Crafting Energetic Boundaries

This guided practice is an excerpt from the Compassion Conversations live session on Insight Timer.

Energetic boundaries help us define where we begin and end in relation to others and help us recognize when and how we are being depleted. Setting boundaries is an act of kindness and love
In this practice, you will work with a visualization of your boundaries and set compassion and clear intention to hold these with love.

Transcript

So to begin,

Go ahead and get comfortable.

Go ahead and find as comfortable of a position as you can.

You can do this either seated or lying down.

Either is fine.

Listen to your body and see what it needs to feel most supported today as we go through this practice.

We'll be in this position for about 20 minutes or so.

So make sure that it's a position that you feel like you can hold for a while.

Relatively undisturbed.

And so if you're choosing to lie down,

I invite you to put something beneath the knees,

A rolled blanket,

Or a bolster,

Or even a pillow.

And something folded gently behind the head,

Like a folded blanket or a thin pillow,

Just to take pressure off the neck and the low back.

We want the body to feel supported.

If you're seated,

A straight back chair or even sitting against a wall can be really helpful.

When you're sitting,

If you're going to sit for a long time,

It can be helpful to have something elevated beneath the bum just a little bit.

Something that lets the hips sit a little higher than the knees.

That also takes pressure off the back and the hips so that it helps your spine find a nice straight alignment.

So you want to be comfortable.

And so that your body can communicate with you easily and so that your breath can flow effortlessly through the body.

And once you've found a settled posture,

I invite you to either wrap a shawl around you or cover yourself with a blanket,

Just to help protect your and regulate your body temperature and also to invite the nervous system to help you to feel comfortable.

And also to invite the nervous system to feel protected,

To feel safe.

And making any final adjustments to your posture,

Your props,

Your blanket.

When you're all settled in,

Going ahead and closing your eyes as an invitation to go inward.

And taking a nice full breath in through the nose,

Pause at the top of that inhale.

And then open the mouth,

Releasing the jaw and thigh.

As you exhale,

Soften through the forehead,

The temples.

The jaw and the tongue,

Letting the body fully empty of breath and then drawing in another rich breath in through the nose,

Feeling the chest and heart expand.

Pause at the top of that inhale,

Receiving the gift of fullness and breath.

Open the mouth,

Sigh,

Gently letting go,

Softening through the neck and the shoulders,

The whole upper body.

One last breath in this way,

Full breath in through the nose,

Pause.

Open the mouth,

Gently exhale,

Sighing it out,

Allowing the body to sink into the support beneath you,

Feeling the hips becoming heavy,

Grounding into the support beneath the body.

Feeling fully supported as you allow the breath to find a natural rhythm.

Each breath flowing fluidly one after the other.

As you gently begin to tune to the sounds that are around you.

And then make them aware of the sounds that are in the environment around you without necessarily attaching to them,

Just noticing sound,

Sound,

Moving awareness from one sound to the other.

And then gently drawing your awareness into the sounds that are a little bit closer into the body.

Perhaps noticing the sound and rhythm of the flow of your breath.

Each inhale and exhale,

Flowing fluidly.

As you exhale,

You notice the waves of the ocean.

As your mind jumps and offers narrative,

No worries,

Noticing this is the natural activity of the mind,

And gently returning your awareness to the steady stream of sound.

And then bringing awareness gently to the top of the head and softening,

Feeling the forehead soften,

Becoming aware of the point between the eyebrows,

Both eyebrows,

Both eyes.

Both ears,

Both cheeks,

Softening.

Both nostrils,

Both lips.

And then the teeth separating slightly as the jaw softens.

Becoming aware of the neck and throat,

Both shoulders,

Shoulder blades,

Upper back,

Mid back,

Low back.

The whole back of the body softening and sinking into the support beneath and behind you.

As you become aware of both arms softening.

Both hands.

All 10 fingers.

Becoming aware of the front of the chest,

Upper abdomen,

Lower abdomen.

The whole front of the body softening.

Becoming aware of both hips,

Buttocks,

Upper leg,

Knees,

Lower leg.

Both legs softening and sinking into the support beneath you,

Releasing.

Becoming aware of both heels,

Both feet,

And all the toes.

Just softening.

Then becoming aware of the whole body,

The whole body together.

Just welcoming the body exactly as it is with all sensations,

All emotions,

All thoughts.

All is welcome,

All is okay.

Gently returning your awareness to the flow of the breath.

And you might imagine that the next inhale is drawing in through the crown of the head.

Coming into the heart center and then as you exhale most from the heart center out through the base of the spine.

Next inhale draws in from the base of the spine into the heart center.

Exhale,

The breath moves from the heart center out through the crown of the head.

Inhale,

Crown of head to heart center.

Exhale,

Heart center to base of spine.

Inhale,

Base of spine to heart center.

Exhale,

Heart center to crown of head.

Inhale,

Crown of head to heart center.

Continuing to breathe in this way.

Resting the transitions in the center of the heart.

And beginning to visualize here,

Coming out from this heart and extending out in front of you a space that moves two to three feet in all directions forming somewhat of an egg shape around the body,

The heart as its center.

And then coming into this egg shaped container that's around you.

And that with each inhale,

You find yourself at your heart and with each exhale,

The breath expands outward to the edges of this egg like container.

Calling your name to yourself three times now.

Just sensing that center of you in the heart,

Physical body,

Your breath,

Your heart,

And the space around you.

