Welcome dear friends to a contemplation and a practice around vulnerability.
And this is especially if you have decided to become somewhat of a champion or an internal ambassador,
Whether it's at your home or at your work.
Exploring your own vulnerability matters and it's super,
Super powerful.
Because if you share your,
Your own kind of story as an ambassador,
That can be really genuine,
Genuinely powerful because it does build trust and psychological safety because others will see you as human too.
And they'll feel safer opening up themselves.
It also reduces stigma because we normalize struggle by modeling openness and that,
That helps break down the,
I should have at all to give a narrative,
Which I don't think most of us have.
It also makes us authentic.
And.
.
.
When we're practicing it ourselves,
People will see the facilitator.
Or the first responder as a person that's living the work,
Not just studying it.
To be vulnerable also creates connection.
It's that shared humanity that is at the heart of most wellness practices.
But there's a difference between purposeful vulnerability and unbound disclosure.
Just share what serves the room and not what you need to process.
Your colleagues aren't your therapist.
So using past tense stories with resolution where possible,
I went through this and here's what happened,
Rather than live unresolved struggle,
Which could make it awkward and uncomfortable.
Keep it proportionate,
Just short,
Relatable moments of humanness is different from centering yourself in someone else's space.
This ambassador role sits in an interesting middle space.
You're not a therapist,
So some sort of professional distance is needed.
Isn't required as such,
But you also not appear,
So some awareness of power and role is still needed.
And the best ambassadors tend to be selectively transparent,
Willing to be real,
But always asking,
Does this sharing serve them?
Your story is one of your most valuable tools,
But the wisdom is in knowing when and how much to use it.
We're going to.
.
.
Move into a practice called the body scan and it was popularized by Dr.
John Kabat-Zinn in the 1980s.
This body scan has a twist.
It opens us up to being vulnerable.
It is the practice of being vulnerable.
It is the how.
Of vulnerability.
It's not the theory of vulnerability,
It is the how.
How can we become more used to being vulnerable so that it's almost normal.
Because it's so hard for most of us.
All right,
Let's settle.
Take a moment.
Give yourself a break from the hamster wheel and feel gratitude to yourself.
A moment of stillness is an offering to you from yourself.
Breathing a little deeper than normally if you can through the nostrils,
Just soothing your nervous system.
Extend that breath.
Perhaps exhale out the mouth on the out-breath,
Really extending that out-breath.
Shorter in-breaths through the nose And deep breaths are like little love notes to your nervous system and it brings you from a place of survival to death.
Resting and thriving.
And maybe we can start to feel the breath in the body as we breathe.
Let's learn to calm the storms of the mind and just practice a settle,
A calm.
Bring your attention into the body.
Feel that breath in the body.
And as we breathe,
Let's connect our awareness to our feet.
Yes,
Our feet.
And if you like,
You can wiggle your toes,
Just two.
Feel the taste all day.
OK,
You can stop wiggling.
It's okay to feel okay about my feet.
I might have not the most beautiful feet in the world,
But.
.
.
They're my feet.
My feets.
Wow,
Have taken me on so many journeys.
I wonder if I could share openly where they have taken me.
My Journey.
Moving your attention into your legs and smile at your legs.
And say,
Hey legs,
We've stood up for so many things.
How are the legs feeling today?
We recognize that some days it's hard to stand.
But we got up anyway.
Moving your awareness.
The contact with your seat.
Feeling the bum on the cushion.
And when you felt weak and tired,
Well.
.
.
You sat down.
And it's okay to say to others that you are tired and you need a break.
Be aware of your back.
You may have been told that you need a strong backbone.
But sometimes it is fine to relax your stance and.
.
.
And just to let go of always being so strong.
Feeling your awareness moving.
Through your back.
And as you breathe,
You can feel your tummy rising and falling.
And your gut feelings are felt so much more when we are open and vulnerable.
When we feel butterflies in the tummy.
We can soften and know that this could be a time.
To be vulnerable.
I can speak from a place of how I'm feeling.
Feeling in my body.
And then this becomes an amazing technique from the non-violent communication.
Format.
My body can teach me how to be vulnerable.
My chest.
Breathe.
Open your heart to the world.
But choose wisely to whom.
And we can see it as a strength and a way to connect with others' hearts.
Can you feel your heart beating?
It's quite subtle.
Your hands,
Feel your hands,
Open your hands and feel the strength of them being opened.
Think that our hands have nurtured,
Caressed,
Have built,
Have typed words,
Have planted,
Have wiped away tears.
And as our hands are open,
Feel the strength of them being open and of you being more open.
Gently closing your hands again,
Relaxing them.
Being aware of our jaw.
Relaxing the jaw.
Let go.
A little smile on our lips perhaps.
We can be joyful and vulnerable.
And I can use my words to express my truth.
What we smell,
Hear and see.
We can experience words and images and consider the vulnerabilities of others and what they say.
To give them the space to be open.
And not make them feel closed.
And finally we can place our right hand.
On our heart.
And we can say,
I'm going to give myself a break.
I'm going to show myself kindness.
I'm going to be patient with myself.
I'm opening up to being more vulnerable.
And joyful.
I'm okay with exploring my mental health in stillness.
And I'm ready.
I'm ready to offer myself something beneficial,
A present of.
.
.
Being in the present.
Dropping your hand down.
Let's take a nice slow deep breath in through the nose.
Inside out the mouth.
And a natural breath at the nose.
And if your eyes were closed,
You can gently blink them open.
Thank you for being vulnerable with me.
Dear friends.
