Hi,
This is Orit Krug,
Board certified dance movement therapist and trauma and relationship expert.
Today,
I would love to guide you through a movement-based meditation on how to navigate difficult conversations.
Sometimes when we know that there is an uncomfortable conversation that needs to be had,
There is so much fear built up around it.
This idea of the conversation sometimes can get blown way out of proportion and it becomes so much more difficult and scarier in our minds than it actually is.
I know from my personal experience that when I've built it up so much beforehand,
I can then go and have this conversation and it's way easier than I ever imagined.
So in this movement meditation,
I'd really love to explore that with you and see what really needs to happen to navigate a difficult conversation.
And maybe by the end,
It might not even feel that difficult.
To begin,
Position yourself in any way that feels good to your body right now.
And we're going to take a deep breath in together,
Breathing in and breathing out.
With your eyes closed or your gaze lowered,
I'm going to invite you to put your hands out in front of you,
Holding your palms open as if you're about to receive something from the sky or from the space around you.
And if you could imagine or picture or even feel what this conversation that you're about to have,
What it feels like or what it looks like,
See it as an object or a ball of energy or ball of light dropping down into your hands,
Into your palms.
It could be anything you want it to be,
Anything you imagine it to be.
It could simply be a ball of a colored light.
It could be an object like a stick.
It could be anything.
See it coming down into your palms and hold it.
It might feel really scary depending on what the object is.
Maybe it's something that could potentially hurt you if it's handled wrong or if you squeeze it too tight.
It might be elusive.
And if you drop it or handle it a certain way,
It might cause you to be abandoned or to feel abandoned and like you can't find this thing that you really want.
Now that you have this object in your hand,
I'm actually going to invite you to start moving with it,
Start playing with it.
Maybe you want to move the object from hand to hand.
Maybe you want to try to throw it up and catch it.
Maybe not.
Maybe it's too risky to do that.
You can turn this object into anything.
So if it started out as a ball of light,
A yellow ball of light,
Maybe you turn that into a yellow lotion and you rub it into your arms.
It might sound silly,
But that would be your mind judging this.
And I would really encourage you to allow your body and your imagination to lead right now.
Allow your body to lead this experience with this object represented as the very difficult and scary conversation that you'll have.
And see how you move with it and interact with it.
It might become more playful.
It might be really delicate and that dictates how you move with it.
It might transform into an object that first seemed really scary,
But now seems kind of funny or silly.
And your mood and energy changes around it.
And whatever you're doing,
However you're moving with this object,
I'm just going to ask you to find a way to end this experience in a way that feels good to you.
Maybe you want to put the object away in a drawer.
Maybe you want to put it in your pocket or throw it out the window and never see it again.
You might want to be totally done with it now or put it in a place where you can safely find it again later when you need it.
See what you want to do and realize that this is all a metaphor for this conversation that you want to have.
Something that feels really scary,
Really difficult.
You actually have a choice and control over how you want it to go,
Over how you respond to it and move with the subject.
You have a choice in how you want to interact with the conversation and the person you're having it with.
It might feel more familiar to be really serious and on guard and worried about how it's going to go,
But there's so many other things to take into consideration.
Can you be more playful with it?
Can you approach the conversation delicately instead of getting defensive?
Does it actually have potential to become something easier and lighter to talk about?
Depending on how you ended this movement meditation,
Does your body signify to you that you want to never talk about this again or keep revisiting the conversation whenever it is useful to do so?
Take another deep breath in and breathe out.
I hope that this experience gave you clarity or a different perspective around navigating difficult conversations.
You can use this meditation anytime you're about to have a difficult conversation or just in general as a self-development tool around confrontation.
Thanks so much for trying this out and until next time,
You deserve to have healthy,
Loving interactions no matter how hard it may seem.
