Somatic Exercises
Transcripts
TRAUMA INFORMED YIN YOGA
TEACHER TRAINING
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ANNIE AU YOGA
Table of Contents
GROUNDING
ORIENTING
QUADRANT MAPPING
EMBODIED CENTERING
LOVING KINDNESS
ORGANIZING PRINCIPLE
SENSORY TREASURY HUNT
SENSORY PRESENCING
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Grounding
Objective:
Support the nervous system by helping the body “get it’s
bearings” in time and space through connecting to gravity.
Script:
Bring your intention and attention to the base of your seat to
your sitting bones without shifting, adjusting, evaluating, notice
the position of the sitting bones to the surface you're sitting on
and if you choose to move, this is an empowered choice. Maybe
your choice will help you feel more comfortable and give
yourself permission. Allow yourself to move into a new space
now visualize tree roots like a big oak tree growing through the
sitting bone down to earth, securing you in a steady,
comfortable position. Notice the side of your legs connecting to
the surface of the floor. Notice the broadening of your
shoulders, perhaps sensations or energy flowing down your
upper arms and elbows, the wrists and fingertips. Imagine
straightening of your spinal column from the base of the spine
to the top of your head. There's a feeling of alignment and if you
feel comfortable, I invite you to name how you're feeling at this
moment. You can say it back to yourself or even out loud. Just
take a moment and then gently opening your eyes.
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Orienting
Objective:
Help your students orient to the environment and space around
them, to give both their mind and body a greater sense of what’s
going on in the room
Script:
The whole point of this exercise is to help us become familiar
with the environment we're in. So we'll get into more of the
theoretical part during the session today. But for now, I'm going
to introduce to you an acupressure point called Gallbladder 20.
And it is at the base of the skull bilaterally on two sides. So if you
were to hold your head, like interlace your fingers and then kind
of hug the skull, this is really comforting in this part of self touch
as well. You can use your thumb and just gently press to the
base and literally is the most bottom part of the skull. There's a
little divot in here before it gets to the middle part of your neck.
So this here, this point is called Gallbladder 20. It helps with
grounding our energy and focusing our spirit. Now, you can gaze
into the screen or just look right past the computer. And what
we're going to do now is called peripheral vision. You're going to
allow your visual senses to become blur, but widening your
horizon, allowing different sensory objects, visual objects to
come through. You can also experiment to see how far you can
see across the horizon.
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Orienting
Next, we're going to turn and shift into focused vision. So
without changing your head direction, we're only moving the
eyeballs, moving your eyes to the right hand side of your room in
focus vision. Now we're focusing on a single object, preferably
something not moving. So for me, I see a light stand, so I've just
labeled it. That helps me to identify and secure my attention.
And then gently, you're not going to turn your head too far, so
you're going to shift your nose and your chin to the opposite
side while tracking that object for about 3 seconds. And then
let's come back to center. Let's rest our arms. The resting of the
arms is important, especially if your student is not really used to
strengthening and doing anything too active. It gives them a bit
of a time and as well encourage them to kind of soften the eyes
and not strain the focus vision too much. Let's finish on the left
hand side. Let's come back into the Gallbladder 20, cradling the
base of the skull, maybe even lean back, feeling as if someone is
holding you, cradling you in water. Let's press down the thumbs
to both sides of Gallbladder 20, helping us to steady the spirit.
Take a moment here. We're going to move into the left hand
side of focused vision, turning the eyes to the left, keeping your
face towards the front. And now identify that object that caught
your attention. So I see a pillow. And then gently move your nose
and chin, your face to the opposite direction, maybe just by one
or two degrees, sustaining this tracking there and then coming
back into center and then releasing.
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Quadrant Mapping
Objective:
Drawing awareness to the differences in sensation so that
greater interoception is cultivated. Awaken the sensory
receptors for downregulation or upregulation.
Script:
Now imagine you're dividing your body into four quadrants. So I
have the line from longitudinal, latitudinal. And then we're going
to start using your opposite hand. So I'm using my right hand and
then tapping the left shoulder and all the way to the arm. So go
right ahead and just start doing this quadrant tapping. Use
different sensory touch, so maybe using your palm. And
experiment that when you use different pressure, different hand
shape, how does it feel in the body? Maybe fingertips. Don't
forget the chest area. This whole quadrant is one. And then
lastly, you can also do brushing. The idea of quadrant mapping.
Let's switch side, left hand, right body, right part of the
quadrant. The idea of this is to reawaken the sensory receptors
in the soma, in the body. In a lot of students with trauma history,
they may feel numb, they may feel disconnected with their
body, and this helps to direct the attention and intention back
to their sensories. And the second reason for doing this is
sometimes when we feel overwhelmed, there's too much
information coming into the vagus nerve, which runs in the
center of the body.
