Inner Relationship Focusing And Integration (With Music)

Welcome to this Inner Relationship Focusing and Integration practice. This practice is intended to help you move against the howling winds of your old stories and limiting behaviors...to bring more attention and intention to all parts of you. Let us begin to step toward ourselves, instead of away. And embark on the radical path of non-abandonment of self. So that we can begin to find meaning where it had been lost, heal old wounds, and rewrite the stories of our lives.

Transcript

Welcome to this focusing and integration practice.

You can do this practice sitting in a chair or lying comfortably on your bed or couch.

Begin to find some comfort and just observe your body as it begins to arrive and settle.

Your in-breath brings you deeper into your body and your out-breath connects you down towards the earth.

Begin to observe the body settling,

The mind settling.

I am so very proud of you for beginning this journey.

I am proud of you for taking this first step to stand up amongst the rubble,

To move against the howling winds of your old stories and limiting behaviors,

To bring more attention and intention to all parts of you.

You see,

We have inherited a rhythm,

A pattern,

And yet some part of us knows that we want to live a life beyond this limiting pattern.

To find the open road of our own creation.

We can spend an entire lifetime reacting to our adaptive protective responses without awareness or conscious choice.

Connecting to these adaptive responses with behaviors that take us away from connection.

And instead of connecting,

We veer into a state of protection and disconnection.

We often think that we are trapped in a world that feels unsafe,

In a body that feels like it s abandoned us.

But then we remember.

We remember that we have choice.

We are empowered to create our future.

So let us begin to step toward ourselves instead of away so that we can begin to dream a new dream,

Find meaning where it has been lost,

Reorganize our perceptions,

Heal old wounds,

And rewrite the story of our life.

Welcome a long deep breath into your belly and let it out through parted lips with ease.

And again,

Take a big breath into your belly and allow your body to become heavier as you exhale and settle down towards the earth.

Keep your breathing slow,

Deep,

And controlled.

Allow your breath to guide you from the external world to the internal world.

Surrender your thinking mind into your feeling body.

Release any control of your breath now.

For the remainder of this practice,

Let yourself be breathed as we now begin this integration and focusing practice.

Let your awareness rest in your heart.

Bring yourself into your heart center.

Our heart is the kingdom we left long ago that holds the map to this open road.

So we now bring our attention to our heart center and we breathe.

We acknowledge the old path we have innocently been taking for so long now.

We acknowledge the box we have been living in that feels tight and constricting.

And we listen ever so attentively.

We listen and we feel for this opening around us.

And there at the borders of our being is an open road that calls to us by name.

Standing on this threshold with your attention on your heart,

With your breath as your companion,

We connect to our body before starting this journey.

We connect fully with our inner world and allow ourselves to take up space as we begin to go through a body skin,

Allowing our sensory systems all to turn on and become aware.

And just take some time to let your awareness come into your body.

Begin by sensing your whole body as you're sitting or laying here right now.

You can begin to bring your attention to your feet,

Sensing into your feet,

The bottoms of your feet,

The tops of your feet,

And all 10 toes.

Now bring your awareness into your legs,

Sensing both of your legs together.

Begin to feel into your buttocks,

Your back,

All the places where your body is in contact with the supporting surface beneath you.

Let yourself be supported by this surface,

Resting into that support,

Aware of your breathing,

Letting your breathing be as it is.

Bring your awareness to your lower back,

Your upper back,

Shoulders,

Arms,

And hands.

Feel into the tops of your hand,

The palms of your hand,

And all 10 fingers.

Now bring your awareness to your neck,

Your head,

Your face,

And letting your awareness come inward into that whole area of your body that includes your throat,

Your chest,

Your belly.

And as you expand your awareness into your throat,

Your chest,

Your belly,

Begin to notice how spacious your inner world truly is by allowing yourself to be fully present right here and now.

Now settle in to being the observer of self with a sense of wonder and compassion,

And orient yourself in the direction of your heart and your breath and your belly,

That which is immovable in you,

The core of you that houses your courage and bolsters you and shelters you,

The core of you that holds the map to this new open road as we embark upon a journey together to find this new path,

A path of understanding and awareness and compassion.

And now begin to imagine a movie screen in front of you,

Your life projected in front of you on a giant screen,

And you are watching.

And bring to the screen anything that has been hard for you in your life.

Maybe it's a pattern of suffering that keeps showing up,

Something you feel able to hold in this moment,

And invite you to bring whatever wants your attention right now forward in front of you onto your movie screen.

And once you make contact with this something,

You might say hello to this something in you that you are here to settle down with.

Keep it company for whatever it wants to reveal at whatever pace it wants to go.

And see if it's okay to take your time to just be with this something that is here in front of you.

You may even give it a name.

