Find a position that feels supportive for you.
You may be lying down.
Or seated with your feet resting on the floor.
Allow your hands to settle wherever they feel most comfortable.
And if closing your eyes,
Feel safe.
You may close them.
Or simply soften your gaze.
Before asking anything of your body.
Take a moment to notice what is supporting you.
The surface beneath you.
The steadiness of the floor.
The weight of your body being received.
You do not have to hold yourself up all by yourself right now.
Let's chair.
The bed or the floor.
Carry what it can.
Notice the places where your body makes contact with that support.
Perhaps beneath your feet.
Your legs or your hips.
You're back.
Your arms.
Or your head.
There is nothing you need to change it.
Just notice you are here.
Allow the breath to come and go in its own way.
There is no need to make it deeper.
No need to slow it down.
For now,
Simply notice that your body is breathing.
And as you settle.
Begin to notice whether there is a place within your body that seems to be holding on.
Perhaps you notice tension in your jaw.
Or around the eyes.
Across the forehead.
Or at the base of the skull.
Perhaps the shoulders are lifted.
The hands are gripping.
Where the belly is held tightly.
You may notice a guarded place in the chest.
The back.
The hips.
Or somewhere else entirely.
And perhaps you do not notice one particular place.
You may simply sense that some part of you is bracing.
Waiting.
Or preparing for something.
Whatever you notice is enough.
See if you can meet this holding without immediately trying to make it go away.
You are not doing anything wrong.
Your body is not failing to relax.
Holding on is often something the body learned to do for a reason.
It may have been protecting you.
Stabilizing you.
Helping you endure.
Or preparing you for what it believed might come next.
You do not need to know the story behind the tension.
You do not need to return to the moment when it began.
You are only noticing what is present now.
With curiosity.
And without judgment.
If it feels comfortable,
You might place a hand over the area that seems to be holding.
Or place one hand over your chest.
And the other over your belly.
Let your touch be a quiet point of contact.
Not a command.
Not a demand.
Simply a way of saying.
I am here.
I am listening.
You may have heard that you should release what you are holding.
Let it go.
Or surrender it.
But the body does not always let go because it is told to.
The bod begins to let go.
In response.
The body lets go when it begins to recognize.
That it no longer has to hold quite so tightly.
So rather than asking this place to release,
Ask whether it might be willing to receive a little more support.
Feel the surface beneath you again.
Notice the weight of your hand.
Notice the air touching your skin.
The steadiness of the room around you.
And now.
To gently distinguish between the sensation itself.
And any resistance that may have gathered around it.
There may be discomfort.
Pressure.
Tightness,
Heaviness.
Or pain.
And surrounding that sensation,
There may also be bracing.
Anticipation.
Or the effort to keep the sensation from moving.
You do not have to deny what hurts in order to stop fighting it.
Let that truth settle in.
You do not have to pretend that everything feels good.
You do not have to ignore the signals of your body.
You are simply noticing where the resistance is adding another layer to what is already there.
Sometimes we brace against an experience before it has even fully arrived.
The jaw tightens,
The breath stops,
The belly hardens.
The whole body prepares.
And sometimes that preparation creates even more tension around something that is already difficult.
There is no criticism in noticing this.
Bracing is an attempt to protect.
And now in this moment.
You are offering the body another possibility.
Without forcing anything.
See whether the muscles around the sensation might soften by one degree.
Only one degree.
Perhaps the teeth separate slightly.
And the tongue rests more easily inside the mouth.
Perhaps the shoulders lower just enough to be noticed.
Perhaps the fingers uncurl.
Or the belly is allowed to move with the breath.
You are not asking the body to become completely relaxed.
You are only asking.
Is there any effort I no longer need in this moment?
If the answer is no.
Honor that.
The holding may still feel necessary.
You can remain beside it without trying to overpower it.
And if some small softening is available.
Allow it to happen in its own way.
There is nowhere you need to push the sensation.
Nothing you need to remove from the body.
Simply allow the experience to have a little more room.
As the next breath leaves you.
See if you can allow the exhale to finish.
Not by forcing the air out.
But by not interrupting its departure.
Let the breath move through the body.
And leave when it is ready.
Then allow the next breath to arrive on its own.
Receiving the breath.
And releasing the breath.
Without holding on to either one.
Perhaps you can imagine the breath.
Creating space around the area of tension.
Not entering it to fix it.
But surrounding it.
With room.
A little space above it.
Beneath it.
And around its edges.
The sensation may change.
It may become warmer.
Softer.
More fluid.
Or less defined.
You may feel the urge to sigh.
Swallow.
Stretch.
Or shift your position.
Or nothing may change at all.
Every response is welcome.
Your body does not owe you a release.
You are learning how to listen without demanding an outcome.
If sensation begins to move.
Let it move at its own pace.
If it becomes too intense,
Return your attention to the support beneath you.
Open your eyes or gently move your hands and feet.
You remain in choice.
You can pause at any time.
Now broaden your awareness beyond the place that has been holding.
Notice whether there is another part of the body that feels neutral.
Study.
Warm.
Or support it.
Perhaps the feet feel settled.
Perhaps the palms feel soft.
Or there is ease around the eyes.
Or maybe a little more room in the breath.
Let the steadier place share the same field of awareness as the guarded place.
You do not have to choose between them.
Holding and softness.
Can exist within the same body.
Discomfort and support can be present at the same time.
One part of you may continue to protect.
While another part begins to rest.
The whole body does not have to change at once.
Even one small place of ease matters.
Notice again the weight of your body being received.
Feel the support beneath your back.
Your hips,
Your legs,
Your feet.
Allow yourself to be held here for another moment.
And perhaps offer these words inwardly.
I see that this is difficult.
I do not have to force myself to let go.
I can listen to what my body is holding.
I can soften the resistance without denying what is real.
And I can move through this.
1 bra One moment.
One degree at a time.
Begin now to notice the room around you.
The temperature of the air.
The sounds near you.
And the sounds farther away.
Feel again the surface beneath you.
Invite a little movement into your fingers and toes.
Perhaps roll the shoulders gently.
Or move the head from side to side if that feels right.
Take whatever time you need to return.
And as you do.
Remember.
That listening to the body is not the same as surrendering to fear.
Softening is not weakness.
And releasing resistance does not mean denying what you have experienced.
It means you no longer have to build another wall around what is already here.
Carry this with you.
You do not have to deny what hurts.
In order to stop fighting it.
And you do not have to move through anything all at once.
For now.
One degree of softness is enough.
You you
