Hello everyone,
My name is Dr.
Yonit Arthur and I want to welcome you to Somatic Walking Number 2.
This 20 minute exercise is a way of helping your brain rewire how it responds to your chronic dizziness symptoms.
In this exercise you're going to be moving,
Which I know can be quite dizziness provoking for some of you.
But this is actually a wonderful opportunity for you to really work on changing those pathways,
Those automatic brain responses to your symptoms.
We do this because when your brain responds with less fear to the symptoms,
That takes away a lot of the fear and anxiety fuel that keeps the symptoms going.
And if you have not already,
I highly encourage you to check out the videos on my YouTube channel for a lot more information on what we're trying to accomplish with somatic tracking.
But in the meantime,
Please find a spot where you'd like to walk.
That may be outside or inside.
Just make sure your path is clear and you have relative peace and quiet so you can concentrate on your internal experience now.
So before we start moving,
I'd like you to stand and focus on your feet.
See if you can do a quick scan of your entire foot,
Starting from your big toe,
Moving your attention across all your toes,
All the way to your pinky,
Then pausing on the soles of your feet and making your way all the way to your heels.
See if you can feel the weight of your body evenly distributed across your whole foot and notice the way your foot soundly and securely connects to the ground,
Rooting all the way into the surface that you're on and below the surface you're on,
All the way down into the earth with strong roots.
And from here,
Let's start to walk.
See if you can notice that push off from your first foot as it pushes off the ground,
Swings in the air and lands,
Certainly absorbing the shock from the landing directly on the ground.
And as you take the next step and the next one,
See if you can notice the entire arc of movement.
See if you can be interested,
Even curious about every moment from the push off to the swing to the landing.
And as you walk,
For many of you,
It's normal for your symptoms to kick up.
You might notice general dizziness or many other sensations,
Lightheadedness,
Lack of balance,
Swaying,
Bobbing,
Visual symptoms,
Feeling maybe a little disconnected from your feet or from your body,
Pressure or pain.
Just take inventory first of what's present,
What sensations are showing up right now.
And just take note of the way that you react and respond when I ask you to notice your symptoms.
We're going to come back to that in a moment.
But first,
I'd like you to pick the dominant sensation,
The one that you want to focus on today.
And while normally you might try to avoid or stop or feel very fearful of this sensation,
Today we're going to do the exact opposite.
We're going to get to know it.
So once you've picked the sensation you want to focus on while you're walking today,
As you walk,
I'd like you to notice and describe to yourself how this sensation shows up for you.
It may show up as a feeling in your body,
In which case I'd like you to find it,
See if there is a center.
It seems to be coming from a specific location.
It might come with an emotion,
See if you can locate and or label that.
Or if you focus on it,
Some people have a visual image of it,
What it looks like to them.
It might have a shape or a color or even a character of some kind that shows up with it.
However the sensation shows up for you is just fine.
Just take a few moments now to describe it to yourself and notice it as you keep walking.
And as you spend time here noticing it,
Now I want you to focus for a moment again on your reactions to the symptoms.
What comes up?
Do you respond with anger or fear or maybe a part of you wants to avoid the symptoms?
Maybe there's a voice that says that you should stop walking so the symptoms go back down.
Maybe there's a voice that's worried that the symptoms are never going to go away.
Whatever those reactions are,
See if you can just notice them.
And as you notice those reactions,
See if you can create some space in your body to be there with them.
So as you move,
As you breathe,
See if those parts of you that are angry or frustrated or worried or afraid,
All those parts that are responding to the symptoms,
Ask them if it would be okay if you are in your body too.
See if you can let those protective parts of you know that it makes sense why they're here,
That you understand that they're trying to stop you from having to deal with these sensations.
See if you can really let them know that you get that,
You see that.
If it feels right,
You can even send them some appreciation for what they're trying to do for you.
Just notice what happens when you do that.
How do those angry,
Frustrated,
Fearful,
Worried parts of you respond to being appreciated for the work they're doing?
See if this creates even a little more space,
A little more room,
A little bit more curiosity and openness toward that sensation that you picked.
And as you keep walking here,
See if you can come back to the sensation that you picked and notice if anything has changed since those other parts,
The angry,
Fearful,
Worried,
Upset,
Resistant parts have given you a little bit of space.
You might notice here that the sensation has changed or shifted or moved to a new location or that any image associated with it has changed as well.
Or you may notice that it's stayed exactly the same and both are completely okay.
We're just practicing getting to know the sensation in a new way and whether it changes or doesn't change,
We're accomplishing our goal.
See if you can just be with the sensation as you continue to walk.
See if you can be neutral toward it or even better yet,
Be a little interested,
A little open,
A little curious about it.
And see if you might even be able to reach out in whatever way makes sense to you through words or thoughts or feelings or visualizing.
See if you can reach out toward the sensation and let it feel your openness,
A little less resistance than you had before,
A little more curiosity than you started with today.
For some of you,
Maybe even a feeling of friendliness or affection.
And as you do this,
See if you can notice how the sensation responds back to you.
What's it like for the sensation to have you not to be angry at it or resistant toward it or frustrated with it,
To have you be a little more neutral,
A little more open.
And I invite you to just continue to be with the sensation as you keep walking in the way that you're with it right now.
And as we start to get close to the end of this exercise,
I'd like you to let that sensation know that you're going to come back and work with it more and continue to get to know it without fear,
Without anger,
Without frustration,
Without trying to push it away.
And see if you can also turn toward those feelings of anger and frustration and resistance and appreciate them for giving you the space and time to practice this very worthy exercise that's going to help you rewire the pathways that are keeping these chronic dizziness symptoms going.
Thank you for joining me today,
And please enjoy the rest of your walk.
