Welcome and thank you for joining me for this practice on feeling seen and soothed.
We all have an innate desire to be seen and nurtured and it's so common to look to others and to look to our accomplishments and external circumstances to help us feel seen and soothed and in this practice I'm going to guide you through a process of checking in with yourself that you can do in any moment.
It'll help you see yourself and soothe yourself no matter what comes up as a challenge in life so you've got your own back.
You can begin by placing your right hand on your stomach and your left hand over your heart inviting some slow deep breaths coming home to your breath with your awareness.
If you'd like to increase your sense of relaxation and ease make your exhale longer than your inhale.
This is a way to remind your body that you're safe and soothe your nervous system.
Now I'll invite you to name the emotions that are in your body and a good way to discover what emotions are here is to gently scan through your body and with curiosity and kindness notice what physical sensations are visiting you in this moment.
Perhaps you can feel a tightness in your neck and shoulders,
A clenching in your abdomen,
A buzzing in your hands.
So see what's here right now,
Not making it mean anything.
These physiological sensations are clues to what emotions may be visiting us.
Emotions actually manifest as physical sensations that pass through the body and when you take 90 seconds to just feel the emotions that often can release them.
It's not a magic pill or a magic trick.
Sometimes I need to do this process of naming my emotions and feeling them in my body many times and this is a process that takes practice.
So once you've named the physical sensations that are here,
Drop into the sensations,
Feel them.
When you notice that your mind has wandered off into a story or worry,
Simply bring your awareness back to feeling.
Again,
You're not trying to discover why you feel this way or going deep into the drama of who said what or what happened.
That's normal for your mind to do.
The brain is designed to protect you and keep you safe.
So anytime that happens,
Just bring your awareness back to the feeling.
In Kristin Neff's work on self-compassion,
She has this great phrase called,
Feel it to heal it.
What's the temperature of the feeling?
How is it moving?
Now that you've felt the physical sense of the sensation,
You can bring to mind what emotions are here.
What emotions are associated with this sensation?
There's five core emotions.
So try on any of these,
Saying to yourself,
This is joy,
This is anger,
This is fear,
This is sadness,
This is disgust.
These emotions are the waves and you are the ocean.
Naming your emotions is called name it to tame it.
You may need to keep practicing naming your emotions and if you're feeling like,
I don't really know what emotion is here,
That's okay.
You can just say to yourself,
This feels uncomfortable or I feel icky.
Whatever words come to mind that resonate for you.
To end this practice,
We'll offer a little bit more nurturing and soothing to ourselves.
You might try on saying to yourself in your mind,
I'm listening,
I'm here for you,
Darling.
It's okay.
This belongs.
Try on whatever language feels nourishing to you and say it to yourself as if you're saying it to a friend or loved one who you deeply care about.
You might even bring a smile to your face.
If you're feeling difficult emotions,
It also helps to connect with a common sense of humanity and remember that we all experience these feelings.
Telling yourself,
I'm not alone.
We all have different experiences in life and we all have experienced the feelings of anger,
Sadness,
Disgust,
Joy and fear.
Notice in your body what feels different now.
Take a deep inhale,
Sighing out on the exhale,
Acknowledging yourself for creating this time to better care for yourself.
May you be of service to yourself and many others in this world.
Thank you.
Peace and blessings to you.
