We're going to slow down for a few minutes to anchor in at the beginning of the day,
Connecting with the body,
Which really is simply connecting with who we are as people,
As embodied beings.
It can take a few moments here to shift around a little bit,
Settle in,
Notice if your body is comfortable however you're sitting or laying down,
Starting to take some nice deep mindful breaths,
Not forcing any cadence of breath,
Simply noticing how your body is wanting to breathe right now,
Noticing if it feels like your lungs are filling up with air,
If there's anything that you want to exhale,
Any different speed with which you want to inhale.
And whenever you're ready,
I invite you to start by placing your hands over your feet,
Simply thinking about the day ahead of you and everything that your feet will do,
Thinking about where your feet will take you,
If your feet will press on pedals in the car to drive you places,
Where you'll stand,
Walk,
Maybe run.
If it feels comfortable and safe,
You can move your hands around,
Holding different parts of your feet,
Just letting there be a few moments of connecting with this part of you,
These parts of you that do so much,
That hold us up,
That take us all around.
And as we shift throughout this time,
You can pause the audio if you would like more time at any point.
When you're ready,
I invite you to move your hands and just gently place them over your shins,
Your calves,
Your knees,
Thinking about the different ways that you will stand or walk or sit,
Any other ways that you might move or not move,
How these joints,
How these bones,
Muscles,
Everything from your toes and your feet and ankles up to your knees,
How they work together,
Supporting you,
Sustaining you.
With a nice deep breath,
Gently moving your hands up to your hips,
Maybe even wiggling around a little bit and just noticing how connected our bodies are,
Even just from our toes to our hips,
Let alone our toes,
All the way up to our heads.
Just slowing down here to think about the little muscles and ligaments and tendons,
Everything that's involved in so many movements that we can often take for granted or that we often do without thinking about it,
That just happen on autopilot.
How easy it is to live disconnected from what's happening beneath our thinking brain,
Slowing down to even stand in awe a little bit and kind of marvel at everything that happens for us to take a step,
For us to drive a car,
For us to pick up a child or a pet or a bag.
With a nice deep breath or two,
You can transition up to your core,
Near lower back,
Just being mindful of what it is throughout your day that is held strong or held together in a way that reflects these muscles,
These core muscles,
The core of us,
Holding us together,
All the internal organs,
All these things wrapping around our spine,
Again simply slowing down to notice and think about everything that's happening moment-to-moment,
Whether we think about it or not,
Anchoring in a gentle reminder that we're not just a thinking brain,
We're not just a brain on a stick moving throughout our day,
We are a fully embodied living and breathing being.
With a nice deep breath,
You can move a hand or both hands over your heart,
Really feeling your breath here,
Seeing if you might be able to feel your heartbeat,
Thinking about that blood pumping through your body,
Thinking about how hard our hearts work moment-to-moment to supply us with what we need for life.
Maybe even thanking our hearts for how hard they work,
For how strong those muscles are that we often don't think about or notice,
But they're always working beneath the surface,
Sustaining us,
Sustaining our life.
With another deep breath or two,
You can place your hands for the tops of your shoulders and or the sides of your neck,
Places where we tend to hold so much tension,
Places where we can often feel the weight of what we're carrying,
Maybe connecting with our body.
In terms of knowing the weight of that,
That we feel the weight of that too,
Maybe even when we're disconnected from our body,
Knowing,
Okay,
Our body is carrying the weight of this,
I know what it's like to carry the weight of this.
Makes me think of the way that Hilary McBride so eloquently will say,
I am my body and my body is me.
Just playing with that connection point of,
Okay,
There's actually not a distinction here.
I am my body,
My body is me.
I know the weight of things that I tend to carry here,
The weight that weighs on me here.
With a nice deep breath,
I invite you to end by placing your hands over your head,
If you'd like,
Maybe even giving yourself a little scalp massage.
Maybe your jaw is tight,
A little massage on the sides of your jaw would feel helpful.
Thinking about the mental load that you'll be carrying today,
Everything that might be weighing on your mind.
And also just taking a moment to remember that our thinking brain is just one piece of our brain.
There's so much happening internally,
Not just in our body as a whole,
But in our heads,
In our brains.
This place that we often associate solely with cognitive thought or executive functioning.
But there's a lot more happening in there that's connected to our body.
And that the way our bodies are wired,
There's so much communication that comes from the bottom up,
Meaning from the body up.
As you might be familiar with the vagus nerve,
This is often talked about with polyvagal theory.
And the majority of communication through this nerve,
It's a cranial nerve,
The longest cranial nerve,
Running from the brainstem all the way to our abdominal cavity,
80% of communication flows from the body up,
Rather than from the brain down.
And this is remarkable because this cranial nerve has to do with so many things in our lives.
Everything from regulating our heart rate and our blood pressure,
Our breathing when we're sleeping,
To having to do with our social interactions,
With whether or not we feel safe,
If we feel like we can connect with the people in front of us,
Or if we're experiencing stress or overwhelm and how we respond to those things.
So these pieces of communication that are coming from the body up are really important pieces of communication.
And before we close,
I want to invite you to think about this connectedness that you've gotten to slow down and savor in these few minutes.
And imagine yourself walking through your day today with some of that connectedness.
Just imagining,
Even if it feels hypothetical,
What would it be like to move through your day this connected to your body,
This connected to yourself.
If you'd like more time to envision that,
You can pause the audio.
Otherwise,
We're going to wrap up just by slowly shifting around.
You can lengthen your spine,
Take some intentional deep breaths,
Rolling your shoulders up,
Back and down,
Shifting side to side,
Maybe stretching out your arms,
Your legs,
Your fingers,
Your toes,
Maybe even shaking and wiggling around a little bit.
And ending with the deepest breath you've taken all day,
Inhaling,
Exhaling.
I thank you for spending time with me today.
