Practice Embodied Listening | My Poem: (untitled)

I guide you into an embodied grounded state, to feel where & how the words land, while you listen to part 1 of a poem that I wrote about years of pressure, perfectionism, living as a (at that time still unknowingly) neurodivergent person in a high demand environment, without any accomodations, losing oneself in this undertaking of surviving.
(Poem time: 5'33" to 7'22")

I've found embodied listening a good practice for mindfulness in the body. The more we practice the more familiar it gets, so that we can bring our embodied presence with us more easily into our everyday life.

Up to my early 30s I rarely listen to the signals of my body, or I noticed and felt like I had to override to get by.
Nowadays I practice embodiment, to reestablish that relationship of trust both ways with my body.

Get to know yourself deeper: You might want to sit with the experience afterwards, perhaps journal about how the words spoke to you? Have you experienced something similar?

With love
Madeleine

Transcript

Hello, Dear one. This is a poem that I wrote about the burden of by high performance. Pressure. Perfectionism and also living as a neurodivergent person in a high demand environment without appropriate support and losing oneself in this Undertaking of surviving. I invite you to embodied listening. This is when we are in our body while we're listening to something or experiencing something. So you do this by setting the intention, By saying or thinking, I choose to practice embodied listening, I choose to be in my body. As I listen to this poem. And what you want to do is connect with your body and your heart. It can help to place a hand on your heart or your belly or on your lap. And feel into your feet, Feel into the soles of your feet. This way you will guide your attention downwards into the body so therefore also guide your energy more into your body and more into a grounded state And then as you listen, You want to continue to stay in your body, Relax the muscles and Breathe naturally, Allow the breath to flow. And you want to notice what you notice. So you are feeling your body tracking maybe there's a twitch somewhere tingling or tightening shifts in temperature maybe you get the image of a color or a shape or maybe you feel a sensation in your knee or your shoulder, Whatever it is. Simply notice what you notice. Maybe a tightening in the throat. Nothing you need to change, Simply notice and without judgment. That is important. We want to put all the judgment aside and also put clinging aside, So yeah. Okay my throat is activated already Um. . . Sorry. Yeah, So you want to feel what you feel without trying to remember everything. Allow it to flow and simply think, You say, Oh, Notice. That's how I do it. For example, Notice tingling, Notice twitch in and then the body part and then I And sometimes I only think the word, I notice that. In case you want to journal about it afterwards, Trust that you will remember what is important for you, Okay? So it is a practice, So allow the shoulders to relax now, Take a few deep breaths and if you feel activated after the poem. Use your breath as your anchor and focus on your feet again. Focus on the touch of your hands on your feet. Heart space or on your knees and breathe through your heart into your feet. You can feel your roots below your feet. Imagine you have roots holding you. Feel how gravity is holding you. These are your resources, Okay? Your breath and gravity. They got you. You're safe, Okay? Let's begin. We're taking another deep breath together, Breathing in. And breathing out. Okay. I'm going to wiggle my shoulder a little bit. Fine. Give it a little shimmy. And then relax the muscles. As I now read. This poem for you. I hid myself in the shadows of shame. My heart closed. By the burdens of resentment and blame. The silent symphonies of critical thought. Played their game. My body echoed to the dreams of my soul. I did what I could to stay in control. I kept my eyes on the goal. Pushing myself despite the aching. I lost track of my joy during the undertaking. High demands, Responsibilities, Shooting. No time. To let my heart fly. Adapting and adjusting plus two jobs to get by. Gradually dimming my quirky, Bright, Natural light. Working hard, Attending classes all day, Studying all night. Worrying if those in charge would accept my peace. Doing my best to be enough. Forgetting what is E. So now allowing that to land. This is the first part of the poem. It's a four or five part long poem, But we'll stay with this shorter version now. Maybe it's relatable for a situation you have lived through and experienced. Maybe not. Maybe something similar or something parallel. Or maybe not. Either way, It's okay. Breathe. And allow the body to relax again. We can take a couple of deep breaths together. Let's make it three. So breathing in 1, 2, 3, 4 and breathing out 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 breathing in and breathing out we can add a hum to the out-breath, Breathing in And out. Aum. The humming helps calm the body again. The vibration stimulates the vagus nerve, Which is calming for our system. Imagine how your breath flows into your heart and out through your feet. Feel the earth. Feel how gravity is holding you and giving you steadiness as you breathe. You are safe and all is well. And I invite you to explore what came up for you, If anything at all came up. Journal about it, Perhaps. Ask yourself why something was activated, How it relates to your life maybe. Another thing you can do is to simply let it be what it is. Acknowledge what you noticed and then let it go. That is perfectly well as well. Thank you for practicing embodied listening with me. Thank you for listening to my poem. I wish you lots of love and many beautiful blessings. Take care, Dear one. Until we meet again.

Reviews

Madeline sending you so much love I hope you no you are perfect 👌 just the way you are❤️🤗😘