The practice of self-massage can help us to practice being with our bodies,
Being gentle and compassionate with ourselves,
Being a bit curious about our sensations,
Bringing awareness to pleasant sensations,
And it can also help us with this idea of pulling back a little bit and giving ourselves permission to do a little bit less.
So let's explore those concepts as we practice self-massage.
You can choose what part of your body you'd like to massage.
Maybe you want to massage your hands.
If it doesn't feel comfortable touching other parts of your body,
Maybe you want to massage your jaw,
Your shoulders,
Anywhere in your body that feels like it could use a little bit of extra love.
Let's start with a quick little check-in so that you can just notice what needs attention in your body.
We're probably not gonna go to a place that's feeling really painful right now.
Like if you have somewhere that's over eight out of 10,
Let's leave that area.
But let's find something that needs a little bit of care and we'll go to that area and provide a little bit of comfort.
So first,
Close your eyes or soften your gaze and just take a deep breath into the belly and notice what's happening in your body right now.
Long exhale.
Where wants a little bit of attention.
Is there somewhere calling out to you?
We're not going to rush to it.
So I want you to give some time to allow.
Remember,
We allow.
And then we attune.
So allow that discomfort to be there.
It's okay that it's there.
We don't have to rush to fix it.
With every regulation tool that we do.
We are practicing allowing.
We are practicing attuning.
What does this part need?
I'm noticing A little bit of tension in my jaw.
And that's where I would like to focus,
But take a look at where you might want to focus.
And before we even begin.
.
.
Just gently bring your hands to the area.
I don't want you to go in and just start like grinding away at your muscles.
You are not meat that you're grinding,
Right?
We want to just softly Connect to that area first.
Give yourself permission.
Do a little less,
Give yourself permission to step back from that fixing part.
Connect to that area a little bit more with your hands on the area.
And then.
.
.
Softly and slowly.
Begin to massage the area.
So I don't,
Again,
I don't want you to dig in right away.
Just softly,
Slowly.
Make sure you're breathing into the belly.
Make sure you're connecting with your body.
We're not approaching our body with urgency or intensity.
We're just allowing ourselves to connect in a really gentle way.
And if it starts to hurt,
Especially if it's over 6 out of 10,
Back off or move to a different spot.
It can be nice to apply a little bit of pressure with the tips of the fingers.
Sometimes with the knuckles can be nice as well,
Gentle,
Soft.
Another technique that I find really helpful is to just kind of lean into something.
So you can always put your elbow on a table.
And you can lean in.
Nice deep breath.
Sit in an awkward spot where you can't lean into your hand.
You could always lean into a ball.
Lean into a block.
If you've got any acute injuries,
Just make sure you have clearance to work in that area before you start there.
And always,
Always listen to your body.
Nice,
Soft,
Gentle.
You can move around when you're leaning in too,
Which can be nice,
Kind of like a cat.
I would lean into your hand and just like get more out of the pets.
And you can switch to another side if you've been working on one side.
Just get curious.
What's going on in the body?
What's going on in the mind?
Do you have distracted thoughts coming up?
Ah,
It's a waste of my time,
I should be doing something else.
See if you can land here in this moment,
Drawing your attention back to the sensations in your body.
And this should feel comforting and nourishing and really nice.
It shouldn't feel like a task or a chore.
We definitely don't want it to hurt.
This is you taking care of you.
That's how we regulate the system with this massage.
As you are showing your system memory here,
I got you.
It's a somatic way of showing that self-compassion.
Deep breath,
Experimenting with what wants your attention.
And you can do this for as long as you'd like.
Experimenting with different spots in the body,
Different levels of pressure.
Maybe you could use a massage gun or you can,
Again,
Block.
Ball,
Roller,
Something that you experiment with.
Just see what feels good for you and your body.
