Gwen Stefani sings, What You Waiting For?
I've been waiting.
I've been holding back.
I've been keeping things to myself.
I've been collecting little stones and rocks of thoughts and emotions and experiences and sensations.
I've been storing like a squirrel...waiting for the right season during this chapter of my life to consume and digest all I've been experiencing the last few months.
Photo by Sean Stratton
Do you know what I've been forgetting?
The body keeps the score.
All of these set aside pieces are weights in my pockets.
They're sand in my shoes.
They are veils over my heart.
Photo by William Randles
The good news is I have tools to escape the weight and to return to my heart.
And I'm offering them to you, too.
Here are four tools you can use to re-connect with love, compassion, and joy while being present in your body and your heart:
TOOL ONE: Sensation
Before emotions or feelings we experience sensation. Slow down your reactions by focusing on the sensation you're feeling and where you're feeling it.
I use this list of sensations to remind me of the words that may describe what I'm feeling in my body.
Bring your attention and awareness to the sensation and its location, and breathe in and out of it. Be with the wisdom it is offering you. Ask to hear anything it wants to tell you.
TOOL TWO: Emotional Fluidity
Invite yourself to safely move through various emotions that may feel stuck or heavy in your body or that may feel inaccessible.
Grab your phone and set the timer for one minute. In a safe space where you have sound privacy (I use the bedroom with the door closed), spend one minute in anger; one minute in grief; one in pleasure; one in freak out, anything-you-want mode; and one minute in joy and happiness.
Rest for a 10 - 15 seconds in between each one and feel for the freshness and aliveness that comes.
TOOL THREE: Breathwork
Breathwork is a deceptively simple tool for reconnecting with our body and giving ourselves deep permission to feel whatever it is that needs to come up.
It's like an emotional, sensational, physical, physiological cleaning and clearing.
A shower, if you will.
I guide my clients through breathwork, and I also recommend Alchemy of Breath and Erin Telford.
TOOL FOUR: Pleasure
Find pleasure. Be pleasure. Touch with pleasure. Explore pleasure.
Get a massage. Take a walk and let your fingers brush the flowers, grasses, and trees. Self-pleasure or masturbate. Take a long shower or a bath. Enjoy your favorite food or drink soooooo slowly.
Pleasure is sensations wired to love and joy. Bring the sensations of pleasure into your body, and you'll reconnect with what makes you happy, fills you up, and makes life worth living.
Sending you so much love,
Daniela
