Trauma is a state of dysregulation where we don't feel safe.
To inhabit our own body and experience chronic tension.
In this gentle somatic yoga class for emotional release,
For stored trauma and anxiety,
We're going to lie down and regulate along the path of the vagus nerve.
We're going to invite in some very soothing,
Gentle movements.
To begin,
Come to lie down.
You can have your calves on a chair.
Or you can put some pillows or yoga bolster under your knees.
Just make sure there's no strain in the low back.
Another option would be to take the feet as wide as the mat,
The knees into touch.
It's essential that you are comfortable here.
Allow your body to get heavy and melt down into the earth.
Moment to make any last-minute adjustments.
Moving the head and neck,
Lengthening the neck,
Or snuggling the shoulder blades underneath you so the heart lifts,
Making sure your sacrum,
Your low back,
Is nice and long.
Slow your breathing down.
Allow the eyes to get heavy in their sockets.
And as you deepen the breath,
Begin to rest your awareness behind your eyes.
In the center of your head.
Invite yourself to land and come into the body.
And drop your awareness back.
Behind the eyes,
To the center of the brain.
Just a little bit above and between the ears to the amygdala.
This is the part of your brain that's most closely associated with fear,
Emotions,
And motivation.
Imagine your amygdala opening up.
Like a clenched fist.
Inviting it to soften.
Unfurl.
Unclench.
Melt.
As you invite the brain to unravel.
Body to Mel.
Slowing down your breath.
If you choose to,
You can whisper to this part of the brain.
I am safe.
Where we are safe.
Allow yourself to feel supported by the floor.
The breath full in the body.
Invite your awareness to move down the spine from the brainstem.
So moving to the back of the brain.
Down the throat,
Relaxing the vocal cords.
And sense this weightiness move down the back of the neck.
And down behind the heart.
Holding your awareness behind the spine,
Behind the heart.
Invite your heart now to unfurl,
Unclench.
Let the heart completely soften.
Melting away any stress or tension.
Letting the body drop in and down.
Sense the musculature of the heart relaxing and as if the heart were a tightly closed flower or fist.
Invited to open.
Soften.
Unfurl.
Move your awareness down and inhabit now the space.
Behind your solar plexus,
Behind your navel.
Begin to melt your gut.
Sense the musculature of the belly relaxing.
And as if the belly were a clenched fist.
Invite it to unravel.
Unwind.
Soften.
Life has so much stimulation.
So just give the body a chance now to melt and unfurl.
If there is a spontaneous,
Deeper inhale.
Enjoy it.
Slow everything down.
Give your thoughts lots of space if the mind is talking to you.
Any sensations you feel in the body.
Give those sensations lots of space.
Just like you'd let your dog run in an open field.
And as you tune into any emotions,
You may be feeling give those emotions,
Lots of space,
Just let them be unwind unfurl.
Sensing a lot of space.
Between your emotions,
Your sensations,
And your thoughts.
As the back of the body is heavy.
And if you choose to,
Tell the body.
I am hell.
We are hell.
I am safe.
I survive.
Sense the musculature of your back melting away from your spinal column,
Moving down to the floor.
See if you can feel your whole central column now.
From the brainstem to the heart.
To the belly.
Relaxing the gut.
Send your breath down into the belly if you haven't already.
So the navel puffs up each time you breathe in.
And moves down back into your body each time you breathe out.
Let this feel good.
Option to invite in.
A little bit of movement now.
Maybe placing one hand on the belly,
Feeling the.
.
.
Belly rise as you inhale your low back also widens and presses into the floor.
Exhale,
The belly button moves towards your spine and see if the hips or pelvis want to rock or move slightly.
Allow yourself.
To be moved from a part of you that's deeper than thought and emotion and sensation.
Moving from a place of grounded,
Restful ease.
You could try circling the hips a little even though they're on the floor.
If you want to take the soles of the feet as wide as your mat,
One and then the other if they're not already.
With the knees into touch.
Maybe you want to rock the pelvis a little forward and back.
You can stroke the belly with one hand.
Maybe you want one hand on your heart.
Tapping into a wave-like movement,
Whatever that feels like to you.
Can be so small that someone watching would barely know you're moving.
And letting this evolve into a gentle twist.
So press the soles of the feet into the ground Lift your hips up,
Move your seat over to the left and let your knees fall to the right.
You can double wrap the legs or just let the knees drop.
Stay together to the side.
It doesn't matter if they end up splaying a little bit apart.
Adjust your shoulders so they're comfortable.
Maybe you want to reach that left arm to the upper left diagonal of the room.
Keep the right hand on the belly or stroking the heart,
Whatever feels soothing.
Keep this twist loose and easeful and our only focus here is I want you to feel your belly inflating up against your thigh as you breathe in.
So your navel rises to make contact with your thigh as you breathe in.
