Expore What 'Yes' and 'No' Feel Like in Your Body #somaticexploration #hakomi #coaching #integrationcoach #mindfulness

In today's guided exercise, we're going to do some somatic exploration and see what we notice while exploring what a yes and a no feel like in the body. This will help us to understand our relationship to boundaries, consent, our relationship to ourself and others. So while these exercises are meant to be gentle, they can sometimes bring up very intense feelings. So if this exercise feels like too much or triggering at any point, please feel free to opt out and come back at another time if you wish. Before we get started, you may want to grab a pen and a piece of paper or open a page to type in your computer. So let's get started. Find a comfortable seat, close your eyes if that's comfortable for you, and just bring your awareness to the breath, letting yourself breathe in, exhaling back out, giving yourself a moment to slow down and noticing what it feels like to settle into your body. And as you're focused on your breath, start to bring that awareness to other areas of your body. Maybe noticing what your energy level feels like today, any physical sensations that you're currently experiencing. Be noticing if you're tired or anxious or hungry. See if there's any emotions or thoughts present Maybe notice how loud or intense those emotions or thoughts are. There's nothing right or wrong here. We're just observing. So from this place, we're going to do a few exploratory experiments. We'll do three. In the first one, we're going to explore what a yes feels like in your body. So take a moment and in your head, say the word yes. Maybe someone offers you your dream job or your closest friend who you love asks you to spend time with them and there's just no question in you. You wholeheartedly say yes. So spend a few moments with that yes. Where do you notice it in your body and how do you notice it? Really pay attention to the physical sensations. And before we wrap up with this first one, if you want to, you can jot down a word or two and make a mental note while staying in a mindful state. And then whatever came up, let's let it go. Coming back to neutral, focusing on the breath. So we're going to do this again, but this time we're going to do this exercise with the word no. So this time, let's explore what a strong no feels like in your body. And if it helps to have a scenario, imagine that somebody asks you to lie for them or do something that goes against your values. Or let's say you're committing to your goals and a friend asks you to grab dinner one night when you have lots to do and you can confidently say no and stay on task. Or someone does something that feels like it crosses your boundaries. Imagine what it feels like to say no in any one of those scenarios. So take a few moments here and just explore what a no feels like in your body. And notice how it's different from the yes. Maybe you notice some walls or boundaries come up. There's no right or wrong here. We're just exploring your unique experience. And so before we finish with this second scenario, if you want, jot down a few words or again make a mental note while staying in this mindful state. And then let's let this go. You can let it melt down into the ground beneath you. If you feel like you need to stretch, you can stretch out and move the body a little. And then let's come back to neutral, focusing on the breath. And we're going to do the third scenario here when you're ready. The third one is saying yes when you want to say no. So in this one, imagine that you're saying yes but you really don't want to do that. Such as somebody asked you to help them with something but maybe you're exhausted and over committed and you don't want to but you say yes. Or maybe you have your own recent scenario. What happens in your body when you say yes when you want to say no? And how is this different from the no or the yes? Can you feel those conflicting energies in your body? How are they interacting with each other? What is the relationship between the two? As you're ready, again you can make a mental note of what you noticed in this exercise or jot down a couple words and then we'll let this one go too. Maybe we can just imagine moving further and further away from the scenario until we can't see it anymore and we just focus on the breath. So remember that there's no right or wrong in these exercises. We're just noticing the body's reaction and what it's telling you in different scenarios and it will be different for everyone. It might even be different each time you do the exercise. By tuning into the sensations associated with yes and no and yes when you want to say no in your body, you can become more attuned and more aware of how you react to situations or people or scenarios and it may help clarify when you're open or resistant or to identify moments when you may say yes out of habit or obligation. Please take a little more time to explore if that's what you need and please share what came up for you in the comments below because everybody's experience is a little bit different.