Sitting With It - Body-Based Emotional Processing

It's an emotional processing practice for supporting your nervous system, properly processing any emotions or simply releasing uncomfortable tensions or other sensations. You can also set an intention to work with, and ask the body to guide you to anything that needs to be felt, witnessed, released for your intention to materialize.

Transcript

Welcome to today's practice where you will sit with anything that is within you.

Maybe discomfort,

Maybe some sensations,

Maybe some emotions or maybe a craving.

In today's practice you will sit with everything that is in your body that wants to be seen by you,

That wants to be witnessed.

And you will sit with it without any agenda.

Without agenda to release it,

To change it,

To fix it or to shift it.

You will simply sit with it like you would be sitting with a friend that wants to share something with you.

And you are a great listener.

You only listen,

You witness and you see your friend,

Your sensations,

Emotions,

Cravings,

Discomfort.

And you will sit with all those different sensations till they don't have anything else to say to you.

And that's when they will move or shift.

But your agenda is only to sit,

Witness,

See and feel.

So I guide you to maybe close your eyes.

That will make this process a bit more effective.

And you can lay down or sit down but sitting up will ensure you won't fall asleep.

And sometimes falling asleep may be an avoidance mechanism.

Take few releasing breaths,

Inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth.

You can come back to your natural breath.

You don't need to control it.

Just notice how it flows right now without you controlling it.

Notice does it flow to your belly,

To your diaphragm,

Maybe to your chest.

And don't judge,

Just notice.

Now I want you to start breathing to a lower belly gently just to ground yourself a bit more.

If you can't breathe to your lower belly just as as lower as you can without any force.

So gently,

Gently.

Maybe diaphragm is maximum for you right now.

You can put a hand on your belly and just tune in to that feeling of moving your hand when you breathe to your belly if that's possible.

Now I want you to scan your body from feet to the top of your head and as you do it slowly notice any tensions or any uncomfortable sensations.

For now just notice them.

If you hold a tension in your belly or shoulders or a jaw and you can relax it,

Do so.

So I'll give you a minute for that.

Now I want you to feel your whole body as much as is possible.

If you don't feel much it may be a sign of a dissociation and a sign to work with your nervous system more.

But just notice as much as that's possible,

Any kind of sensation,

Tension,

Discomfort that you may feel.

Anytime this practice is too overwhelming for you or brings a lot of anxiety or panic attack,

Feel free to end it and maybe move your body instead.

That is also a sign of hyperactive nervous system and a sign of working with it more.

Okay,

So if you have noticed any kind of tension or sensation or emotion in your body,

I want you to focus first in the place where you feel it the strongest.

And also,

Maybe before we do that,

Focus on the place in your body where you feel safe or comfortable or maybe even pleasant.

So notice the safe place for now.

If you haven't noticed this place yet,

You can pause the recording and give yourself a few more moments for that.

And if you don't feel any safe space in your body,

You can visualize a safe place.

Maybe a field or forest or your home.

Just create a safe space for you.

And again,

If you are visualizing,

You can pause the recording and focus on that.

So when you have your safe space either in your body or your visualization,

This is a place to come back to whenever you feel a bit overwhelmed.

Like if you feel a lot,

A lot overwhelmed,

Anxiety,

Panic attacks,

That's when you can stop it.

And when you stop,

Also you can focus on your connection with the chair or the ground to ground yourself or feet on the ground.

But you come to your safe space if the practice is quite uncomfortable,

But it's not too overwhelming.

If you feel like you can't take too much of the discomfort,

That's when you can connect to your safe space for a bit.

And then coming back to those discomforts to work deeper with it.

And whenever that happens,

You can pause the recording and come to your safe space for a bit and then come back to your sensations.

Okay,

So now I want you to notice this strongest discomfort,

Tension,

Sensation or difficulty motion in your body.

It can feel as a tension or a ball of stuck energy,

Numbness or stagnation.

Or you may actually feel some difficulty motion,

Maybe sadness comes up,

Maybe anger.

There can be various different things that are in your body that want your attention.

So just notice the strongest sensation now.

We'll call them sensations.

Notice where in your body you feel it.

Remember you are visiting your friend,

You're listening to your friend.

The sensation is like your friend expressing something to you.

And you sit with it until it doesn't have anything else to say,

So it moves.

Sometimes where there is a deeper tension in your body,

Like muscle or tissue tension,

You may sit with it for a while and some of it usually releases.

But there may be some residue that you just need to release with physical manipulation,

With massage or something like this.

So sitting with this strongest sensation right now.

If you count your mind gently without judgment and with self-compassion,

Bring yourself back to the sensation.

It will be happening a lot throughout this practice.

You want to focus on the sensation as much as possible,

Bringing your whole attention into this place,

Kind of like you would be diving deep into this place,

So you feel mostly it.

Your whole attention is in this one place.

You can direct your breath there as well.

Don't worry,

You are safe here.

These are just body sensations.

Sometimes it may be a pain.

So you sit with the pain.

