Okay,
So for this practice,
This is all about using our minds and bodies to create a greater sense of internal safety,
A greater sense of feeling grounded and present,
And a sense of perceived control.
So get in a comfortable position and do this seated.
And as you sit,
I would just say have a straight spine that creates an ease of breathing.
And put your feet on the floor,
Feel the connection of your feet grounded to the floor to begin with.
And as you're doing that,
Check in with your body.
Noticing your body and being aware if there's any tension or holding anywhere.
I mean,
Get specific.
You can look in your toes,
You can look in your feet and your ankles and your legs and your hips,
And your back or your whole torso and your shoulders,
Often a place we hold a lot of tension.
Your arms and hands and even your face,
Your head.
And see if there's any place that you can,
If you notice tension,
That you can just allow that to soften.
Or maybe if it's not softening,
Then maybe do a gentle stretch to open up that area.
Or you can even try and soften around that area if it's an area that has just more chronic tension.
And now noticing your body breathing,
Just breathing naturally.
As you breathe in,
Breathing in a sense of ease and calm.
Noticing the nourishment of the breath.
The breath is literally bringing oxygen into your body,
Which allows for our body to be alive,
Allow for our muscles to work.
So it's literally bringing nourishment into our body.
So breathing in a sense of ease and calm,
Nourishment.
Breathing out,
Releasing any tension,
Any holding that's there in your body.
Okay,
Now we're going to use our minds to further foster this sense of internal safety.
I'm going to give you a couple options here.
The first one is to think of a memory right now,
Where it was a time in your life where you were feeling those qualities,
That sense of feeling generally at ease and calm and grounded and also safe.
And this could have been a place where you're inside or outside,
Could have been a time in your life where you're surrounded by people you love or engaged with people you love.
It could have been a time at home or a time at work.
Think of a memory,
It could have been a time from childhood or it could have been a time further on.
A time where you felt generally at ease,
Calm and safe.
And if that's challenging for you to think of that as a memory,
Then you can also create this in your imagination.
A place where you have everything you need to feel comfortable.
And reflect on either a memory or a place that you're imagining that has everything around you you need to feel safe and comfortable.
And now gently closing your eyes if that feels okay to you,
Otherwise you can keep kind of a gaze towards whatever is in front of you.
I want you to take a moment to really imagine the space in your mind.
Like it's a movie in your mind in as crystal clear detail as possible.
Imagining it for a moment.
You're there.
Who is there?
What is happening?
Really what's around you?
Taking a moment to engage your faculty of sight and really look around.
Look at the colors.
Look at the images.
If there's people or animals there,
See if you can pay attention to that.
If there's nature there,
Attending to that.
The sky or the clouds.
Whatever it might be there.
Just taking a moment to just look around.
And also listening.
What are the sounds that are there in the space?
The sounds pleasant or are they unpleasant?
Are they neutral?
If there's something pleasant there,
Allow yourself to be aware of it.
And also taking a moment to explore.
Go ahead and walk around a bit and feel things,
Touch things.
Use your senses within this experience and just really seeing what you notice.
Taking it all in.
What does it feel like to be in this comfortable safe space?
Making a conscious decision to take in everything that brings in a sense of comfort or safety.
Now knowing that you can come back to this experience anytime you want.
To bring in a sense of comfort and safety.
To allow your nervous system.
Take in the energy of feeling more at ease.
Remembering wherever our focus goes we invite an energy to flow.
And when we practice this regularly and repeat it,
Our brain begins to memorize the procedure of it.
And actually that memory,
That experience is really accessible and is more likely to be accessible in the difficult moments that are inevitable in our lives.
So go ahead and come back and revisit this over and over again.
Practice and repeat it.
And allow this to be something that begins to live in you and can begin to merge with your nervous system.
.
