Hello,
Welcome to Serenity Wellness Podcast.
My name is Nicole White and I'll be your host.
This podcast is dedicated to helping you tap into your full potential of how you can heal and balance your mental,
Emotional,
And physical wellbeing.
Together,
Let's explore inner self,
Connect with our strength,
And manifest your true nature,
One full of love,
Purpose,
And passion.
Welcome to episode 49,
The sense of a hug.
The embrace of a hug can bring a sense of warmth,
Closeness,
And ease.
Research even shows us that this exchange increases our oxytocin levels.
Oxytocin is a hormone that's in our brain with some of it getting released into our bloodstream through our pituitary gland without getting too much into the brain stuff.
But this hormone reduces anxiety,
Stress,
Brings that feel good feeling that you can feel vibrating and kind of flowing through your whole system,
That closeness and connection with another human,
Another heart space.
Give yourself just a moment to think about and connect with what your sense feelings are when giving or receiving a hug.
That feeling inside your heart space,
That vibration,
Or maybe warmth flowing through you.
We're all different,
So whatever it feels like for you,
Just try to think about that for a moment.
And maybe you're not quite aware right now,
And that's okay too.
You can just kind of open up your awareness to this the next time you exchange a hug.
But bringing that awareness of what our sense feelings are,
I want to share some other ways to mindfully and intentionally absorb and experience that same sense.
Science is showing us that this collection and exchange of gratitude and loving kindness has similar effects on our physical,
Mental,
And emotional wellbeing.
Keep in mind this loving kindness exchange and some of the other areas I'm going to talk about is an exchange.
It is a giving and a receiving.
And sometimes we may notice areas of resistance to the receiving.
Sometimes this resistance is related to fears,
Our self-esteem,
Or our mind is so busy that it's keeping us away from the present moment of experiencing what's happening right in front of us.
So maybe noticing too as we go through these or within self if you notice any areas of resistance.
So one area to get that sense feeling,
That feeling of a hug within,
Is the exchange of a kind word,
Gratitude,
Or act of appreciation.
Taking a moment to offer this brings a vibration of bliss through our heart space.
That whole feeling in the body.
Sometimes we may notice when we allow ourselves to receive a word of kindness from someone that we can really even feel it in our heart space.
We kind of almost like fold into ourselves,
Like we give ourselves that internal hug because we openly receive that act of kindness and our body and mind appreciate it.
So by offering that we are allowing someone else to experience that.
And the receiving of it and allowing ourselves to be gifted that offering from someone else is just as important in the exchange for ourselves as the receiver,
But also for the individual who is the giver.
It's this beautiful exchange as a giver and offer of any type of gift,
Not just a physical gift.
It is an offering that as we embrace it,
The other person also gets that flow back to their heart space.
HeartMath Institute is a great area.
They are doing a ton of research to show us in our body this vibrational heart exchange and what it does to our full being.
I will put a link to their website in the notes here,
But I'd encourage you to check it out if you want to look at the research behind this exchange of kindness and collective energy and what we can do as a whole in society to help change the vibration of the earth.
If you notice that you might have some resistance to receiving this kind word,
Gratitude or active appreciation,
Just ask yourself what that's about.
Kind of pause and go within.
Take notice if maybe you're holding on to some self-judgments or a lack of trust in the words.
So allow yourself some space if you notice resistance to get curious about where that's coming from.
Another area to create this sense in the body of a hug is to share your smile.
It can bring a ray of sunshine to someone and maybe that's the only sunshine they see all day.
But bringing them that felt sense,
That internal body hug,
And by giving,
You are also receiving.
And we might find some resistance there.
Sometimes we will even resist eye contact,
Even if it's just for a moment due to internal discomfort.
And the sharing of a smile might be another area that creates a bit of resistance.
We get all wrapped up into our own mind thinking things like,
Oh,
They're going to think I'm weird or wondering why is that stranger smiling at me?
If we just let ourselves get out of our mind and just be present in the moment in this mindful exchange with another human,
It can again bring just a beautiful vibration in both directions just through the simple exchange of a smile.
Nature is another great way to bring this feeling within.
Exchanging this energy between nature and our body allows for a release,
Relaxation,
And even some purification to our system.
Being in the forest,
Around the trees,
Experiencing the sunshine as we're on a walk against our skin,
The earth energy through getting our hands in the earth or allowing our bare feet through grounding experiences directly onto the earth.
And again,
Lots of research showing us that this grounding and forest bathing as well as our getting our hands in the earth does all kind of stuff to our full body system.
If you want to hear a little bit more about the science,
You can check out episode 15,
I believe it is emotional regulation.
I talk a little bit more about the science related to grounding and earth energy.
Another way that we can bring in this sense feeling of a hug is through music and memories.
Certain songs or memories can bring in that felt sense of warmth,
Bringing a smile to our mouth and heart.
And just even using our own smile,
I talked about the exchange of a smile with someone else but keeping in mind even the half smile that I talked about before how allowing our mouth to gently curve up into a half smile is a way to give our full body a smile back.
But bringing in certain songs and memories can also bring this felt sense of warmth and even make us smile at times,
That curling in and feeling of giving ourselves a gentle embrace and hug.
Giving yourself space for stillness and silence is another way to bring in this embrace even if initially it allows or brings some discomfort.
With practice and patience and stillness and silence,
We can begin to then start to feel this embrace of it,
This warmth.
You can start to feel your brain hug the silence is the best way to describe it.
But this stillness,
This ease,
Your brain will appreciate it.
Think of how busy it is throughout your day.
Jumping around through task orientation,
But also the stories,
The mind,
The jibber jabber that goes on.
So if you give yourself some practice and patience and working through discomfort with stillness and silence,
You will experience the sense in your brain of how much it truly appreciates and has a love for what you are giving it.
Plus there's all those other benefits of stillness and silence and the whole body system as well as consciousness.
And if you want to learn more about that,
I talk about it in episode 43.
You can hear with many of these things beyond the physical hug,
How we don't really have to do much more in our day.
We can do them in the moment we're in by practicing daily mindfulness.
In doing so we experience more.
We notice and collect more gratitude because it's all around us.
In every moment there's an opportunity to experience.
And experiencing that collective energy through human exchange and oneness by sharing a smile,
A kind word,
Holding space for someone if they are going through a difficult time and just holding that space and letting them listen and feel heard and have comfort and vulnerability.
Another way to give this physical hug,
Feeling,
Without even having to maybe do the physical hug.
Some people are uncomfortable with physical hugs and that's okay too.
There's all these other ways that we can support ourselves,
Our body,
And allow ourselves to experience the collective exchange of humanness.
And again,
If you notice resistance,
Just allow yourself to sit with it and ask yourself what it's about and where it's coming from.
And don't forget to listen to what you hear back as the response.
Thank you as always for joining me.
Be sure to check us out online,
Serenity Wellness Center or Serenity Wellness Tools to see what we have going on,
Instagram,
Facebook,
And you're certainly welcome to follow my personal pages to get to know me a little better.
Thanks so much and I look forward to talking to you again soon.
Have a good one.
