Somatic Nervous System Ritual

A practice to attune to your body. Through gentle sensation awareness, this nervous system-focused meditation guides you to both soothe and express what's been held in your body and mind — supporting self-compassion and mind-body healing.
Perfect for mornings, transitions, or anytime you want to reconnect with yourself or shift something stagnant or stuck.
I really hope you enjoy,
James

Transcript

Hello and welcome to your daily somatic check-in. In this meditation, We're going to be attuning to our felt sense in the body and the nervous system. So looking to build friendship with our inner experience today, Whether that's of sensation, Emotion or even symptoms that might be present. And within that we'll be practicing our agency and our choice in how we work with that. Whether we find parts of ourselves and our experience we want to soothe. Or maybe it's that we want to really express something or move something or transform something we're experiencing in our body. So all those options will be available to us in the meditation today. So get yourself nice and comfortable. This practice can be done however suits you and your body. But if you have the accessibility, I'd encourage you to have a space where you can be still and relaxed or move a little bit if that's what comes to you in the meditation. So once you're there, If you're happy to do so, Allow your eyes to close down. And just take a moment to arrive and to. . . Transition from the outside world to your inside world. Just taking a moment to land. Becoming aware of your breath. Noticing the sensation of it travelling in and out of your body seeing if you can find a element of comfort and reassurance in that flow. Allowing yourself maybe to notice as well what's beneath you, What's enabling you to feel grounded. Maybe that's a seat beneath you, Your feet on the ground, Something supporting your back. Observing and appreciating you have safety and stability in this body in this moment that you can use as a base for this practice I'm beginning to just tune into your. . . Body and yourself today and just noticing what's true for you today, What's there. So maybe scanning through your body or just allowing your attention to drift there. And just see what's here. No right, No wrong, No judgement. Just noticing. Perhaps you're drawn to a part of yourself, Maybe it's a sensation, An emotion symptom even that just needs your attention right now and you feel that needs to be comforted and soothed. Maybe there's a part of you that's having a bit of a tough time this morning or today. Just see if you can be there for that part of yourself. Or that part of your body right now. And noticing what soothing feels like to you, Maybe it's a softening of that area. Maybe it's directing a nice gentle breath there. Or maybe it's physical touch, Allowing your hands to rest on that part of your body Maybe it's a. . . Another way of using your hands to support yourself, Wrapping yourself in a hug or any other sign or signal to that part that you're there for it and you can self-soothe. And before moving on, Maybe just checking if that part of yourself needs to say anything, Whether anything needs to be heard or if there's anything else that part of you needs today. And then we're gonna shift focus to explore if there's anything in your being today that wants to be expressed. So sometimes, As we've just discovered, We need to self-soothe, We need to find those parts of ourselves that need that softness, That love, That care But not everything wants to be still and soft So tuning into your body and the language of sensation, Seeing what's there for you today. Can you find anywhere that feels like it wants to move or it wants to express in a more dynamic way? For many, Your instinct might be towards frustration or sadness. But it might not be as obvious as that. It might be finding first where you're holding on a little bit, Where there's maybe tension. Or a gripping. And my invitation to you is whatever you find, How can you set that sensation free, Set that feeling free? How does it want to be expressed or how could it be expressed if you gave it a chance? Maybe it's a big releasing breath. Maybe it's using your voice and shouting or sighing. Maybe you want to stomp your feet, Maybe you want to move or stretch. Maybe you want to shake your whole body out, Just let loose for a moment. When we leave these things unexpressed, They become stagnant, They become stuck. So this is your opportunity to just follow your instinct. There's no weird things here, Just let go and see what wants to move, To be expressed. And noticing how it feels to express, Maybe it feels more natural and comfortable to you. Than soothing or maybe it feels much harder. There's no judgement to that. Just observing. And after you've completed your expression just. . . Allowing that to settle for a moment. Connecting with your breath again. And then my final invitation to you. Is to Notice in your body, In your being, If there's any area that wants to be, Feeling that wants to be transformed. So we've explored. What might want to be met and expressed. But this could be something that you as the adult want to choose to feel differently about and want to transform. What do you want to take charge of in your body today? So for me today, I feel maybe some constriction in my chest. This feeling of tightness and tension and I would like to choose to transform that into power and strength. So feeling that kind of spread into my arms, Into my hands, That feeling that something that's really difficult can maybe melt into some power and some strength today. So noticing what might be there for you. It might be that you want to physically transform something, As I've described, Or it might just be that you want to choose to feel differently about something in your body today. Maybe your intention is to just be. More neutral about a difficult sensation. Or to say that you're not gonna let a certain sensation get in your way today. So this is your choice and your power. And using that maybe to set an intention for the rest of your day. Using these three elements to look forward to what's ahead of you with a new connection to. . . Your body and your ability to choose how you respond to what's happening somatically. Maybe allowing your mind now to wander to the rest of your day in. Just seeing how as you flow through it with this new connection to yourself that. . . Different feelings or possibilities might arise and just noticing how you want to hold yourself through that. Remembering that whilst this is a daily practice, Throughout the day you have opportunity to do what I call micro expressions. It's a concept a therapist of mine introduced to me. So those tiny little moments of a second or two where you can soothe, You can express, You can transform. Remembering that that's always available to you today to integrate this practice. All right, So we're gonna bring this to a close now. I'm just taking one final deep anchoring breath. So in through the nose, Filling up. And then letting it all go on the exhale as you allow your eyes to open. I really hope this supports you today and in the future. And if you enjoyed this practice, I always love to hear from you and this community. So please feel free to leave a comment, A rating or review. It's always lovely to hear who's on the other side of the microphone. Alright everyone, Wishing you a lovely connected day and I will speak to you soon.

Reviews

Thank you for this terrific practice ! I noticed that for me, the biggest challenge is the “transform“ part. The magic opportunity is remembering that it’s not about forcing a change, but rather about inviting whatever it is to transmute in a more wholesome/beneficial version of whatever’s there. For example, turning tension into grounded power and capacity. This feels really valuable and I’m going to keep on playing with it. Thank you so much for your meditations here, they are a real contribution. Very best wishes to you!