Mindfulness Somatic Journey

Pain always involves the brain and the brain is capable of creating physiological changes in the body and misinterpreting signals. For many of us, we don't realize the amount of tension we are holding in our muscles and that tension becomes the norm. Somatics is wisdom in the body that teaches us to reset our muscles through mindful movement. This somatic journey gives us the opportunity to come back home in our bodies. Take this journey inward with me through gentle mindful somatic movements and mindful watching. Alchemy Crystal Singing Bowls Music is provided with permission by Annie Jameson.

Transcript

Welcome to this mindfulness somatic journey.

Pain always involves the brain and is a biopsychosocial problem,

Which is why we can't just go after the physical aspect of our body parts that are in pain.

Our brain is capable of generating physiological changes in our body.

Tension over time may accumulate and when we are stressed we stop attending to our breath.

We may start ignoring body symptoms very early on and stress can be responsible for the physical response,

But the brain is also capable of misinterpreting signals from the body.

So even though an action is safe,

The brain can interpret it as dangerous.

In addition,

Our brain and anxiety can be triggered by our past experiences,

Context,

Memories,

And emotions,

And our senses,

And they don't necessarily provide accurate information.

Our brain can make up a story and influence reactions in our body,

Changing our experiences with pain.

Some strong indicators of neuroplastic pain or pain without association to injury is when we have pain that might originate or flare up when we are stressed,

Possibly also symptoms that are inconsistent or that change often.

Fear and preoccupation or rumination,

Sitting in the anxiety around our pain is what keeps our pain stuck.

Many of us don't know or recognize that we are clenching or holding muscular contraction in our bodies.

We have to slow down enough to have the awareness and the discipline it takes to practice.

Somatics is wisdom in the body.

It is wisdom the body has,

And it teaches us through a specific kind of mindfulness that can very much impact our perception of pain and change our quality of life.

Understanding pain doesn't cure our diagnosis or our condition or the reason for pain or inflammation.

Instead,

We want a relationship to our pain and the sensations or the things that we think cause pain to begin to shift and change in order to overcome fear,

Pain,

Fear of our dis-ease.

We need exposure to the fear.

We have to do the movement or the breath work that might bring up some of that fear.

We also want to remember that we aren't going to cure every condition we have.

Your physical experience is very transient.

The work we do in this life,

In this body,

Is to really learn as much as we can about who we are and take that journey remembering our true nature beyond this body.

It's very much eternal.

The obstacles in the way that we face,

We can get caught up in them and we can lose ourselves in the process.

The journey of yoga or somatics is about coming back to our home base,

Our center,

And when we do this,

The obstacles in our lives lessen or become fewer.

Today we're going to practice going inward on a mindfulness somatic journey.

So let's begin by getting yourself comfortable either seated or lying down.

If you're lying down,

You may like to place a thin blanket underneath your thighs or your head for support.

Take a breath in through your nose and out through your mouth.

Let go of whatever came before this.

Take a breath in and a breath out through the mouth.

Let go of whatever is to come after this.

Take a breath in,

A breath out through the mouth.

Be here now,

Aware of your surroundings and your body in this space.

The distance from your body and the objects around here.

Space.

Noticing.

Take note of the colors,

The sounds,

The smells.

And then beginning to close your eyes or softening your gaze with a natural breath in and out through the nose.

I'll ask you to pay attention to the sensations in your body,

But in a new way,

Through a lens of safety.

Mindful curiosity of your body and emotions.

Letting go of fear,

Judgment,

Or attachment to results.

Begin to recognize and reinforce that these sensations that you might be feeling in your body are safe.

Observe what parts of your body are touching the floor or the props beneath you.

Do you feel heavy or light?

Do parts of your body feel hard or soft?

What is your temperature?

Does the temperature in your body change in certain areas?

Does one side of your body feel denser?

Can you relax or soften any parts of your body that feel clenched?

Now notice your breath.

Where is the breath most prominent in your body?

Is it choppy or smooth?

Is your breath continuous or does it contain short breaks?

Is your right nostril more open or is the left nostril more open?

Can you feel the breath in your right lung?

Can you feel your breath at the top of your lungs?

