If you're in a low or depressive state,
Sometimes the advice that's given is to do a lot of activity.
However,
That can be very overwhelming and might make you want to retreat more.
This is a gentle practice that helps balance the nervous system out.
If I'm suggesting something that does feel too much,
Just go into a shape at that moment that feels good to you.
I encourage you to begin in a cross-legged shape on your yoga mat but if that is not comfortable choose something else.
If you are sitting like this,
One way to supplement is to add a cushion or a block underneath your sit bones.
Or another way to do this practice is to sit in a chair for we will be sitting down for most of the practice.
We're going to start with self-havening.
It's a gentle way to knock on the nervous system.
But it's also extremely soothing.
We're going to start by paving our forehead.
Quite effective to close your eyes during this process however if that is really activating just keep your eyes open Bring your hands.
Into two fingers like this.
And place your fingers on the top of your forehead,
But brush any hair away that you can.
Luckily,
My hair is parted enough today that I can do that to demonstrate.
Place your fingers at the top of your forehead.
If you're closing your eyes with me,
Please do so.
And what we're going to do is start stroking with.
A little bit of pressure.
And going across the forehead towards the temples.
And just starting to absorb how this feels.
I'll try to do this 10 times,
But forgive me if I go under or over because this feels so good to me.
Sometimes I get lost in how it feels lovely.
And what's empowering about this particular.
.
.
Somatic exercise.
Is you are.
.
.
Choosing to soothe yourself rather than per se going to a massage therapist.
You're giving this to yourself.
As for how much pressure,
It's really up to you.
I like a little extra.
Because of that massage factor.
I think we're coming up to about 10.
Absorb that last movement.
We'll move on and begin to massage through our cheeks.
But place your fingers between your eyebrows and start to stroke.
Around your nose Going across your cheeks.
And then going towards your ears like that.
Here in your cheeks are.
.
.
Well,
There's fascia everywhere in our body.
But since we're massaging this area,
I'll talk about the cheats.
What you can do here is pause and give a little massage on whichever cheek is.
.
.
Really tight or tender I find that my left cheekbone is a lot more tender than my right And remember to keep going towards the ears.
Noticing.
Where you might be feeling this self-touch besides the face.
Are you noticing it in other parts of your body?
Do you feel maybe your shoulders becoming less tense?
Maybe your stomach is unclenching.
Especially when we're in low depressive state.
It really does affect us a lot in the stomach area.
Okay,
We'll move on.
I probably went over 10 there.
Now begin at your chin.
We're going to massage.
Through into our jaw area.
So place your fingers there and start to fan out.
From your center point of the chin and go towards your earlobe.
And even that spot.
Where your jaw and your ears connect,
You can even massage a little bit.
It feels so nice.
Continue on.
Gentle butt.
Pressured strokes.
Across your jaw.
And I also like to open my jaw like this.
When I'm feeling down,
I notice that my jaw locks up.
So doing this just.
.
.
Releases tension.
Continue or opt out if you feel satisfied.
I never do because I love this.
We're doing this for a good reason,
And it's because.
.
.
In polyvagal theory,
The vagus nerve runs from the stomach.
All the way through into the chest.
Through the neck.
And the ears and the eyes.
So to get instant relief,
For your nervous system.
Your cranial nerves are right under the skin of your face.
So.
Self-having in the face particularly is powerful.
All right,
We've probably done about 15 of those,
But my jaw feels a lot better.
And you can even kind of go in this point of your cheekbone and give a little massage just on the side.
Oh,
The next thing we're going to pay attention to is our ears,
Which.
Generally,
Don't get massaged at all.
And so the ears,
As I said,
Is another spot where your cranial nerves are.
And this is also a very powerful part of the vagus nerve.
So choose whatever ear you want.
And what we're going to do,
I hope you can see my ear as I push my hair back,
Is we're going to.
.
.
Massage with gentle tugs,
Tugs all the way from the top to the bottom in the earlobe.
We'll do this four times.
So if you're coming along,
Begin by.
.
.
