Hello and welcome to this somatic tracking practice to help support you in tending to sensations in the body with more compassion and curiosity.
When we are experiencing discomfort,
Whether it's physical or emotional,
We can tend to react out of fear and really resist what is needing our attention by anchoring into safety through grounding and noticing pleasant or neutral sensations,
We can explore our inner landscape with a bit more ease and reduce intensity of chronic symptoms,
Pain and dysregulation.
It's not that we are necessarily trying to fix or change anything,
But instead rewiring our relationship to our body and learning to feel safer within.
So this practice can be done sitting or lying down,
Even standing up,
You have choice and flexibility with this.
And you can choose to have your eyes open or closed,
Closing the eyes can really help with turning inward,
Otherwise just keeping a very soft gaze.
So let's take a moment to be where the body is and really settle into the support beneath you,
And maybe you can feel the feet on the floor,
Or the sit bones in the chair,
Maybe your back is being supported,
Coming into presence with support and see if you can really notice the parts of the body that feel held,
That maybe even feel steady.
And if you find that your mind is wandering to thoughts or sensations already that's okay,
We'll keep bringing our awareness back to the steadiness beneath,
This is really going to be an anchor for our practice.
Maybe you can notice the parts of the body that respond positively to the support,
Parts of the body that allow their weight to be fully held.
Maybe even feeling a sense of settling,
Softening or neutrality as you welcome the support into your experience.
So keeping an awareness on the parts or part of the body that feels anchored,
Neutral,
We're just going to gently touch in on any areas that might be calling for our attention through discomfort or intensity,
And I invite you to go lightly without getting too drawn into the story around it.
Maybe you want to start with something that doesn't feel too overwhelming,
Keeping it simple by focusing in on one sensation,
Just allowing your attention to go there.
Where in the body do you notice it?
And I wonder if you can get curious about the quality of the sensation,
And being descriptive can really help with this.
Sometimes I like to name it out loud,
Which you can do,
Or just taking a mental note.
Does this sensation have any movement to it?
Or is it solid?
Can you notice its weight?
Does it feel heavy or light?
Do you notice a temperature?
And does it contract or is it opening,
Expanding?
And noticing how it feels to rest your attention on it.
As you do that,
Does it change?
And really seeing if you can observe this with curiosity,
Almost as if you were watching the colours of a sunset change.
And if it starts to feel more intense or you're feeling distracted by thoughts,
Just take a moment to connect back to that support beneath you once again.
Notice the parts of the body that are connected to the chair or ground,
The parts of the body that feel comfort from that support,
Feeling that steadiness beneath you.
And you can stay here with this anchor for as long as you need,
But if it feels okay let's check back in with the sensation.
Has the quality or intensity of it changed?
What do you notice?
Now let's trace the borders of this sensation.
Can you notice the areas around it that feel less affected?
That maybe feel less constriction or heaviness,
Movement,
Whatever it might be.
Can you see if you can start to expand out of the sensation to where the intensity is lowered or more neutral?
And let's expand our awareness just a little more and see if we can find any sensations in the body that feel neutral or pleasant even.
If there was a lot of movement,
Maybe you can find an area of stillness.
If there was heaviness,
Maybe you can find softness.
If there was constriction,
Maybe you can find somewhere that feels more expansive.
And if it feels challenging to find any areas,
Maybe once again you bring your attention to the parts of the body that feel that support beneath you.
I wonder if you can notice how your system,
How your body responds to connecting with anywhere that maybe feels a little bit more comfortable or neutral.
And finally let's expand our awareness even more by taking in our whole experience.
So noticing the parts of the body that feel supported,
That feel pleasant or neutral.
Noticing the areas of perhaps discomfort or intensity and the borders of that discomfort.
Noticing the steadiness of the support beneath you.
And becoming aware of your whole body and the space it takes up in the room or space that you are currently in,
Full embodied awareness.
This can really help us zoom out of intensity and overwhelm.
And as we start to bring this practice to a close,
Taking a moment to observe what,
If anything has changed or shifted.
Is there an absence of something that was there before or maybe a presence of something now?
Simply noting without judgement.
And you can start to bring some subtle movement into the body to help you transition out of this practice and back into the rest of your day.
And if you've had your eyes closed,
Very slowly opening them.
Just gently moving your eyes around the space that you are in,
Taking in your surroundings.
And I invite you to return to this practice whenever you need.
With time and consistency,
This somatic tracking practice can help you learn how to slow down your nervous system,
Change your relationship to symptoms and pain,
And really help you connect more easily to a felt sense of safety in the body.
Thank you for listening.
