Floating In The Forest: Creating Change & Transformation

Often we want to move forward but struggle to do so. This recording allows you to release something from your past, hold on to someone or something that gives you strength in your present, and visualise a positive future.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to Sophro Solus.

My name is Lani Pudity,

Sophrologist.

I'm here to guide you through this exercise called Bringing in the New.

To bring is to cause to happen and this exercise is meant to build mental strength so that you can bring about change by thinking and believing in your alternative thoughts.

We'll start this exercise standing and then part way through.

I'll invite you to sit so it's important to have a chair on hand.

The best chair for this is a dining room or office chair.

Just place it behind you so that you can sit down without much interruption.

We spend much of our life standing,

Walking and sitting so we use these positions during Sophrology exercises to create neural pathways in your brain as a reminder that you can be at peace in any position.

In this exercise I'll speak in first person.

It's as if you're speaking to yourself.

Let's begin.

For this exercise I stand in front of the chair with feet shoulder distance apart.

I become aware of the vertical body between the earth and the sky.

Now I become aware of my breathing as if my whole body is breathing and renewing.

And then I become aware of sounds far away,

Of sounds near at hand and of sounds from my own body,

My breathing or my heartbeat.

And I welcome those sounds as being part of life without trying to determine what they are.

Now concentrating on my body,

I become aware of my head.

I become aware of my forehead,

My eyes and the muscles around my eyes,

My nose,

The air going in and the air coming out,

My mouth and jaw and I become aware of my ears and all the space around my ears,

My brain and the back of my head.

This is my first system.

Now I become aware of the neck and throat,

The shoulders,

The back of the arms and the back of the hands,

My second system.

Now I become aware of the chest area,

The heart and lungs,

The upper back,

The underside of my arms,

The palms of my hands,

My fingers,

All of my third system.

And then the area between the rib cage and the navel,

The internal organs,

Stomach,

Liver,

Adrenals,

The middle part of my back,

The fourth system.

I become aware of everything below the navel,

The lower abdomen,

The internal organs,

The hip and pelvic area,

The upper legs,

The knees,

The lower legs,

The ankles,

The top of my feet,

The toes and the soles of my feet,

All of the fifth system.

Now focusing on the whole of my body,

I become aware of the weight of my body,

The temperature of my body and the size of my body.

I breathe out to fully empty the stomach and lungs.

Breathe in through the nose,

Hold my breath and raise my hands above my head and I tense the whole of my body.

I tense every bit of my body from the top of my head to the soles of my feet,

Tensing a bit more and then release,

Relax and letting go.

Taking my hands down,

I feel for the chair behind and sit down comfortably at the back of the chair.

My feet on the floor,

My hands placed gently on my thighs and I take an integration pause,

Noticing all the physical and mental sensations present in my body now.

Now,

Imagine yourself walking along the bank of a river,

Nestled in the forest.

The river flows gently on your left.

To your right,

The trees rustling in a soft breeze.

You hear the song of birds perched on the branches.

And as you walk,

You contemplate what it means to bring about change and transformation.

You notice leaves on the forest floor and you bend over to pick a few up as you walk.

You observe that the leaves are a sign of change and transformation.

Some brown,

Yellow,

Green,

Red,

Some soft,

Some cracking.

And you recognize that this is change and transformation and the seasons come and go.

Walking along,

You come up to a wooden bridge which crosses over the river to your left and you walk towards that bridge.

And you stand in the center and pause to watch the flow of the river beneath you.

Looking at the leaves in your hand,

You select the oldest one.

It's dry and brown.

It's cracked.

You take a pen from your pocket and you write on this leaf something from your past year that you wish to remove from your memory,

Something that doesn't serve you well.

You drop the leaf into the water and you watch it float away down the river.

This memory seems to fade as the leaf disappears from sight.

With curiosity and wonder,

You examine another leaf.

This one is yellow and more pliable and soft to the touch.

And you write on this leaf something or someone that is present in your life right now,

An object or a person that is strong and supportive,

That holds you up and gives you strength.

And then you drop the leaf into the water and you watch it float.

It moves towards the bank of the river and it becomes wedged among a group of rocks.

And you recognize that it's not floating away from you.

This strength is staying close to you.

And you send gratitude to yourself and to the rocks and to the stream for keeping this strong,

Supportive person or object in your life.

And you recognize that nature has helped you choose to hold on to the support as you bring about change and transformation.

You have one more leaf in your hand.

It's fresh and green.

It's soft.

You contemplate how it ended up on the forest floor as you know that green leaves are alive and typically don't fall from the trees.

You take your pen and you write a future aspiration.

Perhaps it's a change and a transformation that you wish to bring about in your near future.

Something or someone or experience that you aspire to have or to be in your life.

You consider dropping the leaf into the river,

But instead you slip this into your pocket,

This affirmation,

And you carry it with you as you walk off the bridge to continue walking in your forest.

Contemplating change and transformation in your experience on the bridge,

You come to realize that you've allowed a memory that did not serve you well to float and fade downstream.

You've found that you chose to hang on to strength and support in your present,

And you recognize that you created a positive future,

A positive aspiration for your future.

Becoming aware of your breathing now is if the whole body is breathing and renewing,

And you come back to this space and you feel the physical sensation of sitting on this chair,

Your feet firmly on the ground,

Your hands placed gently on your thighs.

You feel resilient,

Energized,

And excited for the future ahead.

And you take an integration pause,

Noticing all the physical and mental sensations presently happening in your body and your mind right now.

Coming to the close of this session,

We silently speak three affirmations.

I have confidence and trust in myself.

I have the capacity to create harmony of mind,

Body,

And spirit.

I have the capacity to create a positive future full of wellbeing.

Now keeping the feelings of wellbeing discovered during the exercise,

You begin to move the body starting with the feet.

You allow the movement to come up through the body in a way that feels most comfortable.

When you're ready,

You open your eyes.

Thank you for joining me in this session today.

You might like to record your experience in your mind practice journal so that you can refer back to it in the future.

I hope you've enjoyed this mind-body connection exercise.

For questions or comments,

Please email sofrosolus at gmail.

Com.

Reviews

Beautiful mediation there Lani! Thank you. The imagining of the leaves was excellent and powerful. As was the sophrology and integration pause