Somatic Practice #1

You can do this exercise sitting or standing. Begin by looking at the horizon with your eyes and your head. Imagine the backs of your eye sockets deepening as if they began at the back of your head, and let your eyelids soften and close just a tiny bit. Relax your jaw and open your feeling sense of awareness behind you. Do you know how far it is from your head to the headrest behind you? Or the wall or the bookshelf—whatever is back there. If that doesn’t feel totally perceptible, then take your hands and touch the top of your head. Let your hands contour the back of your head and rub a little bit up and down. You might want to use your hands to wake up your shoulder blades, your lower back, and your sacrum. Close your eyes for a moment and let your eyes recede again. Bring your awareness into the spaces you just touched with your hands. Then notice again if you have any keener perception of the space behind you and around you. Now we’re going to work with a coronal plane—the sideline from your ears to your shoulders to your outer hips to your ankles. Imagine the Virgin of Guadalupe and the aura that radiates out from her. Lift and lower your arms out to the sides as if you’re making a snow angel, tracing that line that divides your body in half. That plane that divides your body into front and back, and that your arms are moving along, is called your coronal plane. Keep softening your eyes and letting them rest back as if they could fall back behind the coronal plane. Feel everything behind your arms, especially in your torso, the back of your head, your neck, your upper shoulders, your waist. You might notice that your weight shifts back to your heels. Allow your eyes to look around the room beside you and behind you, above you and below you, as you keep some attention in the back of your body at the same time. Feel free to let your head turn as your eyes move. As you look, notice where your eyes are located in your head. Where are you looking from? If your eyes pull forward, see if you can allow them to settle back. Let your attention be open and, if possible, led by curiosity—so you just allow your eyes to see what they see. Return your gaze to the horizon. Notice how you’re feeling overall.