This living inquiry works directly with the energy in our body and specifically in our stomach or our gut.
It can be triggering to have this direct of a look at something.
If you're feeling overwhelmed or if it's getting too intense,
Please remember you can open your eyes,
You can get up and move around,
You can stop,
You don't get a gold medal for pushing through something.
It's just whatever works for you is absolutely fine.
It's always helpful to open your eyes if some image is starting to look like it's too intense because then that helps us to remember that it's an image that we're looking at.
You can take a step back by seeing yourself in the image.
You could put a frame around it so it's not taking up your whole visual field.
You could bring your attention to the space around the image.
Let your eyes move around that space clockwise a few times,
Counterclockwise a few times.
You could open your eyes and have it on the wall.
Even if you have a picture on the wall,
Put the picture in the middle of the frame and then notice the space between you and the picture and there's space all around.
Space on the wall,
All around the picture.
We can do the same with sensations.
If sensation is feeling too intense,
We can back up a little bit by noticing the space all around the sensation.
And if this feels like it's too intense,
Just stop doing it,
Take some deep breaths,
Relax.
Sometimes these things are best done with the support of a trained facilitator.
This is a guided inquiry into what we are avoiding.
We're going to focus on the gut.
These patterns have a lot of momentum and they're pretty solid.
And so it's not something we do once a year usually.
These kinds of avoidance things are usually something we do pretty regularly.
Just take a moment to notice your body right now.
Take a few deeper breaths.
Notice what it feels like in your body to breathe more deeply.
Often when we take a few deep breaths,
We just automatically soften and relax.
Our shoulders come down a bit away from the ears.
Notice those main points that we always check,
There's the forehead and the eyebrows.
Soften the hinges of the jaw.
The back of the neck and your shoulders,
The large muscles of the upper back.
And the muscles of the chest and the stomach area.
And then bring your attention inside to the area around your gut.
The stomach just under the diaphragm,
There's the navel center and then the lower belly.
So we'll notice that there's some movement with our body with the breath.
But then bring your attention more internally.
Oftentimes that energy is right around the navel center and behind the belly button,
But wherever it is for you.
And keep a bit of attention on your breath.
Notice your breathing,
Your breath is moving in and out,
Your body's moving with your breath.
And notice that that energy is in a specific location.
It's in the area in your stomach,
Navel center,
Lower belly,
Somewhere there.
Notice its size,
If it's quite small right in the center,
If it's right to the edges of your body.
And sometimes an energy doesn't really want to be looked at this closely.
And if that's the case,
That's fine too.
We don't have to be pushy.
We could just notice the space around it,
We can notice where it isn't.
So if you don't notice it up into your heart center or if you don't notice it in your spine,
It's ahead of that,
We could notice the space around it.
And notice if there's some kind of feeling here of urgency or even if it's quite low level or if there's some kind of uncomfortableness around this energy being here,
Some kind of feeling like it would be better if we could get away from it.
There's no right or wrong answers,
We're really just looking.
Sometimes we'll have words or images,
Some kind of memories.
Other times it's more just the sense,
The felt sense of it.
And if it feels like it's okay,
Put your attention right into the middle of that sensation or right into the middle of the location where that sensation is.
We're just paying attention for a few minutes,
We don't want to make it go away or get stronger or anything,
We're really just noticing what it feels like.
That sensation right in our belly there.
We can notice if it feels quite familiar,
Much of our energy feels familiar,
It happens over and over again.
Notice if there's any impulse to move.
Sometimes the mind just wanders off and goes somewhere else,
It's another way of avoiding being directly present with something and that's fine too.
Keep in touch with your breath.
And notice if there's any message or anything that this energy seems to be wanting you to know or seems to be associated with any memories,
Just notice if there's any words or images.
Sometimes there is and sometimes there isn't,
Either way is fine.
Using your breath,
Noticing how your body feels,
If it feels like it's okay to rest and not move or if it feels like it would be better to move around a bit.
We always have that choice,
If it becomes kind of intense we could always move,
We could think about something else,
We could stop doing this.
And notice that this energy is arising and anything else that's coming up in the body that could be tightness through the shoulders,
All of that is happening in the space of the body,
In the space that your body is occupying.
Movement of the breath is happening there,
Thoughts are happening there,
This energy is taking place there.
And notice that you're observing it,
Some part of your mind that's aware of what's happening in your body energetically,
It's aware of the muscles,
It's aware of the breath.
See if you can notice if there's stillness as well,
That the space itself is not disturbed by whatever it is that's arising in it.
Notice that the experience is happening and being noticed and that the space is there too.
And it's natural for our attention to move between what's arising and the space itself.
Sometimes we're aware that we're observing,
Sometimes we get more caught up in what's happening,
That's all fine.
And see if you can put your attention directly on the energy that's in your stomach as well now.
Just noticing the qualities of the energy,
If it feels like it feels the same as it did a few minutes ago,
If it's a bit different,
Notice the size,
The edges,
The boundaries,
All of those kinds of things.
Notice if you have an image of the energy,
If it is,
You can look at the image.
Notice that you're still breathing.
Notice what the energy is like in your whole body from head to toes.
If there's an energy of agitation or wanting to get away,
If things are kind of settled.
At the moment we're going to open our eyes,
See if there's anything else that you need to know before you do,
Anything that it would be useful for you to be aware of.
And notice if there was any judgment going on,
See if you can be kind and kind of neutral,
We're really just observing.
It's a practice of getting to know ourselves in a different way.
