Firm conviction that “I am not the body” is the stepping stone to one’s realization, liberation, or as some still prefers to call it, enlightenment. No conviction, no realization. For the consciousness-defined reality we’re living is so illusory, that your refusal to bring into it one more participant – your body, is the least you can do to see glimpses of Reality.
And no, you won’t see them in the mirror. Your reflection in the mirror is not you, it is merely your perception of yourself – the direct result of years of indoctrination and absorbing the opinions and words of others that were defining the way you see yourself. Your parents, siblings, teachers, friends, and many others; all except you, were painting the picture of you.
Little wonder, you’re finding it so hard to see through that con job…
Not to put too fine a point on it, “mad” people – accepting illusion for reality, have succeeded in convincing you that you’re one of them. And because there are so many of them, does it mean they’re right?

And then your “little enlightenment” comes. You read something, hear somebody, and the urge to find more about yourself begins. You might even encounter someone with a spiritual guru status, with students and teachings to boot. Being a true guru, he tells you “You know that you are not the body, not the mind, and not the name given to you by someone else. You are consciousness and it has no form.”
If your belief in the guru and his teachings is strong enough, and matched by your earnestness, you’ll try to accept those words.
But no matter what spiritual techniques you’ll try to use – repeating it as a mantra, or meditating on it – nothing will happen.
But, although intellectually understanding and accepting them, deep in your hearth you’ll feel as merely repeating a command. And unless the conviction is there, no progress will be made.

Yes, you have to be absolutely convinced that “I am no the body” applies to you, that this is your reality.
You must this continuous experience of disassociation, the sense of distance. When you experience your body as the tool through which consciousness functions, as the telescope thorough which you perceive the world, you the perceiver will be free.
Knowing that this body is yours, you’ll be absolutely convinced that your are not it.
You’ll be able to observe it, take care of it – as you’d of the tool that you use daily – and nothing more!
Realizing that the “You” and his wellbeing you worry so much is in fact formless, and what others see as you, is just the tool the true “You” uses, an unlimited sense of freedom would dawn on you. Free of happiness and unhappiness, free of concerns, worries and threats. Total bliss.

How then do you arrive at this marvellous state of bliss?
Your conviction that you are not the body is the key. And you won’t get this conviction through merely repeating the mantras.
It has to come from within; you have to grown spiritually, by purifying your vital breath – i.e. “cleaning” your thoughts.
With your vital breath pure enough, consciousness will reveal to you a separation, distinction if you will between your Self and your body. You will loose the sense of what was an illusory unity, forever.
But how can you “lose” something that never was, except in the mirage that you took for Reality?
And whom can you credit with this life-changing realization?
In the words of Nisargadatta Maharaj: “The principle that rejects or gives up the body is your Self.”
Finally, with the veils of illusion and ignorance torn away, your Self shines through. You are standing on the stepping stone to realizing your true nature.
Some people will call you a saint, others will call you a madman. It will matter but little, for you know the truth – you are Truth.