Somatic Meditation For Emotional Release

One thing that most people don’t realize is... SO MUCH of our stress, tension, overwhelm and confusion comes from bottling up our emotions instead of processing them in a way that allows them to be released.

Suppressing our emotions also disconnects us from our inner wisdom and authenticity, cluttering our thoughts and making us more prone to mood swings, irritability, and physical ailments.

But here's the good news: there's a way out. This somatic meditation for emotional release can help you connect with and give voice to your emotions in a way that helps them release naturally. This somatic meditation utilizes Havening Techniques® to support your nervous system and Regenerating Images in Memory® to help you process your emotions in an effective and body-centered way.

Transcript

This meditation combines two of my favorite emotional processing tools,

Havening Techniques and Regenerating Images and Memory.

Havening Techniques is a somatic practice that actually affects the primal parts of your limbic system and soothes your amygdala so that you can feel more peace in your body even in the presence of big emotions.

And Regenerating Images and Memory is a body-centered therapeutic tool that helps us drop below our conscious mind and go more deeply into our emotions and our subconscious that live in our body.

So let's begin doing Havening.

So there are three ways to do Havening Touch,

And you're just going to continue to do the Havening Touch for the first few minutes of this somatic meditation.

So one way to do Havening Touch is simply to rub your palms together rhythmically and gently with a pace and a pressure that feels good to you,

Just rubbing your palms together.

The second way to do Havening Touch is to rub down your arms from shoulder to elbow,

Shoulder to elbow,

Shoulder to elbow,

Just going down.

And the third way to do Havening Touch is to rub anywhere on your face,

Cheeks,

Or forehead.

So you're kind of stroking your face or stroking your forehead in whatever way feels good to you.

And you're just going to move between those three types of Havening Touch,

The palms,

Down the upper arms,

Or anywhere on the face,

Cheeks,

And forehead.

You're going to move between those three areas of touch in whatever way you want,

In a very intuitive way that feels good to you,

Modifying the Havening Touch in any way that you need to so that it feels good and soothing.

And doing the Havening Touch,

We're going to start by just connecting with your body in the present moment.

So as you do the Havening Touch,

Allow your eyes to open and just look around your room or look around your environment right now.

Gently moving your head,

Eyes,

And neck.

And see if you can find three shades of pink or red.

Noticing four shades of blue.

Looking around and finding something shiny.

And now scanning your environment,

Just find the smallest square or rectangle that you can see.

Now continuing to do the Havening Touch,

Allow your eyes to close.

And with your eyes closed,

Just listen to all of the layers of sound that you can hear right now.

So you can hear my voice and the music.

You may be able to hear the Havening Touch.

It makes a very soft sound.

And there may be other layers of sound as well.

Maybe a fan in the distance or traffic or birds.

So just listening for the softest sound that you can hear as you continue to do the Havening Touch.

And then begin to feel the Havening Touch.

So you can feel the temperature of your skin.

You can feel the texture of your palms.

Noticing that the texture of your fingertips is slightly different.

Our fingertips have all of those little tiny bumps and ridges that form our fingerprints.

Maybe you can feel all those little bumps and ridges as you do the Havening Touch.

You can feel the gentle pressure of the Havening Touch and the very gentle movement of your muscles that's required to do the Havening Touch.

And then just feeling the rest of your body.

So noticing what is touching your skin.

What can you feel touching your skin?

Perhaps you can feel the collar of your shirt or the texture of your socks.

Or maybe you can feel a seam or a waistband.

Or your glasses on your nose.

And notice that you can feel the contact between your body and the chair that you're seated in or the bed or the floor.

So noticing which parts of your body are making contact with the chair or the bed.

And what does that contact feel like?

Is it soft or hard?

Is it broad contact or more pointy?

Is it pointed or specific contact?

Is your body making symmetrical contact with it or asymmetrical contact?

And just really feeling that.

And then just feeling your breath.

So as you continue to do the Havening Touch,

You can feel the air moving in and out through your nostrils.

And you can feel the air causing your chest and tummy to rise and fall.

If your back is making contact with something,

Then you might feel it.

Notice that your back makes a little bit more contact with that every single inhale.

And a little bit less with every single exhale.

So now that we've used Havening to help you connect more with the present moment and your body,

And of course to also soothe your amygdala,

We're now going to go deeper with regenerating images and memory.

So you can let the Havening Touch go,

Or you can keep doing it if you like it.

So some people just love it and just want to keep doing it.

And some people find it kind of distracting as they go deeper.

So just choosing whatever feels right for you in this moment,

Knowing you can always choose again.

If you want to start Havening and stop Havening,

Just do whatever feels right.

And really greeting your body in this moment.

Really noticing how you're feeling right now.

Saying hello to any body sensations you may have,

Or emotions that might be here.

Just really begin to notice what you're feeling in this moment.

And you may already be feeling emotions bubbling to the surface,

Or emotions that want your attention.

Or if not,

You may just ask your body,

Please show me which pent-up emotions are ready to be released.

Breathing and noticing whatever it is that's arising within you,

Whatever it is that you're feeling in this moment.

