Orienting.
Yesterday I learned the practice of orienting. This is a somatic technique where you stop and acknowledge your surroundings and how your body feels about the physical space you’re in.
It was wildly anxiety-reducing and calming.
Here’s how:
Stop
Let yourself relax in a chair, sit on the ground, or let your arms dangle while standing
Notice how your feet feel on the floor or how your body is anchored by the seat beneath you
Let your eyes wander around the room, gently scanning all that’s around you, moving your neck up, down and side-to-side slowly
Let the images of what you see come to your eyes and move to the back of your head, almost like you’re receiving them
If there’s a specific object your eyes keep getting drawn back to, rest your gaze on it
Notice, if anywhere, your body is responding to the sight of that object and name what’s happening
Ask yourself, “how do I feel in this space?”
I love how Sandra Pawula sums it up: “Orienting counteracts stress […] When your nervous system is out of whack due to stress or trauma, it can send you up into tension, overwhelm, and anxiety. Or it can send you down into the dumps and make you feel disconnected or numbed out. Orienting regulates the nervous system.”
After going through this orienting exercise, I was asked how I felt and I said, “surprisingly peaceful.”
I was surprised by the peace because my internal world has been pressing in on me lately. All the things I have to get done, all the unknowns I sit with, all the questions I don’t even have the energy to try to answer—they’ve been like weights on my shoulders. I was shocked I could experience peace by looking around my room. Looking around my room! This small moment calmed the internal storm inside me and my nervous system exhaled.
When my internal world is chaotic, I go into autopilot and I get stuck there. In an effort to manage of the stress of it all being too much, I numb, put my head down, and function out of necessity and not joy. I go through the motions of life without ever fully embracing it.
With something as simple as orienting—stopping, taking in, noticing—I think I’ll be able to embrace life more fully, grow in my capacity to understand how my being is interacting with the world around me and inside me.
I don’t want to live life not present.
The years are already blasting by. From now until dead, I want to truly live them.