Self-Holding For Comfort & Safety

In this gentle somatic practice, we’ll use supportive self-touch, rhythmic tapping, breathwork, and slow swaying movements to help calm the nervous system and reconnect with a sense of inner safety and comfort. Inspired by self-soothing and grounding techniques, this class encourages the body to soften out of stress mode and into a more regulated, restful state. You may experience warmth, sighs, yawns, emotional release, or deep relaxation as the body unwinds. This is a nourishing practice for anxiety, overwhelm, emotional stress, or anytime you need a soft place to land. Please note: Because this practice may cause deep relaxation, it is recommended not to listen while driving.

Transcript

Sitting up straight on your surface. Feel the floor beneath your feet. Feel your weight evenly distributed between your butt cheeks. Close down your eyes. Bring your palms together. And start to rub them. Warming up the hands. Generating your chi and heat between your palms. And now place both of your hands. Over your heart space. In the center of your chest. Note how you can feel your chest with your hands. Now pull your focus into your chest. And feel your hands. With your chest. Notice how this subtle shift in focus completely changes your awareness of your heart space. Breathe deeply and slowly. With every inhale. Visualize the energy flowing in through your nose. And down into your heart space. On your exhale. See the energy float back up. Out through the no. Stay with this visualization. Feel your energy flowing in through the nerves. Down into your heart. And out through the nose with every exhale. This is heart coherence breathing. Notice how your heart rates. Has naturally slowed down. You may start to feel warmth. Through the chest and hands. Last deep breath here. And now move your hand. Over your chest like you're giving yourself a hug. Rest your hands on the area where your chest meets your shoulders. From here. Relax your spine. You need not try to sit up so straight. And take a moment. To really feel. The weight of your arms over your chest. The skin-on-skin contact. Through the upper body and your hands. Feel this deep sense of safety and comfort. Feel how your breath naturally moves your ribcage and arms. Feel every subtle movement. And if it feels natural for you. You can let your chin. Drop down towards your chest. Curving the spine slightly. Resting into this sense of comfort. And from here. . . Start to tap. The right hand gently on the shoulder. And then the left hand. Right? Left. Right. Continue patting. Slowly rhythmically. Allow any emotions to surface. Any tears. A yawn. Or a sigh. Simply allow. Any of these releases to come forth from your body. Breathing and tapping. Slowing the heart rate. Feeling so safe in this moment. And bring your hands to stillness. Slowly straighten up your spine and head. Bringing it back to our neutral position. And from here we're going to slowly slide our palms down the upper arms. Feeling this contact. Enjoying this soft touch. And when your hand get down to your elbows. Place your hands on the sides of your lower ribs. Arms still crossed here. Palms flat on the ribs. And simply breathe. Let your arms become heavy. And notice how this pulls the breath in. Down into the lower lungs. And lower rib cage. Feel that lower ribcage expand into your hands. Mostly. And we're going to add in a small sway. Very gently. Shift your weight onto your right butt cheek. Very small movements. And from here. . . Drop your right shoulder down. Naturally bringing the left shoulder up. And now relax your neck. And your right ear will naturally drop down. To the right shoulder. Keep this position. But now shift your weight. Onto your left butt cheek. Nice and slow. Drop your left shoulder. Down. Allowing the right shoulder to come up. And then relax the neck. And let the head drop. Drop down to the left. Let's connect all of these movements. Shift your weight onto the right butt cheek. Let the right shoulder drop down. And let the right ear drop. Weight onto the left butt cheek. Left shoulder down. Left ear down. Right butt cheek. Right shoulder. Right ear. Left butt cheek. Shoulder. Continue swaying from side to side in your own time. Playing with this movement. Fully enjoying this feeling. Of holding yourself. And gently swaying from side to side. I like to imagine I'm a piece of seaweed. Flowing in the current underwater. Notice how your thoughts have melted away. How the muscles in your neck and traps Have relax. And bring your body back to center. Bring your hands up to the top of your head. Apply some firm pressure here. And keeping that pressure. Stroke your hand. Down the back of your skull. Down the back of your neck. Coming through to the front of your chest. Stroking down your belly. Down the thighs. And bring the hands all the way down to the feet. Roll your spine back upright. And repeat this two more times. Hands to the skull. And applying firm pressure. Working through many meridians of the body. Feeling the warmth. And pressure of the hands. Bringing the energy down into the feet. Grounding the body into safety. Take your time here. To feel the contact. Of your hands on your body. And breathe. When you finished your last round. Come back to your neutral position. Place the hands over the chest. And we will finish just as we began. Breathing into the heart space. Feeling your energy move in through the nose. Into the heart. And up and out through the nose on the exhale. Allow any emotions to surface. And allow these emotions to express through your face. You may smile, Yawn. Frown. This is a safe space. To express fully. You may stay in this moment for as long as you need.