And as you're noticing,

As you're feeling,

As you're turning your attention inward to whatever is here,

Just begin to notice what emotion is calling your attention the most.

Right now.

And know that there's no way to do this wrong.

So you're just paying attention to what you're feeling,

And you're following my guidance as best as you can,

Knowing that whatever you're doing is right,

Whatever you're feeling is right.

There's no wrong way to do this.

There's no wrong way to feel.

And there's no wrong thing to feel.

So noticing which emotion is calling your attention the most.

And notice where you feel this emotion in your body the most.

Do you feel this emotion more on the right side or the left side?

Or maybe it's central,

Or maybe it's everywhere.

Is it more deep or superficial?

Or maybe both or neither?

Is it moving or still?

How big is this feeling?

How much space does it take up within or around you?

What color is it?

Does it have a shape?

Or a texture?

Or a temperature associated with it?

And it's okay if you don't have answers to all of these questions.

You're just asking the questions of yourself with curiosity as you tune in to your internal experience.

And just noticing whatever you notice about this emotion in your body.

And now your imagination is going to take your awareness into this emotion.

So into that part of your body,

Into that color.

It's like you become that color.

You become that size and the shape of your body.

You become that emotion in your body and you're going to give voice to this emotion.

So just letting your words come forward.

Speaking as this emotion.

You're just going to say what it's like to be me is.

Breathing and feeling and going even deeper.

Becoming this emotion and speaking as this emotion.

You're just going to say what's really bothering me deep down is.

Breathing,

Just letting your words come forward.

Speaking as this emotion in your body.

You're just going to say what I'm believing about myself and the world right now is.

Feeling going even deeper into the emotion and speaking as the emotion.

You're just going to say what's most vulnerable to me right now is.

Breathing and feeling and being this emotion in your body.

Speaking as this emotion.

You're just going to say what I honestly really want or need right now is.

Breathing,

Feeling,

Speaking as this emotion in your body.

You're just going to say how it feels to say all of this is.

And then just speaking anything else that wants to be spoken from this emotion in your body until that feels complete.

When that feels complete,

Your imagination is going to take your awareness out of this emotion and back into the wholeness and totality of you.

So you take a few gentle breaths and land in your whole self right here and right now.

And as your whole self,

Look back at that emotion that just expressed itself.

And as your whole self,

You're going to receive a stream of colored energy from that emotion,

Representing everything it just shared with you.

Noticing the color and the quality of that stream of colored energy.

And noticing where in your body you receive that energy first.

Fully receiving that entire stream of colored energy.

And as your whole self,

You're now going to speak just like you spoke as that emotion,

Breathing and just letting your words come forward as your whole self finish this sentence.

Of course,

I feel this way,

Because feeling,

Letting,

Your words come forward effortlessly as your whole self,

You're just going to say,

It makes total sense that I would feel this way,

Because breathing,

Speaking as your whole self,

You're just going to say,

What I'm realizing now is how it feels to realize that it is.

Breathing,

Speaking as your whole self,

You're just going to finish this sentence,

How it feels to realize that is.

And then just speaking anything else that wants to be spoken as your whole self until that feels complete.

When that feels complete,

Just begin to notice how you feel now.

Now that you've expressed and given voice to that emotion.

Now that you've connected with your whole self in an understanding way.

What looks or feels different to you?

What emotion has been released or shifted?

How has your compassionate understanding of yourself shifted?

Now just breathing.

See if anything else wants to happen.

And just let anything that wants to happen naturally happen as you continue to breathe.

Taking a few more breaths here.

Perhaps you can appreciate yourself or validate yourself for taking time to do this somatic meditation for emotional release today.

Again,

Just feeling what has shifted within you.

And then just ask yourself,

What is it that I'm feeling right now?

Maybe your body,

If there's anything else it wants or needs.

And receive whatever answer you get.

Maybe your body needs something that you could take care of right in this moment.

Maybe your body wants or needs something in the future.

Or maybe there's nothing.

Maybe there's nothing else that your body wants or needs right now.

And just let it be.

Taking a few more breaths.

Just know that you've done some good work today.

You've learned about yourself.

You've given voice to an emotion in a way that allows it to release and move through you.

You've connected more deeply with a compassionate understanding and a sense of your wholeness.

And this is all with you now.

This is a part of you.

These shifts are real.

They really happened.

And they're now anchored into your body and into your heart and into your mind.

And they're going to send ripples of light.

Your unconscious mind will now let you know that all of this has been fully integrated into your cellular memory and your emotional memory by bringing full feeling and weight back into your arms and legs,

Fingers and toes,

And spontaneously opening your eyes.

Great work.

Reviews

Wow!! I'm a fan of havening, so that was a good set up for the 'work'. And it was certainly intense! Lots of tears and sore face from the howling, as deep emotional stuff of 70 years purged. I'm now feeling fragile and will need to provide lots of nurture for myself as it all integrates.
Deep gratitude Karena 🙏 🙏

Wow, very powerful meditation. Thank you so much. 🩷

Very nice. The process is very gentle and moves slow enough for me to integrate each part.