Rest With Safety

In this 34 minute guided rest you will be invited to connect with what is safe for you now. I will allow you to reconnect with what does feel simple and or save. This will be done by first letting you nervous system know the simple and factuality of your present moment.

All recordings have been created for clients & groups- shared here for easy access. I am slowly starting to work on improving quality. Please know these are not polished recordings!

Transcript

So let's just kind of start by connecting or just noticing that we're just sitting here.

We're sitting,

Breathing.

The mind is thinking.

And then of course there's a lot going on outside of us.

And those things outside of us can be really distracting or they can be just noticed.

And as they come into being noticed just acknowledging,

Okay,

My attention has gone to quote-unquote out there.

And I'll just gently remind you and invite you to come back to that which is most intimately known,

Which is your own experience that's you sitting here.

That's very,

Actually very simple,

But often not connected with just because there is so much going on.

And I'll just be inviting you to return again and again to this moment,

To what's here now in different kinds of ways.

So to start with,

You're just going to simply notice as if there was a bird's eye view from the chin down that there's sitting happening.

There's sitting and there's positioning in lots of simple factual ways that aren't based on morality or judgment.

The elbows are bent at whatever degree they're bent,

For example.

And the hands and the arms are positioned how they are as you're sitting.

The fingers are lying or positioned or situated in their unique positioning,

Feeling different sensations,

Different temperatures,

Different textures,

Perhaps from finger to finger.

The knees are bent how they are.

The legs on either side of the knees are positioned and making contact with maybe chair or clothing or a sense of space.

And the feet are positioned how they are,

Maybe on the floor,

Maybe propped up.

And there's different textures and temperatures,

Characteristics through the toes and through the bottoms of the feet to the tops of the feet.

And the mind might be having images of feet or images of the body,

And that's really normal.

That's what the mind does is it creates a seeming sense of solidity and imagination.

And underneath that imagery,

There's a direct experience that requires no imagination that's simpler than that even.

That's back in the feeling,

On the sensation of feet or toes.

And of course,

We have to use words to describe them,

But underneath those descriptions and underneath the description of warm or cold or harder and soft,

Are the actual experiences.

And so just gently and curiously noticing your experiences,

Not just of the feet now,

But the feet and rising up through the legs,

Back up to the upper part of the body,

Into the sit bones for a moment,

And then to the back of the body.

And just taking a moment to notice that,

Depending on how you're positioned,

The bulk of your weight is going to be on your sit bones or behind you,

Behind you in your back.

And as we connect to the weight of the body,

We can connect to the chair that's holding the weight of the body.

Intellectually,

We know that the chair is really dependable,

Really solid,

It's very trustworthy,

It's holding the body.

But we want to let the nervous system know of that dependability too,

Because this is where safety comes in.

Safety isn't something that's in the imagination.

It's actually known from the inside out,

So to speak.

It's known cellularly,

Or it can be known cellularly.

We have to go take a curious journey so that we can meet this level of direct knowing that's often clouded by the mind's busyness.

So as the mind gets busy and comes in,

That's okay.

Noticing the thoughts,

Noticing the images,

Noticing the judgments,

The stories,

The narrative,

Just acknowledging that,

And then gently bringing yourself back to the chair.

Just noticing from your skin,

From your muscles,

From your cells,

That this chair is really literally holding your body.

And it's holding it in such a way that it's very dependable,

And in a practical way,

Very safe.

Your body isn't worried about falling right now.

It knows that the chair is designed to hold it.

And we just want to kind of lean back into that,

So to speak,

So that the nervous system can really feel the truth of that.

This means nothing for an ego,

But it means everything to a nervous system to go,

Oh,

Yeah,

I can lean back and just be.

Not forever,

But for the next bit of time,

Just be held by this chair.

We can feel in direct experience how the body is holding the body,

And we can feel it even more so when we bring in our breath.

The inhalation will rise the body away a little bit from the chair,

And then the exhalation will fall into the chair.

The chair is holding all of it.

It's holding the body that rises away from gravity.

And then it receives the body as it releases back down into the field of gravity.

