Moving Exploration - A Somatic Practice For Vitality

This is a simple embodiment practice you can do every day to recognize your baseline-- meaning, what it feels like to be fully in your body and the present moment, dropped out of your head. Designed to help you feel more comfortable, confident, and connected to your body, this moving exploration will deepen your sensuality while increasing your experience of aliveness from within.

What you'll need: Weather-appropriate clothing, good walking shoes, earbuds, or headphones.

Transcript

So just start walking at a moderate pace.

You can be on the fast side or the slow side or somewhere in between,

It doesn't really matter.

Whatever moderate means to you in this moment.

There's no right or wrong here,

Just your interpretation through your movement of what it means to move at a moderate pace.

So just walking moderately.

And as you walk,

Start to tune into your breath.

Just notice what's happening with your breath.

Is your breath flowing freely through your body?

Is your breathing shallow or constricted anywhere?

Are you holding your breath?

Just notice it.

Let it be okay,

However it is.

This isn't about fixing or changing anything,

It's just about being present to notice.

And now as you go,

I want to invite you to start to breathe in a little more deeply through your nose.

And exhale a little longer,

Softly and fully out your mouth,

Almost as if you were trying to fog up a mirror,

Creating a gentle H-A sound as you exhale.

So inhaling through your nose and exhaling,

Breathing in and breathing out.

Breathing through your nose and exhaling out your mouth.

Just to send your breath all the way down and into your belly,

Letting your belly expand freely with each inhale and contract gently with each exhale out your mouth.

Breathing in and breathing out.

Breathing in and breathing out.

Just keep breathing like this,

In and out.

The reason I'm emphasizing this out breath through the mouth is because it cues your central nervous system to go into a parasympathetic response.

So even though you're walking,

This exhale through the mouth is really cueing the nervous system.

And the parasympathetic nervous system response is the key to your relaxation.

It's your rest and digest response,

Which can slow your heart rate and relax your muscles and can even increase your metabolism.

Whereas your sympathetic nervous system activates your fight or flight response,

Your stress response,

Which many of us live in all the time,

Especially if we're exposed to constant stress,

Anxiety,

If we have unresolved trauma or chronic pain.

So for now,

I just want you to play with this breath a few times.

Inhaling in through your nose and exhaling with a nice big sigh out your mouth.

I want you to play with sending your breath a little further down into your belly each time you inhale.

Maybe even sending it so far down into your belly that it reaches your pelvis.

So just send your inhale all the way down into your pelvis and release out all of your air as you exhale.

Inhaling in all the way into your pelvis and exhaling out.

Good.

Inhaling in and exhaling.

See if you can fill your lungs with 10% more air than normal,

10% more than just a moment ago.

Just taking the deepest,

Fullest breaths you can as you're moving your feet.

Inhaling and exhaling.

So just keep those breaths nice and full.

And as you walk,

Start to tune into the sensations of your feet on the ground.

Really feel each foot massaging the earth,

Feeling every part of your foot come into contact with the earth as you move every step.

A playful reciprocity between you and the earth,

You and the ground that you're walking on.

Let each step be a little dance,

A little interplay with your body and the land.

Just let your body move naturally.

Maybe your arms swing or sway as you go.

Or maybe you want to place your hands somewhere on your body,

Your hips or maybe on top of your head,

Your chest.

Maybe you want to drop one ear to your corresponding shoulder,

Stretching your neck from side to side.

If you're feeling extra sassy today,

Maybe you notice a little swing in your hips as you go.

Just let it flow.

Let your body move freely with each step.

And as you walk,

See if you can start to soften the little muscles around your eyes,

Around your jaw and your cheeks.

Relaxing your face.

Moving into a softening of the muscles at the base of your skull along the back and along the front of your neck.

Just let your exhales soften the muscles in your shoulders and your upper back.

Releasing the tension as you go one breath at a time.

And as you soften any of these muscles that may be crunching as you're walking,

Let the softness you're inviting in also bring a bit of length to your spine.

Almost as if the crown of your head could become so light on your neck that it elongates the whole back of your body.

Like a helium balloon kind of almost drifting up into the sky from the crown of your head.

Just feel your head getting lighter on your neck,

Bringing the length of your spine with it.

You're doing so great.

So let that easy,

Graceful elongation from the back of your head down the back of your neck,

Your shoulders,

Your upper,

Your middle and lower back.

Let this elongation bring more space,

More breath and more lightness to the whole of your back.

So just feel that for a moment.

Feeling that elongation along the back of your body.

Good.

And feeling that elongation along the back of your body.

See if you can also let it expand,

Open and free the front of your body as you go.

So elongating from the back,

Expanding and opening the front of your body.

Just letting yourself take up relaxed,

Easy space as you walk.

Step by step by step,

Lengthening and expanding.

Feeling the back of your body and the front of your body almost greeting one another with each breath you take.

Just feeling that interplay of lengthening and expanding front and back of the body.

And so with the intention to keep your breath moving deeply and fully,

I want to invite you to start to take in your surroundings using your eyes and also your whole head and neck if that feels good to you.

If not,

No big deal.

