Nicole

Cara Steinbuchel

Asheville, NC, USA

Lenny Turk

Amanda

Lancashire, United Kingdom

Becky H

Texas

Catlyn

Warwickshire, UK

English

This practice can help you move attention to areas of the body that feel good, or neutral, building a sense of safety and ease in the nervous system. This is designed for people living with chronic neuroplastic or mind-body pain/illness, but anyone can enjoy it! Let's start focusing on where we feel softness, ease, and strength, instead of discomfort.

Shifting Into Positive Sensations Meditation

 Hello, friend. In my many years of living with chronic illness, my brain became fixated on the discomfort in my body. I constantly focused on the pain, the fatigue, the dizziness, the brain fog, and lost touch with all the parts of my body that actually felt fine. My discomfort was the first thing I noticed when I woke up, and the last thing I noticed before I fell asleep. Along my recovery journey, I learned how to shift attention to positive or neutral sensations in my body. And over time, this helped my brain reduce the fear and hypervigilance and feel a greater sense of safety and calm. Eventually, this allowed my nervous system to relax and for the symptoms to lessen or disappear altogether. This meditation is a key practice for anyone looking to recover from neuroplastic or mind-body illness and pairs well with things like somatic tracking, or if you feel like somatic tracking is too challenging at the moment. You can do this meditation anytime and in any position, and the more you practice, the easier it will get to anchor into positive or neutral sensations in your body as opposed to hyper-focusing on discomfort. So let's get started. As always, let's begin with a few cleansing breaths. Relax your shoulders, your jaw, your forehead. Close your eyes. Let your belly soften and fill with air. For some people, the sensation of the breath through the nose is a good place to start with a practice like this. See if you can find a sense of gentleness or ease here for the next moment or two. Observe the feeling of air passing through your nostrils, noticing the warmth or coolness and any sense of openness or fluidity. Now gently scan through your body, looking for other areas that feel pleasant or neutral. This may be your hands or feet, the edges of your ears, your scalp, your lips, your belly. I invite you to have open, non-judgmental curiosity about the sensations you feel, and know that it is perfectly normal to have your attention drawn back to areas of pain or discomfort. Gently keep bringing your awareness back to any areas of ease, paying special attention to sensations of softness, warmth, openness, strength, pleasant buzzing, or even just a general sense of aliveness. Once you have landed on a spot of positive or neutral sensation, let yourself play here for a few moments. Imagine breathing into the area like you're blowing up a balloon around it. Experiment with describing the sensation like you would to a small child. Or simply sit back and just observe the sensation and how it moves. Good. If you find your attention back on an area of discomfort or a ruminating thought, that's okay. This is just what our brains do. So give it a little smile, then softly draw yourself back to your area of pleasant sensation. This is the practice, lovingly redirecting your focus and teaching your brain that it's safe to be in your body, that it's okay to relax. Stay here for another moment or two, savoring any areas of ease or comfort in your body. And remember, if you are struggling to find pleasant sensations, just find somewhere that's neutral. Even if it's something as small as your eyelid or your pinky toe, just lean into whatever you find. Okay, my friend, it's time to bring yourself back into the space around you. Take a few gentle breaths, landing back on the sensation of air through your nostrils if you'd like. Enjoy a stretch or some small movements, and open your eyes. I invite you to take small moments throughout the day where you can practice tuning into these positive or neutral sensations, especially if you are also experiencing discomfort somewhere in your body. This is a wonderful and simple way to start shifting focus, calming your nervous system, and helping your brain turn down the volume. Thank you for joining me for this practice. Take care, and I'll see you again soon.