Let's be honest,
Sometimes when we're feeling wired,
Anxious,
Overwhelmed,
All stressed out,
The idea of closing down our eyes,
Focusing on our breath and being still can actually make us feel worse,
Not better.
And so often when we find meditation hard,
We blame ourselves.
We tell ourselves we're not disciplined enough.
We can't concentrate enough.
We're not as good at meditating as other people are.
But here's what I want you to know.
If meditation is feeling particularly hard for you,
Chances are it's got nothing to do with your personality and it's not your fault.
It just might be the wrong tool for the wrong nervous system state.
And so what I want to do here is offer you a practice that is eyes open,
No pressure to stop your thoughts,
That has a little bit of movement.
We use touch to regulate our nervous system.
So as always,
You get to choose how deep you go.
You get to make these instructions your own.
But I really just wanted to offer you another alternative for when closed eyes,
Stillness,
Meditations just feel like they might make you feel worse,
Not better.
That.
So we begin with our eyes open and just getting comfy.
Feet on the floor if you like.
And we begin with proprioception.
Which is just this way of letting our nervous system know where it sits in time and space.
So you might begin by casting your eye around your room,
Getting a sense of the corners,
The roof,
The floor,
The door.
And really getting a sense of where your body is.
Relative to your space?
Are you in a corner?
Are you in the centre?
Are you at a window?
Are you near the door?
And when we position ourselves in time and space like this intentionally,
We really are sending a message to our nervous system that we're safe.
And then we can continue this by intentionally becoming aware of different parts of our body.
So beginning with our feet.
We really feel the points of contact.
Where our feet touch the floor beneath us.
And then we move our awareness up our legs to our hips and pelvis.
And once again,
Becoming really aware of these sturdy bones.
And the surface that supports them.
Becoming aware now of your spine.
Your shoulders,
Your shoulder blades.
And the crown of your head.
And then just seeing if you can expand your awareness to take in this whole sense of body.
Hips and pelvis,
Spine,
Crown of head.
All these points of sturdiness.
And how they sit in the wider context of your room.
And now we're going to move into the next part of our practice which is called containment.
It's around self-touch and regulating the nervous system.
So we do this by first of all getting a sense of vitality in our hands.
Now,
As always,
You get to choose what feels good for you here.
So you might like to rub the palms of your hands together really slowly,
Really gently,
Just how delicate and gentle can you be.
Or intuitively it might feel good to go a little faster,
To be a little firmer.
And so here you're following your own lead,
You're creating self-trust around what movement feels good for you.
Vitality building within your hands.
And then placing the palm of one hand over your forehead and the other at the base of your skull,
Right where it joins your neck.
Now doing this in a way that feels okay for your shoulders and your arms.
We won't be here too long.
And beginning by just feeling into this sensation of palms to skull.
And maybe you feel it through temperature.
Tingling,
Sensation.
And just trusting that this self-touch at this level is soothing your nervous system.
And if it feels available to you,
You might like to use your imagination.
Imagining these hands with their power to soothe.
Moving all the way into your prefrontal cortex and your brainstem at the back.
So the prefrontal cortex at the front imagining all of these neural pathways.
Calming down.
The brainstem that connects to the vagus nerve at the back calming down.
Neural pathways softening.
And just using these hands to soften,
To soothe,
To cool down the brain.
And ultimately the mind.
And if you like,
You can close down your eyes to increase sensation.
And now we're going to change the position of our hands to have one hand on our chest or our heart.
And the other on our lower belly.
And so we begin simply here by just feeling the points of contact,
Fingers,
Palms of hands,
On chest,
On belly.
Feeling the rise and fall of our hands through the ebb and flow of breath.
And if your imagination or your intention takes you deeper.
To imagine the inner workings of your body,
Heart beating.
Lungs breathing.
Liver,
Kidneys,
Reproductive organs.
Digestive system.
Nervous system.
All coming together like an orchestra beneath your skin.
And soothing.
Hands enlivening,
Whatever feels good for you.
And maybe you can take a deep breath here and allow your shoulders to roll down your back a little.
As we change our hand position once more.
To touch the cheek.
And under the arm.
And just noticing how this feels for you.
There's no right or wrong.
It can feel very nurturing to touch your cheek.
And if it feels a little uncomfortable,
Well,
Can you allow that to be okay too?
We're just open to trying something new here.
To attending to ourselves with a level of friendliness and warmth.
That maybe we don't often do.
Using the power of our hands and of touch to soothe our nervous system.
Hands returning to your lap if that feels okay for you.
Awareness traveling all the way down to the palms of your hands,
To the tips of your fingers,
Noticing any expression of vitality,
Of energy and warmth in the palms of your hands.
And just noticing if anything has shifted for you since you first pressed play on this video.
Maybe your breath feels a little deeper,
A little smoother.
Maybe your mind feels a little clearer.
Maybe there's more space in your body.
And so this is a really simple but powerful nervous system practice called containment that you can use anywhere,
Anytime,
In the car,
Between home and work.
Um.
.
.
You know,
Before bed,
After a long day,
Before you leave the house in the morning.
You could even try it before a deeper meditation sit to relax your nervous system.
You get to choose how deep you go,
How soothing your touch can be.
And I hope you enjoyed this experience.
I certainly did.
Thanks for sharing your practice with me.
