Let’s get into it just a bit-
To me, personally, it means not having to feel afraid of being seen or needing to hold back from being vulnerable to others.
What is it that allows this to happen? …
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Let’s do a little exercise for inquirie’s sake-
Closing the eyes, take a big inhale in through the nose. Let it fill the chest and the belly, and then just let it out through the mouth. … Feel the shoulders and jaw soften and the belly relax.
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What is it that you need to feel like you don’t have to protect yourself from being seen?
What is it that makes you feel like it’s okay to be vulnerable?
Is it safety? A level of trust that must be there?
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With your eyes closed, take that cleansing breath in and out, letting it go, and relax through your body.
Go back in time to your home when you were 6 or 7 years old.
Visualize a moment in time, inside your house, the smell, the feeling you had, what it felt like inside your home, and what your mom and/or dad were like. Take this moment to really go into that space.
You are in a safe place so just take the time to allow yourself to feel whatever that feeling is that was present as your 6- or7- year-old self.
What was it that you needed more of?
Did you feel like you weren’t seen? Feel like everything was your fault? You weren’t appreciated? A burden? Or like you had to be a certain way in order to receive love?
There was something for each of us, so just taking the moment to become more deeply aware of what it was for you and honoring that need.
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Take a moment to name what that was for you.
Speaking to that 6- or 7- year-old you,
Say—
I forgive you for feeling like you had to ____________________________ to feel/get _______________________________ in return.
Don’t worry about the way it sounds. You’re speaking to your 6- or 7-year-old self.
Give yourself the safety and security you needed.
Repeat the forgiveness.
Understand that it was a misunderstanding.
Understand that whatever it was wasn’t truly necessary to get what you needed to feel safe, secure, and/or loved.
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Now-
Come as you are and welcome to Mountain Heart, where you are truly welcome here to just be you. This is the kind of space and community where you can be authentic, human, and alive in your living practice. You are not alone.
To me, that is what safety in community means.
Thank you for participating in this little exercise. At Mountain Heart, we wish you all the best. We are just here in the living practice with you, and we look forward to seeing you.
Your friend,
Lacy
(founder of Mountain Heart Wellness Collective)