And then you might draw into your awareness now a sense of a color that feels like clarity and protection.

And with each breath in,

You breathe in this color and with each exhale,

This color radiates out to the edge of this protective egg,

Gentle boundary.

And notice that as you inhale,

You can draw the edges of your egg closer to you and as you exhale,

You can extend them out as far as you would like.

Breathing in,

Drawing the edges of your egg closer to the heart center.

Exhale,

Feeling that color of light radiating out to the edge of your egg,

Your egg of light.

And you might begin to notice now that you can send out whatever you wish through this field.

This edge of the egg is permeable,

But you can release love,

Compassion,

Kindness,

Anything at all that you want to give can be released through the field,

Through the edge of this egg.

And then you might notice a soft light radiating out as far as you would like.

As you inhale,

You can draw the egg in closer,

Feeling safe,

Secure,

Welcomed here.

And you might also notice that from within the center of your heart,

With each exhale,

You can release the things that don't belong to you,

Things that have been projected onto you,

Judgments,

Beliefs,

Ideas,

Emotion.

As you inhale,

You can receive what you wish to draw in.

And as you exhale,

You can release all that is not yours,

Releasing it outside the perimeter of your boundary of light.

Continue to breathe in this way,

Drawing in what you would desire,

Releasing what's not yours.

Now reaffirming that you can control what comes in to your egg of light.

Only that which you allow can enter.

Only that which you allow can enter into your egg of light.

You can affirm this with the following intention,

Just repeating silently in your mind,

Feeling these words move through your heart on the waves of your breath.

What's yours is yours.

What's mine is mine.

And when I receive only that which is for my highest good,

I release the rest with love.

May my heart be peaceful.

May my mind be clear.

What is yours?

What's mine is mine.

I receive only that which is for my highest good.

I release the rest with love.

May my heart be peaceful.

May my mind be clear.

You might find the color of the egg becoming brighter,

Clearer as you repeat these words.

What's yours is yours.

What's mine is mine.

I receive only that which is in service to the highest good.

And I release the rest with love.

I release the rest with love.

May my heart be peaceful.

May my mind be clear.

What's yours is yours.

What's mine is mine.

I receive only that which is in service to my highest good.

And I release the rest with love.

I release the rest with love.

May my heart be peaceful.

May my mind be clear.

I'm continuing to breathe here in this space,

This heart space,

Protected within the light of your energy and your boundary.

Let's say,

Welcome,

Clear.

Sensing and seeing,

Feeling into the edges of your protective egg,

Above you,

Behind you,

Beneath you,

In front of you and all around you.

And that this is your space,

That you can control how far out or how close to you this needs to be.

That all is okay.

And that this carries with you,

That you can tune into this at any time sensing where this is.

You can breathe into it and reaffirm and reconnect to those edges that they're always available to you and for you.

Taking another deep breath into the heart.

Exhaling from the heart with a nice open mouth sigh.

Releasing all that needs to be released with love.

And gently deepening the breath.

As you begin to become aware again of the physical body in this space,

Just noticing points of contact between the body and the support beneath you,

Shoulders,

Hips,

Feet,

And hands.

As you begin to gently move the fingers and the toes,

Just inviting subtle movement as you begin to draw your awareness slightly outward to the sounds that are around you.

Moving from oceanic sound of your breath to the sounds in the environment that are around you,

Sensing yourself in space.

The next inhale feels inviting into the body,

Reaching the arms up into a nice big overhead stretch on the exhale releasing.

If you're lying down,

Now is a wonderful time to perhaps draw the knees into the chest and roll side to side massaging the low back.

If you're seated,

You might simply roll the shoulders or finding and enjoying stillness.

If you're lying down,

You can roll over to one side or the other.

And then gently taking the hand closest to the ceiling and placing it on the floor in front of the heart.

And using that to help support you as you return to a seated position where we can all meet seated with our eyes still closed.

And here taking a nice big breath and bringing the hands together in front of the heart and rubbing them together generating a little bit of heat.

Once they're nice and warm,

Placing one hand over the heart and the other on top of that,

Feeling the warmth of your hands on the heart and feeling that protection,

That boundary.

Next inhale,

Opening the arms very slowly,

Then exhale,

Opening the arms farther out to the sides,

Far out as feels comfortable in your body.

Noticing that this is your space.

This is your energy field.

And as you draw your hands in,

You can feel that closing in,

You can open the arms farther out and extend it out and just sensing into your ability to move the edge of that physically here.

And then gently drawing the hands back together resting one on top of the other on top of the heart and taking a full breath in.

Open the mouth,

Exhale here.

Feeling the effects of that subtle movement.

Next exhale gently tucking the chin to chest,

Ever so slightly,

And inviting a soft grin to form on the lips,

Drawing the corners of the mouth back to the ears into a soft grin that welcomes you home into this physical space.

Gently open your eyes,

Taking in the sight of you here in space.

Returning your gaze to center.

You might feel sorry to gently offer acknowledgement of gratitude to yourself for taking the time to connect with your heart and your energetic space in this very intentional way,

Knowing that you can carry this with you and access this at any time.

This is always available to you.

Welcome back.

Reviews

Thank you. I really needed this practice this morning 🙏💖🙏💖

Really lovely. So helpful at a time when the needs of a loved one were somewhat overwhelming me. Thank you, Patty!💕

Comprehensive, kind and loving. Thanks.

Wonderful! The breathing was an incredible tool to center me. Loved this. Thank you🙏🏼