This meditation is for support with rejection sensitivity.
Find yourself a comfortable position.
I invite you to decide whether you'd like to walk during this if you do feel currently activated by rejection sensitivity.
Sometimes sitting still is not the wisest thing to do,
So just know your nervous system and consider if sitting with somatic cues for this practice will feel helpful,
Or whether light movement is going to support you better.
I am here to guide you through a practice of coming back to yourself and building regulation again in your nervous system.
Whichever position you are choosing for now,
See if you can make contact with the floor below you.
That could be the feeling of your legs on a cushion or a carpet,
Your feet on the ground,
Lightly touching the floor,
And just take an inhale and an exhale.
One more time,
Inhale deeply,
Exhale deeply.
Notice what rejection sensitivity feels like in your body.
Do you notice a specific area of your body that gets agitated?
Do you feel tension,
Heat?
Are tears emerging from your eyes?
Is your heart racing?
Are you holding any tension?
Are you contracting your muscles?
Are you tightening your hands into fists?
Whatever you notice with tension can be helpful to see if it can be gently released here.
To get into the body a little further,
I want you to sway back and forth,
Just moving the center of gravity around,
Letting it shift you like you're swaying in a breeze,
Or that something heavy inside of you is shifting you,
Wobbling you back and forth,
Maybe front and back,
Side to side.
Notice how the sense of motion feels,
If it's calming,
If you can allow your muscles to release tension as you do it,
So that the motion pairs with a release of stress and anxiety in the body.
Close your eyes if you'd like to,
Or just keep them gently open,
Gazing somewhere soft.
Again,
Check with the body of any symptoms that you're having of rejection sensitivity and activation in the nervous system.
Are you feeling any pressure in your head?
Are you having racing thoughts?
Something I find very helpful is to take my hand and place it across my forehead often,
So it's partially covering the temple on one side of my face,
And then across my brow and over the hand,
As a contrast to the heat of my skin.
And this is just a physical cue,
A reminder to me,
To let this area of my body settle also.
Where I may be having racing thoughts,
Is it possible to send them this cool energy?
This sense of neutralizing the pain.
And you might shift your hand lower down on your body,
Toward your heart,
If that feels helpful.
And play around with the pressure here,
So sometimes for me it feels better for me to press more firmly on my heart,
Really making contact.
Sometimes I use two hands together,
Other times just a gentle touch.
It could even be with a soft little stroking motion,
Just holding my hand lightly over my heart.
And this is another axis of the nervous system that you can just hold with physical presence here,
Giving your nervous system a chance to remember that it's okay to be here,
Even if you are triggered in this moment.
Something that we're doing here that's really important,
Is that we are not judging your rejection sensitivity.
We may be supporting some gestures of calmness and support for regulation in the nervous system,
But while doing that,
We're not doing it because we want to get rid of rejection sensitivity out of shame,
Out of embarrassment,
Out of judgment or hatred.
Just see inside yourself if any of those words I've said aloud resonate with you.
Parts of you that might hate your sensitivity.
You might even hear a part of you inside that says,
I'm so pathetic for responding this way.
I know that they weren't rejecting me.
Why do I have to feel so sensitive?
So if you have a part of you there that's like this,
This part is also here in the practice.
It can be held right here,
The hating this experience,
Along with the having this experience.
I'm doing a really gentle swaying,
Rocking,
Swaying,
Swaying motion as I'm speaking to you.
I'm just moving my torso front to back in a rhythmic motion that helps me feel comforted.
If you are struggling to contain these difficult feelings,
It's okay to move with them.
Sometimes feelings have a lot of energy to them and need a little bit of movement.
You might circle your pelvis and your hips around your torso around a little bit in a circle,
Just to see if you can allow the motions to swirl as they need to.
Just breathing gently here.
Check again.
How does your rejection sensitivity feel right now?
Listen to it.
See if you can make your heart big enough to open to it.
To trust it in this moment.
It doesn't have to be accurate or right,
But just to trust that it's an important part of you by turning to it,
Letting it be,
Letting it be as big as it needs to be right now.
You can make space for it.
Just listen if it has any words for you,
If it wants to tell you about why it's triggered.
Whatever its words are,
If you can listen deeply,
You're doing your job.
The sensations might not go away right away.
You might not automatically feel better after this meditation,
But know that you've given yourself space and care and love.
Take your time to breathe as many breaths as you want to here,
Being present with yourself just the way you are.
Letting go of judgment and tension,
Being patient with your body and your emotional process.
I'll leave you here.
