Somatic Tracking

Join Allison for a 5-minute Somatic Tracking Exercise. During this meditation, you will call upon a body sensation you feel and get curious, notice, and watch the sensation. Instead of coming from a place of fear when relating to your pain, view it from a lens of curiosity. Somatic Tracking was created by Alan Gordon to help people find a different way to relate to chronic pain.

Transcript

Welcome to Insight Timer.

My name is Alison and I'm a meditation teacher here on Insight Timer and I'm going to share with you today a five-minute somatic tracking exercise.

So somatic tracking was developed by Alan Gordon and you can read a lot more about it in his book that's called The Way Out and this is a way to help people find a different way to relate with different pain and body sensations.

Instead of coming from a place of fear we're coming from a place of curiosity.

I do this kind of exercise daily and it has really helped me so I wanted to share it with you.

So right now find yourself in a comfortable seated position.

You can also lie down,

Close your eyes,

Or just set the gaze downward or set your gaze at one point that's not moving with no intensity here.

Now we'll take three deep breaths to get rooted here.

So breathe in,

Breathe out,

And notice your body being supported by whatever is below you.

Breathe in,

Breathe out,

Notice the support,

And do that again.

Easy deep breath in and exhale.

Now we'll just do a quick scan of the body from the top of your head down to your toes and notice a place in the body where you might feel a bit of sensation.

So find a place of sensation and now we will explore that area.

So maybe it's your hip,

Your shoulder,

Your neck.

Breathe into this area and notice what is the quality of the sensation.

What does it feel like?

Is the sensation tight,

Burning,

Is it tingling,

Pulsing,

Or maybe just an ache?

Take a few minutes here just to check it out.

Not doing this with any kind of intensity,

Just with ease and curiosity.

And once you've identified this quality,

Let's explore it.

Is it widespread or localized?

You do not need to get rid of the sensation.

You're just exploring it from a place of lightness and curiosity.

Does the sensation intensify or does it subside?

Does it change in quality or does it move around?

Whatever it does,

It's okay.

Give it some air.

So take a deep breath into the sensation and breathe out.

Do that again.

Breathe in,

Breathe out.

Just like you're sending air and lightness into the sensation.

Do it again.

Breathe in and breathe out.

And whatever is happening to the sensation,

It's okay.

Just sit back and it's like you're watching the clouds in the sky.

It doesn't matter what the outcome is,

You're just watching it.

The important thing to know is that you are safe and you can feel these sensations.

Just explore the sensation in your body.

Let's take a deep breath in together and breathe out.

And you have completed your somatic tracking exercise for today.

And now just go through your day with a sense of ease and curiosity and have a wonderful day.

Reviews

Thank you for this lovely short mediation that is really helpful when uncomfortable sensations arise and I don’t have much time. Dialogue is also helpful for me to use away from your meditation. Very grateful to you 💚🙏🏽

This is exactly the kind of quick somatic tracking meditation I was looking for. I am sure I will come back to it again. Thank you 🙏🏼

Helpful thank you. Would recommend

Lovely. Thank you.

Thank you, this is a new experience of looking with curiosity at any discomfort.
I hope that it is helpful moving forward as I practice this new modality.
Many blessings 🙌
🙏🌟

Nice quick practice that still contains the important elements of somatic tracking. Thank you!