And we're just going to kind of play with this experientially.

We're just going to play with noticing how the body rises and falls as part of its design.

It's designed to do this.

It's designed to breathe in this way.

The body,

When it breathes in,

It has to expand and push and pull and rise and effort a bit.

And when the body exhales,

The breath flows out,

The body falls down,

And there's a bit of a releasing and emptying.

And that has nothing to do with right,

Wrong,

Good,

Or bad,

Or morality.

It has to do with the functioning of a human body.

As we lean back and feel the support of the chair,

We can kind of just notice and let the body do its own mechanics without trying to be in charge of it.

It's kind of like when we're sleeping,

We're not in charge of the breath.

The breath is just fine on its own without us watching it or directing it.

And when we're awake,

We can consciously notice that as well.

If it feels like you are directing the breath,

Then just let the breath exhale or let the body exhale and just wait for the body to breathe in.

Eventually it will.

And then letting the body be in charge of the breath,

Just watching as the breath cycles.

It's likely to have variation,

Some deep breaths,

Some shallow breaths,

Just let it breathe how it wants.

With every exhalation,

Noticing the body returning back into the arms of the chair,

Back into this field of gravity that holds and supports the human body.

And just noticing apart from psychology or apart from emotionality,

Just notice the safety of the body in and of itself to breathe in and breathe out.

Continuing to spend a little bit more time on that exhalation,

Really noticing the body releasing and falling back down in its act of surrender with the exhalation.

If you are having a lot of thoughts right now,

Just acknowledge that.

Future thoughts,

Past thoughts,

Different stories,

Different narratives.

And you might just ask the narrative if it's okay to just set it aside for a little bit of time.

Is it safe to set the narrative aside or does that narrative need to be fixed right now in this very moment?

There's no right or wrong response,

Just check it out and see.

Either way,

Just noticing the body continues to breathe.

You might notice certain areas in your body that are holding or tight,

Even though the body is really has minimal requirements right now.

It's really fully supported,

It's fully taken care of.

There's no need for it to be at the ready,

So to speak,

But we habitually do hold and brace in our bodies.

And so we can consciously notice that we might be doing that.

And just seeing if it's safe to notice,

What we're noticing,

Is it safe to let some of the body release?

And it may not be,

So there's no,

Again,

No right or wrong or supposed to here,

Just noticing.

And we can just explore together through the body a little bit.

I always start with the jaw because the jaw is where I hold a lot.

And so I always just check to see in my cheeks and in my embouchure and my jaw,

Is there holding here now and does there need to be?

Again,

No right or wrong response.

I'm just checking into my own experience and with every exhalation,

Letting go of any unnecessary holding or gripping.

And really just be curious in those cheek sockets and in the jaw and even just letting the jaw open or the mouth area be soft.

See if there's any clamping happening,

Even subtle.

And what it's like to let that jaw go soft or open a little bit if it wants to.

And then the mind might be coming in,

The narrative might be coming in of who knows what,

Critical thoughts of anything really,

Or just curious thoughts even.

Just noticing the thoughts coming in.

That's what our minds do.

The job is to think.

And so that's really normal,

Just acknowledging that.

Noticing what it's referencing,

Past,

Future,

Problems,

Maybe just curious stuff.

And then just letting your attention gently come back to the exhalation,

The next exhalation.

And then into the neck,

Into the shoulders,

Into the armpits,

The elbows,

The fingers.

Letting the arms and the shoulders be heavy if they want to.

Maybe they want to hold and be tight and that's okay too.

Just being really curious of all the little hidden pockets within your being in this area.

Just notice if there's a sense of holding or if it feels okay to soften a bit.

Let the body really be heavy as it's in the chair.

And moving downward into the chest and into the belly.

These are really common places for holding to happen.

Habitual holdings and just acknowledging that which might be happening.

Not trying to fix it or change it or understand it.

Just noting that the body holds,

It tightens,

And that's really normal.

And we can just consciously connect with it to see if it is actually safe and find that that's what the body's doing sometimes.