Gently tugging at the top of your ear.
Just keep going down.
Lovely.
And then move back up by massaging or just tugging.
All the way up That was two.
And then we'll do.
The third one.
And then we'll do the fourth one.
Come all the way back up.
Now let's do the other side,
The other ear.
Same thing.
Start to.
.
.
Gently tug.
Don't yank.
Just gently tug.
At the top Moving to the bottom.
Right in your earlobe.
The second one.
Moving back up your ear.
Beautiful.
And then back down.
And our last one,
We're gonna end back at the top.
You don't even have to tug.
You can give a gentle massage like this.
All right,
That's our last one.
Another hack here is If you find this very strange,
Because if it's new,
It could feel that way.
One way to try it out another time is to just.
Give a gentle tug five times.
And then you can do it on any part of your ear.
So try that once.
And then you could do maybe a couple more times or just do that one,
One time and leave it for another day.
Let's now dial in that we've done the havening.
On our face.
And connect with ourselves.
So let's connect with our heart space.
Put your left hand over your heart and your right hand covering.
Begin to feel your heartbeat for a moment.
Underneath your hands.
You might feel some tingling around your earlobes.
Top of your ear.
Even around your face area,
Your jaw,
Perhaps even permeating down through your neck a little bit.
With low state.
Is you don't need a lot.
Just a little.
Just to remind yourself that you are here.
You are worthy enough to be here.
Perhaps also dial into what your other parts are doing right now.
I talked about your stomach earlier maybe that does feel slightly more relaxed.
And as you remember that your heart is precious and that you are.
We can flow a little bit.
We'll do like a mini sun salutation,
Heart opening.
We'll do that to the breath.
If that feels good to you,
Come along with that or no need to use your breath.
Also,
Sometimes with breath,
Even if you breathe with your mouth open,
That's more than okay.
Some of us are mouth breathers and may not be used to doing.
Closed mouth breathing.
Relax into your mat.
And come along.
By inhaling.
Inhaling and open your arms up to the sides,
Pushing your shoulders back a little bit,
Bringing your chin up.
Open your eyes if you can.
If you can't,
No worries.
Exhale come in bring your hands over your heart again we'll do this three more times Inhale.
Open to yourself and your possibilities.
Bring your chin up.
Keep your eyes closed or open,
Playing even with opening or closing your eyes.
Opening eyes can feel activating,
So don't go there if that is what is signaling to you.
Exhale,
Come back in.
Coming back in.
Oh,
You know,
Like a bird.
When it sleeps,
It nestles into its body and brings its wings in.
Try to do that for a moment for yourself.
Two more.
Inhale open open to the sky greet yourself Exhale.
And this time,
I want you to come into a self-hug and bring your lower hand into your armpit,
Your upper hand on top of your shoulder.
And just rest here for a second.
Placing your hand under your armpit like this.
It allows oxytocin to be released throughout your body.
It's a natural relaxing hormone.
Because let's face it,
Depression is not relaxing.
It may seem like it.
But in truth,
It's uncomfortable sometimes.
Last one,
Inhale.
Open open open.
Shine your beautiful heart forward.
Exhale,
Switch your hands.
Bring your other hand under your armpit and the other hand on your shoulder.
And just.
.
.
B,
For a moment.
If it's okay,
Even start to sway.
Side to side here.
Giving yourself comfort.
And maybe you couldn't get comfort in other places.
But today.
.
.
You have.
The power to give it to yourself.
If you're swaying with me,
Begin to slow down.
And land in the center.
If you had your eyes closed.
You can open them Should you be sitting in a chair,
It might be a good time to come up because we're going to now lie on the floor.
We're going to do a lovely soothing shape called fetal curl.
I'm going to lie on my right side,
But lie on whatever side works for you.
What you're going to do is Bend your knees and bring your legs together as though we're doing.
.
.
One of those leg exercises,
But we're not.
And coming down on your side.
Now,
What I do is I.
.
.
Pull my arm out so that I have an anchor on my side body and also it helps support your neck and head for a little bit.
