Embodied Integrative Healing Meditation - Somatic Awareness

This meditation uses somatic awareness in order to transform and heal difficult feelings and emotions into peace and life energy. Somatic awareness is the practice of becoming aware of feelings, sensations, and emotions in the body. We notice these experiences by naming them, seeing how they appear to us in our direct experience.

We may notice they have a shape, a color, a texture, a weight, etc. By noticing these qualities of the experience in our body, we bring in awareness to those areas. This open and accepting awareness is a healing presence that transforms painful and unpleasant feelings, emotions, and sensations into peace, joy, and life energy.

*The original music in this meditation was written by Jordan Cromwell, the creator of this meditation*

Transcript

I just invite you to quiet down a little bit. Let your mind quiet down just by noticing your breath. And even just noticing our breath is already a somatic practice, Because our breath is in our body. When we breathe in, We feel the breath going into our body. When we breathe out, We feel the breath moving out of our body. So really get into the physical sensation, Like feeling air going in your nose. Going down through your neck into your lungs. Same thing as it comes out, Feeling that. You can notice how your body moves as you breathe. Notice any tension in your body, If there's any places like maybe your shoulder is tight. Shoulders might be tight. But you can just notice that. And as you notice the tightness without trying to change it. . . Noticing how it. . . Is actually changing moment to moment. Sometimes it's a little bit more tight, Sometimes a little bit less tight. You can even notice, What is that tightness like? You know that it's tight, But what's the texture of it? Does it have a shape? Can you see the shape of the tightness almost in your shoulders? Does it have any kind of color? Like I'm noticing there's a little tightness in my shoulders and it's almost like a little bit kind of gray, Very light gray. This kind of almost rounded rectangular shape, Just noticing what that tightness feels like. And oftentimes, If you just notice all these qualities of that sensation, Like this tightness, You'll just notice it start to shift. Or sometimes I even, Like just now, I just noticed that there's like this warmth in my shoulders that wasn't there before. So I just noticed that, Allow that to be there. And we can do this anywhere in our body. Noticing all different parts of our body, Maybe your gut, Maybe there's like a nice peaceful feeling in your gut. Down in your lower belly, That sacral chakra. Or maybe that's anxious, There's maybe there's like some kind of dark color there, Some kind of weird swirly feeling maybe. Sometimes recently I've been noticing, I've been working through releasing this clench in my solar plexus, This solar plexus chakra. There's been this clench there. So sometimes I just notice this tight clench, And I just notice what it's like. It's like a little fist holding on, And I just kind of see that. And then other times I notice, Wow, It's really peaceful there. And I don't just brush that by, I just allow that to be there. Just notice, Wow, It feels open and peaceful. So in addition to noticing any areas of tightness or stuckness or unpleasant feelings, Also notice areas of openness. Areas of movement. Areas of pleasant feeling, Because those are there too. A lot of times we might focus on the negative ones. And it's totally fine to notice that. That is important, Because that's there. But we don't want to exclusively notice that. We want to notice everything that's happening. And so be open to anything else that you notice in your body. Like maybe, For example, Like right now, My right toe feels nice and pleasant. And might not usually notice something like that. But by bringing in this awareness with this somatic practice, I just notice, Oh, That right toe. Yeah, Red Toe feels pretty good. It feels nice and relaxed and kind of warm. He almost seemed a little bit peaceful, Interestingly. Can allow that to be there. And as I noticed that, I noticed things shifting, Like I noticed my left shin, Some kind of energy movement there, And my right knee, A little bit of energy. I'm just noticing right now my shoulders feel pretty relaxed. I just noticed that. Now they feel pretty relaxed. So I just invite you to do the same thing. I'll just spend a little time allowing you to just notice these sensations in your body. And as you notice them, Try and kind of, In your mind, Or really just in your direct experience awareness, Just notice what they're like, Like what's the shape and color is like, If it's moving or still, Or is it like a texture, Quality? So I'll give you just a little bit of time to explore that. If any time during that exploration if things feel really challenging or hard. Or like it's too much or you don't want to go there, You can always come back to your breath, Which is really safe. Safe breath. You can just breathe in. Everything's fine. I'm just breathing in. That feels safe. That's okay. Breathing out, That feels safe. I'm just breathing. I'm okay, Just nice and simple. And then as your breath helps to calm yourself down, Feel a bit more safe. You might feel like you can explore again a little bit these sensations and feelings in your body. And as you're exploring these in order to help you feel safe, You can also. . . Allow yourself to explore the feelings or sensations at whatever level feels safe, So you don't have to dive in deep. You know, Fully take it all in of whatever is there, You can just do it a little bit, Like. . . I'm just. . . Noticing this anxiety in my stomach, I'm just going to look at it a little bit, Just kind of maybe the top layer, Just ease into it just a little bit. See what that's like. I don't have to go way in deep if that's a lot. I'm going to see, Kind of like looking at it from a distance, Like, Oh, What's that like? Oh, Let's see what that's like. Be with that for a little bit. But if it does feel too much, You can always, Ah, I'm gonna. . . I'm gonna take a step back, Go back to my breath. Or maybe I'm going to notice that right toe that feels really good or my shoulders feel relaxed. Find that other kind of nice peaceful anchor point. So we'll just explore this just for a few more moments in your body, In your experience. Come back to our breath again, Noticing our breath as we breathe in and as we breathe out. Thanking our bodies, Thanking our nervous systems, All that they do for us, Giving them compassion. Letting our body, Our nervous system, Our energetic body know that we care about it and we're taking care of it. And then we can gradually just open our eyes, And if our eyes were closed, Then reorient ourself. To where we are in this moment.

Reviews

Very relaxing, helped me to work with feelings in my body.