AYOE 08 / Resistance, Safety and Self-Awareness
Hey friends!
I’m so excited to be writing another update for you! Last week I didn’t have much to share other than that the experiment was still going pretty well so I decided to save some space in your inbox and skip writing a post.
Honestly it felt a little weird to work on something else during Monday Coworking since I’ve been using that time to write these updates for you.
Hopefully you didn’t assume I’d caught yet another plague or (gasp!) given up on AYOE altogether (I assure you that has NOT happened 😅).
I’m excited because we’re almost to the end of March, which means it’s time to announce the next experiment - drumroll please 🥁
April’s experiment is going to be Breathwork 🫁
March’s somatic practices have overall been a positive experience, but the 2nd half of the month I’ve noticed more resistance to completing my daily routine. This tells me 2 things:
My body is not feeling completely safe doing these new practices
I need to slow down & simplify it even more so I can build up my resilience
Since my overarching focus this year is on being more present and tuning into what’s going on in my body, I want to keep doing daily somatic practices. I’m just going to trim my routine down to one small practice daily and see if I experience less resistance. 🤞🏼
I know breathwork is all the rage right now and there are lots of different methods, but I’ll be doing short, gentle practices so I can work on building safety in my body and hopefully move into a parasympathetic state more frequently.
My Daily Practice 👀
It’s so tempting to compile a bunch of resources that I can use for this experiment, but I realize that doesn’t help me keep it slow and simple. 😂 (faster, better, more is NOT always better)
So I’ll be using the Breathwork Starter Kit from Haven Breathwork and wearing my Shift necklace from Komuso as a gentle reminder that breathing is my focus for the month. (these are not affiliate links)
I chose the Breathwork Starter Kit because it has a 10 day challenge built in. My plan is to extend the challenge to 30 days rather than try to add something new. I think the repetition and familiarity, along with the short practices will help me signal to my body that this practice is safe (or at least I hope that happens! 🙏🏼)
Final Thoughts on March’s Somatic Practices Experiment
The Legs Up the Wall part of my daily practice has been my favorite by far. It’s simple to do and I don’t have as much resistance to it.
That being said - I’ve noticed that I’ve chosen to read or (eep!) scroll social media a couple of times while I was doing the practice and that definitely doesn’t allow me to be present and in my body.
Apparently I have more resistance to being present and tuning into my body than I thought. I’m grateful to discover this about myself because it’s something I want to work on improving. It’s amazing how much we can hide from ourselves when we’re just going about our lives 😬
As for EFT Tapping - I haven’t found it to be particularly helpful. Maybe there are more long-term benefits that I’m just not noticing? From my experience it seems like a tool that would help someone who feels anxious regularly and that is not me at this point in my life. I’m still keeping this in my toolbox for situations when I need a quick calming practice, but I don’t plan to do it daily going forward.
And lastly -The Feeler. This practice also surprised me in that it brought up feelings I haven’t been having regularly for a few years. I’m grateful to have moved past constant medical anxiety and I don’t want to go back there 🙅♀️ The modified body scan version of this works better for me, but I don’t plan to do it daily once March is over.
Whew! This month’s experiment brought up some shit that I wasn’t expecting 😂 but it’s all just feedback that I can use to move forward.
Let’s Connect 🤩
One thing I’ve noticed from writing these updates is that I miss connecting with other humans about the topics I”m writing about. I don’t always love social media because so much of it is marketing content versus conversations, but I’m trying to find a balance that works for me.
There are a few of you who reply to emails and share about your own experiments or just life, but I’d love to hear from more of you. No pressure at all, but I read and respond to every email so feel free to hit reply and say hey.
That’s all for March! 🥳
I hope you’re all well and seeing signs of Spring weather coming soon 🪴
xoxo - Nic