You're so brave.

You're already doing great,

Just by noticing it.

And don't worry,

There's nothing to achieve in here.

There's no goal.

There is no reward or punishment.

You simply give attention to your body and to your sensations.

Keep sitting with this.

Be curious about the sensation.

There is no judgment,

You're just being curious.

You just want to witness it,

Learn about it,

Feel the different sensations that come with this.

I'm going to give you a moment,

A minute of silence.

Keep focusing on that sensation.

If your sensation moves somewhere else,

You start focusing on that other place.

If it's still there,

You still focus on that one place.

It's very common that those sensations move.

Once you may feel it in your belly,

Later you may feel it in your shoulders,

Later in your lower back,

Later in your throats.

It's completely normal for them to move.

So as they move and the strongest sensation is in another place,

You focus where it goes.

So you always focus on the strongest sensation.

Remember,

You're not sitting with it for it to change or move,

Right?

It moves because it already has been witnessed in those one place.

Of course,

It can come back there later,

But you are not sitting with it for it to move.

Remember that.

Sometimes this practice can take up to an hour.

You don't need to sit with those sensations for an hour every time.

Even 15 minutes or even 5 minutes for the beginning is great.

We are already doing this practice for 18 minutes,

So well done.

Let's sit with it for a while longer.

Remember to gently bring yourself back to the sensations if you start thinking.

Maybe some insights will come to you,

But try not to stay in your mind.

Gently bring yourself back with your whole focus to the sensations.

If you feel like you want to cry,

Do it.

If you feel a lot of anger building up,

You can tense your body,

Close your fists and tense your whole body and then release.

And for any other emotions,

Just feel them.

There may not be any specific emotions,

They may be just tensions and that's okay too.

Or if you have a craving to move from the practice and for example eat some food.

Of course you may be actually hungry,

But if you're not and you just have a craving to avoid this practice,

Just sit with the craving with lots of self-compassion.

Your mind may want to avoid the practice by giving you different tasks to do or thinking that you need to rush somewhere or do something else or may not see the point in this and that's okay.

You can thank your mind for protecting you and express that this is what you're doing now,

That's what you and your brain are doing now and you will come back to all the tasks later and come back to the sensations.

Welcome them.

They are not wrong.

They are not there as a punishment.

They just want to be seen,

Witnessed,

Accepted,

Just like your friend.

Keep sitting with it for a while longer.

You're doing practice now for 24 minutes.

Your body is really grateful.

Your emotions and sensations feel seen.

Well done on focusing to getting to know yourself.

Well done on giving yourself this attention and love in a self-compassionate way.

That's self-love,

That's self-care,

That shows huge love you have to yourself.

If you feel you would like to sit longer with those sensations,

Pause the recording and sit for a while longer.

If you feel that's enough for today,

That's okay.

Maybe next time you can pause and sit for a while longer.

Thank yourself.

Thank your sensations and emotions and tensions.

Once again,

Take few deep breaths to your lower belly and feel your connection with the chair or the ground or the bed.

Feel your feet,

Wiggle your toes.

Maybe you need a stretch and a yawn.

Do what your body needs.

Open your eyes when you are ready.

Maybe look around.

Even though you have been here and now,

Just notice the space.

Have some water.

Have anything your body needs.

Thank you for this practice together.

Please come back to it as much as possible,

Ideally daily.

This is an incredible self-healing tool.

This is the key to healing.

This is the key to self-love.

This is the key to emotional well-being,

Healthy body.

It's so simple,

Yet difficult sometimes.

And so powerful.

Before you go,

Notice how you feel right now.

Do you feel different than when you have started?

How would you name this emotion?

If you feel some difficult emotion,

Perhaps it's a sign to sit with the practice for a while longer,

To give more attention to this emotion.

But if you feel neutral or at peace,

If you feel difficult emotion and sitting with it doesn't really move it,

You can move your body while feeling this emotion.

You can make some sounds.

You can massage gently the place where you feel it the most or tap it gently.

You can ask for God,

Higher power,

Your soul,

To support you in this and see if that helps.

And then you can sit with it for a while longer.

I hope you feel better.

Remember the practice may be difficult at the beginning,

But the more you do it,

You will notice that you can sit with the discomfort for longer.

That's you increasing your capacity to receive and hold all kinds of energies,

Also love,

Wealth,

Peace.

By sitting with those sensations,

Being with the present moment and your body is the key too.

So keep devoting to it,

Stay consistent.

Write it down somewhere on a sticky note to remember to come back to it.

When you don't feel like doing it,

That's when it will be the most beneficial.

Magic lays where the resistance is.

Thank you again and I wish you a beautiful day.

Let me know if you wish how this has been for you.

And I also suggest to keep a journal of working with this practice,

Writing down how you felt before,

How you felt afterwards,

And what you experienced as you have been doing it.

I suggest to devote to it,

For example,

For 21 days or even better 40 days,

To build the habit.

You will experience true magic if you devote to daily practice.

Much love.