Hi,
I'm Dieke,
And welcome to the FEM Embodiment Quest.
This is day number 12,
And the word that we're working with today is vulnerability.
For me,
Vulnerability and being vulnerable,
Specifically in an embodied way,
Is this space of openness,
Of tenderness,
Of connection,
And a deep sense of truth and anchoring and centeredness within myself.
And that feels vulnerable,
But at the same time also really powerful.
So I see my vulnerability as actually one of my most powerful spaces and states.
And I see that in my work with my clients all the time as well.
The more that we dare to be vulnerable,
Truly ourselves,
The moment deep connection,
Deep intimacy,
Deep fulfillment start happening as well,
With ourselves as well as with others or in our relationships.
And so today's embodiment practice is supportive and connecting us to that more vulnerable space within.
And we're going to do that by specifically connecting to two emotions and emotional states that often help us to embrace and tap into that vulnerability,
But also that can,
If not felt or embraced or really acknowledged,
Can also hold us back from actually being vulnerable.
And that is the emotion of fear and the emotion of sadness and grief and letting go.
Because I feel in order for us to stay true to ourselves,
We have to embrace the cycles of life and the seasons that we're moving through.
And sometimes that means that we have to let go of a version of ourselves or of something or someone in order to continue and to stay in that sense of or to stay connected to ourselves.
So we're going to be connecting to that and basically looking at how can we embrace this sense of grief and sadness or embrace this sense of fear with embodiment or in an embodied way,
But with a sense of openness instead of contraction.
And once we can stay open,
It can just pass and move through us and we can actually embrace the lessons and the messages that the fear or the sadness is trying to tell or show us or guide us into.
For that,
What can be very helpful to have is either a little bolster or a pillow,
A little pillow like this also,
Because we're going to be opening the heart and doing a heart opener.
And it's nice to have a little bit of something to place under your heart in order to do that.
So make sure you have that.
And besides that,
There's nothing else that you need except for just you showing up here.
So placing your hands in front of your chest,
Maybe tuning in with that word of vulnerability,
With that intention of today,
One bell marks the start,
Three bells mark the end.
Then I'm going to invite you to actually come to lie down.
We don't need the props yet.
So just coming to lie down and I basically want to introduce one of my favorite practices,
Which I do sometimes at the start or in the middle of the day,
But also at the end of the day to sort of unwind my body and to just move anything that wasn't felt or unexpressed or anything that was sort of still like tensing my system.
And this is also a really powerful way to move fear.
And specifically,
If you have any sort of anxious tendency,
It can be really powerful to just give your body to space,
To shake and to move and to twitch,
To let that move through your being.
And a really beautiful example is a deer that escapes from a lion.
And there's videos on YouTube that you can watch where a deer will be like in full fear,
Adrenaline mode,
Trying to save its own life and run away.
And when it escapes and the lion,
The threat is gone,
You will see it sort of like shake and twitch its body in a way to move the adrenaline through,
To let the fear pass,
To come back into sort of a rest,
Digest,
Nervous system mode and to be like,
OK,
I'm still alive.
I can do this.
I can continue living and celebrating my life.
So one really beautiful way to do that is when you lie down and you imagine like,
Oh,
My God,
I have a stressful day or maybe there's actually fears that are rising or fears that are being present in your life.
And just imagine that you're saying,
Yes,
I can feel you,
Because sometimes we're putting fear on top of fear.
So we're afraid to feel the fear and putting even more pressure on something that already feels vulnerable.
And maybe you're noticing a part of your body when you're thinking about the fear or fear itself,
When you're tuning in where it feels more tense or like when you're noticing a little bit of a contraction.
Maybe that's not something you can sense or be aware of right now.
That's totally all right,
Too.
But I want you from here to sort of like let your body like twitch and shake a little bit.
Remember,
We did one of these shaking exercises and we actively shook.
So you can do that also here to sort of actively sort of shake and shimmy your body a little.
And then that's a more sort of doing active way of making that shake happen.
And then sometimes I just say like,
Yes,
Body,
You take over now,
You shake for me and see if the body just allows or shakes by itself or twitches by itself.
So if you just let your body shake and release any of that stress,
Any of that tension,
Any of that fear,
Any stories or thoughts of the mind.
And if the body doesn't do it for you,
You can just allow yourself to shake a little bit more actively as if you're kickstarting the engine and see if the body naturally takes over.
It can help to relax your jaw,
Allow your breathing to just naturally happen.
And maybe actually emotions arise,
If that's the case,
Just let them happen,
Let them pass.
I can tell your body you're safe to feel now because you're in a safe environment.
So whatever was unfelt,
Whatever was stressful or fearful today,
That was the time that can send some feelings.
Let it move.
Last few moments here.
Letting your body come to stillness just for a few moments,
Letting that integrate.
And then letting a little bit of movement return to your body,
Having your knees in towards your chest,
Giving yourself a loving,
Tender hug.
And then slowly rocking yourself up.
And from here,
We're going to grab that pillow or that bolster that you had,
Or it could also be a blanket,
Whatever you have.
We're going to place the knees or feet hip-distance apart,
Bend knees,
And gently we're going to place our upper body over the pillow.
And so specifically the pillow is behind the heart.
And so we want to create a little opening of the chest,
A heart opener.
Arms can be wide out or above,
Whatever feels comfortable.
The knees can be bent or if the lower back feels fine,
It can be stretched out.
I'm just letting the heart open here.
There's not much to do here,
Just relaxing into this posture.
You can connect to the sensation or the feeling of letting go of sadness or grief.
Maybe there's some of that in your life at the moment,
Maybe something naturally comes out.
And in general,
What is really powerful,
Really beautiful to do if there is a lot of sadness or there's a lot of waves of grief passing through the body,
To come into this posture when that's happening.
So heart open,
Crying with your heart open.
Really,
Really powerful.
And so for now,
Whether there are tears or not,
Or a little sadness,
Or just little glimpses of it,
Story coming.
Letting it just be.
But you might want to let your body shake if it wants to,
Or the heart to crack open.
Maybe a sound that comes out,
That resembles sadness or grief that's there.
I'm taking three more breaths here.
Inviting you to see if you can be fully present.
After your third exhale,
Gently bending your knees,
Moving your arms down,
Slowly supporting your out of this heart opener to the chest.
And just lifting enough or rolling to the side to remove that pillow.
And then coming into this sort of fetal position.
Just like resting here.
Resting into that warmable space.
And then slowly you can come up back to seated position,
Or if you'd like to rest here a little bit longer,
That's totally fine also.
But taking a moment to thank yourself for showing up,
To connecting to your vulnerability.
And the invitation is to move from this space,
Deeply connected,
Deeply truthful,
Open and soft throughout your day.
Thank you.
