Welcome to our somatic meditation to relieve holiday season stress.
Let us begin by finding a comfortable position.
You can sit upright on a chair with your feet on the floor or you settle somewhere that feels supportive.
Let your hands rest on your thighs.
Let your spine lengthen just a little and soften your shoulders.
Relax your belly and clench your jaw and if it feels okay let your eyes close.
Before we begin to settle into stillness we'll begin with a few moments of self-havening,
A soothing touch technique that helps signal safety to the nervous system.
So take your hands and gently stroke down the tops of your arms from your shoulders to your elbows.
Slow soft rhythmic movements almost like you're comforting a child or a pet and just repeating that gentle downward motion a few times.
While doing this let your breath stay natural.
Feel the warms of your hands,
The softness of your touch and imagine your system receiving the message,
Hey you're safe,
I'm here,
You can settle.
You can keep on repeating this a few times more or if that feels better bring your hands to your upper chest or arms and continue slow havening touch,
Light repetitive grounding.
And let this soften the edges inside of your body.
Let it be a cue for your nervous system to move towards ease.
Just a few more.
And when you're ready gently let your hands rest on your thighs again.
And now we settle and we'll begin very simply by noticing your breath.
No need to change anything just feel the air coming in through your nose and leaving your body again.
On each inhale notice how the body subtly rises.
On each exhale let your body drop a little deeper into the chair or cushion beneath you.
And take a moment to find that rhythm.
Breathe in,
Breathe out.
Nothing to force,
Nothing to fix.
And if your mind start thinking,
Good that means you're human.
We're not here to stop thoughts,
We're just practicing coming back.
Back to the breath,
Back to the body.
And now bring your awareness to the sensation of breathing.
Maybe you feel movement in your belly,
Your ribs,
Your chest.
Let the breath expand gently in all directions.
And with each exhale allow a tiny bit more release.
In your shoulders,
Your face,
Your hands.
And you don't have to relax completely.
Just soften by maybe 5%.
That's more than enough.
And as we settle in I want to acknowledge something.
Stress during the holiday season isn't just in your head.
Your body carries memories,
Patterns and protective instincts that get louder this time of the year.
Expectations,
Busyness,
Family dynamics,
Sensory overload.
All of these can activate all survival states in the nervous system.
So today we work with the body,
Not against it.
Begin by gently bringing to mind something that feels stressful for you this season.
It could be family interaction,
The pressure of planning,
An overwhelming to-do list or simply the emotional weight of the holidays.
Bring it into your awareness softly and then notice where your body reacts to it.
Is it a tightness in your chest,
A knot in your stomach,
A pressure in your throat,
Heaviness behind the eyes or maybe a general feeling of too much.
Wherever it shows up,
Let your breath meet it.
Not to erase it but just to be with it.
Breathe in and breathe out,
Staying here with the sensation.
Remember what makes stress harder is believing we shouldn't feel stressed,
That we should be calm,
Cheerful,
Grateful,
Composed.
The nervous system doesn't work like that.
It responds to cues,
Internal and external,
And it's doing its best to protect you.
So instead of fighting the stress,
See it if you can say,
Okay I feel this,
I'm here with this.
Take a few more gentle breaths with whatever you're noticing and now let's give that stress a little space.
Imagine all those sensations,
Thoughts or tension,
Slowly drifting a few centimeters outside your body,
As if you are placing them on a small cloud in front of you.
You're not pushing anything away.
You're simply creating space to breathe.
And yes,
You can use your hands to make space around you.
So if you feel like you want to create more space using your body,
Gently use your hands and push the stress a little bit outside your body,
From the inside,
A few centimeters away from you.
Create space to breathe.
Take a slow inhale and on the exhale sense that this cloud moving just a little further from your body.
And silently thank your stress for what it's been trying to do.
It has been working hard to keep you safe,
Prepared,
Accepted,
In control.
It has been trying in its very own way to protect you from pain.
And you can say quietly inside yourself,
Thank you for trying to keep me safe,
But now I don't need you to hold all of this right now.
With every exhale imagine that cloud dissolving a little,
Softening,
Drifting,
Losing its sharp edges.
With each breath out,
Repeat gently in your mind,
Right now I'm safe,
Right now I can soften.
Let your breaths slow down the pace of your thoughts.
Let your body feel the difference between carrying everything and letting even a small part go.
Now slowly bring your awareness back to your body.
Feel your feet on the floor,
Feel your seat grounding beneath you,
Feel your hands resting on your legs.
Take a fuller inhale and a long steady exhale.
If it feels good,
Place one hand on your chest,
The other one on your belly.
Feel the warmth,
Feel the movement beneath your hands.
And yes,
Of course,
Always feel free to have another minute or two of self-havening if it's comforting you.
To let your body know,
I'm here,
I'm listening.
You and I,
We can slow down.
So take one more easy breath.
And when you're ready,
Gently begin to move your fingers,
Your toes.
Let a little movement return to the space you're in.
Slowly lift your gaze or open your eyes when it feels right.
Thank you for taking time,
Thank yourself for taking this time,
For choosing a moment of regulation in a season that often ask for the opposite.
May you move through the holidays with a little bit more softness,
A little bit more presence and a little bit more space inside your body.
