This practice is a somatic exploration of a mental and or emotional stressor that we are currently feeling.
We will be exploring where that resides in the body,
And then with movement and the breath,
Leaning into how we want to feel mind,
Body,
Spirit.
So to begin,
I invite you to bring something to mind that you hope to have more awareness around more or less control of in your life,
Or something that's just weighing heavily on you.
This can be a habit or behavior you wish to change a relationship you want to mend a person you hope to forgive.
Maybe it's just the entirety of life and all that's been going on.
View this as your current immediate presenting problem.
In this moment right now,
I'll give you a minute to sit through and sift through what's showing up for you and settle just on one thing.
Now as you hold that in your mind,
Whatever it was you settled on,
We are going to determine which area of the body our concern is residing,
Where it feels the heaviest,
Where it's the most noticeable.
Starting from the top of your head moving down to your feet,
Notice almost as if it were a metal detector.
Where your mind goes when you think about this concern,
This problem that you are holding,
Where it resides in your physical body.
Maybe it's the chest.
Maybe it's the temples or behind the eyes.
Maybe there's a tightness and you can't just,
You know,
Take a full breath.
Maybe you notice your hips are really tight.
Your fingers,
Your toes,
Any specific part of the body.
Noticing where it is in your muscles,
Your joints,
Your tendons,
Your ligaments,
Your bones.
Take a minute or two with your breath,
Feeling this concern in your body right here in this exact moment.
Now that you've located it within your body,
I invite you to bring conscious and kind awareness to what shows up when you reflect on why you chose this topic.
Pay attention to how your belly,
Your chest,
Your head feel when you reflect on this concern,
This problem.
What are the emotions that you associate with these visceral feelings?
Are there any positive or negative impacts of any of the stories you believe regarding this concern?
And honestly checking in with yourself,
How might you feel with increased awareness around this topic?
Knowing that you can stop reflecting,
You can stop bringing awareness at any point,
If at any point you feel ready to be done.
And so now we're going to work together with our breath to explore this even further.
So come to a comfortable seated position,
Ensuring that the spine is straight,
The shoulders are relaxed and the eyes are gently closed.
Take a big deep breath in through the nose,
Reaching the top of the head to the ceiling.
Exhale,
Noticing the energy moving down through the body into the feet anchoring you into the ground.
Take five full breaths like this slowly and steadily,
Making your in breath and out breath the same length as you drop deeper into this present moment.
As you breathe,
Let the belly be soft to encourage the breath to flow as deep as comfortable.
And if it helps to count the length of your breath,
You can do that in equal part inhaling for five or six,
Exhaling for five or six.
Two more like that.
Now shift your attention to the earth beneath you.
Depending on how you are seated,
You may be cross legged on the floor seated in a chair or in some other position.
Just tune into whatever physical reality supports you.
If it's the floor,
The couch,
The chair,
The bed.
Hold your attention there on the parts of the bodies that are of the body that is in contact with the surface beneath you.
Can you stay present to this for 10 full breaths.
Your mind will wander,
Just bring it back to the sensation the point of contact between your body and the surface you are sitting on.
It can help to be curious to observe any sensations,
Temperature,
Texture,
Level of comfortability.
Notice with each breath,
How it feels to increase your awareness of the contact being made.
From there,
Move your awareness and focus to the area of the body that you brought to mind earlier.
The part of the body that's holding tension that's making contact with that presenting concern or problem that you're holding,
Current stressor that you're carrying with you now.
What do you notice here?
What sensations just like we were observing a moment ago?
What sensations do you feel there if you could feel a temperature difference,
The texture of that space?
Do you observe a color?
Do you associate a smell?
Do you observe a color?
Do you associate a smell?
Kind of asking each of your senses to give an answer.
Numbness is something and so anything and everything is on the table here.
Stay present with whatever is showing up for another 10 full breaths.
Gently shifting your attention to hold the fullness of your body now.
In your awareness,
Notice what it feels like to be in or with your physical body right now.
Observing whatever sensations might be there.
Letting go of the fixation on the one spot and just holding the entirety of all that you're feeling physically in the body.
I'll invite you to go back to the space in the body that was holding the tension the concern.
And this time,
I want you to ask that part of the body what does he she they need?
And in this,
See if your body responds with a movement,
A shift in body posture,
Body positioning.
And I invite you to engage in whatever it is your body is needing or wanting.
Sometimes it's tears.
Sometimes it's a hug.
Sometimes it's curling up in a ball or laying flat on your back.
Anything goes.
So take a moment to listen and respond with how this concern is taking shape.
And then what it is your body is needing and how can you respond.
Noticing what it feels like to go from one to the next,
To the next position of the body,
How your body takes up space.
Notice a shift in your thoughts,
Emotions,
Physical sensation.
And then reflecting what do I make of that.
Continuing to play with this for another five full breaths.
And after those breaths,
I invite you to find a moment of stillness,
Palms up or palms on the heart.
Giving gratitude to yourself for practicing for showing up for exploring non judgmentally with curiosity.
Whenever you're ready,
Taking a final inhale through the nose,
Exhaling out through the mouth.
Gently fluttering the eyes open.
And that concludes our practice.
