Hello,
Welcome back.
I'm Sarah,
A somatic facilitator and coach,
Here to help you build nervous system resilience so you can live up to your fullest potential with ease and confidence.
I'll be guiding you through meditation,
Breath work,
Visualization,
And deep rest so that you can explore the pause between where you've been and where you're going.
Welcome to Liminal Space.
Today we'll move through a gentle orientation,
A practice of pendulation which is inspired by somatic awareness work,
Learning how to shift between different states you feel within your body.
We'll move between a resource,
Something that feels safe and expansive,
And also a place that feels a little more activated.
We aren't touching or striving the heaviest emotions today,
We're gently bringing a sense of discomfort,
Not to fix or to change anything,
But to help your nervous system recognize that we can return,
And discomfort is not always unsafe,
It's sometimes just unfamiliar.
As you release any expectations or the need to achieve calm or do anything perfectly,
Feel your body start to settle into the surface beneath you,
Whether you are seated or lay.
Before your eyes start to close,
Just take a few moments to orient yourself in your environment,
Maybe finding something with your eyes that you've never seen before,
Take a look around.
And once you feel satisfied with your surroundings and have taken enough external information in to feel comfortable,
Your eyes might gradually naturally grow heavier,
Heavy enough to close.
And then starting to bring awareness to your body,
Not all at once,
But slowly start to scan for energy or tightness,
Maybe even spaciousness,
And we'll start from the toes,
Working your way up to the crown of your head,
Moving really slowly,
Knowing that there's no rush.
Once you arrive at the crown of your head,
Your awareness drifts back to a place in the body that feels neutral,
A place of less charge or less energy,
It's just there,
Feels safe.
It might be your hands,
The contact between your body and the surface beneath you,
Maybe it's the pause between breaths,
Just find that space of neutrality and rest in this place of relative ease for a moment.
Notice if anything changes without trying to hold on to anything.
And we'll begin by finding a resource.
This is more of an expansive feeling than neutrality,
It's a feeling of safety,
Of radiance,
Of support and love,
Something that feels like home to you,
It almost has this positive charge.
Perhaps it's a person,
A pet,
It could be a specific memory or smell,
Maybe a taste or a place,
Whatever it is,
Let it land in your mind's eye and start to soften there.
Observe if the energy or the sensations in your body have changed.
And if they have,
How have they changed and where?
Maybe they've not changed at all,
Just be witness to what has shifted and where you feel the charge in your body and any feelings that arise.
Allow this resource to be a place of expansion and coherence within your whole body.
Then start to now shift your attention to a few areas of your body that are feeling within the body that feels a little heavier.
That might come with an experience of a small annoyance or irritation that you have felt recently.
An energy that feels a little negatively charged.
Don't go searching for anything but just be aware of what is already present,
Maybe there's a little niggle or feeling of tightness or tension.
And when you have located that slight heaviness,
Just stay there for a moment if it feels okay,
Not analysing but sensing.
Does it have a shape,
A colour,
A temperature,
A rhythm?
And once you've started to define this sensation,
Just drift back to your resource.
That expansion,
The feelings of safety and support,
Reminding your nervous system that you can return to balance by pendulating when you need to,
Movement and return,
Activation and safety,
Discomfort and comfort.
What changes when your resource comes alive again?
Observe that subtle difference between the two sensations and not from a place of judgment but just as information.
Feel your resource relax the bones and soften your muscles around your skeleton and take the next few breaths to really bathe in this energy.
We will pendulate once more,
So slowly your focus becomes the area that feels a little more negatively charged or slightly activated,
That sense of slight heaviness,
Staying curious rather than reactive.
And if any thoughts are present with the sensation,
Can you practice non-attachment?
Releasing any stories and instead just noticing the subtlety of the sensations within the body.
A feeling of touching the edge of discomfort but not diving into it,
Not reacting.
Then gradually return to your resource,
Remembering the sensations that bloomed with this feeling.
As you land here,
Maybe you've noticed it feels difficult to locate the feelings within and that's totally normal.
You don't need to seek or strive,
The subtleties will arise when they're right now.
And then finally if it feels okay to do so,
We will now allow both sensations to widen,
Holding both parts of you that feel resourced and supported as well as feeling a little heavier or more activated,
Both existing at the same time.
So as they come into your mind's eye,
Maybe you locate both feelings at the same time within the body and ask yourself how does this feel?
Not choosing to be with only one,
Not resolving,
But just accepting and being with awareness.
And slowly let the experience settle as the body returns to a space of neutrality,
Releasing the positive charge of the resource and the negative charge of anything that felt heavier.
Maybe your attention shifts to the first place you started,
That place of neutrality,
Something that feels at relative ease,
A space of harmony and equilibrium.
Maybe this time it's a new place,
That place of neutrality has shifted.
Remember your inherent wholeness and to live from this place of complete coherence is about experience everything that you can,
Not the things that you pick and choose to.
It's about tolerating the discomfort and knowing that sometimes that is part of growth and expansion along with the beautifully comfortable resources that can help you return.
Practicing the gentle pendulation from different experiences and sensations will help to build resilience to life stressors and broaden your nervous system range,
Helping you find more alignment from within.
Let your next few breaths be your anchor as you slow your exhale without force.
And when it feels good to do so blink your eyes open and orient again.
If your eyes shoot for something that feels familiar,
Can you allow them to wander to somewhere new or novel and just take that in?
Remember that you are here,
You are grounded.
If you've got the urge to bring a little gentle movement back in,
Let that movement expand.
Wherever it is in the fingers,
The toes,
Maybe the neck rolls from side to side,
Maybe it's a full body stretch.
Rest well and I'll see you next week.
