If you're feeling wired,
Stressed,
Or overwhelmed,
Sometimes the conventional advice is to sit still in meditation,
But that doesn't always work.
I'm inviting you to join me in this quick practice that's specifically designed for the nervous system.
No pressure,
Just invitations.
And remember to always listen to your body and opt out of anything that I might suggest.
I invite you to start in a standing position.
And I advise that you don't lock your knees like this.
But bend them slightly and keep them soft.
We're going to do a shaking exercise.
Allow your arms to flop.
Then begin.
Flicking.
Through your hands and rest.
Don't lock the wrists.
Allow them just to be.
And as you're flicking,
Notice the sensation in your fingertips and your wrist.
Maybe something different is happening,
Feels a bit strange,
Or it might feel even calming a little bit.
If this feels nice,
Continue up through your arms.
Start shaking your arms.
Try to imagine the concept of flicking.
You know how you can flick water off your fingertips?
It's the same idea.
But instead of water,
I encourage you to imagine flicking away that tension and stress and anxiety.
You may notice that I'm already rocking on my heels.
Start to bring your heels into it if this feels lovely and you want to continue.
Until eventually you're shaking.
Through the entire body.
Shaking the body signals to it to release tension.
And to Gently ask stress to surrender.
And let go.
So with that concept of shaking,
Continue.
Going about this whole exercise on your terms.
Be weird with it.
Go with the flow.
There's no right or wrong.
And if it feels nice to do this,
Try and flick away more of that tension that maybe has been plaguing you and causing this stuck energy.
Let's try to move it out.
Move it out left.
Move it out right.
Move it out through the center.
Flick it away through the top.
All the way around.
If it feels nice to close your eyes,
Lovely if it doesn't.
Keep him open.
Do what's necessary.
What works for you and your body.
And eventually.
.
.
Start to slow the shaking motion.
Maybe begin rocking from heel to heel.
Slightly flicking through your hands now.
Closing your eyes if that feels right at this moment.
And I now invite you to land in a moment of stillness on your mat.
How did that feel?
Perhaps you feel tingling all over your body.
Maybe your heart rate is accelerated.
But do you also feel.
.
.
Little bits of calm inviting you in.
It's that reaction.
To your body's question.
From the shaking.
Which is,
Can you allow in stillness?
And that may be stillness.
Is an option.
There's no need to judge what's happening right now.
Definitely no need to change anything.
If you have your eyes closed,
Open them now.
If you're continuing along,
We're going to stay in a standing position.
Widen our stance,
But please keep your knees soft.
And we're going to begin swaying.
Back and forth.
Let's start with the hip.
Let your head follow along.
Allow your arms to be loose by your sides.
If this feels.
.
.
Good.
Start to even bring your arms into it.
So bring a little more tension into your arms.
You might notice that I'm allowing my arms to cross my body a little.
And my hands to tap.
My hips and buttocks.
I encourage you to try this.
A love tap.
That's what I like to call it.
Just a little self contact.
So swaying back and forth like this.
It activates both sides of the body at the same time.
Which also helps stimulate the left and right brain hemispheres.
Signaling to the parasympathetic system.
That it's safe here,
It's okay.
More release can happen.
If you want to make it a little more active you can.
Slow it down.
No need to even go fast.
If you want to continue.
We're going to add on.
And I'd like.
.
.
To try a half self-hub.
It's a soothing action to the body.
I'll show you Here,
How it works.
So when you go over to your next side,
You grasp your armpit and let your other arm flop.
And come back and grasp your other armpit.
So doing this action,
Activates pressure receptors in your armpit.
That release oxytocin,
The natural calming hormone to the body.
Coming across,
Even pausing in that self-hug for a moment.
And feeling how soothing that can be.
I'm going to do four more.
Three.
And then four.
Release your arms.
And go down into a forward fold.
Folding over your legs.
Bend your knees a lot.
Use your knees as a tray for your chest.
If it feels nice,
Come into a full self-hug.
By grasping your shoulders.
If that doesn't feel right,
You can just grab your elbows.
Or if you want more grounding,
Touch.
The floor.
Feel the earth supporting you.
