This somatic meditation is for the person who has been holding everything together for so long that slowing down and softening feels out of reach.
There may be a part of you that has been holding it all together for a very long time.
And somewhere beneath all that holding,
Something in your body has been waiting for permission to let go.
This practice is that permission.
Your nervous system is going to be offered the felt sense of being genuinely held by another presence as something your body can feel.
Welcome to the Mindful Movement.
I'm Sarah Raymond.
Let's begin.
I invite you to make yourself comfortable.
Find a position where your body feels fully supported.
Allow your weight to settle completely into the support beneath you.
Letting the surface do the holding rather than your muscles.
When you're ready,
Allow your eyes to close.
Your body is already breathing.
You don't need to change that now.
Simply notice the breath.
Moving through you.
The rise and fall.
Than the pause between.
There's an intelligence in this rhythm that continues all on its own.
Now let your exhale lengthen just slightly.
Breathe in at whatever pace feels natural.
And let the out breath become a little longer than the breath in.
As if the exhale is carrying something away that is no longer needed.
On your next exhale,
If it feels right.
Let a soft sound come with the breath.
A hum.
Or an audible sigh.
A tone that vibrates in your throat.
And in the center of your chest.
Sound simply moving through you.
Gives your body a signal.
That conditions here are safe.
Take three or four breaths in this way.
Breathing in.
And letting the exhale carry a soft sound.
Your nervous system already knows how to respond to this.
You may notice something is beginning to settle because you've slowed down.
And tuned inward enough to feel safely in your body.
You Let your breath return to its own rhythm now.
And as your body continues to settle.
Recognize that you are not doing this alone.
My voice is here.
My presence and energy travel through these words.
Through the pacing.
Through the care that went into this recording.
Your nervous system receives that.
It is already receiving it.
Recognizing in the tone of my voice a cue that it is safe to soften.
You're being accompanied,
Even now.
Even across whatever distance and time sits between us.
Bring your awareness gently into your body.
Notice the weight of your left hand.
And the weight of your right hand.
The contact of your back.
Or your legs with the surface beneath you.
The temperature of the air on your skin.
And notice where,
Even now.
There is a small measure of ease in your body.
It might be subtle.
A slight softening in your jaw.
A heaviness in your legs that feels like rest.
Wherever you find it.
However small.
Let your attention settle there.
This place of ease is real.
Let it become a little more present.
This is where we begin.
With what is already at rest.
From this place of rest and safety.
Invite compassion.
From here.
A state of more ease is available.
Bring to mind a safe and supportive presence or energy.
That in its presence,
Your body has known what it feels like to soften.
This might be someone in your life now.
Person whose steadiness you can almost feel before they speak.
It might be someone from your past.
Someone who held you with care at a moment when you needed it.
Whose attention felt like warmth.
Possibly a pet.
Or it might be something less defined.
And energy.
Quality of compassion that moves through the world.
That you have sensed in quiet moments.
The feeling of being held by something larger than any single person.
Take a moment to let this presence take whatever shape feels true for you.
You don't need to make it vivid or precise.
Simply allow something to arise that carries the quality of genuine care.
Of safety.
Of being received.
You you and as the sense of this presence begins to form.
Notice how your body feels and how it might shift.
Perhaps something in your chest softens just slightly.
Or your shoulders.
Ease.
Perhaps your breath reaches a little deeper than it has before.
Notice whatever is true without asking it to be more than it is.
You you Now let this presence turn its full attention toward you.
With care.
With the quality of truly being with you.
Exactly as you are in this moment.
Give yourself permission to be fully received.
And held.
Even if only energetically.
You track what your body does when being received.
Just noticing with soft curiosity.
What the body does when it begins to believe it is safe.
There may be a warmth somewhere,
A loosening.
A sense of something releasing that you didn't know you were holding.
You or the shift may be quiet,
Nearly imperceptible.
All of this is welcome.
The body responds to acknowledgement.
Something that was waiting to be witnessed begins to soften.
You you Let this presence or energy simply be with you.
And through the quality of attention alone,
Something is being communicated.
An understanding that what you are carrying makes sense.
That who you are,
Here,
Right now,
Is enough.
Let that land somewhere in your body.
Your nervous system already knows this state.
It has simply been waiting for the conditions to be safe enough to return to it.
And now those conditions exist.
Rest here.
Receiving and allowing.
The state your body has experienced in this practice is yours now.
The quality of openness and being held.
It is something that lives in the tissue of your body and your breath.
And because your body has felt it here,
It can find its way back.
Perhaps just a breath.
With a soft sound on the exhale.
Perhaps a quiet sense of this presence called back into your awareness.
Your body will recognize the signal.
Something in it will begin to soften.
Because it has done this before.
Your body knows the way.
Take another long,
Slow breath in.
And let it out completely.
Bring your awareness back to the contact of your body with what holds you.
And when you are ready,
Allow your eyes to open slowly.
Letting the room come back at whatever pace feels right.
Notice what is here and what may have shifted for you.
Thank you for practicing with me today.
