Somatic Centering

In today's session, Prentis Hemphill will introduce you to the practice of somatic centering. This embodied practice helps you establish a better mind-body connection through observation and conscious breathing. Somatic Centering is designed to bring more breath, aliveness and rootedness into our bodies.

Transcript

Hello,

And welcome to day 16 of Insight Timer's Building Healthy Habits Challenge.

Let's take a moment to get settled.

Close your eyes.

Take a deep breath in and exhale out.

Let's dive into today's healthy habit.

Hello,

And welcome to the Building Healthy Habits Challenge here on Insight Timer.

My name is Prentice Hemphill,

And I am the director of the Embodiment Institute and the host of the podcast,

Finding Our Way.

Today I'm introducing you to a practice called somatic centering,

Which is an embodied practice designed to bring you more present,

Open,

And connected.

I first learned about centering when I started my studies as a somatic practitioner and teacher with an organization called Generative Sematics.

And really what this practice is designed to do is to have us re-inhabit our felt sense.

The things we experience,

The traumas we experience,

The traumas even of oppression,

Can live,

Can take hold of our bodies,

Our tissues,

Of our fascia,

Of our muscles,

Even of our moods and thoughts.

Somatic centering is about bringing more breath,

More aliveness,

More rootedness into our bodies so that we can be more present to what is,

We can be more open to what's to come,

And we can be in connection to ourselves,

To each other,

And the world around us.

So for this practice,

I'm going to ask you to either stand if you feel comfortable or stay seated if that works best for your body.

Really though,

Just want to ask that you are in a position where you can feel supported by the floor or by a chair,

But also alert,

Aware of your surroundings.

When we center,

We center with our eyes open.

We want to be able to feel ourselves and also feel life,

Feel what's outside of us.

We begin by first scanning,

Just noticing what's happening inside of our bodies.

This may be the first time today you've taken a moment to notice.

If there are parts of you that are elsewhere,

In different parts of your day,

In different parts of the room,

You want to invite them back in.

As you do that,

Allow your breath to deepen.

In this place,

Do you notice any sensations that are happening in your body?

Do you notice the temperature of the room?

Maybe your hands are cold,

But your legs are warm.

Do you notice any movement that's happening inside?

Could it be fluttering,

Heart beating,

Digestion?

Notice any places where you are tight or holding.

You might even notice that there are some places that you don't feel at all,

That feel numb to you.

We don't have to do anything about that or even make a story about what it means,

But we just want to allow that to be true.

That's good information.

I want to invite you,

In particular,

To bring your breath deeper into your belly.

Notice what has to happen,

What has to release,

What has to awaken to do that.

As you bring your breath deeper,

Let that breathing help root you.

You might hear or notice what your lower body feels like,

Your pelvis and your legs,

Your knees,

Your calves,

Your feet.

Feel the connection to the earth below you.

You might even imagine you can feel through the core of the earth,

Feeling through those layers of floor and ground,

And see if you can allow that relationship between the ground to support you.

And then we might also find ourselves extending upward,

So explore letting breath between your vertebrae.

Let your back lengthen,

The back of your neck lengthen,

As though there's a string on the back of your head connecting you to the sky.

We don't need to put on here over effort.

We want it to be a breathful,

Relaxed exploration of our length.

For some of us,

We might find that this dimension collapses for us.

We might hide or shrink in from this place,

Or some of us may overextend,

Push beyond our limits.

We want to find what is our natural length.

This dimension we talk about as where dignity can be expressed in a body.

How can you let dignity move through your length?

And how can you also feel from this place how your dignity might inspire or invite dignity in other people and living beings around you?

Great and we'll shift to the second dimension,

Which is width.

We might take a moment to feel your face ear to ear,

Let your jaw loosen,

Feel the width of your throat,

Feel yourself shoulder to shoulder,

Feel the width of your trunk,

Your hips,

Your legs,

Your feet,

Really breathing into and letting yourself occupy your full width to the edges of your skin.

