Creating Your Safe Space

Hi, and welcome to this grounding exercise intended to support you with connecting to and feeling a sense of balance and steadiness before engaging with the rest of the world. So this means finding your center, being as present as possible before taking any action. When something devastating happens in the world, the world doesn't stop. Things continue to move forward as laws change, protests erupt, and lives are lost. We're expected to return back to work, back to our routines, and back to quote, unquote, normal. As much as the mind can switch tasks and continue on with daily responsibilities, the body holds on to our felt experiences. Perhaps you notice there's increased tension in the body, a sense of tightness. The mind could feel flustered or confused. And as we continue on, the quick pace of life sweeps us forward. So the antidote is to slow down and be fully present in the mind and body. This practice is here to support you and your body to find a sense of grounding, safety, and refuge within. And we'll use the body as a tool for grounding as I guide us through a few orientation exercises that you can use when you need to connect to a greater sense of ease and balance. So let's begin. For this practice, you can be standing up, sitting upright, or lying down, whatever feels right for you. And before we close the eyes, take a moment to turn your head slowly, looking around in all directions, noticing the room you're in, the doors, windows, walls, just orienting yourself to your surrounding space. And now, if you'd like, you can keep the eyes open or gently close them. And just tuning into any sounds around you in your space, nearby or in the distance. And if it's silent, appreciating the sound of silence. This is a sound too. Now slowly bringing the focus to the body and feeling into the borders just beyond the body, feeling the contact of the clothes on the skin, and perhaps noticing how the body feels in this moment. And if, at any moment, this exercise becomes overwhelming in any way, you can bring the focus back to the sounds in your space, or even open the eyes. So now feeling into the space that's just in front of you and also behind you, seeing if you can widen and expand yourself in either direction, adding a sense of depth to the body, and maybe taking a deep breath here. And then just noticing the area to the left of the body and to the right of the body, seeing if you can widen into that space. Maybe noticing how the shoulders relax and the body becomes soft and open as we take up space in our environment and take up space in our bodies. At times when the world around us is filled with intensity, we may shrink and contract in response. So all we're doing here...