And if it's vague or opaque or fuzzy,

You can just say fear.

And if you don't know what it's from,

Just say I see you fear.

I see you and I allow you.

Maybe it has a different name,

And you can check in to see if that name fits.

There may be great pain,

Grief,

In whatever feels hard for you.

Notice that which swirls in front of you,

But stay connected to your heart and breath and belly that anchor in you amongst this swirl.

Watching,

Hearing,

Seeing,

Feeling whatever you need to feel in this moment knowing that your anchor is holding you.

The earth and all your ancestors that have come before you are supporting you.

Knowing you have access to great strength and courage.

Look and see the pain,

The fear.

Look and it shall lift,

Dear one,

Even if just an inch,

By simply being here with it.

Now as you watch your movie screen,

This something in front of you,

Begin to notice where you've been holding this something in your body.

A sensation,

A tightness,

A constriction,

A felt sense of holding this something in your body.

Maybe it's in your gut,

Your chest,

Your shoulders,

Your jaw.

It can be anywhere,

But notice where you've been storing this feeling,

This pain,

This fear in your body.

And then embrace this part of you.

Become aware of the stored emotion in your body.

Let this emotion know you see it.

You hear its message.

You are here with it.

When it is ready,

You might sense for its emotion,

Its mood,

Its point of view,

Its story.

You might even invite it to let you know what it's wanting or not wanting to have happen to you.

And after some time,

Check with it to see if it feels understood by you.

You might want to give compassion to this something in you by saying,

No wonder,

Or this makes a lot of sense.

Ask what it wants or doesn't want you to experience.

Ask what it needs from you in this moment.

Maybe it's trust,

Safety,

Love,

Or just simply your presence.

Let it know that you hear its message and you are here for it.

Let it know it is welcome here now.

I see you and I allow you.

Just create a little space for it to express itself in whatever way it shows up.

And if something in you begins to feel like fresh air,

Some sort of relief,

No matter how big or small,

No matter what it looks like,

If anything begins to lift in the body,

It needs to have a yes said to it.

Say yes to this new something.

Take time to notice,

Feel,

Savor any changes in the body,

No matter how slight.

When something feels good in the body,

Take all the time it needs to be fully felt.

And if something in you doesn't feel like fresh air or relief,

That's okay too.

Let this something in you know that that makes sense too.

It's okay.

Now begin to sense if this is a good place to stop or if there's something more that wants to be known before stopping.

You can let this something in you know that you will come back to be with it if it needs more attention.

We watch and we breathe.

We get present and curious and simply be with whatever is arising inside of us,

Calling our attention,

Longing for us to pay attention.

And it's in this way that we free these things from running wild within us.

This is how we build the strength of acceptance,

Peace,

Welcoming.

And in doing this,

We create a new path.

We step on to the open road.

And now let's return to that place which is immovable in us along our journey,

Our heart,

Our breath,

Our belly.

It's time to remember now,

Dear one,

The idea that you are the answer.

I'd like you to explore the possibility that you know everything.

Here in this place,

We can let go of everything we do not need.

We can let go of our doubt for we already know.

You already know how to stand in your life.

No one needs to teach you.

You are wise and let yourself remember this.

So we let go of our doubt.

We let go of the fight.

We let go of the noise.

And as my teacher,

Sarah Blondin,

Beautifully says,

We gradually remember what we have known all along,

That we are mighty,

That we are beloved,

That we are still and we are calm,

That we are wise and we are whole,

That we are capable and we are brave,

That we are resilient.

You can begin to bring a deep breath into your body.

You can wiggle your fingers and toes and if you're lying down,

You're welcome to make your way to a comfortable seat.

And as you sit here for a moment with your eyes closed,

I welcome you to bring your hands to your heart.

Gently bow your chin,

Your head down towards your body and just thank your body and all that has come.

Thank you,

Body.

Thank you,

Body.

Breathing in,

I'm aware of my in-breath.

Breathing out,

I'm aware of my out-breath.

In-breath,

Out-breath.

You have now traveled down the radical path of non-abandonment,

Dear one.

You have bravely faced your inner mystery,

That unclear edge and by moving into presence with your inner kingdom,

You've been given the greatest gift of healing,

Living forward energy.

It's time now to savor this pearl of wisdom,

This jewel of insight.

You may slowly begin to open your eyes now.

I invite you to use this practice whenever you feel stressed,

Triggered,

Stuck,

Unclear with how to move forward.

Just take a moment to move towards your inner wisdom.

Be with your inner mystery.

The invitation is laid before you to carve a new pathway.

And as my teacher Janet Stone says,

To infuse the vulnerability underneath the storyline of fear with warm,

Empathic attunement and with the earth as your witness to commit to the radical path of non-abandonment.

That's slave flying.

Thank you.

You you you you you