Hi there and welcome back.
Today's exercise is a somatic pendulation exercise that helps you to begin to recognize opposite sensations in your body.
The ideal goal of this exercise is to learn to be with the sensations that are in our body and begin to dissolve them by learning to simply stay with the sensations until it begins to change and then finding the opposite sensation in the body.
We want to do this in small tolerable steps that helps to stretch your nervous system but not stress it.
So I just would love for you to simply begin to observe what's going on inside you without being carried away by overstimulation or loss of interest or boredom.
If you ever feel overwhelmed by this exercise or any exercises that I record,
Please stop the exercise and return to it at a later time.
So first I'd love for you to just begin by getting settled in.
Whether you're sitting on a chair,
A couch,
Your bed,
Just begin to notice where your body is making contact with the chair,
With the bed,
And or with the couch and begin to turn inward and just notice any sensations that you might be experiencing and just allow your body to arrive in this moment.
And I'd love for you to identify something that was mildly activating either today in the last couple of days or in the past week.
I don't want anything serious so this could be maybe somebody cut you off,
You got an upsetting phone call,
Like your electricity bill was not paid,
Those types of things.
We don't want anything that's moderate or severely activating at this point.
And as you are thinking about this just go with the first one that comes up and as you're thinking about the situation notice any sensations that are associated with it in your body.
Can you just stay with this for a couple of minutes and notice what changes or shifts?
And let's say as an example you felt restriction in your chest or maybe a tightness in your shoulders.
Can you now find a place in your body that is the opposite?
So let's go with the tightness in the shoulders as an example and see where in your body might be a little bit more relaxed.
I know for me my lower belly feels relaxed,
My lower legs.
And notice the sensations as you move to a more relaxed place,
What shifts and changes in your body.
You can stay here for a minute or two.
If you want to pause this recording you can.
And then we want to move back to the area that was either restricted or had tightness.
And just notice the very subtle differences.
It may be dissipating,
Often it does,
But can you still notice anything there?
Maybe it is spreading,
Maybe it's moving to a different part of your body,
Maybe it's completely dissipated and then you notice somewhere else that feels tightness.
Or restriction.
Can you be with that without bringing judgment to it,
Without making meaning to it?
Can you just be with that?
And now we're going to move back to the opposite,
Wherever that is for you.
And notice what's different or changes.
Often these are very subtle differences in our body.
And you can keep moving back and forth in between these two,
Between what was difficult and tight or restrictive to more relaxed.
Another way to use the pendulation exercise is to also notice the warmth and the cold in your body.
I notice my feet are cooler and I have more warmth in my chest and in my gut.
More tingling,
Less tingling.
And you just want to keep moving between these two areas within your body.
A great way to end the pendulation exercise is with a Voo that we did with the stabilization exercise.
I won't start it now,
But you can pause this recording and add that in.
And the more times you can practice this exercise,
You'll learn to pendulate successfully and discover that the pain that might be associated with something that's emotional or that might be have been startling throughout your day begins to feel more manageable.
I hope you found this exercise helpful and it has allowed you to feel more present in your life.