And exhale,
Descend away from the thigh.
With all your focus there.
Two more times.
Deflating the belly like a big beach ball.
And then taking this to the other side,
Pressing down into the feet.
Lifting the hips up,
Maybe you want to swivel the hips left to right,
Up and down.
In a little bridge and then taking the hips all the way to the right side of your mat,
Setting them down,
Letting the knees fall left.
Maybe the right arm explores reaching up.
To the upper right diagonal of the room,
Adjusting the shoulders so everything feels easeful and good.
And then all your awareness.
Into the belly.
Inflating the front,
Sides,
Back.
Of the lower torso,
Feel your belly button push up against your thigh.
And descend.
Inhale,
Belly and thigh make contact.
Exhale,
Belly descends.
And from here,
Just let yourself roll over so you're lying now on your belly.
However feels good.
Could place your forehead on your palms.
And lift your right knee up towards your armpit with your left leg long.
It doesn't matter how high the right knee is.
Can be very,
Very,
Very close.
To the bottom of your mat.
Again,
Our focus here is the navel and the belly.
Inhale,
I want you to press the belly into your mat or into your floor as you breathe in.
And exhale,
Let it go.
Belly makes contact with the mat each time you inhale.
With your leg and this half frog.
Very gently opening the hips,
Stimulating digestion.
You And when you're ready,
Switching legs,
Letting the right leg come down.
Left knee bends only as much as is comfortable for you.
Deeper is not better.
We want to stay feeling safe.
You can turn your head to the other side.
Pressing your belly into the earth as you breathe in.
With chronic.
Anxiety or trauma or digestion is one of the first things to flare,
To signal that we are unwell,
To clench and clamp down.
So really invite the belly to open now towards the floor.
With each knee up,
We're stimulating different points in the intestinal tract.
Improving digestion.
Try on telling yourself again here only if you choose to.
I am safe.
You are safe in this moment.
You are held by the floor.
And shifting now into a new texture,
Pressing yourself gently up.
You can kind of use that left knee to come up to all fours.
Asking yourself,
What do you need?
To begin to gently move.
Whatever wants to release and alchemize in your body right now to facilitate your healing.
What does that look like?
Does it look like stillness in a child's pose?
If you're not sure.
Maybe coming in to some cat cow.
Maybe you want to circle the hips or circle the torso or take your weight over your wrists and then back into a child's pose Let the theme of whatever movement you're doing be some kind of gentle rocking.
Maybe you're rocking forward and back.
Child's pose.
To a cow pose,
Opening the chest.
Maybe you're rocking just forward and back on all fours.
We're rocking the body in circles,
Side to side.
If you've been playing in Cat-Cow,
I invite you to take one hand and the opposite knee forward.
And allow yourself to rock and explore there,
Maybe opening up.
Some new areas of the body.
Let the shoulders dip down,
Open side ribs.
Inviting in some non-habitual,
Non-linear movement into these rocks.
Taking the opposite hand and the opposite knee forward now.
Let the head and neck go.
And invite a very deep part of yourself that wants to heal,
That wants to move energy.
To emote or make a sound.
Be a ahhh or a mmmm.
You can push back to childhood.
Do any of the movements we've been exploring.
Just invite in the amplifying,
Healing quality of sound.
Huh.
.
.
Hmm.
Joining me to sit on your heels only if you choose.
Stay with yourself and what feels right.
Stroking the thighs now and bringing in the element of touch.
Exhale as you rock back,
You can stroke from your knee to your hip.
And as you inhale and rock forward,
You can stroke from your hip to your knee.
Let the head and neck go.
Allow the head and neck to move.
If you prefer to stay on all fours,
If you prefer to take some spiral movements and like a Sufi grind,
If you're familiar with that,
Maybe you want to circle the ribcage a little bit.
Stay with your own experience.
What feels nourishing to you?
With trauma we disassociate from our body.
Everything we're exploring here.
Sound.
Touch.
Nervous system regulation,
All of this is inviting you back into your body.
So it feels safe to be fully here.
Come into a cross-legged position only if it feels comfortable for you.
Coming into a butterfly hug,
Holding opposite shoulders.
Forearms cross.
Can circle the torso here or if you liked having that touch that comforting,
Soothing touch of your own hand on your torso or your thigh.
Allow yourself to make some spiral movements here,
Some rocking here.
Layering in your sound.
Mmmmm.
Then coming into what feels good.
Nourishing for you to close.
That's sitting here in a butterfly hug.
Or a child's pose or coming back to lie down.
What feels safe in this body,
In this moment?
Staying with the relaxation of the muscles.
Dripping off your bones,
The deep fullness of the breath and the belly.
Choosing to work with those same phrases only if you choose i am safe I am hell.
I survive.
Come back to this soothing nervous system regulation and somatic movement routine as much as you can.
And I'll see you on the mat soon.
Namaste.
