Gentle Grounding

Lisa helps us discover how we can gently ground ourselves in that which is supportive, so as to be able to then attend to the emotional or psychological challenges we might be experiencing. The rest will have a length of 23 minutes. There will also be bells in the rest.

Transcript

Here we go.

Alright,

So if you're not already settled in,

Just taking a moment to let the body find its spot here,

Letting it sway if it wants to,

Letting your eyes even acclimate around the room if you want to do that first.

Just being cognitively and consciously aware that you are settling in to your chair or to your space and to really do that consciously which may include literally looking around your room or looking behind you even to really see where you are so your nervous system can see and claim where you are in this literal space of safety.

Maybe not emotional or psychological safety but nobody is,

The walls are stable,

The floor and ceiling are stable.

We just let the eyes and the nervous system register that the bed or the chair is stable.

We can feel maybe that even we might be able to access the floor or the floor we can feel is literally stable.

So letting our nervous systems really connect at that,

At this level,

This very base level that sometimes we just accidentally skip over to slow down to this base level where we can feel the stability and the security of what is literally holding our bodies,

The chair,

The floor,

The bed,

Whatever.

I'm just taking another moment to let your attention sync up with that reality,

Sync up with the reality of the actual factual under the sit bones or behind the back or under the feet,

Eyes open or closed,

Either way is fine.

Noticing that even though the body is lifting and falling with each breath,

The lower part of the body is probably staying pretty stable.

We just have that conversation with our nervous system like yeah,

Even with all the perhaps chaotic thoughts or the chaotic emotions,

There is also something not chaotic in this moment and that is the floor or the chair.

Just to have that conversation with our self like yeah,

Both are true.

There might be some chaoticness or whatever that word would be for you,

Movement and at the very same time there is also something stable,

Solid,

More still.

And we invite our nervous systems again to tune into that solidity.

Our nervous systems are so practical.

We really need that practicality to remember the simplest of this moment even when our psychology or our thoughts or our emotions don't feel simple.

We can even with the eyes open look like oh,

Are my feet simple right now?

Well,

It looks like it or are my hands having a simple experience right now?

Well,

It looks like it or anything like anything in that way.

And we come back again to breath,

The breath that has been here the whole time but now we are consciously acknowledging it just in the same way as our bodies were saying hi to the chair,

Now we're consciously saying hi to the breath,

Hi breath.

Hi to the breath maybe as just in the nostril area,

Letting the nostrils say hi to the breath,

Letting the breath say hi to the nostrils or any other part of the breathing mechanism,

Letting your breath,

Letting breath and your body say hi to each other in their interaction.

Feeling again just whatever you are,

The body rising and falling or the nostrils flaring or whatever you notice in the simplest of ways with the breath coming in and out.

Maybe even just the sounds of breath,

I'm really noticing the sound of my exhalation and letting myself fall into that,

Even letting myself exaggerate it a little bit to really feel that release out.

For me that feels useful,

For you it may not.

Giving yourself permission to connect with whatever is here that's simple and easy to connect with.

It can be really hard to do this connecting down in and even though it's supposedly simple and easy it can be really hard to do this.

So we want to be really gentle with ourselves,

It's not as easy as it may sound to bring attention to the feet or to the sit bones and I just really want to notice that or acknowledge that it's not always easy and sometimes it may be.

Sometimes I forget that I even exist below the chin.

It's like oh yeah there's this whole reality below my chin that's just there hanging out doing whatever it's doing,

Moving or being still or feeling temperatures,

Feeling textures,

Sitting,

Laying.

And that really doesn't require anything different.

The sitting body probably is pretty fine just as it is,

Probably doesn't require a whole lot right now.

Now our thoughts about the sitting body may be busy but our sit bones are probably just fine.

Maybe they want a little bit of rearranging but generally probably just fine or the feet are probably just fine as they are.

The back may be just fine as it's leaned back into the space behind or leaned forward depending on your context.