Just keep walking.

And if you do decide to start to take in your surroundings,

Maybe turn your head to the left or the right.

It doesn't really matter which way you start.

Just start to move your head and your neck and let your gaze fall where it may.

Maybe you look up or down,

Side to side,

Or maybe you use your head and your neck to look all the way around making a circle with your head.

There's no right or wrong.

Just take a moment to use your whole head and neck to look around and take in your surroundings.

Depending on the time of day it is for you right now or where you're walking,

It may be busy around you or maybe it's really quiet.

Just begin to notice what's present around you.

If there's something particular,

An object,

A plant,

An animal,

A house,

A tree,

Something that stands out to you and feels comforting to you when you let your gaze rest upon it,

Go ahead and really invite that sense of comfort into your being and really feel it.

Breathing in,

Feeling the air on your skin,

Perhaps noticing if one of your senses is really jumping out at you.

Maybe you see some beautiful flowers in bloom or you notice the vibrant colors all around you.

Maybe you notice the lush green of the trees or a vibrant blue sky.

Perhaps the birds are filling your ears with their bird song.

Or you hear dogs barking in the distance or machinery in action or children playing on a playground.

Maybe you can only hear my voice.

Notice what you're hearing.

Maybe there's a particular taste in your mouth.

Notice what you're tasting.

Depending on the season you're in right now,

The temperature on your skin may be very present.

Maybe it's hot or cold or somewhere in between.

Maybe you feel the breeze on your face or blowing through your hair or you notice how your clothes feel on your skin.

Just notice what you feel.

Maybe you smell freshly cut grass or blooming jasmine or roses or maybe something a little less pleasant.

It's all good.

Just notice which of your senses is the first to come to your attention.

Which of your senses is most active right now and just tune in.

Let it be active.

Noticing all of the gifts that mother nature offers to you everywhere like little provisions of love just for you.

Maybe you want to flow from one sense to the other just taking in your surroundings through all of your senses.

Your senses not only allow you to orient and be present to your experience in this moment.

Your senses also help to connect you to your body and your intuition.

They are the language with which your body and soul speak and so by intentionally tuning into them you can begin to create a dialogue with both your body and your intuition increasing the source of intelligence that many of us are disconnected from.

The body's wisdom is an extension of your wisdom,

Your soul's wisdom and it is vast and powerful.

Yet we live in a culture that has discounted the wisdom of the body and has placed its highest value on the mind.

Our minds are amazing yes but they're often way overstimulated and many of us spend most of our time there thinking and problem solving but the mind is only one part of the wisdom we possess and living in our heads can often be an escape route used to cope with things we find unpleasant or distressing.

Past traumas,

Stress or anxieties we've experienced may make it feel safer or easier to exist in our head,

Spinning worry or perfectionism or perceived control but it comes at a significant cost to live in your head.

It can also create an overall feeling of disconnection from yourself.

In other words your body,

Your intuition,

Your sense of self,

Not to mention joy,

Pleasure and freedom in your life.

So right now we're just walking,

Keeping your mind somewhat occupied by moving your body which allows you to focus more on being in the present moment through your senses,

Your sense of sight,

Hearing taste,

Touch and smell.

So just really feel what it's like to be fully in the now,

Fully in this moment.

Just be with that sense of presence,

Breathing in and breathing out and allow the breath in this moment to unclench or release any tension that may have snuck in.

Just let that tension drip off the back of your body,

Down your back and legs to the ground as you walk,

Leaving it behind you in a little trail that can be transmuted into something else,

Something light.

Notice if you're holding your breath in this moment.

Sometimes when we're moving or thinking we can forget to breathe,

It's totally normal,

Totally okay.

So just take in a little more air,

Again returning to that lengthened inhale,

Exhale.

Right now you're just walking,

Connecting with the trees,

The birds,

The plants around you,

Listening and feeling,

Breathing in and breathing out.

Maybe you briefly close your eyes while you walk just to feel what your body feels like without your eyes telling you.

Just take a moment to really feel in your body in this moment.

How do you feel now versus how you felt when you started walking?

It's shifted for you,

If anything,

Your physical being,

Your home in this lifetime,

Your body.

Just take a moment to really feel in your body,

Breathing the whole time.

You're doing so great.

My intention with this moving exploration is to help you create a practice that you can do every day,

Something that is easy,

That you can commit to and stick to for yourself.

This practice is here to support you to recognize your baseline,

Meaning what it feels like to be fully in your body,

Connected,

Fully in the present moment,

Dropped out of your head,

Your worries or your to-do lists,

Your stressors.

This is one way you can start to build your ability to feel more comfortable and connected to your body,

To yourself and to the world around you.

So as you make your way back home or back to work or wherever you're headed,

Let this connection you've created to your body and to nature,

To yourself,

Let it stay with you,

Remembering the power of your breath,

Remembering the power of tuning into your senses,

Remembering how easy it can be to move stagnant energy through your body just by walking and connecting to the sensations you feel and knowing that you can practice these things at any time to bring you home to yourself.

Thanks so much for walking with me and wishing you many blessings and joy for the rest of your day.

Bye for now.