10 Minute Orientation Practice (Feel More Grounded)

Part of my Nervous System Foundations series.

This gentle practice guides you to reconnect with your environment and your body through your senses. Rather than trying to change how you feel, you’ll allow your nervous system to receive present moment information and settle naturally.

Transcript

Welcome into this short orientation practice, The foundational layer of somatic work. So let yourself arrive where you are. You're just arriving. Releasing any distractions with your phone. Things that you need to do, And you take this time to just arrive. Feeling whatever it is that is beneath you. Supporting the body. Letting any activation, Any thoughts. Any questions, Let them be here. We're not changing anything. About what you're experiencing. You're just arriving here. Now keeping your eyes open. Let them know. Take a few moments to just look around your space. You're looking at color. Texture. Object. Without story. There's no rush. Just notice yourself. Scanning your space. Naming what you see without story. Now, We'll come back to that in a moment. But first, Bringing your hands up to the back of your neck. Where the skull and the neck sort of meet. And you'll feel sort of two lines, Like two muscular lines, Just running your hands gently down those. We're not pushing so hard. We're not being too soft. Just touch that feels supportive and just moving the hands down the back of the neck. Initiating a swallow. And then as you continue to move the hands gently down the neck here, Just take your eyes all the way to the right. Holding them to the right. And then moving them to the center. Whatever you're feeling is valid. And then moving them to the left. Just keeping them gently gazing to the left. While you're continuing to gently massage the back of the neck. Beautiful. Now bring the eyes to the center. Release the hands. And just notice what you're feeling. Keep the breath moving. You could feel dizzy. You could feel relaxed. You could feel activated, Just noticing what you're feeling and not making it wrong. Now let your eyes scan the space again. Naming objects that you see. Plant. Window. Toaster. Naming the objects, Taking in the colors. Making your head become part of the exploration. So if you have noticed that your head has stayed locked in a position, Allow it to move. To name an object to one side. Or the other? Nothing to analyze. We're just seeing. Let the space reveal itself to you. Let the space come to you. Now, Notice something in your space that feels neutral or pleasant. Something that doesn't need anything from you. If you land on something and it immediately takes you into a state of doing, Like plant, Must water plant, Move your attention to find something that is asking nothing of you. Water bottle. Glass. So find something. And then allow your gaze to soften on the object. And allow your body to just take it in. There's nothing you need to do here. Your system already knows how to do this. And just notice that nothing here is asking anything of you. Stay with the sensations in the body. If you notice anything settling, Softening, Releasing, A deep breath or a sigh, A yawn. Just thank the body when that happens. And then we're going to gently guide awareness inward. Simply first noticing once again where the body is in time and space. And you might even name that out loud. And sitting on a chair. I'm in my kitchen. It might feel strange in the beginning, But practice naming where you are. Feel the points of contact that your body has with the space you're in. And let the breath come and go naturally. We're not changing it. We're not forcing it. Now here is a place where you get to try something. Lean in. See how it feels. And then pull back out if you need to. So we're gonna go into the body by noticing one place in the body that feels neutral. Pleasant. Neutral or pleasant. It could be your thumb. It could be your toe. It could be your lip. Your eyes. If nothing in the body is feeling neutral right now, Return to the thing that is external. Return to what you were working with before. If you're able to find somewhere that's neutral or pleasant in the body then bring it in. And place your attention there. And just simply let your awareness notice something inside the body. That feels pleasant or neutral. Staying with the breath. This is just a practice. I don't have to perfect it. I don't have to understand it fully. And then now, Whether you were orienting to something internal, Whether you were orienting to simply your body in the space or the external. Hold both. In your field of awareness. Let both exist. The space around me. And my body within it. Notice both. Beautiful. No need to change anything right now. You simply are locating yourself in time and space and noticing. What you feel. And noticing the space around you. Take this with you into the rest of the day. You can practice it multiple times a day. We want to practice these experiences. Outside of moments of activation. So that we know the pathway when we are in activation. So we don't just wait until we're activated to use these practices. We do it all the time. So simply naming where you are. Locating objects and yourself in time and space. Is a foundational practice that won't. Steer you wrong when you continue to practice it.