This might be a dimension where we can explore connection,

How we become permeable,

How we listen for others and also let ourselves out.

It's also a dimension where we can express boundaries.

We can hold ourselves together.

Take a moment just to feel how you do those things.

Great and let's center into this third dimension,

Which is depth.

So again,

With that belly breathing,

We want to feel for ourselves front to back,

Back to front,

Letting our back bodies come online,

Feeling the backs of our heads,

Necks,

Backs of our shoulders,

Our upper and lower backs,

Our butts,

Backs of our legs,

Our heels.

And we might from this place really listen for what we know,

Where we come from,

What comes before us,

And who has our back.

Letting our backs soften and open to whatever's there.

And then allowing ourselves to feel internally.

Notice something that is happening,

A sensation that is happening real time inside of your body.

And honor all that happens without you having to think about it.

Now move towards your front body and we can feel for the front of our faces,

The tips of our noses,

Our chest,

Fronts of our thighs,

Kneecaps,

Our longest toes.

Letting the front of your body come awake.

And in this place we might meet this moment,

Meet now,

Without rushing towards it,

Moving in front of our center.

We can be in this moment.

And lastly we're going to center with what we care about.

So from your center,

From that deep belly place,

You might ask,

What is it I care about?

What is it I'm committed to?

And whatever answer comes,

You can let those words,

That information start to reshape your body.

Let whatever it is that you care about live more in your cells,

In your tissues,

In your hands,

In your face,

In your heart.

And as we close this practice,

Just take a moment and notice your mood.

What mood are you in?

What do you feel?

And whatever that is,

Record it,

Allow it,

Practice authenticity with yourself in this practice.

I hope this practice serves you day,

Serves your lives,

And thank you for practicing with me.

Reviews

Beautiful, different, incorporated themes that were new, DIGNITY

I added this practice to my favorites list upon first hearing it in the challenge. Revisiting my my favorites list currently in order (my own challenge). This practice is a deviation from my norm and such a gift. Thank you.

This was very interesting. I am learning to be in my body and heart centers after spending a lot of my life in my head. I am growing more comfortable all the time.

First time doing a somatic practice. I was a little distracted but really enjoyed it. Looking forward to trying it again! 🙏🏻

Yes yes yuussss this was so good. You're rad. Thank you.

Deep knotted tension in my body felt easier after this. I will repeat daily.
Thank you 🙏🏻

Perfectly paced and spaced. The gentle progression around the body truly helps to center, focus, and relax you.

I loved the connection that Prentis makes between the three dimensions of the body's "posture" and our emotional life - dignity, things we care about. That's a powerful aspect of this meditation. Very helpful!

I love your calming voice , it’s a beautiful calming and grounding practice! Thank you

fantastic meditation! Simple and deep, very effective. Thank you 🙏🏼

I'm convinced this is the more helpful guided meditation available on this app! I come back to it time and time again to connect with my body and feel recharged. It's so unique and effective. Thank you Prentiss for brining this to Insight Timer!!

Really lovely, I felt deeply connected and content. Really clear and simple. Thank you very much

This practice left me unsure. I could feel the discomfort in my own body. It left me wanting to leave a poor rating until I realized that perhaps was the point. This practice allowed me to tune in differently. I leave intrigued and wanting to learn more about somatic centering.

I really enjoyed this way of centering myself. It felt more multi dimensional for me. Thank you 🙏 I recommend you give it a try.

Such a lovely neutral calming practice. Thank you!

Provided some relief from anxiety tightness in the chest and a greater awareness of body.

Beautiful thank you! I would love to see more of these somatic centering on here. 😇🙏

The cues allowed me to feel more present and aware of places I was holding reined in or constricted

Thank you so much Prentis for creating this practice! It is so powerful! I have done hundreds of meditations on Insight timer and this one is my absolute favourite. It brings me home to myself and leaves me feeling centered and strong every time. I can’t recommend enough! 🙏

Wonderful guidance in this meditation 🙏🌟🙏 I look forward to future tracks! And I’m definitely going to check out your podcast 💖