A Somatic Practice For Safety Through The Eyes

Orienting to Space – A Somatic Practice for Safety Through the Eyes
This practice uses gentle eye movements and spatial awareness to help calm the nervous system and create a sense of present-moment safety. You’ll be guided to softly explore your surroundings through your vision, shifting from narrow focus to expansive awareness. This somatic tool supports regulation, grounding, and softening out of fight, flight, or freeze responses. It’s a simple yet powerful way to return to your body and the here and now.

Transcript

Hello, My name is Peggy Koukassian and I am a somatic practitioner here in Los Angeles, California. And I'm so grateful to be sharing these practices that work so beautifully for us to bring deeper awareness into our bodies and allow ourselves to fully feel what is happening within. A lot of my work is centered around inner child healing with a deep trauma focused practice to allow ourselves to heal and grieve what was not allowed or felt in our younger years. So each practice that I share on my teaching account is helpful in its own way. So draw yourself to whichever resonates with you. And I always suggest is trying a practice each day for the next few months and just noticing what your body is naturally drawn to and what is effective to you specifically. Every practice is not meant for everybody. So today's practice is about orienting to the space, A somatic practice for safety through the eyes. Our eyes hold so much energy and we use them so much throughout the day. Sometimes we don't even notice that it's not fully aligned or we're not feeling fully centered in our bodies. And our eyes are a gateway internally to unravel some of those anxiousness parts. So when we feel anxious, Frozen or trapped in some kind of response, Whether it's at work or in a relationship or just at home with the kids, Our vision tends to narrow both literally and metaphorically. And this is called foveal vision, A stress response where the eyes fixate or scan for danger. So when we shift into that peripheral vision and consciously start orienting to our environment through the eyes, A powerful body base signal starts to go internally into our body and signal to our nervous system. So in order for our bodies to start being able to get back into safety when we are triggered or feel something stressing us out, This practice will help widen our sense of space, Our sense of calm of the mind and reconnect within the present moment. So it allows us not to get stuck and repeat the loop of what we just experienced. So that's a little bit of dialogue and we're going to go straight into this practice. So we're going to take about three to five minutes for you to be with this practice and part of it will be together. And part of it you can continue on on your own journey and you can listen to this a few times if needed. So begin by sitting or standing in the most comfortable position you have access to. I always recommend being in a quiet, Private space. And if there's family or friends around, Just asking for a five minute break where you're going to go take care of something and come back. This is actually a really great practice to use in environments where we sometimes can have social anxiety or we just simply feel overwhelmed. We're rebuilding that safety within. So in order for us to come back into that environment from a present place, This is the absolutely best thing we can do for ourselves. So once you're sitting comfortably or standing, Let your eyes start to slowly scan the space that you're in. Scan the space and I'm going to do it with you. And you start to gently feel your vision is moving from narrow to a more wider landscape view. And you're going to start gently turning your head from side to side, Pausing to notice what your eyes land on. Not judging or analyzing, Just noticing what colors draw you in, What shapes, Maybe a light or maybe a texture of some sort. And just allow your gaze to land on something that is capturing your attention. And just soften your gaze and allow the focus to start widening as you're looking at that part of the wall or the space. So start to feel the gaze start to widen. And take some big, Deep inhales into the body as you just notice that you're making this small shift within your body. Allow the breath to continue to expand the vision. And now wherever you are, Without moving your head, Begin to sense what's in your peripheral vision. Let your awareness expand to include the space beside and even behind you. Continue to take some deep, Soft breaths. And with each exhale, Let your body settle a little deeper. Let your shoulders drop, Letting your jaw soften. And as you're breathing deeper and deeper, Allowing the breath to fall into the belly, Moving away from the chest. And maybe a soft whisper or even out loud to validate it's safe to be here now. Take a deep breath into that. It's safe to be here now. Allowing that exhale to release, Maybe a sound or a sigh. And go ahead and continue this on your own pace for the next few minutes as you move around the space. And start to really bring that present moment into your body. And we're going to end today by gently saying to the body, I see, I sense, And I soften. I'm going to say that two more times. And as you can inhale, When there is a word or something that I'm sharing that deeply resonates to your body's sensations, What I always encourage is to inhale deeper because it just feels like it deeply resonates. And how beautiful that your body is responding in such a positive way. With every exhale, Letting out some weight, Some tension. Just bring yourself back into that calm. I see, I sense, And I soften. I see, I sense, And I soften. And continue breathing at your own pace. Stay here as long as you'd like, But always remember you have this practice in your back pocket. Any of my practices, You can spend three to five minutes taking that time for yourself. I always encourage to try to do it once a day. You'll feel a huge shift over time. I will leave you with some sounds. Just enjoy these last moments together. Thank you so much for letting me guide you. Blessings and Namaste.