In your path of healing and being able to live with pain in a healthier and easier way,
An essential part of it is getting in touch with your inner self,
Your subtle body.
This is a connection that starts with becoming aware of your inner vitality and then the different feelings,
Nuances and movements within that.
A journey of deep self-discovery.
I would love to be able to just give you the answer for you to instantly feel some relief from the suffering from your pain.
But in the many years of my own path of finding how to best deal with and live with pain,
Especially chronic pain,
I found that establishing your body as a healthy and supportive foundation for yourself is really essential.
So that you feel safe and steady as you begin to connect with your subtle body and the feelings of letting go of the suffering from your pain.
For me,
Becoming aware of my subtle body was the most awakening and exhilarating realization in my path of meditation and has become an important part of my daily life as someone who lives in constant pain.
It can really become a beacon of resilience and inner strength as you learn to connect to its movements and get comfortable with letting go.
This connection happens in different ways at different paces for everyone.
So please don't worry if you think you're not where you'd like to be with it.
You could suddenly become vividly aware of all the movements,
Flows and winds of your energy within.
Or it could be that you just slowly start to become aware of a sense of aliveness,
A sense of vitality within you.
And this connection can grow over time.
It generally doesn't matter.
Just allow yourself to be where you are at this moment.
Things always evolve and change with time.
Nothing stays the same.
In this session,
We'll do a meditation where we'll ground,
Become aware of feelings and sensations within your body and connect to your subtle body and the movements and nuances within it.
So before we begin the meditation,
Find yourself somewhere comfortable to sit where you can really relax.
It's nice to sit up tall and straight with fresh air coming in your lungs.
But don't be too rigid.
Allow a sense of movement and softness within your body.
As you relax in your seat,
Become aware of your breath.
Aware of your breath within your body.
Notice the feelings and sensations of your ribs,
Lungs and abdomen rising and falling with each in-breath and each out-breath.
Allow yourself to just be there in your body,
In your seat,
Being inquisitive of feelings and sensations within your body as you breathe.
At any point you become distracted,
There's no need to stop it or push it away.
There's no need to judge yourself and there's no need to create stories.
Just notice the distraction,
Let it be and then gently bring your awareness back to your breath and back into feelings and sensations within your body as you breathe.
Now shift your awareness slightly to become aware of your out-breath as a resting and settling breath.
And really follow each out-breath down as you relax into your body.
And as you follow each out-breath down,
Feel your body relax deeper and deeper.
Now move your awareness to become aware of your sense of balance.
Now move your awareness to become aware of your sense of ground.
Notice the feelings and sensations of the ground or the chair pushing up from below you.
The feeling of it really supporting you as you relax.
Notice the feeling of the weight of your legs.
Notice the feeling of the weight of your legs weighing you down comfortably into your ground.
And as you breathe,
Really allow your whole body to trust that sense of ground and let go into it.
Move your awareness from your sense of ground up into the trunk of your body and notice any feelings and sensations within your trunk.
Whatever you feel,
Give it space and allow it to move as it feels like it needs to move.
And allow it to move as it feels like it needs to move as you breathe and relax into your ground.
Feel your awareness expand out to the rest of your body,
Becoming aware of your body from the inside out.
Allow your awareness to expand out to your arms,
Your neck,
Your head and back down into your legs until you become aware of feelings and sensations within your whole body.
Remember to hold your space with a sense of compassion and love and allow whatever is there to be there.
If you feel yourself trying too hard,
You'll probably notice a sense of holding or contraction within your body.
And if you do,
Just gently allow that tension to soften and relax.
And allow your awareness to rest back onto feelings and sensations within your body as a whole.
And as you rest there,
Within feelings and sensations of your whole body,
You may become aware of a sense of vitality,
Like a sense of aliveness,
A vibrancy within.
And you may notice that this sense of vitality has different tones,
Feelings and nuances to it.
Almost like there's a movement to it.
Whatever you feel,
Whatever you notice or don't notice,
Just allow it to be there and allow it to be as it needs to be.
Again,
If you notice you're distracted,
Notice what is happening in your body.
And if you feel any holding or contraction,
Allow that to soften and relax.
Do you notice any feelings of movement when you do that?
Do you notice any ebb and flows and nuances within?
Maybe you just notice a sense of aliveness or vitality.
And as always,
Whatever you feel,
Allow it to be there and allow it to be as it is as you relax and breathe.
In the same way,
If you notice any pain in your body,
See if you can just notice the sensations of it without entangling a story onto it.
Or maybe you notice the energy of it wanting to move.
And see if you can allow those raw feelings and sensations to just be what they are.
See if you can give everything space to move as you relax.
While you're resting there in awareness of everything within your being,
Allowing it all to just be and giving it space,
You may become aware of a subtle feeling of joy or maybe a pleasant feeling somehow.
As you begin to allow more space into your being,
Allowing things to move,
The feeling of joy that is an intrinsic part of your true nature wants to start to bubble up and shine through.
If you do get a sense of some kind of pleasant feeling sitting there somewhere in your being,
Allow that feeling to expand and grow.
Whatever you feel or sense,
This is your connection to your subtle body and to the movement of energy within you.
And hopefully you can connect to the sense that your body is your support,
A safe space of comfort and the place where you can let go.
As we bring this meditation to a close and you go out into your day,
You can spend some time reflecting on this and also you can keep allowing yourself to notice what you feel throughout different points in your day.
This connection to your subtle body is always there.
Sometimes we just have to uncover it.
But once you even just get the slightest connection to it,
Over time it will grow and strengthen into a very vivid sense within your life and can become one of your greatest resources.
If this talk and meditation helped you in any way or interested you,
You can take a look at my course,
Finding Peace While Living in Pain,
Where I slowly take you through the steps in meditation that encourage a healthier and freer way to live your life when you suffer from pain.
You're welcome to have a look and please feel free to leave me a review where you can ask me any questions,
Reflect on any struggles or even epiphanies.
