Hello and welcome to your Befriending the Body audio practice.
You can use this practice any time to deepen your body awareness and to come more fully into the wholeness and fullness of you.
So find a comfortable place to sit,
Something that allows your body to relax but to also feel awake and alive.
And begin by finding your breath,
So allowing the body to breathe however it wants to.
It might feel good to take a deep breath in through the nose and sigh it out the mouth,
Or it might be nice to allow a little movement in the face,
Just allowing the energy to soften there.
If you feel your mind is really busy,
You might rest an open palm on the top of your head,
Just to feel that containment of your skull as you take in a few more generous breaths,
Allowing the body to move or adjust however it wants,
Just beginning to settle in right here,
Right now.
Take one last full deep inhale and sigh it out the mouth,
Relaxing the arms,
The hands,
The chest,
The belly down into the earth.
Letting the breath find an easy natural rhythm as you begin to tune into the support underneath you.
So feeling where you meet that support,
Noticing how the earth is holding you,
Inviting the body to perhaps soften and relax down into that support a little more.
Imagine the sand beginning to settle down and in as you feel that support,
Feel yourself being held and gently starting to tune into physical sensations in the body.
So you might notice temperature,
Or perhaps you can sense movement of energy,
Bubbles,
Tingles,
Ripples.
And maybe you can sense pressure,
Places that are tight,
Places that are heavy,
Soft,
Open.
Without fixing or changing,
Just notice what's here at the level of physical sensations.
Really meeting whatever is alive in your body with kindness,
With curiosity,
And with the miracle of your awareness.
If it's hard to sense sensations to feel them,
You might try to move to a certain area of your body where you do notice something.
Maybe your hands,
Maybe you can feel tingles or temperature in your hands,
Or maybe your chest or your feet.
Just notice what you can notice.
Learning the body's language takes time.
As you continue to notice what's alive in your body at the level of physical sensations,
You're going to start to let the body lead,
To just pull you from place to place,
From sensation to sensation,
Staying in each area for as long as your body wants to.
And as you do this,
You're really going to meet each sensation,
Each place as a dear friend,
With warmth,
With compassion,
With curiosity,
With kindness.
Maybe if a particular place really feels strong,
You might bring a hand there.
You might even say,
I'm here,
I'm listening,
It's okay,
I love you.
Continuing to follow the body,
Letting yourself get to know what's here inside of you right now at the level of sensations.
Sensations might arise,
Images,
Let them,
Let them all be here and continue to orient to what does this feel like in my body?
What are the sensations?
You might even get curious about if this sensation has a shape or a texture or a quality or a color.
Investigating somatically inside the body,
Really getting curious.
Taking a few generous breaths,
Feeling how the breath moves in the body and then if it feels good,
Maybe placing hands on your body.
Maybe whispering or saying the words,
Thank you,
Thank you.
Or I'm listening,
I'm really listening.
Take a few moments here in this intimate communion to listen for any wisdom or messages that the body wants to tell you.
Really trusting what arises,
It can come as sensations,
Images,
Emotions,
Words.
Just hold the space to listen for a few breaths.
And then when you're ready,
You can very slowly start to come back,
Opening your eyes if they were closed,
Letting your body maybe move or make sound for a few breaths,
Giving full permission to the body for how it might want to move,
Sound,
Breathe,
Come back.
Giving yourself time to orient the space around you,
To let your neck follow your eyes,
To really begin to come back to your space to right here,
Right now.
And you might want to rest or do some more movement or go out into nature or do some writing.
So really give yourself time to digest this practice and remember this is an art form.
It takes time.
So if it felt hard or far away,
It's okay.
Remember you can always come back again and again and increase your capacity to meet what is here,
To deepen your body awareness.
