Hi my friends.
Arrange yourself in any comfortable seated position.
Once you learn these simple practices you can do them in any posture.
We are doing a short affective practice for letting go of tension and promoting a sense of calm to our body mind.
The outer ears give us direct access to the vagus nerve and have many acupressure points that when stimulated can positively affect other parts of our body.
Stimulating the vagus nerve through the ears can bring the nervous system from the stress response into rest and digest.
These are wonderful practices from Donna Eden and her work Eden Energy Medicine.
Close your eyes and take a deep breath.
Pause for a moment and ask yourself how am I doing?
Nice.
Now let's begin.
Open your eyes.
Take your hands.
Separate your index and middle fingers until they make a V or a peace sign.
Now take your index fingers and place them behind your ears with the middle and other fingers in front of the ear.
Relax and breathe here for a moment.
Inhaling through your nose and exhaling slowly through an open mouth.
Now begin to move your fingers upward and downward deeply along the front and back of your ears releasing tension.
Breathing and focusing on the exhale from your mouth.
The vagus nerve is called the wandering nerve because it's the longest nerve in the body and it travels from the base of the brain up into the ears and down into the lower intestines.
Now release your hands down to your lap.
Notice any changes.
Perhaps the jaw is more relaxed.
Now take your index fingers of both hands and bring them softly into the ear canal.
We want to be gentle here.
Move your fingers upwards then down now forward and back.
Do another round just like that.
You may notice sore spots.
That just means stuck energy that needs to open.
Good.
Now release your hands to your lap relaxing your shoulders.
Take a breath again focusing on that exhale.
Next we'll do a practice Donna Eden calls ear pulling.
Take both of your hands and grab your ear lobes tugging downwards.
Do this a few rounds and then begin to move upward along your outer ears tugging outward.
As you move to the top of the ear begin to massage along the inside of the ears as well.
Ear pulling is a great quick standalone practice if you notice tension building during your day.
Release your hands down to your heart circling the hands at the heart inviting opening.
Good.
Now rest your hands.
Cross your arms across your chest and tuck your hands into your armpits with the thumbs resting on the arm crease.
So arms crossed across the body fingers into the armpits thumbs on the arm crease.
This is what Donna Eden calls the heart hug.
Shift your attention inward and notice any changes in your body.
Notice if you feel calmer more relaxed.
Observing your body as you move through your day is the first step to helping your body release tension and move out of the stress response.
Then you can bring in a technique that works before the tension accelerates.
In closing I invite you to speak silently or out loud.
Speak peace over your body.
Speak peace over your mind.
Speak peace over your life.
May you live your life with ease my friends.
