Hello and welcome!
Rhodes Perry here and I am thrilled to share with you a somatic centering practice.
Centering.
Why do we do it?
Centering is a practice that builds the muscle and the skill of being present,
Open,
Connected,
And centered in what we care most about.
It builds presence.
It helps us keep on mission and responsive to change at the same time.
Centering helps us feel ourselves and helps us to make more space for sensations and emotions.
It helps us become more curious about them and less reactive.
It also helps us to feel others,
To build empathy,
And to be more effective in relationships.
Centering purposefully allows us to practice staying connected to what matters most to us.
It helps us build resilience and it helps us to re-center when we're often activated under pressure.
That's why we do it and this is the short version of the practice.
So if you find limited time,
Go ahead and return to this short practice to bring you back to a grounded,
Present,
And open state.
First,
Make sure your eyes are softly gazing outward and that you're able to take in as much of the room that you're in as possible.
Make sure your feet are hip-width distance apart and go ahead and bring your attention to your body.
Notice any kind of sensations,
Emotions,
And internal dialogue,
And come into feeling and sensing yourself.
What's here?
There's no need to change anything.
There's nothing to do,
Just to be with what the body is feeling and experiencing.
Now,
Bring your attention and your breath two inches below your belly button.
And I want you to place your hands there and just to ask your body,
What matters most to me right now?
And really feel for what's there.
Notice why you're doing this practice.
Really listen to the body and what it longs for,
What it loves,
What it wants more of.
And from the the soles of your feet to the top of your head,
Really notice the length of your body.
Take a breath in through the heart space,
And go ahead and send that breath all the way down through your legs and out through the soles of your feet into the floorboards.
And continue breathing in a slower,
More intentional way.
Not manipulating the breath,
Just more intentionally taking breath in and then taking it out.
Settling and lengthening,
Feeling for those long bones in your body,
And finding your sense of dignity.
Feel how the length of your body reminds you of your dignity.
How do you move through the world with dignity in this length?
What's possible when you feel this length being in a state of dignity?
And really notice the pressure,
The temperature,
The sensations of the body that are responding to that question.
Next,
I invite you to unfurl.
Really widen from your right side to your left side.
If you want to sway from left to right,
If you want to extend your right arm and your left arm out to your sides,
Maybe twisting just to kind of feel into the edges of your body.
And really balancing from left to right,
Right to left,
Unfurling,
Really kind of imagining your superhero coming out,
Taking up as much space as possible,
And really centering,
Right?
Really finding that sense of belonging that lives inside of your heart,
And your connection to feeling a sense of belonging to the space around you.
And just notice what's here,
Right?
If that's a feeling that doesn't come as easily to you,
Just have compassion for what arises.
Place your hand on your heart,
Both hands on heart,
And feel for what's here.
We then center in our depth.
So from back to front and right through the center of our body,
We're opening into the backspace,
All that's behind us,
All of that lived history,
Everything that's brought us to this present moment.
To be in this internal space,
In this present moment right here.
Maybe hand on your heart,
Another hand on your belly,
Feeling for that heartbeat,
Knowing that you're alive in this present moment,
And being grateful for all of the internal organs that allow you to be in this moment.
And then feel for the space in front of you,
Feel for the future that's ahead,
Knowing that you can't predict the future,
But feeling for that intuition in the body that will guide you on that next move.
And go ahead and connect here to your history,
To your present,
And to all that is to come.
Lastly,
I want you to place your hands back down on your navel,
Just below your navel,
Actually,
Maybe two finger widths below the navel,
And feel for what matters most to you.
Feel into the body,
Feel for what matters most to you,
And if you have a commitment,
If you have a declaration,
Go ahead and speak that out loud to yourself.
Let that declaration shape you,
Let it organize you,
Let it remind you of what matters most.
And we close in centering in our length for our dignity,
Our width for our belonging,
Our depth for our sense of safety and connection to others,
And our commitment.
Organizing around what matters most.
Practice embodying these commitments.
When you're done with this practice,
Go ahead and take out your journal,
Notice what's showing up in the body,
What's speaking to you,
And if there's a mood behind what you're feeling,
Go ahead and write that down.
That increases your somatic awareness.
Center as often as you need to throughout the day.
Getting this rep in is what helps you create the space for more choice,
For more agency,
For more openings to potential transformation.
And until I see you again,
Thank you so much for growing our belonging movement and starting from growing it from the inside out.
We'll see you soon.
