Self-Holding For Calm

Let's begin with an exercise by Dr.

Peter Levine,

Self-holding.

Close your eyes and just begin by placing a hand on your heart.

Get a feeling for which hand feels calmer and just notice the place between the threshold,

Between your hand and your chest.

Feeling the fabric,

Allowing there to be a gentle pressure.

Noticing the breath and place your other hand on your forehead,

Again allowing there to be a gentle pressure,

Your head leaning into your hand and just noticing the place between the temperature of your skin and then taking your hand from your forehead and placing it on your stomach,

Anywhere that feels right,

That feels comfortable.

Again allowing a gentle pressure,

Noticing the threshold.

I like to think of the place between the fine line,

Like where the sea washes up onto the sand.

Noticing your breath and the way the chest and the belly rise and fall,

Maybe deepening your breath as you feel the support of your hands on your body.

Feeling the growing warmth of the hand and just concluding by taking your hand from your stomach and placing it over the other hand that's on your chest.

You might say,

I am with you,

We are in this together.

You are not alone.

Take as long as you need here to feel the contact of your hands and the place between.