Hello,
Everyone.
Welcome to this episode of the Mindful in Minutes podcast.
Now today we are going to be doing a soothe your senses meditation.
So we are going to do this practice that will hopefully calm your nervous system quiet down and soothe the senses and help with some overstimulation.
So we will begin by first creating a soothing environment.
So maybe that means turn off the lights,
Or close your windows if it's loud outside,
Or remove any stimulus that feels particularly strong in this moment.
And then on the flip side,
If there's anything that you find particularly soothing,
Maybe that's a certain scent for aromatherapy,
Maybe it's holding a stress ball or being covered by a weighted blanket.
If there's anything that you like,
That really calms your nervous system,
Get that now.
Today,
We're going to be doing a little bit of an exercise for each one of our senses to try to calm them one by one,
Regulate our nervous system,
And reduce overstimulation.
So when you're ready,
You can come to a comfortable position.
We're actually going to start our practice with a little bit of intuitive movement here.
So maybe you rock your body from side to side a few times,
Or do some big self hugs,
Or even a little seated forward fold,
Or any other movement that feels good.
I encourage you to take a few moments to move intuitively and connect to your body in this present moment.
Just be with your body and move however feels good and nourishing to you.
And taking a final moment of movement if you'd like.
And then settle into stillness.
And as you settle into stillness,
Check in with your sense of touch.
What are you feeling right now?
Maybe it's the clothes on your body or the temperature of the room.
Just notice what your body is feeling right now.
And now release your sense of touch.
And just notice one thing that you're feeling.
Focus your awareness on one thing that your body is touching right now.
Open your eyes for a moment.
And look around the room that you're in.
Notice what you see without seeking out any one thing in particular.
What stands out to you when you look around?
Now blink your eyes closed and focus on the darkness in front of your eyes and behind your eyelids.
Just give your sense of sight a break.
Just let your eyes rest in the cover of darkness for now.
Now noticing what you hear.
Listen to the sounds that are close to you.
Listen to the sounds that are far away from you.
And listen to the sounds around you all at once.
Without picking out any one particular sound,
Just experience the soundscape happening around you.
And now focus on just one sound that you hear.
Only one.
And release your awareness of that one sound.
Just rest your ears.
Becoming aware now of anything that you smell in this moment.
What sensory information is coming in through your sense of smell?
Just make note of anything that you smell in this moment.
And now take a big deep breath in through the nose.
And as you breathe out,
Release your focus on what you can smell.
Instead noticing,
Is there anything that you taste?
Shifting your awareness to your sense of taste and your mouth.
Making note of anything that you taste in this moment.
Now releasing your focus on what you can taste.
Just become aware of your breath.
Feel the air move in and out of your body.
And finally,
We're going to use a relaxation breath technique to calm not only our senses but our nervous system.
So begin by exhaling all the air out of our lungs.
And then inhaling for a count of 4-3-2-1.
And then exhaling for a count of 6-5-4-3-2-1.
Repeating this again,
Inhaling for a count of 4 and then exhaling for a count of 6.
Just continuing with this breath pattern,
Allowing each and every breath cycle to calm your body,
To soothe your senses,
And reset your nervous system.
Just doing two more rounds of this breath.
Inhaling for 4 and exhaling for 6.
And then releasing the count of your breath.
And just settle into that effortless pattern.
Noticing if you feel any different now at the end of our practice compared to when we began.
One last final breath.
On the inhale,
Take that big deep breath in,
Followed by an open mouth exhale,
Letting it go.
Then blinking the eyes open and taking your arms,
Wrapping them around you,
Giving yourself a light squeeze just to calm yourself one last time.
Thank you so much for joining me for this meditation.
I hope you have a beautiful day.
