We live in a chaotic world.
Unfortunately it's common not to feel safe,
And this feeling often gets locked into our nervous system,
Leading to a state of hyper-vigilance,
An anxiety disorder,
Or just not being able to relax.
Safety has many dimensions,
And we will explore those in future practices,
But for this one we are just going to get into a felt sense of safety.
This allows us to start to shift our experience,
And even if that shift is subtle,
It's still significant.
Knowing we have some control over our state is empowering,
And allows us to feel more and more okay with whatever we are experiencing.
Start with a few deep breaths.
Find a nice aligned posture.
The spine feels long.
There's a quality of alertness.
On the exhale,
Relax.
And this quality of ease.
Noticing if there's any tension you're holding onto that you can soften.
Keeping the breath full,
Deep into your belly,
But very gentle,
Not forcing it.
Stay with this deep,
Full,
Relaxed belly breath.
Notice the impact it's having,
Allowing it to calm you down.
Feeling yourself slowing down.
Now let's start by taking your safety temperature.
How safe do you feel right now?
You can use a scale from 1 to 10.
One being totally unsafe,
And fear,
And 10 being the most cozy and comfortable you've ever felt.
Just notice how do you know when you feel safe?
What does the feeling of safety or the sense of unsafety feel like in your body?
Are there areas that feel more safe?
People often feel more safe when they tune into the sensations in their hands or feet.
So you can explore tuning into your hands,
Feeling into the sensations there.
Now feeling into the feet,
Noticing the sensations in your feet.
Just noticing if you feel more safe when you rest your attention in these places.
Now just do a quick body scan and notice if there's any areas that feel particularly safe,
Safe to feel into,
Safe to rest your attention in.
Just being curious about the experience.
If you can find a felt sense of safety or not.
And now just tune into the center area of your body,
The chest or abdomen.
You can put your hands there to really tune into the feelings and the chest and abdomen area.
Notice when you put your hands on these parts of your body,
What happens?
Is there more of a sense of safety and comfort?
Is there still a feeling anywhere of activation,
A feeling of not feeling totally safe,
Not being able to totally relax?
Just tell your body that whatever it's experiencing right now is okay.
Everything that you're feeling in this moment is totally fine.
See if you can wholeheartedly accept your experience as it is right now without trying to change it.
Just notice if this acceptance changes your experience.
We're not trying to change our experience,
But we're just being curious if accepting our experience,
If validating it and welcoming it changes it.
We're going to explore if we can further amplify the sense of safety through a visualization.
Imagine yourself in the comfiest,
Coziest place you can imagine.
It can be a real place you like to go or have been in the past where you can imagine a place.
Whatever comes to your mind,
There are no rules,
Have fun with it,
Explore.
You can also have someone there with you if you think that will help.
Could be a close friend or anyone really.
It doesn't even have to be a real person.
It could be a superhero.
You can bring the whole Avengers crew.
Alternatively it could be a pet.
Whether alone or joined by a person or pet,
Create this space you can feel really comfortable in and really sink into it.
And just breathe here.
Gently into your belly,
Softening with each breath.
Breathe in and breathe out.
Wherever you're at right now,
It's all good.
Just keep softening.
And now letting go of this visualization and going back to the present moment,
Just noticing how you're feeling,
Noticing what sensations are present in your body.
If there's a felt sense of relaxed ease or maybe there's still some activation,
Whatever it is,
It's okay.
Just be curious,
How did this practice impact you?
Continuing to breathe slowly,
Gently,
And notice if as you open your eyes and come back to the room,
If there's a sort of re-armoring process.
Just knowing that it's okay,
It's okay if the re-armoring process happens,
If you can't carry this relaxed way of being into the rest of your life,
But knowing you can come back to this place and you can practice it.
That the more you practice coming back and feeling into the safety in the body,
Visualizing yourself safe,
The more you can cultivate this relaxed presence.
So anytime you recognize yourself being activated,
Feeling unsafe,
You can do this practice and start to shift your experience and being able to shift your experience,
Even if it's just to make you feel a little bit more safe,
It's going to feel very empowering and over time will allow you to feel more and more safe.
That's it for this session.
Thank you for your practice.