What we're going to do now is.
.
.
Bring your legs together and.
Basically curl into this shape.
And it feels good already to me.
So one way to do this shape is to.
.
.
Give yourself ultimate comfort by bringing your arms over your head like this.
However,
That can feel uncomfortable for some people.
And so what I personally like to do is I'll use my bottom arm as a pillow.
And just.
.
.
Bend it like this and bring my head down on top of it so my hand is almost cradling my head.
And it feels so nice to me to have that contact there.
And then I'll take my top hand and I'll just.
.
.
Clasp my bottom arm so it just feels comforting for me but you can try the covered head version or this version And it's exactly like it sounds.
We're just curling into ourselves for comfort.
Oh,
So settle in.
And feel the earth or your yoga mat.
Supporting you.
Can you learn to trust that you are supported?
That something is holding you up always.
And you just have to tap into it.
Because it's always there.
Maybe you went into this shape when you were young.
And it felt soothing to you?
You can now do the same thing.
Rock yourself.
Soothe yourself.
Be the caretaker that maybe you never got.
If you'd like to join me,
We're going to add on.
In somatic yoga,
We always try to make sound with our voice.
Why?
Because it's a signal to your nervous system that it's safe.
We're going to.
.
.
Do a.
.
.
I actually have in an individual video about this shape which I'll add here.
But essentially,
The sh sound is.
.
.
If you've soothed your child,
You would.
.
.
Rock your baby and.
.
.
Make that shit.
Sound as you're rocking.
To.
.
.
Allow child to relax and be able to sleep for example or rest comfortably in your arms it's the same type of action and results.
We're not doing.
.
.
As though you're asking someone to be quiet in the library.
It's a lengthened out sound.
I'll demonstrate really quickly.
Inhaling,
Okay,
So.
.
.
We'll do three of these together.
Just,
Again,
Feel.
.
.
The earth,
The feedback from your body.
Into the ground.
When you're ready Inhale.
Let go.
Pause.
Next one.
Lengthen out your exhale as much as you can.
Raw.
Rock that baby inside,
That inner child that needs it.
Inhale.
Beautiful.
Good luck.
Last one.
Lengthen,
Lengthen.
Ready?
Inhale.
Absolutely,
Completely,
Really.
Ahhhh.
If it feels nice,
You can even curl in more.
Feeling the tenderness.
Relaxing.
Letting your head relax.
If your head's resting in your hand.
Notice the hand supporting.
Your skull,
Letting your neck relax.
Your face.
Your shoulders.
Let them soften.
Feel your breath.
Expanding in your back,
Relaxing your back.
The same with your chest.
The front body Inhaling.
And exhaling into calmness.
Noticing your stomach.
Your abdomen.
Asking your abdomen and tummy to release.
And polyvagal seri.
That's where generally low energy states live.
Is in the stomach abdomen area.
Which is called dorsal.
That feeling of sadness.
Of immobility,
Freezing.
Gently ask it.
To come up for air.
To breathe.
Because you.
.
.
Are supporting it.
Moving down into your hip.
Letting the earth just cradle your hip.
Down your thighs.
Relax.
Back of your legs.
Relax.
Your calves.
Your shins.
The ankles.
That move.
With so much force to take you places,
And your feet,
Oh,
Maybe your feet,
That's an example.
That's a neglected part of you.
Give it some TLC.
Request that they relax.
Just be.
You're safe on your yoga mat.
You're safe in your space.
You can work things out here.
If you'd like to stay here,
I welcome you.
To do so.
If you'd like,
You can push up with me.
Gently pushing Oh,
With your hands.
Back up into a sitting position or coming into your chair if that feels best.
Closing off by bringing your hands.
Into Anjali Mudra.
Or prayer hands.
In front of your chest.
Honoring yourself for showing up today.
Trusting that there are sunny days ahead.
Even if it may not feel like it at this moment.
You matter.
And I'm so glad you're here.
Open your eyes.
If you had them closed.
Appreciate you joining.
It's so wonderful to connect with you.
