The following practice is an upregulated exercise to help you get out of the hyperarousal state,
The dorsal bigot state.
This is a place where you might feel collapse,
A sense of shutdown and dissociation,
A sense of disconnection from your body.
Maybe you might feel freeze,
Like the need to run away but without being able to do so.
Maybe there is a feel of being so tired and fatigued that all you want to do is collapse and take a very very long nap.
The baselines of your body and mind might be closer to the 1 out of 10.
This practice is called the contact point practice.
As always,
I invite you to make sure you honor the wisdom of your body.
At any given point,
If something doesn't feel safe for you,
Make sure you bring yourself back to safety and you take care of you.
Whether that looks like standing up and shaking your body or opening your eyes if you choose to close your eyes or just bringing the use of your senses,
The eyes,
The sight,
The touch,
The smell,
Just bringing the awareness into the present moment through the use of your senses might help you feel safer.
So again,
Any practice that you do to help you regulate your nervous system needs to feel safe in your body.
So at any given point,
Make sure you adapt the practice to you to make it feel safe.
So let's begin.
I invite you to sit comfortable in a chair,
Preferably with your back against the chair and your feet flat on the floor.
Whether you choose to wear shoes or be barefoot,
Whatever feels right for you.
Allow the feet to rest on the surface and allow the arms and the hands to rest on your lap comfortably and relax,
Softening the muscles around your arms.
And as you begin to bring awareness to your body position,
I invite you to adjust your body so that you are fully comfortable and that there is a sense of ease,
Safety and comfort.
As you find this comfortable position,
I invite you to bring your awareness to your feet touching the floor and begin noticing all the information and the quality of the sensations that are coming from the bottom of your feet.
You might feel the clothing like a sock or a shoe.
You might feel your bare foot on the floor or the earth.
You might even notice the temperature difference of cool and warm.
Be curious and bring your awareness to the quality of the sensations on the bottom surface of your feet.
Notice the places of your feet that are in contact with the ground.
Notice your toes,
Your heels,
The arches of your feet,
Your feet.
You might also begin noticing the floor surface.
Maybe it's a rug,
A carpet,
The earth.
And just begin noticing all the information that is coming through your feet.
And at this moment,
This is not available to you.
You may bring a gentle touch to your feet.
Maybe a gentle massage to your feet to kind of awaken the sensations of your feet.
And in this full awareness of your feet,
I'm going to invite you now to begin gently pressing your feet into the floor.
This will increase the activation of your nervous system.
So as you gently press your feet down,
This might look like sliding your foot one forward and one back.
Begin noticing the sensations.
Feeling the pressure of your feet against the floor.
Noticing the areas of the feet that are in contact with the floor.
Noticing again the sensations,
The temperature and pressure.
And also bring awareness to the areas that are not in contact with the floor.
You want to bring a pressure that feels right and enough so that it helps you feel a sense of connection to the earth.
And it gives you a sense of anchoring in safety.
Now,
If you continue to find hard to connect to your sensations,
That's okay.
With love and kindness,
You may turn the volume up of those sensations by rubbing one foot back and forth along the ground three times.
And then you can do the same thing on the other foot.
And again,
If this is not resonating with you,
You might just massage your foot one before the other one.
Tuning back into the sensations of your body.
Being curious about what you're experiencing without trying to analyze it or judge it.
Just becoming aware of this anchor part of your body.
When you feel this part of the activation of your feet feels complete,
You may let your feet relax.
And now bring your awareness back into how your body is feeling after bringing awareness to your feet.
Notice the quality of the sensations of the bottom of your feet.
And notice if anything changed at all.
Now gently bring your awareness up to the back side of your legs.
And begin noticing how the upper part of your legs come in contact with the chair.
Once again,
Investigate the sensations around the upper part of your legs.
You might notice the clothing or the pressure of your legs against the chair.
And just to tune up a little bit the volume of the sensations around the legs,
I invite you to gently press the back of the legs a little bit into the chair,
Bringing more energy to your system as you do this.
And if this does not resonate with you,
You might bring a gentle massage to the top part of your legs.
And as you do this pressure or this gentle massage to your legs,
Begin noticing the quality of the sensations around the upper part of your legs.
Noticing what you can feel and reconnect,
Reconnecting with your physical body.
Now if it's available to you,
You might add more energy to your nervous system.
This is up-regulation practice.
So we want to get us out of that dorsal collapse state.
And to do so,
To add this energy,
You might press the feet and the back of the legs down at the same time.
A gentle and sustained pressure.
Noticing the quality of the sensations,
The sensory information that is coming when you add energy to your body.
And just as a reminder,
If you feel disconnected,
You may choose to massage the outside of your thighs with your hands,
Bringing some circulation and blood flow to that area.
And always just notice what comes up without judging anything,
Without trying to change anything.
This is just a practice.
You don't have to be perfect at it.
You're just showing up for yourself and that's the most important thing.
Now allow the arms to soften,
Allow the legs and the feet to relax.
And once again,
Just notice the sensations around the anchor of your feet and your legs.
And slowly begin letting your attention chip to your spine.
Noticing the glutes,
The sacrum,
The lower back,
Middle back,
Upper back and the backside of your neck.
Begin to notice the sensations around your spine.
Maybe you might notice the clothing along your spine.
Maybe you might notice the areas of your spine that are in contact with your chair.
Feel your back in contact with the chair,
In the sensory information you are receiving.
And then let's add more energy into your system.
Begin by gently pressing your spine into the chair.
Feeling the points of your spine that increase pressure and then letting that relax just a little bit.
And if you feel a sense of collapse in your body,
You might gently press the feet into the floor and let your spine lengthen.
This can up regulate your nervous system.
Now as you bring that gentle pressure into your spine against the chair,
You might feel the muscles of your core and your abdominal area gently engage,
Bringing a sense of centering and grounding.
And slowly let go of that pressure around your spine and your core.
And I invite you once again,
Notice the quality of the sensations around your body.
Notice the backside of your body in contact with the chair.
Notice the front side of your body.
Notice your spine,
Your legs and your feet.
Take a moment to notice the quality of the sensations and notice if anything at all change after this up regulating practice.
And now to close today's practice,
I'm going to invite you to just look around the room where you are.
Notice the colors that you can see.
Notice the shapes that you can see around that room.
And maybe find a place to gaze to.
Maybe it's a photograph.
Maybe it's a piece of wall art.
Find something that brings you a sense of peace,
Tranquility,
Or even joy.
If you have a pet around,
You might even reach out to your pet and just hug him or her.
And as you feel your environment and connect to your pet or to your environment,
Let's take one breath together.
Exhaling through the mouth,
Siding it out.
And once we take this breath,
I'm going to invite you to gently begin a gentle shake off.
So then you can incorporate to your day.
So take a breath in through your nose and exhale through the mouth.
And slowly,
Very slowly,
Begin shaking it off.
Thank you so much for allowing me to guide you today's practice.
I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.
