Evening Therapeutic Embodiment

Use this quick therapeutic embodiment practice to close your day in connection to yourself, your body and your needs. Move from stress and doing, into rest and being.

*Special thanks to Malte Marten for his beautiful handpan music, used with permission.

Transcript

Hmm. Welcome to this. Evening therapeutic environment practice. This is a modality that I learned when my husband and I We're nomadic. We were traveling the world going to different places every three months. And if it wasn't for this practice, I would for sure be completely burnt out during that journey. And so I would like to share this with you today and you can use this. Practice anytime. You want to connect with your body. You want to activate the healing response within. And you want to practice cultivating, Really attuning to yourself, Really noticing how are you feeling? What do you need? And. Kind of getting your nervous system into that parasympathetic mode, Which is the rest and digest mode. So. Let's begin. You want to make sure that you are in a space where there is a lot of room for you to move freely. You could do this on a yoga mat. You could also do this practice on your bed or. . . A couch, But I would recommend a floor that is, You know, Flat, Can hold you. And you also want to create a beautiful atmosphere around you that you know, Feels nice to relax and you can put on some gentle music. Put up some candles and you want to have pillows i always like using pillows we're gonna use some for our back during this practice today so Go ahead and get those props. And. . . Yeah, We will begin. So, When we arrive into this practice, We want to ask our body how does it want to arrive into the space and what makes therapeutic embodiment different from say structured yoga classes that at all times you have permission to move and to be in the way that is right for you. This moment in time so as we're dropping in already asking your body how do i want to drop in into this practice do i want to be sitting upright with my back straight. Maybe placing a pillow below my bum. Or do I want to lay down on the floor and drop into my body? Being supported, Completely supported. So giving yourself the permission to. Begin this practice in the way that feels right for you. I'm going to be starting this sitting upright. And as we begin, We always want to. . . Claim our energy back from the world and Almost like pulling it back into our body and downward. As we maybe close down the eyes it often helps to keep our eyes closed so that we can really feel our bodies and what our bodies need So inviting you to close your eyes if it feels comfortable. Or you can also just keep your gaze kind of relaxed and maybe lower. As we begin to. . . Relax our legs. Feeling the ground holding us. Bringing awareness up into our pelvis and lower back. Relaxing, Consciously relaxing. And then maybe here it feels good to rock. Or. . . And backwards. As we. . . Simply allow our body to Show us how it wants to move. As we bring awareness into different areas. Noticing if there's any tension. In different parts of our body. And then using our breath and the exhale to release that tension. Ahhhhhhhhhh. Maybe moving our awareness to our belly. Noticing if our belly is tight. And tense. And relaxing the belly. Bringing awareness to our chest. Upper back, And maybe opening up the arms. Squeezing our shoulder blades. Or maybe bringing our. . . Arms and the hands up. So allowing your body to move in a way That feels right and natural. Letting the movements. Kind of arise from the inside of the body. As we bring attention to our shoulders and our neck. Maybe here's stretching. And rotating the neck and the head. Keeping the movements pretty. . . Slow and gentle. But also exploring. How the different movements actually feel. So if you find a stretch that feels really good you can stay there and breathe into that stretch. And then. . . Looking. Into our face from the inside of our face and noticing Is my jaw tight? Or maybe the muscles around my eyes are tired from the day. And just relaxing all the muscles of our face. A beautiful So continuing to allow your body to. Do gentle movements. It could be swaying from side to side. It could be different stretches. If you are lying on the floor, It could be. . . You know, Extending your limbs in different areas. Or maybe it feels really good to be still. And just feeling the body from the inside. We're going to ask. . . First really important question when it comes to this practice which is How do I feel? Right now. As this day is coming to an end, How do I feel? And as you ask this question, You're just scanning for sensations. For emotions or feelings within your field And you're recognizing what is here. How do I feel? And as you recognize what is here. We want to begin to allow whatever is here to be here. Without needing it to change. We're just learning to hold space for what is already here. While we learn to provide a really safe space where our body to self-regulate Beautiful. And then the next very important question. Second really important question. Is what do I need from this practice? Today, Right now. And you're deeply listening. What do I actually need right now? It could be deep rest. It could be movement. It could be expression. It could be deep stillness. It could simply be presence with myself. That is deeply here. Like I am present with my body. With. How. This entity that is me. Feels. End. Is in this moment. So taking note what you need. And we can also cultivate a collective intention of. . . Deep rest. And nourishment. Beautiful. So now we're gonna do two. Very simple, Thanks. And my invitation is if it feels right for you to go into what I'm suggesting, You can do so. And if not, Then you can just. . . Stay where you are. Do whatever feels right for you. Do the movements that feel right for you or stay in stillness. As this fate is held for you. But if you are, Ready to move we're just going to explore a few cats and cows so. . . Allowing our spine to Extend an arch. Exploring. The different sensations from the day Maybe our lower back is talking to us. Maybe our shoulders are talking to us. Maybe mid-back. And we're just. . . Allowing the movement. On all fours maybe here it feels good and right to go into down downward facing dog Thank you. So just stretching and moving. Are. Body In a way that feels right for us. This moment. . . Could explore going down into child's pose. Beautiful. And then going to invite us to Finish this practice, This super quick practice. With a short Shavasana. So if you'd like to move into. . . With me you can place a pillow under your back and then reclining back putting up our Chest. And then noticing here, Maybe our legs want to be extended. Maybe they. . . Maybe the feet wanna come together. So arriving into a position that feels really really good and really supportive. We're just going to be here for a few minutes. Deeply enjoying the. . . Floor and the pillows holding us. Imagining that with each exhale we're releasing the day Noticing if it's easy for us to receive this rest. Or if we're still in our minds and in our to-do lists. How deeply can you relax? These last moments of this short therapeutic embodiment practice. So deeply letting go. We're going to start to prepare to come out of this pose so maybe bringing your legs together maybe allowing the body to stretch in whatever way feels good. And then slowly letting yourself come up. As you. . . Ask yourself, How do I feel right now? And then the last question is, What was meaningful? For me. In this practice today. You are welcome to journal about whatever you found out about yourself. And I invite you to take this. Calmness this. Relaxation, This slowness that you cultivated during this practice. To the rest of your evening and maybe even night. Thank you for joining me today. I'll see you next time. Blessings.