Three practices to hold you steady
These three practices are a gift from me to you - a small and grounding toolkit to return to whenever you need to find your feet, take a deeper breath, or simply remember that you have a body underneath all that thinking.
They’re drawn from my self-led course Moments of Connection - 30 short somatic practices designed to be woven into a busy day. There’s no right order, no wrong moment. Come back to whichever one calls to you, as often as you like.
Each practice includes a short reflection to help you land your experience - take what’s useful, leave the rest.
PRACTICE ONE
Leaning into support
Most of our days, we live in the front of our bodies - attention forward, energy outward, ready to meet the next thing. This practice invites you to bring awareness to the back of your body, and in doing so, discover the support that is already there - behind you, beneath you, holding you.
Use this at the start of your working day, before the busyness takes hold, to remind yourself that wherever the day takes you, there’s support here to lean into.
After your practice
- Take a moment to write down all the places that support reaching out to you right now. Once you’re done, read through the list slowly and see what might feel different.
- Focusing on the back of our body can often help us cultivate slowness and ease, where in your life would those qualities be extra helpful right now?
PRACTICE TWO
Soothing self touch
Touch has a quiet power - helping to stimulate the nervous system’s understanding of safety and connection, and enabling us to anchor into resource and feeling good. This practice is an invitation to make kind contact with your body, exploring different self-holding positions and discovering what feels most settling for you in this moment.
Come back to this one in the small gaps of your day - between calls, before a challenging conversation, or whenever you need a moment of kindness.
Here’s the PDF mentioned in the video
After your practice
- Which self-hold felt most resourcing or enjoyable? Make a note to come back to this shape later in your day.
- Is it possible to understand how you registered that enjoyment - through the language of sensation, emotion, a memory of being held? See if you can hang our with how it felt good for a few moments longer.
PRACTICE THREE
Sensing space
When we feel disconnected or overwhelmed, space tends to contract - inside and around us. When we feel safe and steady, something opens. This practice gently explores the space around your body and notices how that relates to the space you feel within.
Try this when things feel tight or overwhelming - when the to-do list has taken over and there doesn't seem to be room to breathe. A quiet reminder that more space is available than it currently feels.
After your practice
- How do you identify the feeling of space inside your body? What sensation words or feelings describe your experience, what images come to mind?
- As you look ahead to your day or week - instead of starting with the to-do list, can you start with where you have space? Notice how that shift feels.
These practices are three of thirty in Moments of Connection - a self-led course of somatic audio and video practices to help you reconnect to your body, resource your nervous system, and create a gentle rhythm of self-care in your day. If something in these practices has resonated, you’re warmly welcome to explore the full course.
"Moments of Connection is a beautiful course that invited me to tune into my body with kindness, curiosity and compassion. I now return to these practices daily — whenever my body needs to soothe or process. Thanks to Sara's gentle guidance, creating space and time for myself has become a sacred ritual."
- Charlotte Gomes -