Hello and welcome.
If you're moving through a health anxiety spiral right now,
Trust me,
When I say this,
I know what it feels like.
I've dealt with it a lot and I also know that these practices help in restoring a sense of safety in your body.
So when you feel the anxiety or the worry next time,
You feel like you have more tools to welcome it and to work with it.
Today we will work on connecting with our bodily sensation and finding a place in our body that feels safe and healthy that we can rely on.
Health anxiety happens because we label our regular bodily sensations as dangerous,
But the truth is our body is constantly communicating with us through our senses.
And sometimes the pain,
The tightness,
The tingling,
The throbbing,
The discomfort we feel in different places in our body is just communication from our nervous system.
There is no inherent safety or danger of these sensations.
They are just what is present in that moment in our body.
So to begin,
Take a deep inhale through your nose and open your mouth.
Let it go.
Keep breathing this way.
Inhale through your nose and as you exhale,
See if you can soften the shoulders,
Soften the hips,
Open and close your mouth,
Releasing any tension in your jaw,
Allowing the cheeks to be soft,
The eyelids,
The eyebrows,
The temple,
And connect to the parts of your body that are touching the ground that you're on.
Maybe it's a chair,
A couch or bed,
Doesn't matter.
Just take a moment to notice the parts of your body that are being supported by a surface and see if you can sense that surface gently rising up to hold you and maybe you can relax a little bit deeper into that holding.
Take an inhale here and a big exhale.
And here now,
Move your awareness inwards and see what sensation you can sense in your body.
When I say that,
If nothing comes up,
Ask yourself,
What part of my body can I feel right now?
And connecting to that part that you can feel,
Try to explore the sensation.
Does it feel soft or does it feel hard?
Does it feel like you want to move it or does it feel like you want to stay still?
If you want to move that part of your body,
Please do.
Does the sensation have a color?
Does it have a shape?
It's taking some time here to be with one part of your body and really try to describe in language,
In your mind,
What this part feels like.
And as you stay with this part,
Maybe there's an image that comes up.
Maybe there's a behavior that you want to do.
You want to hide,
You want to shake,
You want to fight,
You want to dance.
Taking a moment to stay with all of this.
And thank that part of your body for communicating with you today.
And bring your awareness back into your breath.
Feeling the natural rise and fall of your breath,
The filling and the emptying of your lung.
And then here,
Take a gentle body scan all the way from the crown of the head to the tips of your toes,
Asking yourself what part of my body feels really healthy and safe today.
And there are days where it's really hard to locate that part.
But no matter how small,
There's always a part of us that is holding on to the safety,
To the health,
To the goodness.
And maybe today,
It's just your pinky or your earlobe or a strand of hair.
Maybe it's your eyes that are giving you the gift of your vision.
Maybe it's your heart,
Your feet.
Whatever that body part might be,
Take a moment to locate it.
And start to breathe with this body part.
And take a moment to ask yourself here,
Why did you choose this part?
What sensation do you feel in this part that is signaling a sense of safety to you?
Maybe there's an openness,
A softness.
Maybe it's hardness that creates safety for you.
We are all different.
So allow yourself to listen to the very nuanced and detailed and unique way that your body processes safety.
Breathing with that body part.
Know that when you feel worried,
When you feel anxiety today,
You can lean in to the part of you that feels safe and healthy.
Even in the darkest and the hardest moments,
There is a part of you that feels safe and healthy.
And I encourage you,
I invite you to do this practice every morning as you deal with health anxiety.
So when the anxiety comes up throughout the day,
You know that there's a part of you that you can lean on,
That you can connect with.
And whenever a sensation comes up that starts to take you in to a spiral of worry,
Instead of moving down that spiral,
See if you can really describe and connect and listen to that sensation,
Asking yourself the questions of what does it feel like?
If I was explaining this sensation to a friend with as much descriptive words as possible,
What would I say?
And you'll notice that when we stay with sensations or pain or whatever it is that comes up in this way,
They will start to dissolve.
Nothing lasts forever.
They will start to lose the power they have over you.
I hope this helped today and I hope to see you again.