And there may be some discomfort in any of those areas so we're not acknowledging or I'm sorry we're not pretending that that means that there's comfort or yumminess or any of that stuff.

We may have discomfort and it may be somewhat simple at the same time.

And again this is all contextual.

If someone's got an aching back well not so that won't be so true so you can reference another area of the body that has a little more neutrality.

So we notice those areas that have some neutrality and anchor into those areas so that we have a little more agency and resourcing to include maybe that which is a little more tender.

And from the sitting,

From the feet,

From whatever is simple,

From the breath we include that tenderness or that maybe weariness or insecurity.

Maybe there's some doubt or uncertainty here and so we want to allow our systems to acknowledge that too.

So again we come to this and,

The and of the simple and the maybe or easy or the neutral of the feet or the sit bones or something of the breath.

And then we also here comes the and,

And that which is challenging or feels particularly vulnerable in this moment and yes,

Yes we can have this internal conversation of yes I see you here too.

You can even put a hand to that area that maybe you,

It feels a bit tender or use your hand to,

Your hands to comfort some part of you that's feeling tender.

Internal conversation may continue in a way such as hey Anne,

Yeah I feel you,

You're here too.

Yeah thanks for being here hands.

I'm just going to take a few moments to be more quiet so we can honor whatever is happening in our systems,

In our sitting,

Breathing,

Feeling human bodies.

Just be very curious of what your mind is pulling you into.

Our minds are like little magnets or big magnets so just being aware if your mind is drifting into a person,

A situation,

A thought,

A story,

All very normal of course.

And it's fine to stay there if you'd like or you can gently come back to something of this moment.

Acknowledging to yourself maybe you'll connect to that shortly or bringing that into this sitting moment,

Bringing that content into this sitting moment.

Come here into the breath or come here into the chair.

Sit on my lap with me so to speak.

Let's be here together.

Whatever is showing up for you within yourself or without outside of yourself.

Right here now in the sitting,

Breathing body.

Breathing in and breathing out at your own pace in your own way.

Breathing in,

Releasing out.

Feeling the body receive and grow into that space around you with the breath coming in.

Feeling the release and the letting go of that oxygenated air.

Breathing in and releasing out.

Not even knowing what that means in this moment,

Just knowing that it's happening.

Seeing your nervous system that you are being literally supported in this moment either under you and or behind you.

You are not hanging in space.

You are not without grounding.

Inviting your bones to stay in relationship.

Your bones in relationship to floor,

Chair,

Breath.

Your literal bones.

Noticing any heat that you are feeling right now.

Now in your body,

Anywhere,

Head to toes.

Noticing any semblance of the word could be love,

The word could be okayness,

The word could be hereness,

Connection.

However you might be feeling that in this moment.

We are going to imagine that that's flowing out into the world,

Out to those who are calling to,

Towards those who are struggling,

Who might benefit from our overflow.

We could imagine that that's happening.

We don't have to know who this overflow is going to or what this overflow is going to.

Just trusting wisdom to deliver,

Trusting love to deliver,

Trusting breath to deliver out of the sitting,

Breathing body.

Breathing in,

Connecting out,

Connecting in,

Breathing out,

Your own pace in your own way.

Gently bringing your attention to your body.

Gently bringing your attention back more into your bones,

Your limbs,

Your sit bones and letting your body maybe move a little bit,

Maybe rock a little bit or lean in any direction,

Stretch,

Eyes opened or closed either way.

Letting your body take some deeper breaths if you'd like to do that.

Still staying connected to what you're sitting upon,

What you are grounded into.

And then when it feels right for you,

Letting the eyes gently open,

Taking in the space around you,

Maybe the space of the walls again,

The space behind you even.

Just letting your nervous system again connect and calibrate to this moment,

The ceiling,

The floor,

The hands,

The feet.

And when it feels right for you to come back to the screen,

Bring yourself back.