Hi there,
This is an introduction to somatic tracking for insomnia.
It's a reminder that somatic tracking is learning how to be with and allow different feelings and sensations in the body through a lens of safety.
This is important and healing mind body work.
We're learning to reinterpret body sensations through the mind,
The brain.
And this can be applied to insomnia as well as chronic pain,
Chronic tinnitus,
Chronic itch,
And a few other things.
And suggest that you practice this at first when you're not 10 out of 10 distressed by your sleeplessness.
Like anything,
Practice makes perfect.
So very important starting point.
We need to approach this with at least the intention that what's happening here is okay.
It's safe.
We're not under threat or in danger.
We need to be pretty convinced that the sleeplessness is not damaging us,
That despite what the media might tell us,
Resting the body and mind can be almost as beneficial as sleep.
And if we know it's safe to be sleepless,
Then we can just allow it to be.
Sometimes we know this intellectually,
But there's still a sense of resistance of fighting it.
The goal here is to let whatever is happening in our body happen freely,
The tiredness,
The aches,
Any other sensations,
To allow this to open to it,
To soften,
Relax around,
To be at peace with it.
So the second important part of this is we're giving permission to our body to express itself fully,
To speak to us,
If you will.
When we're able to do this,
Sensations in the body tend to shift and change and move.
Sensations might be in a different area or change character or intensity.
You might feel different emotions.
And the third important thing,
Big one,
We're not trying to make the insomnia go away.
If you're trying to make it go away,
You're not really accepting it.
We need to freely let it be there and just do its thing,
Doing our best to not resist or struggle and letting what happens happen.
Your body,
Heart and mind knows how to deal with this.
If you can just get the brain to be a little less on high alert,
Getting the thinking part of the brain to back off a little.
Remember,
Lots of body functions do perfectly well without us having to think through them.
Breathing,
Heart beating,
Blood flowing,
Digestion.
So can you bring this mindfulness,
This allowing,
Accepting attitude towards the feelings in the body while not feeling under threat,
Hopefully feeling safe,
Perhaps even relaxed.
