Welcome to this meditation practice.
I'm Caroline and together we'll explore a somatic meditation,
Also known as a body-based practice.
And in this practice we explore our edges,
Perhaps the more stickier,
At times tender parts of our humanness,
But we do so all while staying resourced,
Staying with ourselves.
Somatic work is the art of staying close enough to feel,
But far enough to remain resourced.
And so let's begin.
Finding a comfortable seat,
Upright,
Tall through the spine.
You're more than welcome to have a back support,
But neck and head remains free,
Stacked above the spine.
And hands can just rest wherever they land.
Before closing down our eyes,
We begin to look around our space,
Mainly moving from the eyes,
Allowing yourself to leisurely,
Slowly and gently take in the environment that you are within.
Just very subtle,
Slight movements of the neck,
Perhaps noticing what you're naturally drawn to,
Perhaps even noticing different colors and textures.
And as you leisurely take in your space,
You may even notice noises at the same time,
All a reminder to our bodies that we are here in this space.
And then in your own timing,
Allowing your gaze to travel back through center,
And either closing down the eyes or just finding a gentle downwards gaze out in front.
Whatever feels best for you.
And here we take a moment to notice our feet,
Where the feet are in firm contact with the ground,
Maybe propped up on your seat.
And just noticing what texture and material your feet are in contact with.
And we trace up all the way to the knees.
We notice our thighs,
Allowing them to be passive.
And then contacting our glutes,
Beginning to notice where your glutes are in contact with your seat,
Maybe the earth.
And then feeling your whole entire lower half in contact with your seat,
With the earth,
As if you are creating this strong foundation,
Roots down into the earth,
Connected,
Supported,
Held.
And then all at the same time,
Making contact with the upper half of your body.
Feeling into the natural curvature of your spine,
How vertebrae naturally stack on top of each other.
Neck above spine,
Head above neck,
Belly soft and open,
Shoulders melting down towards the earth.
And as we offer an ever so open,
Subtle lift of our heart towards the sky,
And finding a sense of ease through the throat,
A lightness through the jaw,
Tongue,
Cheeks,
And even allowing your eyeballs to rest back into the eye sockets.
And here we are,
In this physical,
Tangible body,
In this very moment here and now.
And here within a little more spaciousness,
A little more quietude,
We begin to greet ourselves.
We practice listening and observing,
As if getting to know ourselves for the very first time.
How would you listen?
How would you curiously inquire?
And as we do so,
Imagine you're bathing yourself in compassionate presence.
Letting yourself know,
I'm here,
And I'm listening.
And as we remain here with ourselves,
We just allow whatever is here for us to arise.
As we begin to notice,
Perhaps different sensations,
Different currents,
Pulses,
Textures,
And tones,
All present and alive within us.
And we may even notice the energetic impulses of the thoughts within the mind.
And the thoughts are very much part of the process too,
Allowing them to naturally come and go,
As we practice again and again.
Coming back to more of the shoulders down approach,
As we really practice contacting the body,
And how it speaks to us via the language of sensation.
And any area that is speaking to you,
Perhaps it feels a little louder,
Dense,
Sticky,
Tight,
Coiled up,
Allowing your awareness to move towards this area.
But trusting you don't have to meet its core right now.
Are you able to meet the periphery?
Perhaps it's furry or tight edges.
The place where tension meets space.
And as we remain here,
We don't rush towards any sense of resolution.
We don't rush the body towards truth.
All we do is we sit at the edge,
Listening.
Only then,
Until the edge softens and invites us closer.
And here we're just exploring edges.
Meeting your edge,
But not passing it.
Is the breath still flowing?
Are you able to remain with presence and sight?
Often it requires moving slower than we think.
And even allowing your awareness to gently pendulate.
Moving from an area of how denseness and tightness.
To perhaps somewhere that feels a little more open.
A space of ease.
Perhaps noticing your feet in contact with the earth.
Perhaps the openness,
Aliveness through the palms.
Or perhaps even tuning back to the sounds of the room.
And just pendulating back and forth when needed.
Meeting your edge,
An area that simply requires your attention.
An area of holding which is very human.
And then pendulating to a place of more openness,
Ease.
And we'll just remain here for a few moments.
Pendulating between.
Reminding our system that it's safe to tip our toes.
Meet our edges.
And then return back to a sense of resourcing,
Safety.
Ever so gently.
Wherever you are.
Just allowing my voice to wash back over.
And trusting in our very unique process of this practice.
And anything that still remains,
Still calling out for your attention.
Letting this part know that it's more than welcome to stay with you.
That you'll be back.
Because it's a practice after all.
We practice coming back to ourselves over and over again.
With no expectation to fix or resolve.
But again,
As if we were getting to know ourselves for the very first time again.
Curiously,
Openly,
Compassionately.
And allowing the breath to come back into your awareness.
And as you inhale,
You may even like to sit a little taller.
Feeling that length through your spine.
And then as you exhale,
Through the nose,
Allowing the breath to trace all the way down to the bottom.
Meeting your breath in and out through the nose.
And in a few rounds time,
We'll meet a vibration,
A sound,
A hum.
And the invitation is to really feel it alive,
Vibrating through your system.
We'll meet with an exhale.
And then we'll inhale for hum.
And allowing the breath to naturally come and go.
A moment to soak in the vibrations.
Bringing your palms together,
Rubbing them,
Creating some warmth.
Before placing your hands over your eyes.
And then finding a gentle patting of your face.
Hands down across your neck.
And then landing both hands to your heart space.
And feeling the sense of touch.
Holding warmth.
And even just letting yourself know,
I'll be back.
I've got you.
And then your very own timing.
Lowering your hands towards your lap.
Chin towards your chest.
And gently allowing eyelids to flutter open.
Keeping your gaze point down and just taking in the light.
And slowly,
Leisurely,
Allowing your gaze to lift.
Taking in the space that you are within.
Thank you for practicing with me.
It's always an absolute pleasure.
I hope to practice with you soon.
Going gently,
Kindly,
And freely.
