Welcome to this somatic practice called Back Body Awareness.
This is a practice best done in a seated position.
So find your comfortable seat and let's begin by waking up the body with some gentle movement.
So follow your intuition in the way you want to move right now.
So you can roll the shoulders,
Roll the head,
Reaching the arms up,
Even shaking and bouncing a little bit on your seat,
Allowing the arms to dangle.
Let the movement be intuitive and natural.
Letting go of any effort,
Just make it feel good.
You can also flutter your lips,
Sigh out through your mouth.
Let go of anything that allows you to wake up from the inside.
Now begin to settle,
Let the shaking and swaying and stretching come to stillness.
And notice what changed already,
Feel the buzz,
The warmth,
The aliveness.
Let your breath flow naturally in and out through the nose.
Take a moment to arrive in stillness.
Allow your spine to be upright and at the same time relaxed.
Hands resting on your laps and gently close the eyes or keep a soft gaze in front of you.
And turn your awareness inward.
Feel the natural rhythm of your breath.
And ask yourself,
How do I feel right now?
What are the sensations in your body?
Is there ease or tension?
What emotions,
If any,
Are present?
There is no need to change anything.
Get curious and let this be your starting point,
Your baseline.
Take a few small breaths.
Slow breaths here.
Now bring your attention to the front of your body,
Starting from the forehead.
The eyes and the eyeballs resting into the eye sockets.
The eyes,
The eyebrows and the space between the eyebrows.
Let the inner corners of your eyes relax a little bit more.
And then expand your awareness to the ears.
The jaws.
The whole face.
Down the throat.
Your chest.
Ribs.
Belly.
And then from shoulders and hips,
Your awareness travels down the arms and the legs at the same time.
Down to the fingers and the toes.
Let the front body soften.
Let it be open,
Receptive and sensing.
There is no need to do anything.
Just receive sensation.
And let the front body rest in openness.
Now shift your focus to the central channel.
This is the space in front of your spine and behind your internal organs.
It runs from the base of your pelvis to the crown of your head.
Begin to imagine the breath moving along this channel.
As you inhale,
The breath travels up the central channel to the crown of the head.
And as you exhale,
The breath flows gently downward.
The breath is fluid and continuous,
Moving up and down the central channel.
And you're free also to imagine a golden thread or a stream of light rising and falling with the breath.
Let this visual support your presence.
Stable yet flowing.
Now bring your awareness to the back body.
Feel the back of your head.
Your neck.
Your shoulder blades.
Spine.
Lower back.
Sitting bones.
The back of your arms.
And the back of your legs.
Sense the muscles alongside the spine.
Strong and supportive,
But not tense.
Feel the quiet,
Steady presence of your back.
Let your whole back body hold you.
Stable and grounded.
Breathe into that support.
Now invite all three layers into your awareness.
The soft,
Open front body.
The fluid,
Central channel.
And the strong and stable back body.
Let them blend together.
Three dimensions of presence.
Allow your entire body to breathe,
Listen,
And be.
Rest in this spacious,
Layered awareness.
Begin to gently return to the room.
Around you.
Notice any sounds in the space.
Close and far.
Let your ears receive sound without needing to name or judge.
Feel the air on your skin.
And the surface beneath your body.
The quality of light through closed eyelids.
And then ask yourself,
What has shifted?
What do you feel now that you didn't notice before?
Has anything clarified or deepened?
Let yourself witness the change without needing to explain it.
And when you're ready,
Gently begin to open the eyes.
Let yourself look around the room,
Slowly.
Receiving the shapes,
Colors,
Textures,
And shadows.
Like your eyes are listening.
Curious,
Open,
Without judgment.
Simply see what is.
Let yourself land softly in this moment.
Take one final full breath in.
And a long breath out.
And carry this embodied awareness with you into the rest of your day.
The practice is now complete.
