In this practice we will try something called pendulation and this is really useful to work with difficult sensations in the body when you are feeling some real discomfort or some real trigger somewhere in the body,
Some tension,
Some tightness,
Could be connected to trauma not necessarily.
You can use this technique to start to soften that tension as well as start to change your relationship to the experience.
And so this is actually often used in trauma work but I want to just have a disclaimer here that if there is some big trauma that you are working through I would recommend always working with a professional in person or online with a professional therapist or a licensed counselor.
And otherwise this is something that you can try for yourself and whatever it is that you choose to work with today in this practice I would ask to not choose the most intense thing right now going on in your life or the most intense unpleasant sensation,
Just choose something that is low or medium intensity just to sort of get a feel for it and then you can also try it with more intense feelings after you get the technique down.
Alright so we'll go ahead and get started.
So get comfortable wherever you're at and if you are lying down just feeling the connection of your body against the floor,
If you are seated then making sure your feet are in contact with the ground,
Letting your hands be soft and relaxed in your lap or folded and just allowing yourself a few nice deep breaths breathing in and out through the nose if that feels nice for you,
Just getting settled in.
Opening,
Expanding with each breath in and letting go,
Relaxing with each breath out.
And of course there might be thoughts and feelings,
Emotions,
Sounds,
You know let all these things just be here as part of your experience.
Welcoming whatever is here as you just focus in on the breath and we'll go ahead and turn to the practice so I want to first invite you to find somewhere in your body that feels safe or okay,
Maybe even pleasant,
It could be the softness of your hands,
Stability of your feet,
The support of the chair against your lower back or it could be something external,
It could be a nice sound you hear,
It could be a smell even,
Can you find something that is soft or relaxing in your experience and just turn your attention towards that.
And if it's hard to find something,
You might even find something neutral,
Something that isn't too flavorful,
It could just be noticing the weight of your body,
Something that doesn't feel positive or negative either way.
And you can also use your imagination,
Thinking back to a place that you love,
A place or a time that made you feel welcome,
Cared for,
Safe and just stay with that,
Whether it's a feeling or a memory,
A sense of softness in your body somewhere,
Just stay with that for a couple of minutes.
And if the mind gets pulled away,
Just gently coming back to that pleasant feeling or memory,
Just really soaking it in,
Maybe there's even a smile that comes to your face.
And now,
Let's switch our attention now to whatever is uncomfortable in your body,
Whatever is uncomfortable in your experience right now.
And whether that's tightness or tension or breath,
Shortness of breath or tension in the shoulders or some agitation somewhere,
Just pick the place that is most unpleasant that is drawing your attention.
And let's just dip into there for a few seconds,
Noticing what sensations you feel,
Breathing with it,
Breathing through it.
And if this is already overwhelming,
Then I would suggest you either open your eyes and pause,
Look around the room and just kind of get re-grounded.
And if it's not too overwhelming,
Then just stay with this for a little bit,
And you just be with this without trying to change it and all its discomfort.
Putting aside the storyline,
Putting aside any ideas or thoughts around this,
Just tuning into the bare physical sensations,
Unpleasant and uncomfortable.
And now let's switch back to that pleasant feeling and that nice memory that you brought up a couple of minutes ago.
Let's just go back to that.
You might even take a nice deep breath in to mark the transition.
Just refocus your attention on that nice,
Pleasant feeling,
Allowing for the possibility to just soften and feeling the connection of the floor beneath you.
Breathing naturally,
Just noticing what feels nice about this.
Is there some texture,
Some smoothness,
Or some brightness?
Is there some color?
And now I want to invite you just for a few seconds to dip back into the unpleasant feeling,
Wherever that is in your body.
And just shifting your attention back to the discomfort.
Letting yourself breathe.
And noticing if there's been any shift in intensity.
And getting curious.
What is it like right now?
And after a few seconds,
Just going back to the pleasant feeling again.
Pleasant feeling or the memory.
And staying with that.
And it's okay if there's still a sense of this unpleasantness or discomfort in the background.
That's totally normal.
But in the foreground,
In the real focus center point,
You can have your focus on the pleasant sensation or the memory.
Or the smell or the sound.
So,
We'll finish up our practice here in a few moments.
But you can of course continue this as long as you like or feels necessary.
And so I want to invite you to just take a nice deep breath in through the nose.
And out through the mouth.
When you're ready,
You can start to bring some movement into the hands.
And the feet,
Ankles and the wrists.
Wiggling the fingers and the toes.
Maybe even rolling the shoulders.
Opening your eyes.
Maybe even just rub your legs or just some part of your body.
Just making some physical contact with your body.
Re-establishing any connection that might have been lost.
Just really feeling yourself here in the moment.
And thanking yourself for taking this time out to try this practice.
And lastly,
I'll just say that you can come back to this practice whenever you need to.
And sometimes all you really need is two or three minutes of this.
You know,
We did a bit of a longer session,
But that may not be necessary.
You might just stay with a pleasant sensation for a few minutes and then dip into the unpleasant for a few seconds.
And back one time and that's enough.
Other times you might want to go back and forth several times.
So most importantly,
Just notice how you are responding to this.
And if you are at any point feeling overwhelmed doing this practice,
Then I would just stop it and go for a walk.
Do some movement with your body.
And you can try and come back to it in a shorter session.
So it's best to go slow with this sort of practice and not to try and sit here for an hour and do this.
That would be overdoing it.
So with that said,
I hope this was helpful for you.
And I wish you a wonderful rest of your day and week.
Thank you.