At the bottom of your lungs?

Can you feel the breath at the back of your lungs?

What are you feeling as you divide your attention between your breath and your physical body?

Is this easy to notice the breath in the body at the same time or challenging?

Do you find your mind wandering or thinking?

Are there any areas of discomfort,

Ease or pain?

Pay attention to your sensations but don't draw a conclusion about where the sensation is coming from or why it's there.

As you pay mindful attention to a sensation that might be uncomfortable or painful or unusual,

Is it hard to pay attention to it without fear?

If fear does arise and is causing an increase in anxiety or breathlessness or panic,

Maybe now is a good time to take a break.

If not,

Then remind yourself that you are safe.

You don't need to get the pain to go away.

There is nothing for you to get rid of.

You need to be with and realize the truth and there's no damage happening while we check in with our breath,

While we rest our body,

While we practice mindfulness or even gentle movement.

Teach your brain to reinterpret these signals through a lens of lightness,

Knowing that right now there is no danger.

Right now there is nothing to fix.

Let go and watch,

Knowing nothing is dangerous.

Breathe into the knowing that you are safe.

There is no danger.

Even though it may feel like something is going on through your sensations,

Your brain can be overreacting to signals.

Your brain is interpreting possibly that there is a sense of danger,

Whether it intensifies or decreases,

Whatever happens.

It doesn't matter because right now you are okay.

Let go of the attachment to results.

Release your need for outcome dependency or expectation on your body or mind to behave in a certain way.

Now having explored your breath and your physical body,

You might choose to bring in some gentle movement and as I describe the movement,

Don't worry if your brain isn't registering the words that I'm saying.

Don't worry if you're getting the movement wrong or backwards or if you're uncertain.

That's okay.

Simply listen and move the body in the way in which you think you're being directed.

And if moving the body doesn't feel safe right now,

Maybe you just visualize the movement in your mind.

Visualize your body moving in the way that I describe without actually physically moving anything at all.

So reminding yourself that you are safe,

Begin to bring awareness to your feet.

Flex your feet so that the heels press away from your body and then draw the toes up towards the ceiling to the right.

Point the toes away from you and over to the left,

Drawing slow clockwise circles with your ankles.

We may have a tendency to rush,

So slow it down even more as you divide your attention between your breathing and this gentle movement in the ankle.

The next time your toes come up towards the ceiling,

Reverse the circles counterclockwise,

Moving from the ceiling to the left,

Pointing the toes and over to the right.

Now you may hear crackling,

Popping,

Clicking.

You may feel different muscles tensing and relaxing.

You might imagine it if you're visualizing how this movement feels in your feet and your legs.

There's no right or wrong.

When you're ready,

Relax your ankles,

Your toes,

Your feet,

And your legs completely.

Now bring your awareness to your hands.

If your palms are rolled down,

Rotate your palms to face up towards the ceiling.

With soft fingers,

Lightly close your hands into fists as you exhale.

As you inhale,

Stretch open your fingers,

Spreading them wide,

Stretching the palm and the space between your fingers.

As you exhale again,

Slowly close your fingers down towards your palms.

Repeat opening and closing your hands,

Noticing breath and without attachment to results,

Just observing sensation through a lens of safety.

Slowly relax your palms up or down,

The hands,

Maybe even your wrists,

And the sensations that are present.

Reminding yourself that there's nothing to fix,

We're just simply watching and knowing.

Nothing is dangerous.

Bring awareness to your neck.

Let your head slowly start to roll to the right.

As you turn your head to the right,

There may be a stopping point.

You may notice stiffness or contraction of certain muscles or stretching opposing muscles.

Slowly bring your head back to the center.

As you turn your head to the left,

Slowly you might notice again crunching,

Crackling.

Remind yourself that this is just observation,

That we're safe,

And there's no damage happening.

Slowly come back to center and keep going a couple of times.

Slow turn of the head to the right,

Visualizing if this isn't safe or comfortable,

That you're turning your head and your mind.

Imagining the sensation of what that might feel like,

What muscles tense and contract,

What muscles lengthen.

Observe how the breath is changing with this movement,

If at all,

Or if sometimes we tend to overdo things,

We might be turning too far and we feel a wince or a pinch or a sensation in our nerves.

