Welcome back,
Beautiful human.
You are so welcome here.
I'm so happy that you've joined me in the fourth part of our mini course,
Sorrow and Longing as a Practice.
We've done several practices so far in our time together.
We've created an altar for our impermanence.
We've practiced self-compassion,
Which is difficult,
And it is a practice.
Last week,
We spoke about the candle and the fire as a symbol and all the different things it can represent and ways that we might invite the element of fire in the form of a candle into our daily rituals so that we can remember the things that are too heavy or too sad to carry all the time.
And the fire is really this symbol of transmuting one thing to the other,
The basis of alchemy.
And I'm wondering how these practices are feeling in your body and if you've revisited them at all over the weeks.
Now this week,
We're going to be looking at a practice that allows us space in our bodies to feel and for those feelings to reside with ease.
And this is an embodiment practice.
So you can really find a place wherever your body's going to be comfortable and for some friends that might be lying down and that is absolutely fine.
That's no problem at all.
So just taking your time to get comfortable,
Make sure that you're warm enough and that you're snug.
And as we're moving through our weeks together,
Continuing this theme that all emotions and all feelings are fine and trying to get comfortable with viewing our emotions as neutral.
And often this feeling that something is good,
You know,
Joy is good and excitement is good,
But sorrow and longing are bad.
This kind of binary way of looking at our different emotional states can lead us to repressing some feelings because we label them as bad,
Quote unquote.
And when we repress our feelings,
We push them down in our body.
So we might numb ourselves so we don't have to feel them or we might distract ourselves with other things.
And you know,
There's definitely a time and a place for that,
You know,
And fetching out in front of Netflix and eating a load of ice cream is welcomed,
You know,
That's okay to do that sometimes,
But not if that's just how we're dealing with dis-ease and uncomfortable feelings.
And when we do repress our feelings down,
Sometimes this can manifest as being passive aggressive,
You know,
When you're really pissed off with someone,
But you don't want to tell them so instead you're just a little bit catty or disconnection from the body,
Disassociating,
Leaving the body.
And there's also pain and illness.
So if we're suppressing feelings like anger,
It does manifest in illness and in sickness in the body.
So you're invited now in your most comfortable state to close the eyes if you feel comfortable enough to close the eyes.
And the invitation is to allow your mind to be full of the sensations that are in your mouth.
So if you can,
Moving the tongue around inside the mouth,
Moving the tongue over the surface area of all of the teeth,
Noticing taste,
Moisture,
Texture,
And then allowing the tip of the tongue to rest up on the roof of the mouth so that the root of the tongue can relax.
And in doing so,
Allowing there to be a little bit of space between upper and lower teeth and a little bit of space between upper and lower lips so the jaw relaxes.
Eye on the skin around the eyes,
A little space between the eyebrows,
Skin on the forehead,
Hairline,
Hairs on the head,
Back of your neck,
And the front of the throat.
And having a sense of your body supported by the earth.
So in whatever shape your body is in,
For some friends it might be soles of the feet and sit bones.
For other friends that might also include back of the legs,
Back,
Back of the head.
Whatever your position you're in,
Noticing how your surface that you're lying on is supporting you.
And this surface is supported by whatever you're lying or sitting on.
And that's supported by the floorboards,
Which is supported by the structure of the building,
Which is supported by the foundations of the building,
Which run deep down and into the earth.
The foundations of the building are supported by the clay of the land and the layers of salt and shell and crystal.
And underneath these layers of earth,
There are the animal burrows and homes.
And below the animal homes are the wells and flowing streams deep onto the earth.
And below the streams of the well is the heart of the earth that burns bright like fire.
And all of these different elements are supporting your body in this moment.
And as you take a breath in,
Feel all of these layers coming up to meet your body.
And as you breathe out,
See if you can relinquish some tension as you are cradled by the earth.
And then shifting your focus now to the physical body,
Your physical body,
And how your body feels.
Noticing your breath like a wave through the body and noticing where that wave lands and ripples through without forcing it at all.
And the next time that you take a breath in,
Feel that wave of perspiration coming up your torso.
Silently repeat,
Accept.
And as you breathe out,
Feel the wave running down your torso.
Silently repeat,
Accept.
So inhaling,
Accept.
Exhaling,
Accept.
Continuing like this.
Noticing if anything comes up as you inhale,
Accept.
And exhale,
Accept.
Keeping with that wave of attention as the breath ripples through your beautiful body.
This time,
As you take a breath in,
The wave lifts up through the torso.
Silently repeat,
Allow.
And as you exhale,
The wave ripples down your torso.
Silently repeat,
Allow.
Allow.
Inhale,
Allow.
Exhale,
Allow.
Continuing.
And then letting go of allow.
And if it's comforting to you to bring a hand onto your belly or a hand onto your heart space,
You could do.
Taking a moment to breathe into the space between those two hands.
And you might start to twinkle your fingers and your toes.
And then as you're ready to bring yourself back into your space,
Into the room that you're in.
And if anything came up,
Maybe making a note of it.
So we're not doing this practice,
Trying to manipulate ourselves into feeling something really dark.
We're just creating some space to accept,
Accept,
Allow,
Allow,
And feel what comes into our bodies when we do so.
And it might be that you use this exercise as a prompt for self-expression.
So maybe there's some art that needs to be created,
Or journaling,
Or maybe this practice motivates you to move in a certain way or with a certain quality.
And most of all,
Really bringing in that practice of self-compassion.
Because sometimes when we come and do these practices,
It's easy.
And other times it's harder and more challenging,
And that's just part of the practice.
And thank you so much for your time and your curiosity.
And thank you so much for allowing a space for feeling to reside,
Hopefully with ease,
In your body.
See you next week,
Beautiful people.
