three steps for somebody else, and this is compassion. So then it goes to know the other person, loving the other person, and then taking action for that other person. All of these things – you could spend lifetimes trying to figure out how to do the most basic and that’s the recipe.

Here’s an example of an easy technique to try.

So let’s say you’re choosing between two things.

First, get clear on your two choices A or B. Then you start to imagine choice A and you let that roll around in your mind and you imagine — what is it like if I’ve already chosen that and you start to visualize what is my life like after I’ve chosen A. And then you really get clear on it. Maybe you spend a little more time on it on your own, and then you take a really deep breath, deep breath in deep breath out. And then you just notice how you feel in your body and then you let that go.

Then you think about choice B. You imagine that one and you imagine — here’s my life. If I choose B and all the things that happen —the good, the bad, and all of it. And then you take another deep breath, deep breath in deep breath out, and see how you feel in your body.

Almost every time I’ve done this, it becomes really clear. And then you ask yourself — how did that become so clear, why was that so clear? Where’s this information coming from? Is that the mind? No, I don’t think science has caught up to where this place is that we’re getting this information, but that’s what I mean by the full body. Yes. It’s like, you just know it in every part of you starting with just this knowingness in your body.

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If you enjoyed this post, you can listen to my full interview here Scott Shute on Full Body Yes, Practicing Compassion in Challenging Times, Changing Work from the Inside Out, Creativity, and More (#147)

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or on your favorite platform

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