Hi,
In this exercise we're going to practice something called somatic tracking,
Which means that we're going to bring our awareness to different parts of the body to help us develop a easeful relationship with any kind of pain that might be there.
This exercise you don't have to do regularly,
It's not like a meditation practice you need to build on or do every day.
Really it's just about having this as a tool in your phone or in your pocket or on your computer that you can come to whenever you feel inspired or if you need any kind of support when when you're experiencing pain or or anytime you feel that this exercise might help you in your day.
So just start with just coming into the body and bringing your awareness back into yourself for a moment and just noticing your contact of your body with the chair or the bed.
You may want to lie down for this or you can be sitting just anywhere where it's comfortable for you.
And before we go into the body we're going to just take a little scan around the room because the room we're in is a place of holding for us and any place that we are in whether it's in a room,
In our house or even if we're out and about,
Our body and our nervous system is always looking for cues of safety so and it does that through the senses.
So just take a moment to just in your seat with your awareness inside take a little scan around the room that you're in or maybe if you're outside you can scan around your environment and just very gently allowing your eyes to just follow around,
Allowing your head to move around and just following your curiosity,
Just observing the room or the environment and noticing maybe the shape of the space that you're in.
Notice where the ceiling meets the wall and where the floor meets the wall and noticing any objects that are maybe hung around the wall or any items of furniture just taking in their shape and their color and noticing what happens in your body as you do that and then maybe just let your eyes land on one item that for you feels like it brings a sense of comfort so it could be could be something like a plant or a lamp or even a pen or an item of clothing or if you're outside it could be something from nature and just let your eyes just land on it and just let yourself receive the physical presence of that item so you're you're holding your awareness inside and you're just allowing your eyes to gaze on this object just for a moment taking in its color and its shape and when you're ready you can close your eyes,
Come back to yourself and just get comfortable take a few breaths if you need to and I invite you to bring your awareness to that part of your body where you notice any kind of pain or discomfort and we're just going to just observe the pain or discomfort if you it's like you if you can do it from a bit of distance and hold a bit of space between yourself and the pain I'm just kind of observing it with a gentle curiosity and just allow yourself to follow the sensations as you observe you might notice that the sensations travel or change or you might notice the the feeling and the sensations change into a different type of sensation just let yourself observe and I'll just be quiet for a moment and I'm sitting here with you as you track the sensation in your body and if it ever gets too intense or any any kind of overwhelm occurs you can always come back to the contact of your body with the chair or your breath or take even more distance from the sensation as much as you need and when you're ready I invite you to bring your awareness to a part of your body that feels comfortable and feels safe and perhaps held in some kind of way so it could be any part of the body it could be your hands it could be your face it could be your neck just a place that feels ease and comfort of some sort even just a little bit of comfort and just allowing yourself to rest there for a few moments and just notice what happens in you as you do that and very gently when you're ready we're going to go back again to the area of your body or maybe a different area where there is pain or discomfort and you might notice a color or a shape or a story or any kind of thoughts that come up that's okay just noticing everything and seeing if you can track the sensation again and see if it moves or maybe it's trying to tell you something or maybe it is requesting something or maybe it's demanding something just see if you can hold a little bit of gentle curiosity we don't have to do anything or change anything you're just going to observe this from a safe place together and I'll just be quiet again for a moment now as we do that and just take your breath there and when you're ready I invite you to come back to another place or the same place as before a place of comfort in the body see if you can relax into that a little bit more and just rest your awareness in that comfortable place could even just be a toe or one finger and just notice any colors or images or stories or sensations or there might not be anything at all that's okay you just let yourself rest there for a moment and very gently when you're ready just coming back to the breath take a few breaths maybe letting yourself yawn or sigh if you need to take a stretch gently open your eyes and very gently just let yourself land let your eyes land on a few objects again just taking in the space taking in the environment and noticing what goes on inside as you do that and know that when whenever you're in any kind of pain or discomfort it's always available to you to look around the room or the space and just to find one or two items that bring some kind of comfort it could just be the color or the shape or the memory that they evoke as that can act as a little bit of soothing and calming for the nervous system even just for a moment can make a big difference and so just bringing this practice to an end just giving yourself a moment of quiet and a moment of gratitude and enjoy your day
