Allow for at least 30 minutes. You will need a comfortable place to either sit or stand.
This Somatic Act can be done as a solo, duet, or group. If done as a duet or group, please touch yourself before touching others.
Also, at any point, the touch can be stopped if not wanted.
Begin in a comfortable position sitting or standing.
With eyes closed,
tuning into your breath
allowing your weight to settle
sensing your feet on the floor
or your pelvis on the chair.
Begin by giving yourself a gentle squeezing touch
as if you are slowly squeezing a sponge.
The touch creates a sense of compression.
Noticing how strong you would like the touch…
How much compression do you need?
The squeezing touch is slow, firm and consistent
with a sense of repetition.
Start squeezing at the top of the head
and then slowing traveling down
all the way to the feet.
Allowing time...
As you are squeezing sensing the soft tissue
underneath your hands
and the structure of bone
and how your breath ebbs and flows
with the touch
When you approach the neck and throat
and other more vulnerable and gentle places
lessen the strength of the touch.
As you touch, check in with
the pressure of the squeezing.
What do you need now
and here?
Allowing time…
After the throat and neck
moving to squeezing
the shoulders, arms and hands.
Then travel
from the upper torso and back
to the belly and lower back
to the hips
the legs
and feet.
Allowing time...
Squeezing touch is like enveloping
the entire body
in a hug.
The hands are squeezing
contacting all the surfaces
of the body
the front
the back
the sides
offering a sense of
three-dimensionality
Allowing time and spaciousness…
And then taking a moment to pause,
after finishing at the feet.
Noticing the reverberations
from the touch…
How do you sense your body now?
Allow a moment to write, draw or share your experiences
with a friend.
Allowing time…
And then
let’s experience
another quality of touch.
With your finger tips begin a quick more
light and sudden brush from
the top of the head towards the feet.
Next, another quick brush
from the feet towards
the top of the head.
And now a light and sudden brush from
one shoulder to the hand
and then from the hand
to the shoulder.
Transitioning to brushing the other side.
The touch is light, with clear finger tips,
quick and more sudden.
Moving your hands
to the centre of the body
brushing,
with more short strokes
from the middle
of the torso, chest and belly
out to the sides of the body.
Changing the position
of your hands
to brushing, as best you can
with more short strokes
from the middle of the back
out to the sides.
Next, moving to the neck and face
with even smaller, shorter, quick, light brushes
from the centre
and then out to the sides.
Now travelling to the head
and finishing with gently
pulling your hair upwards
from many different angles
The back, sides, front
of your head
sensing it tug
at your skull.
Allowing your hands
to rest at your side.
Returning to your breath.
Sensing the quality of touch
of the second touch journey
resonating along your tissues
and bones.
How do you sense your body now?
Allow a moment to write, draw or share your experiences
with a friend.
And finding a moment
to rest
with eyes closed,
before transitioning.