Take A Moment To Feel Safe To Be Here

This is for you if you find it hard to feel safely present in a new environment, a social setting, or simply in the spaces in between the get-up-and-go-of life. It's for you if you feel hyper-vigilant and fidgety in these circumstances or even, all the time. Our mind-body has a constant radar for safety. This is a body-based practice to satisfy that radar that all is safe and well, and we can relax and rest into the present moment, opening up to all that is here for us in the here-and-now.

Transcript

Hello, My friend. Let's take a moment to arrive fully where we are. And this is a practice that you can do really quickly on the go when you're arriving in a new public space, Like a cafe, Or in a social event, Or in those transitional moments. You're getting in your car, You're arriving at work, You're coming back from work. We need to honor the transitions and make sure that we're not either still catching up with the past or racing into the next thing with our minds, Our bodies, And even our breath. Just be aware that when you are arriving in any new space, Your very intelligent nervous system is scanning for safety. It's saying, Am I safe to land here? Am I safe to be in this moment and to open up to the next moment fully? It wants to know whether there's anything it should be watching out for, Looking out for, Behind you, Above you, Below you, Around you. Our body organizes itself around safety, And that's something we can bodily give ourselves. So let's do that now. So first of all, We always welcome ourselves into the moment remembering this moment is precious. You are precious. You're in a precious body, On this precious earth, In this precious miracle of life, In some way beginning to retrieve that knowing. And now just feeling where you are by feeling where and how your body is connecting to what's solid and here now, What's underneath your sitting bones, Are your hands resting on your lap or somewhere on your body that makes you feel a bit more here and a bit more in your body? And as you breathe, Have a sense of that gravity bringing your energy down through your body back down to earth. You can soften your shoulders down. You can soften your face. You can feel how your exhalation is one that helps you land. And now we're simply going to lift up our arms lift our head and look up and look at what's above you for a moment, Pause. Take that in. Bringing your head back to center, Look down what's beneath you. You may see your own feet on the floor, The texture of the carpet or the grass. Take in what you really see and feel underneath you. What's there? Raise your head, Twist gently from your hip to look over one shoulder behind you. So you're taking in what is to the side of you and behind you, Whatever that is. You can even label it if you want to. If you find you're drifting away from what you see is there, Name it. Come back to center, Twist the other way from your hip, Look over your shoulder, Same. What's there? Can you name it? Take it in a little more. Come back to center. Look up again. One breath. Look down. Your whole neck, Look down. One breath. And then come back to center. Relax your body a little, See if you can settle a little more into your seat and the support. And just check in with yourself. How do you feel now? And especially if there's a more settled feeling anywhere or a more here feeling compared to when you first arrived. Just notice that, That's real. You've just satisfied your perception, Your inner orientation, That you're safe, That it's safe above you and around you and below you, And you can land here. That means you can now open up until your body feels safe. It's hard to open up to learning new things, Connecting with what's in the present, The people, The life. And you can do this practice, As I said, When you're in a new environment or even a familiar one, But you're still feeling stuck in the past or the future and you want to gather into now, And you can do it simply looking up, One breath, To each side, One breath, And then below. Or as many times as you need to do that, Slowly landing. And again, Just letting your body know that it's safe to be here, It's safe to be you. It's safe to be in the here and now and to welcome what's to come. And that is that. So off you go and do something good for yourself.