Still feeling that breath come in and out as you're noticing the areas of the ribs,

The front and back ribs,

The side ribs.

Into the area of the diaphragm.

Kind of noticing the fullness or maybe the lack of fullness with which your lung cavity is filling.

You might just for fun and you can pause the recording to do this later or longer later.

Is to just notice the space of the side ribs,

How far they go to the outward so to speak.

Or the level of surface area that your body can take in or create with an inhalation.

When you're doing this later you might even put your hands under your armpits or in front of you or notice the space behind you.

Noticing that the direct movement of the ribs as the air fills the cavity of the lungs.

And just seeing what that's like to take some deeper inhalations.

Again,

No right or wrong,

Good or bad.

We're just noticing what it's like to be in this body.

To breathe with this body.

And then down lower into the diaphragm into the lower belly.

Noticing how it is for the belly or the diaphragm to fill and empty.

Again,

If the mind has gone to thoughts,

Just acknowledging that.

And as resonates or as possible just gently bringing those thoughts back into the curiosity of breath and sitting.

And then just a little bit more attention into the pelvic floor,

Back into the sit bones and noticing your breath as the breath weaves through this area.

Maybe a little more indirectly but also a little directly perhaps.

Everyone's experience is different here.

So just honoring your own.

There's no experience you're supposed to be having.

Just noticing your own.

And just being curious of the different sensations.

Maybe the different likes or dislikes.

Comforts and discomforts as you're noticing the breath here.

And feeling the body expand with the inhalation and release with the exhalation.

So at this point the body,

Generally speaking,

Is going to feel a little bit of a sense of knowing it's safe.

At least in a practical way.

Maybe not emotionally or psychologically but physically.

All of our bodies are in safe rooms in the sense that they're the rooms of our choosing,

Our homes.

Nobody is coming into our spaces uninvited.

All of our walls are pretty sturdy.

So the physicality of the body is somewhat safe,

I'm guessing,

For most of us.

And yet we might be having thoughts or imagery or narratives that suggest a different kind of reality,

Some unsafety.

Our minds are very powerful and we can easily get lost in another world altogether than the world that we're literally in.

And that's not bad.

That's a normal part of being human.

So we're not trying to change that or fix that.

We're just trying to get intimate with that happening.

And so if you get lost at times,

And I don't mean that in a negative way but just in a normal way,

In future thinking or past thinking,

Or if your sense of safety seems to be impacted,

As is true for most all human beings,

By these thoughts of future and of past,

We just want to acknowledge that and not pretend that that's not part of our reality.

And in this moment,

As you continue to really feel the presence of your chair and the presence of the field of gravity underneath you,

That's holding all of this and your breath,

I also want you just to acknowledge your fears,

That which leads you to feel unsafe.

And we're not going to need to go into the specifics of it,

Or I'm not going to reference it,

But you'll notice your own particularities and details come up.

And just acknowledging them in this moment,

Just kind of saying hi to them,

Like,

Okay,

Hi,

Hi,

That story and that fear and that challenge.

I see you,

I acknowledge you,

And I'm going to breathe and sit with you.

You're welcome here,

Too.

And as you invite in your thoughts of the future or the past,

You might feel different emotions,

Sadness,

Fear,

Anger,

And they may show up in certain body parts or body areas.

Just noticing that the breath and the chair are holding them as well.

They're here,

Too.

And I just want to just acknowledge them.

Yes,

You're welcome to be here,

Too.

Some of your thoughts are wanting to be fixed,

Or there might be challenges that you're really wanting resolution with,

And that's really valid and understandable,

And I want to acknowledge that they're real things,

Real factors that are important,

And I just want to bring them in and let them know that they're welcome to be here in their unique expressions and states.

As the thoughts are maybe spinning with them,

Or maybe not,

Maybe just going,

I want you just to gently bring your attention underneath the thoughts of your conflicts or challenges.

I want you to bring your attention to where you feel the impact of these challenges.

