Hello everyone and welcome to this guided practice.
Now our focus today is going to be all around how we can begin to befriend our nervous system and in particular become a little closer and a little more compassionate to the fear or anxiety that we might be feeling.
And so today I'm not going to give too much of an introduction,
I'll get us straight into the practice.
So what I'd like you to do as ever is just find a place that you're going to be really at ease,
Really comfortable and happy to spend the next 10-15 minutes or so.
That can be seated,
That can be lying down,
That can be somewhere in between,
Just wherever you and your body are comfortable in this moment.
No right,
No wrong.
And once you're there in that comfortable place,
If you're okay doing so and safe doing so,
Just allow your eyes to close down.
Taking a moment to just settle and ground into your space.
Just transitioning into your internal world.
Just taking three slower,
Longer breaths just to arrive and to release.
Letting your shoulders drop on the exhales,
Letting some tension go.
Maybe using this pause,
This opportunity to just check in with how you're doing.
Maybe noticing what it is you're feeling in this moment.
And as you continue to just gradually breathe a little slower,
A little softer and just ground and release into your space,
I'm just gonna share a few words around this process of befriending our nervous system and the fear.
And the starting point for this practice for you and for many of us when we're experiencing fear or anxiety can be a sense of frustration and also a sense or a feeling that our nervous system is is broken because we know maybe on a level that some of what's going through our mind isn't helpful.
But yet it's there,
The fear is there,
The anxiety is there,
We feel it in our body.
So it can often feel like there's something wrong there that we need to fix it.
And that's normal and natural to have those feelings.
And so if that's you,
Firstly just taking a moment to acknowledge that within yourself that what you're feeling is common,
It's shared and it's difficult.
You are very much not alone in that experience.
It's the most primal and the most human of experiences to have fear.
And the most important shift to make in terms of changing our relationship to fear is to understand the role of it.
Because your nervous system is absolutely 100% here to keep you safe,
To keep you alive,
To keep you protected.
That is what it wants more than anything in the world.
It is completely and utterly on your side.
The fear or the anxiety that's being created by the state of your nervous system has the best of intentions.
So it might be misinformed,
It might be confused,
It might be interpreting information in a way that isn't feeling good.
But it is here for you,
It is with you.
So as hard as it may be,
Just begin to maybe feel that slight shift in perception that what you're feeling has positive intent.
And a way that you can deepen this and I'd like you to experiment with it if you're open to,
Is to see the fear or the anxiety within you as a character.
To get a little bit of separation from it.
So when I say a character it might just be a much younger version of you.
You're kind of in a child if you like.
It might be your favorite animal or a pet or any other character,
Person that you can think of that is by your side but is also a little bit vulnerable,
Needs your support and your direction,
Needs your patience,
Needs your compassion and needs a little bit of nurturing as well.
So for me I might use a younger version of myself but I also might use one of a number of dogs that I'm very fond of.
And as you bring them,
That living being to mind,
Just notice how this fear of yours and your nervous system,
It's just the same.
They are one and so when we approach fear in this way,
Question is how can we soothe,
How can we support,
How can we direct,
How can we be patient and compassionate and build the confidence of this being that we care about,
That we appreciate,
That is by our side,
That is supportive of us.
Knowing it's just doing its best,
It's doing its job,
Just as you are in every moment.
Maybe feeling the compassion that that invokes in you in this moment.
A simple way for you to begin to befriend yourself,
Your system and your fear.
And today as you take this practice with you into the rest of your day I'd like to encourage you to just release that sense of needing to fix or solve your fear,
Nervous system activation and just shift gently into a sense of what do you need?
What do you need in this moment,
In this day,
Just to add a little layer of safety?
What can you support yourself with,
What can you resource yourself with,
However small?
To move a little closer to feeling more safe,
More grounded.
And it might be that it's just listening to this practice,
Just taking a moment to feel into how you'd like to care and nurture and befriend your nervous system today.
Allowing yourself to invite that into your body with the breath before we finish,
Just allowing your body to expand and contract as you maybe place a hand on your heart and just show as well as tell yourself and that character inside you that you're here,
You're with them,
That you're able to follow your intuition and your needs.
And finally just remembering that your nervous system is always on your team.
I hope that has left you feeling more compassionate and more connected and more friendly towards your nervous system.
So as ever just stay where you are if you want to,
Just kind of absorb the practice or in your own time of course you can transition back into your environment.
And I look forward to connecting with you all again soon.
