Daily Check-In With The Body

It’s easy to lose connection with the body and become overwhelmed by our emotions. This practice begins with a short introduction before guiding you through the process of checking in with the body to help strengthen your awareness of how you are feeling. This awareness helps you tune into the body and choose your self-care to help restore balance in body and mind.

Transcript

Welcome to this daily check-in with yourself. When we experience too much of any one kind of input, We experience it in our emotions and in turn in our body. Too much intensity can show up as fear, Anger, Overwhelm, Depression, Or even disgust and shame. We can only know which emotions are really coming in by paying attention to our body and recognizing the signs, The way that our body communicates with us. When we can break down the greater emotion into its smaller components of experiences, We're suddenly really well armed with the wealth of resources to master our emotions with small and manageable steps that are easy to apply in the moment and help us restore balance before the emotions get too overwhelming. This is the practice of effective self-care. Not the self-care that tells us to check out, Numb ourselves, Or run away, But rather the care that is directly aligned with conscious action to restore balance to our inner world. What this looks like in practice begins with a simple check-in, A very intentional pause in our day to tune into the body and the messages that it offers us. Doing this practice even one time each day can offer immense benefit. So as you practice this more and more, You'll find that you can do this very quickly at any point throughout the day, Helping to restore balance as it's needed. So let's begin. Wherever you are, Close your eyes if that feels comfortable for you, And if not, Finding a simple object where you can hold your gaze for a few moments, And then gently exhale. Settle into your seat and allow your body to soften. Taking one full breath through the nose, And then as slowly as you can, Sigh out through the mouth. Do that one more time, Taking a full breath in through the nose, And again as slowly as possible, Sighing out loud through the mouth. Now gently scanning the body and inviting the question, How am I feeling right now? Begin by bringing attention to the sensation of temperature. Are you feeling warm? Cold? Asking, Is my breath shallow? Is it deep? Is it rapid? Slow? Becoming curious. What is happening in the muscles of my face? Exploring your forehead, The muscles of the eyes, And the cheeks with your attention. Becoming curious. Is my jaw clenched? Is my tongue pressed in the roof of the mouth? Or is it easefully resting? What are my shoulders doing? Are they slumped forward? Are they tight? How close to my ears are my shoulders? Becoming curious. How does my heart feel? How does my heart feel? Does my heart feel heavy? Light? Open? Closed? How is it beating? Fast? Slow? Quietly? Becoming curious. Is my stomach empty? Is it full? Satisfied? How are my muscles feeling? Are they tight? Easeful? Where am I holding tension? Are my eyes heavy? What is the quality of my energy right now? Continue to scan your body and simply notice any sensations or experiences that arise and make note of them. Keep your language simple. One or two word descriptions without a narrative or story. Simply an observation and description. Simply noticing sensations and experiences throughout the body and observing them and describing them with one or two word descriptions. And when you feel that your self-check-in is complete, Simply pause and exhale and notice which sensations are the strongest. What sensation held your attention or kept calling it back? And then consider what simple action or what opposite experience you can invite in right at this moment to help restore balance. For example, If your muscles feel tight, You might invite a moment of stretching or standing. Simple movements to release that contraction. If your jaw is clenched, You can open the mouth and stretch out the jaw, Even sticking out the tongue. If you feel heaviness or foggy, You might invite 30 seconds of simply shaking the body or jumping jacks to loosen the muscles, Open the joints, And awaken your circulation. You might recognize a need for deep rest and invite a practice of yoga nidra or turn off all the electronics and go to sleep. As you go through your list, You'll see that each sensation in the body is an invitation for an opposite action, A purposeful action that guides you toward balance and empowering you to choose actions that support how you want to feel at any given time. You're invited to play with this practice, Checking in with the body daily, And notice how your relationship with the body and how it feels evolves.

Reviews

Such a useful practice, thank you! I see myself returning to this daily 💕