Slow Down for One Minute friend.
Feel your breath, either the air coming in and out your nose or your mouth. . . or the rise and fall of your chest. Notice what is easiest or most accessible to connect with.
Feel one point of your body. Your feet on the floor, your bottom on the seat, the surface your hands are touching. . . just choose one point that feels accessible.
Whether it's a place your connected with your breath, or your body this is your Anchor Point.
Your Anchor Point is the place you can come back to as a landing place when your mind has run off and is spiraling , worrying, or ruminating. Your anchor point is your place where you can start to connect with your body when you're feeling dissociated or overwhelmed in fight or flight.
Once you connect with your Anchor Point, see if you can slowly spread awareness from that place to the rest of your body. For example if you are feeling the air go in and out your nose as you're reading this. . . see if you can spread awareness across your cheeks, or follow the air down your throat into your lungs.
This simple somatic practice can help us build our 'mind body awareness.' Something I'm sure you've heard the benefits about many times, but may have found difficult to actually do.
When we're embodied, we're connected with the present moment.
And your power and magic are in the ever present now.
Are you connected to your Anchor Point? Do you notice focusing your attention on one point has shifted your awareness?
As we regulate our nervous systems, our brain activity changes, and we engage our prefrontal cortex-or our "wise mind" vs our "survival brain." Our thoughts are much clearer and productive when we are embodied.
From this more grounded place, ask yourself these questions:
What can you control right now?
What good can you do right now?
What change can you make right now?
Sometimes the answer is an action, sometimes it's inaction.
Learning to connect with our bodies, gage our varying capacity, and to do (or not do) what the moment calls for are how we reclaim our power in the now. . . and in the now our thoughts and actions shape our future.
This is also a powerful tool for sustainably being an activist for collective liberation.
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