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Quadrant Mapping
The tapping will help to dissipate some of the energy as well. All
right, now let's do the left leg. Now, in the left leg, in your legs
area, you can use both hands or you can use one hand. This is
completely up to you. I welcome exploration. So you can do
both hands and see how does that land with you having both
hand or just one arm. And then try different type of tapping.
Different even like massage is also good. Yeah, I didn't do that.
For upper body, you can also squeeze, use different squeezing
and massaging technique. Can also be part of your quadrant.
Mapping exercise and then brushing. Brushing is a great energy
dissipation exercise. You use it in Reiki, in qigong, it just kind of
help cleansing stagnated energy as well. And then let's wrap up
with the right side and just explore different types of touch. You
can use even the sole of the foot. There's a lot of acupressure
points there. You can do the glutes, the sitting bones. Just avoid
hitting too hard in the bone structure, but the flesh, you can
really get in there and explore. Okay, and that's it.
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Embodied Centering
Objective:
To access a felt-sense understanding of the innate self-righting
mechanism. This exercise explores and expands the 3 pillars of
our wholeness: Safety, Connection & Dignity.
Script:
I'll be guiding you through a somatic meditation called
Embodied Centering. We're going to expand into all direction,
including the length, the width and the depth of our being. So
take a moment to find the center where you feel comfortable in
your spine. Not too tall, not too short. Finding the length. Your
sitting bones and tailbones rooted to the floor as the energy
transcending, spiraling upward of the entire spinal column to the
crown of your head and beyond. This is your dignity, your self
worth. You're worthy for simply being who you are. Visualize the
sitting bones and tailbones continue to root through, downward.
And then on the contrast, continue to grow through the crown
of your head. Towards the heavens, to the sky. Repeat after me.
I am worthy. You can say this out loud or internally. I am worthy. I
am worthy. Now sustain this length in you. And now visualize
your wings behind your back, spreading horizontally to the side.
This is your width. Imagine these wings expanding for as far as
you can imagine, for as far as you can visualize. This represents
your belongingness and connection in this world.
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Embodied Centering
As if these wings are arms embracing the people around you.
Continue to reach sideways. Repeat after me. I belong. I belong.
I belong. Sustaining your width, your wings. And now we come to
the depth. Visualize the front side of your body continuing,
extending forward. And as well as the back of your body,
reaching far behind you. Your depth represents safety. As you
breathe in, your belly expanding to your ribcage. That breath is
exuding to the front and to the back. With every breath that you
breathe in, you are safe. Repeating after me, internally or
externally. I am safe. I am safe. I am safe. Now bring your
intention and attention to your length th to your width and to
your depth. This is your wholeness, your aliveness.
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Loving Kindness
Objective:
To reinforce the idea that we are inherently capable,
resourceful, and resilient. To recognize that we are loved for
being who we are.
Script:
All right, so take a seat or even lying down, however you feel
most comfortable. And then let's just plan your hands onto your
legs or lap and comfortably orient internally to your space. Allow
your breath to be natural, to shoulders to drape and relax,
relaxing the space between the eyebrows and softening your
cheeks and nose and mouth. Begin to visualize the room that
you're in becoming dark as if someone turned off the light. But
you're aware of your own presence and in this space you're
weightless. There's neutrality. You're simply here. Notice your
heart rate, notice if there's any unnecessary excess tension
flowing through you. And now across from you, there's an
emerging image, and this is a person. And it's becoming clear to
you that it is you who is sitting across from you. As if you are
looking into a mirror. You're observing yourself. Recognize the
clothing you're wearing, the body posture also relax. You begin
to see yourself smiling contently, softly. You're moving in flow
where all that you wish for becomes true and sound. Visualize
yourself in a reality where there's no resistance and the world
supports you.
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Loving Kindness
And in your own heart space there's a radiating green light and it
is spreading to the you who is sitting across you. Feel infinite
love for yourself, honoring yourself for who you are and
everything you have experienced. Gently repeat after me
internally, may I be happy, may I be at peace, may I be free. And
gently allow your own image to slowly fade happily away. And the
room you're in begins to light up again and you're back in this
dimension of time and space and slowly opening your eyes.
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Organizing Principle
Objective:
Helps orient our entire soma (body + mind + spirit) toward that
which matters most to us. Identify the north star and use it as a
guiding light to our ‘why’.
Script:
So Organizing Principle is where you guide your students to
move mindfully into an experience where things go in sequence.
