Good morning,
I'm Miriam Amavi and I know that mornings can be really stressful.
There is a lot of cortisol moving through our bodies,
We might have a stressful day ahead and now we're gonna do some somatic exercises to build our capacity for stress,
To discharge any stress that is accumulated,
So we can feel capable and strong for our day.
Because we can't relax when our nervous system doesn't feel safe,
So we're gonna signal safety now.
And what you can do when you feel a lot of energy that is in your body,
When you feel a lot of stress,
You can just shake your body or pat down your body and you can do this as much or as little as you like.
You can also just move,
Kind of intuitively stretch yourself if that feels better.
Just really listen to your body,
What it needs here.
You can also stand up and shake your whole body if that's what you feel you need,
Or bounce up and down.
But if you feel a little more lethargic,
You can just start to wash your body like you're under the shower and you just see what feels like a fit for you today,
Because tomorrow it might be something different.
And wherever you're at,
Just notice the sensations.
And whenever you're done with the shaking,
If you are shaking or intuitively moving,
You can and join us with the washing motion.
And you can do this over your arms and just really focus on the sensations that you can perceive here.
Is it kind of bumpy or is it smooth?
Is it warm or is it cool?
The qualities of the sensations that you are generating.
Then you can also come to your torso and just wash your torso and notice what it feels like for your belly to be touched like that.
You can also come to your back and perhaps your back asks for a little massage.
And these are really good ways of attuning to our body's needs,
That when your body asks for something like a massage or a stretch,
You just give it to it.
And then you can come to your legs and just kind of wash your legs and notice where it feels most nourishing to wash your legs.
And this helps the nervous system to discharge stress,
Because we come from the mind into the body and we feel the boundaries of our body.
Because in stress,
We often don't really feel what's present right now.
We don't really feel embodied.
And through this,
We come back into the body.
We're activating the vagus nerve,
Which helps us come back into rest and digest and just feel ourselves more attuned to what we need and what we feel like.
You can change the leg.
You can also start tapping like this if this feels nice.
Otherwise you can just return to the washing.
And you can also make noises here like sighing or fluttering the lips like this.
And this also furthermore releases all of this stress energy or the tension that we carry.
And now we want to do a little vagus nerve massage.
And for this you can start by bringing your fingertips to the sides of your throat and just gently stroke down like this.
This is not supposed to be uncomfortable.
So do this in a way that feels good for you.
The vagus nerve is the nerve that carries signals of safety to our brain.
And when our brain feels safe,
Our body relaxes too.
When we have more capacity for stressors and for just life in general,
We're less anxious.
And by doing this,
We're stimulating the vagus nerve directly.
And now you can bring your fingertips to your ears and just massage your ears in a way that feels nice for you.
Just notice if you have any releases like yawning or sighing or swallowing too.
And then you can just give your scalp a little massage.
This is also a great way to wake yourself up or to have a little break if you've been working a lot.
And then you can come with your pointy fingers to the sides of your nose and just gently do little circles here with gentle pressure.
I notice these deeper sighs.
This means that my nervous system is shifting into rest and digest.
And then you can do the havening motion and just arrive in your body,
Maybe sway from side to side,
Noticing that another day has begun.
And just notice the sensations here.
Receive this gentleness from yourself because our nervous system works so much better with gentleness rather than pressure and stress.
So we just really want to offer ourselves this moment of grace.
Left hand on your right shoulder.
This is the containment hug and you can sway from left to right and just hold yourself like this,
Acknowledging that another day has begun,
Acknowledging that there might be a lot going on either internally,
Externally,
Or both.
And just gently letting your inner world know that you're here and that you are capable and strong.
Just receiving this sense of being held by yourself.
Take another deep breath in and let it all go.
And if you want to deepen your somatic practice and nurture your nervous system,
Soothe your nervous system,
You can always check out my other meditations and videos and courses on my Insight Time-Lapse profile and come back to this practice daily so these exercises can actually unfold their magic and so you can build even more capacity in your nervous system for your day.
I'm Miriam Amavi.
Bye bye.
