Welcome to this somatic experiencing exercise in which you will discover ways on how to release built-up stress and build up anxiety from the body.
We will use somatic practices which include using our physical touch in our body to regulate and discharge the nervous system.
When we've been living in periods of chronic stress or high anxiety or even depression,
We can trace these back to the nervous system.
Anxiety and stress is the flight state.
Anger,
Frustration,
Irritation is the fight state and depression,
Numbness,
Fatigue is the freeze state.
Now the good news is that we can balance our nervous system.
We can come back down from fight,
Flight or even freeze and find calm in this moment.
Important here to mention is that it's not just about finding calm and peace,
It's actually about finding safety and bringing in what was missing.
So maybe what was missing for you was a sense of tranquility or maybe it was a sense of safe connection.
So let's begin.
Find yourself in a comfortable position.
You can choose to lay down or sit up straight.
Once you've settled in,
Check in with yourself and see if you can make yourself 10% even more comfortable.
Make any gentle adjustments.
Beautiful.
Now start to bring your awareness to the contact points of your body and the surface below you.
Where is your body making contact?
With your chair?
Your bed?
The floor?
See if you can find the point where your body ends and the surface begins.
Start to become aware of your back,
The back of your head,
The back of your neck,
The whole backside of your body,
The back of your arms,
Your whole spine,
Your shoulders,
All the way down to your lower back,
The back of your legs.
Noticing how your ankles or the soles of your feet are touching the surface below you.
Feel your body melting gently,
Releasing any tension.
Take a comfortable inhale,
Filling up your belly with air.
Feeling it rise,
Just like a balloon that's being filled with air.
And then gently exhale,
Releasing the air from your belly out through your mouth or nose.
Take another gentle and comfortable breath in.
A real deep inhale,
Inviting in the fresh new air.
And as you gently exhale,
Releasing this air out from your belly through your mouth or nose.
Take one more comfortable inhale in your own pace.
Beautiful.
We'll start with placing our hands on our heart but instead of placing both hands on each other,
We will place a right hand on the left side of your chest and your left hand comes over your right hand on the right side.
You'll notice that your thumbs are crossing over each other so I invite you to gently cross your thumbs and spread out your hands like they are a pair of wings and they are now covering your chest.
This pose is called the butterfly.
Gently start moving both your hands and continue to breathe deeply.
Bring your awareness to any sensations you notice inside your body now.
Maybe you feel anxious,
Overwhelmed and there are many sensations for you.
See if you can focus on one sensation or one part of your body.
Maybe you feel rather numb and you don't feel in your body.
See if you can focus on how does the numbness feel while you are moving your arms on your chest.
Now slow down the movement of your hands and with your breath in move your right hand and with your breath out move your left hand.
Start to slow down your movements so much that they start to mimic the rhythm of your breath.
Feel the gentle pressure of your hands on your chest.
Feel the warmth of the palm of your hand.
Notice how this creates more safety in the body.
If any sensation arises see if you can allow it to be there.
Now gently take a deep breath in and release your hands from your chest.
Notice how you feel.
Now we will continue to explore bilateral movement.
By doing these practices of combining our breath and both the right and left side of our body we activate both left and right hemispheres of the brain.
It's like combining two superpowers together and turning back on all the beautiful systems in our brain that are here to help us be more self-aware,
Conscious,
Present and tap into our true authentic selves.
So now place your lower arms over each other as if you're crossing your arms.
Bring your right hand on top of your left elbow and your left hand on top of your right elbow.
We will practice the same style here.
As you breathe in move your right hand.
As you breathe out move your left hand.
Follow this rhythm of gentle tapping while holding yourself.
Relax your belly and tune in with your inner felt sense.
A sense of how you are feeling in your body.
Continue to breathe slowly and tap your hands according to your breathing pattern knowing that you are balancing your nervous system and even the networks in your brain.
Feel the sense of centering,
Balancing,
Grounding within yourself.
Take a long deep breath in and exhale and release both your arms and again notice how you feel.
Any sensations.
The language of the body is via sensations.
What is your body telling you right now?
You can ask your body,
Body is there anything else?
Is there anything else you want me to attune to?
Allow the language of sensation to speak to you.
And now gently bringing your focus back to those contact points.
To the place where your body ends and the surface below you begins.
Feeling the sense of grounding and gently coming back into the space that you are in.
Feeling the height of the room.
Gently peel open your eyelids and allow your gaze to be soft.
Drifting it off to one object in the room that your eyes are curious about.
Allow yourself to drink in all the colors,
The texture,
The support below you.
Allow yourself to gently orient back into this space,
Into the room and come back fully.
Beautiful.
Welcome back.
So the practices we did today were bilateral stimulation as well as orienting and grounding.
Feel free to integrate these into your daily life.
When you are arriving somewhere,
Orient yourself in the room.
When you feel anxious,
Ground yourself.
When you feel overwhelmed or even numb,
Whichever end of the spectrum,
Tune into your felt sense and what you notice in your body.
My name is Anais and I am a neuromindfulness coach.
Thank you so much for listening and tuning in and I hope to see you soon again.
Wishing you the most beautiful day.
