One of the best things I’ve ever learned for myself is how to feel my muscles.
I don’t mean "How to run your hands over your arms and legs and give your muscles a squeeze."
I do mean, feel into the sensation of your muscles.
Feel into the sensation of tightness. Feel into the sensation of relaxing.
I started doing this because I wanted to see if it would stop my back from being so sore. (Spoiler alert, it helped MASSIVELY.)
But what I didn’t expect was that it would give me a tool to appreciate myself better.
Because sensing into your muscles (and all the sensations going on inside you), is connection.
Connection helps us feel safe.
Connection is what helps lower the sound of your critical voice, and brings your awareness to a completely different side of you.
It’s a bit like meditation. (I am no expert on meditation...)
It’s a practice that’s hard to describe — but one worth trying; and experiencing.
Because I can honestly say it has been one of the foundations for changing how I relate to myself. Which, I think we can appreciate… changes everything.
Being with our body can be an uncomfortable experience. But it can also be a revelation.
So consider this an invitation. If it intrigues you; or scares you… I invite you to sit with what that feels like, trust you know your own body… and explore. 💛
One place to get started is to Google ‘Somatic practices’ and go down a rabbit hole.
Or, watch this video — which is not actually about ‘somatics as a mindful/spiritual connection tool,’ but more about the practice of relaxing your muscles.
I know this isn’t the same as what I described above. (If you watch the video, it is definitely NOT about ‘how to lower the sound of your critical voice.’)
But this video (and the practice) is exactly what I was looking for when I had a very sore back and kept going to physio and nothing was working because my muscles were so tense (and kept re-tensing after every single physio appointment.)
This particular somatic practice, as demonstrated by Lisa Petersen, helped me to train my sensory awareness so that I could consciously relax my own muscles — and help them stay that way.
What I didn’t know at the time was that this would be a gateway into me practising my new-found sensory awareness almost everywhere I went.
Because one of the things I love about somatic awareness is that you can do it wherever your body is. While you’re out for a walk. While you’re standing in line at the store. While you’re lying in bed and fancy exploring your muscular tension for a bit…
It does not need to be a ritual.
You just need you and your body. That’s enough; to find out 💛
Love,
Kathryn
PS. If you fancy working together, and are interested in what coaching could offer you, I invite you to set up a consultation call with me.
Here’s how one of my clients recently described their experience of coaching, and how they feel differently as a result of working together:
“It’s like, ‘Here’s a lovely buffet. And there are all these options. You don’t just have to keep sticking with meatloaf. You can choose this beautiful buffet of stuff!’
And that’s what you did. You showed me the buffet.
It was always there before. But for whatever reason, I didn’t choose to see it… I stopped seeing it, or I didn’t think it was for me.”
My client now sees a whole buffet. I want you to see a whole buffet. If this sounds like something that interests you, set up consultation call, or check out my coaching page for more info.