So while the heart,

For example,

Or while the head may be spinning,

For example,

The heart may be hurting,

Or the stomach may be clenching,

Or the shoulders might be tightening,

And just letting the head or the thoughts do themselves,

But really,

If possible,

To bring attention into the bodily response,

Into the heart's response,

Into the belly's response,

Or anywhere in between or elsewhere.

And just noticing that any emotion or sensation that's here is also held in breath,

And it's held by this chair in this moment,

In this room,

And I am inviting them to be here just as they are.

And while you're acknowledging your challenges,

Not trying to fix them or change them or solve them,

Just acknowledging them,

Letting them be here,

I want you to connect to something that,

And you're going to use your imagination for this on purpose,

Purposefully imagine something that makes you feel safe in your day-to-day life,

Or even now.

It might be you use your imagination to use your imagination,

So you might imagine,

For example,

A beach or something like that.

It might be something more practical,

Like for me,

It's almost always warmth.

I'm a heat junkie,

So I imagine a nice hot cup of tea,

And that to me feels like safety to my system.

So as you're breathing in and out with whatever you're experiencing right now,

I want you to use your imagination to guide you into connecting with what helps you feel tangibly safe.

You might not be able to have that cup of tea right now,

But imagine it.

And as you imagine that,

Which makes you feel safe or perhaps nurtured,

As you breathe in,

Imagine that,

And as you breathe out,

Just saying yes,

Not necessarily out loud,

Although you're welcome to,

Whatever feels right for you.

So you're breathing in this what,

That which brings you safety and comfort,

And exhaling yes,

Yes.

And just doing this in your own way,

Letting yourself have this,

Acknowledging this,

What your system has shared with you,

And receiving it with that yes,

And just feeling that for a few breaths here.

There's no right or wrong,

Good or bad here,

Just really trusting your own wisdom,

The wisdom of your system,

And then letting yourself imagine whatever you'd like,

Or whatever feels right for you,

And that yes to it.

And I want to just take some time here,

So when it feels like this is complete for you,

I want you just to kind of raise your hand,

You can keep your eyes closed,

But just raise your hand,

But take your time.

You can put your hand down when it feels,

When you've done that,

And we're just going to stay with this a little longer.

And if for any particular reason you're noticing a no come up,

Just welcome that no as well,

Like yeah,

You're welcome to be here.

We may not understand,

Or there may be a sense of understanding why that no comes,

But we're just really wanting to acknowledge whatever the experience is without trying to change it or have it be different.

And then we're just going to come back,

We're going to end by just coming back to the breath and sitting,

Just noticing the practicality and the factuality of the sitting and the breathing that's here again.

And then just kind of let the body,

While your eyes are closed,

Let the body kind of move a little bit into itself,

Maybe a little bit of stretching if it wants.

Just really being slow and gentle with yourself,

Really honoring what's here right now.

All is welcome here.

And lastly,

Just noticing sounds for a minute,

The sounds of my voice or the tones of my voice,

But also just take a moment to notice some sounds around you.

We've been doing lots of touch,

So you can notice touch and sound.

So the other senses don't get left out and get jealous,

We want to include,

If there's taste here,

Maybe some scent here.

And the direct experience of sight is going to be somewhat limited,

It's going to be pretty dulled,

Although you may have been having lots of images that was through imagination,

The direct experience of image or vision would be pretty dull right now with the eyes closed,

But just notice the shades of whatever is there for you,

Or maybe colors too.

And then just very slowly let your eyes open into your room,

Just kind of looking into your room,

Seeing vision now that comes in.

We notice shapes and lines coming together to create those shapes and colors and shades.

And then of course very quickly the mind comes in and labels and creates context and story.

And just taking your time to include your room,

And then when it feels right you can come back to the camera here and just check in a little bit.

Reviews

Lovely guidance to find safety, gentle and inviting. I slept a little afterwards. Thank you 🙏🏻

🙏

The pitch, tone, and cadence of your voice felt so calming. Bookmarking this for sure. Thank you!

Nice, calm and safe practice! No difficult or hard emotional surprises. It is hard for me to feel or imagine safety but in this practice you focus on the your body's experience on feeling safe, in what ever position you're in while practicing.
Thank you!