There are areas of the body we might be pulling in tension automatically because of the fear of movement.

And when there's fear as an underlying emotion,

We might begin to ruminate on why that's there,

Why is that sound happening.

Instead,

Draw your mind back to gentle movement and breath.

Remind yourself that you're safe.

We don't need to go to a point where there's an increase in pain or a deep stretch,

Just simple gentle movement.

When you're ready,

Bring your head back to center.

Relax and notice all the sensation in your neck,

Maybe even your lower jaw,

Your tongue,

Your throat,

The back of your head.

You may choose now to bend your knees and bring your feet to the surface beneath you,

The bed or the floor,

With your knees facing the ceiling,

Your heels somewhere in line with your hips.

Become aware of your sacrum,

A triangular bone shape at the lower back,

The tailbone being the bottom part of your triangle,

The back of your right hip and the back of your left hip,

The SI joints being the other two corners of your triangle.

Feel the weight in the center of that triangle,

In the center of your sacrum,

Your lower back.

Notice your pelvis,

Where it lands,

How your lower back might touch or not touch the surface beneath you.

And as you breathe in,

Roll your weight towards your tailbone,

Letting the tailbone drop into the surface beneath you and your lower back lift up off the mat or the floor or the bed,

Contracting your lower back muscles as you arch.

And then as you exhale,

Let your back fall back to the floor beneath you,

Feeling your weight roll into the center of the sacrum.

And then roll your weight towards the back of the sacrum,

The very top,

So that your back flattens perfectly to the surface beneath you and the tailbone curls up and away from the floor.

You might feel in this position your abdomen contracts or your navel pulls down towards the floor.

Do that a few more times,

Rolling the weight through the center of the sacrum towards your tailbone,

Arching your lower back,

Lifting your belly button,

Contracting the muscles of your lower back,

Lengthening the muscles of the front belly.

And as you exhale,

Roll the weight through the center towards the top of your sacrum,

So the back flattens,

The tailbone rises slightly,

And the belly contracts or shortens,

And the back lengthens.

With your own breath,

And you can visualize this movement as well,

Imagining how it would feel.

And finally,

Let your pelvis come back to a neutral space.

Extend your legs out one at a time.

Relax all muscular tension in your body,

From your toes,

Through your legs,

Your pelvis and hips,

Your lower back,

Mid-back and ribs,

Upper back and shoulders,

Arms and hands.

Relax the neck and any muscles in the jaw and the face.

Feel your whole body relaxed.

And notice any sensation.

Finding yourself that if there is a pain increase,

Or a sense of discomfort,

Or maybe you're now,

You're feeling energy,

And then a sense of tingling,

Or lightness,

Or heaviness.

Remind yourself that you're safe,

That the brain can overreact to signals.

It can interpret danger when there isn't any danger,

And it can intensify,

And it can decrease at any time.

Whatever sensations you're feeling now,

Remind yourself that you're okay,

And release attachment to results,

Need for expectations,

Outcomes,

Results.

Now as you slowly return to this body resting and relaxed,

One more time divide your attention between your physical body and your breathing,

And notice how the body feels now.

How is the breath?

Where is it landing in your body?

Has the breath smoothed out?

More spacious?

Does your mind feel more calm,

At peace,

Or focused?

Do you feel different bodily sensations than you felt at the beginning?

Possibly more ease or comfort?

Were you able to keep your mind focused mostly during the meditation?

And if not,

Can you recall what emotions,

Thoughts,

Or feelings might have risen during the mindfulness practice?

As you return,

Begin to recognize the sounds that you hear,

The smells,

The taste in your mouth.

Taking your time,

You can slowly bring your palms together in front of your heart,

Rub the palms together,

Create a little warmth,

And then gently cup your hands over your eyes.

You might choose to give your head a gentle massage with your fingers,

And you may now slowly blink back in the light under your hands,

And return to your space.

Reviews

Hello beautiful 🌺🎈🌺🎈🌺Thank you so much for the wonderful practice 🎈🎈🎈I lost tension and fear like they are flying away like balloons in the sky 🗺️have a blessed day 🕉️Namaste