This won't be a static.
Standing forward fold.
But just a draping over for a moment.
Next.
I invite you to.
.
.
Come along with expelling more of that tension.
What we're going to do is Come up.
Slopper arms.
Anywhere above your head and then flop down and let out a big sigh.
We'll do this four times,
So just do this with me.
Coming back down into your forefold,
Bending your legs.
Releasing your arms.
Coming up.
Inhale.
Sigh out.
Coming up again and inhaling.
It's really spelling out.
Pushing out more tension.
Third time.
Inhaling Ah,
Letting it out,
Letting it out.
Last one.
Really let it out.
AHHHHH!
Keep bending your knees.
Grasping your elbows if that feels nice.
Coming into that self-hug.
Self touch is very calming to the nervous system.
And so is noise.
Making noise in somatic yoga is welcome.
It's another signal to the parasympathetic.
Now,
I invite you to come to the floor.
Into an easy sitting position.
And.
We're going to do a modified cat cow so A cat cow is essentially a contraction and expansion of the spine.
But what cat cow really does from a somatic perspective is to massage the vagus nerve.
If it feels nice,
You can place your hands on your knees and use them as a guide or a brace.
I'd like to try to do this to the breath,
So inhaling.
Expanding open the chest and then exhaling contracting and basically pushing your back towards the wall.
I'd like to try to do four of these.
If you'd like to close your eyes with me,
I invite you to do that.
Clasping your knees gently.
And inhale.
And just expanding open the chest.
Exhale.
Contracting.
Inhale.
Open your heart,
Shining it forward.
Exhale.
Clasping your knees if that feels comforting.
Going back.
Inhale.
Being open to the idea that calm can arrive.
Exhale.
Tucking in your chin.
In a self-soothing stance last one Inhale.
Pressing your shoulders back slightly.
And just being here.
Exhale.
Curling in as though a bird does when it's sleeping.
Coming back into a neutral spine.
Opening your eyes if they were closed.
For last movement,
Just to release more in the hips.
We're going to rotate.
Our hips and our torso for a moment,
Going whichever direction feels best for you.
But maybe rotating about three or four times.
Asking the body to release a bit more.
And then switching direction.
Beautiful.
You're doing so great.
Doing your last rotation.
And then coming.
Into the center.
Into a see the position of stillness for a quick moment.
I'd like to end this practice with ocean's breath.
Ocean's breath is a nice way to cement.
Any calm that you've been experiencing.
And breath ratio or breath practices that are conscious in somatic yoga are proven through research to help cut through that very buzzy,
Messy chatter that can happen when we're in overwhelm or anxiety or stress.
Ocean's breath can be done two ways with the mouth closed or mouth open.
I'd like to invite you to do the version with the mouth open.
I'll demonstrate it very quickly if you're not familiar with it.
And a good cue is to put your hand in front of your mouth because it's a slight throat constriction.
So it's a shorter inhale,
Longer exhale.
Again the longer exhale is very comforting to the nervous system.
So inhale.
It's also called fog mirror breath.
So that natural way our breath will fog up a mirror,
That is a great image to hold on to if it helps.
Helps you create the sound.
I'm going to close my eyes you're welcome to do the same we're going to attempt five breaths together And here we go.
If you have your eyes closed,
Come along.
And inhale.
We'll just do a slight pause after each breath.
Inhale.
Here's our halfway point.
Try to really draw that exhale.
Inhale.
Fourth one.
Inhale.
Last one,
I encourage you to go longer if you can.
No worries if you can't.
Inhale.
Beautiful.
Bring your hand down if you're using it as a guide.
Feel free to keep your eyes closed.
If that brings you into a peaceful state.
Let's do a final check-in.
Do you notice differences from when you started this practice.
Maybe some parts are finally saying,
Yes,
I can relax.
Maybe there are other parts that are.
.
.
Far away.
That's okay.
Honor your process.
Be where you are.
There's never any right or wrong or one path.
Your healing journey is beautiful as it is.
We can bring our hands into anjali mudra or prayer.
And if you had your eyes closed,
Please open them.
Thank you so much for joining.