I'm going to take you on a journey where you have decided to
embark on your yoga journey. So get very relaxed on the mat.
Bring yourself back to that moment right before your first yoga
experience. Maybe the entrance to your yoga is through Asana.
Maybe it was the first yoga class, perhaps it was Meditation, just
bringing yourself back into that very moment in life. And now
bring yourself to the moment where you first experienced yoga.
If it was a physical practice, who was your teacher? What were
you wearing? Perhaps maybe even what movement you did,
recalling the sensations in the body of your first yoga
experience, whether it's Asana, posture or meditation. And after
that very first encounter, what came next? What spiked your
curiosity to continue and imagine you travel in time? When was
the first time you heard about this training? Maybe it was the
first time you learned about trauma informed. How did you
come across this training?
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Organizing Principle
And then what propelled you to continue and pursue and sign
up? Maybe it was an expectation or a specific intention that you
wanted to learn. And now, having done halfway through the
course, what knowledge have you learned and gained so far that
it has helped you or open little bit more clarity in your path?
We're going to travel a little bit into the future. What will you
take with you after this training, either for personal practice or
for your teaching? What do you intend on doing with this new
found knowledge? Repeat after me internally, three times. As I
trust myself more, I continue to grow. As I trust myself more, I
continue to grow. And simply place your mind in the right side of
your heart, size of a thumb, your spiritual heart.
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Sensory Treasury Hunt
Objective:
To deepen somatic awareness and conscious connection to the
inner felt-sense experience through exploring sensation
Script:
So simply. You can gaze in front of you or even close your eyes if
you feel safe and willing. Now begin to tune to your entire being
and notice in the body where do you feel contraction? Notice in
the body, where do you feel expansion? Inside the body where
do you sense warmth and where do you feel coolness? Continue
to scan and take your time. In your body where do you feel silky
or smoothness? Where in the body do you feel roughness?
Locate a part of your body that you feel heaviness. Where else in
the body do you experience similar heaviness? In your body,
where do you experience lightness? Where else do you
experience lightness? Where in the body you feel connected to
the most, where else in the body do you feel most connected
to? And slowly let's let go. Relax your mind and then slowly open
your eyes when you're ready and that is Sensory Treasury Hunt.
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Sensory Presencing
Objective:
Our 5 primal senses are the best tool we have to live a fully
embodied life— vision, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. This
exercise teaches how to “open” and “close” Sensory Gating
Channels to reduce sensory stimuli as well as to help increase
focus.
Script:
So Sensory Presensing is to activate or getting in touch with our
five senses. It will be our hearing, our taste, our smell, our visual,
and then our touch. So all you need to do is to lay in stillness as
much as you can and follow my instructions. So you lay here
finding yourself in a comfortable position. Just imagine yourself
getting slightly heavier, more connected to the floor. We'll begin
by opening our hearing as if all of the other senses are
temporarily suspended. Tune to the furthest sound you can hear
in your room, and slowly finding or tuning to the sound closer to
you and everywhere in between. Allow your hearing to slowly be
suspended, closed for a moment. Let's open our sense of smell.
Maybe the smell is really subtle. Notice what is the smell coming
into your senses. And allow the sense of smells to slowly close
up and direct our intention and attention to the sense of taste,
the taste in our mouth, the tip of our tongue. Maybe there's not
a particularly big taste sensation. Notice the subtlety. Let's shift,
allowing the sense of taste to close up to the sense of touch.
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Sensory Presencing
If you wish, you can rub your fingertips side by side or toes.
Moving is okay. Maybe you grip the mat a little bit, or just touch
the side of your leg, your pants. It's a really subtle touch. Notice
the roughness or the smoothness of the texture, the depth, the
softness and hardness of this soft tactile connection. Last but
not least, we'll come into the sense of seeing vision. So we'll
start with the eyes closed and notice what do you see behind
the eyelids. Maybe you see fragmented light or complete
darkness. Then let's gently open our eyes carefully, mindfully,
without moving our head, and just absorb the vision, the sense
of seeing. Is there light reflecting? Is there some color
contrasting? And that is your sensory presensing all five of your
senses, making your wholeness. Slowly. Let's just rise and fall in
your chest, breathing a little bit deeper, your aliveness. Seeing,
smelling, tasting, hearing, touching. Let's move our fingers and
toes. If you wish to reach your arms up and stretch, gently
reactivate the body, drawing your knees to your chest and then
rolling into a fetal position in for a moment. I'm going to
recommend opening your eyes, keeping your eyes softly open.
And of course you can always close them. And then let's make
our way up to a seated position without disturbing our mind.
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