turn and face

passion. purpose. potential.

Pragmatic Practice

February 2023

Greetings!

Dealing with the ups and downs of life - disappointments, challenges, and even opportunities – requires a unique ability to turn and face those experiences and to allow yourself to fully feel them.

You’ve likely developed tendencies around how you handle things, and they may involve not fully feeling yourself and what’s important to you.

You may be adept at dodging disappointments by shifting gears or chasing challenges with criticism and blame. Or perhaps, you find yourself numb and not caring much, which could surprise you.

These tendencies often show up first as constriction in your body, like that tight jaw that slowly sets when meeting with new clients, or a tightness in your chest and shallow breathing when an idea of yours is challenged.

It may be a quick uptick in energy that overwhelms and distracts with an increased heart rate, nervous laughter or difficulty concentrating.

All these sensing experiences are tied into your emotions. Left unchecked, they can find you creating all kinds of stories that either support or sabotage your best efforts.

Turning and facing allows you to feel yourself, opening up your ability to work with your natural rhythms.

Image credit: Inner Alchemy

Turning and facing into what you either fear or long for is an essential practice to living life on purpose.

Pragmatic Practice

It simply takes intention to practice noticing your sensations and what most enlivens you.

Here’s a process to work through when you suspect that your feelings need to be explored.

Read through the steps below first, then put it into practice:

Stand up, feel your feet making contact with the floor and breathe in your next breath as if from the soles of your feet.

Feel your breath all the way up your spine to the crown of your head. Do this for three cycles of breath, lengthening your out-breath by a beat or two, centering yourself in your body.

Bring to mind an intention you’ve set or a goal that’s important to you. Notice how simply bringing it to mind makes you feel.

Off to the side in your peripheral vision, about two o’clock, ‘see’ the thing you’ve not wanted to look at that is related to your intention or goal.

This could be a variety of things; the common denominator is that you’ve not yet turned to face the thing:

a feeling you don’t like and don’t want to feel
a conversation you know you’d be better off having but have been avoiding
a person that you find difficult to be with
a quality you’d like to have more of
a habit you’d like to shift up
a longing that’s becoming more pronounced
a decision to be made
an opportunity on the horizon

From this centered place, choose to turn and face what’s there for you, allowing yourself to feel what’s present for you as you now face it.

Notice your sensations, then attune to any emotions and thoughts that arise too without judgment.

Allow yourself to take a step or two forward and amp up the energy.

Notice your body's response.

Stay with this for 3-5 seconds longer than you’re comfortable before turning back and resuming a centered stance.

Allow yourself to feel whatever is present, continuing to breath.
What was your experience like?
What insights appeared for you?

By practicing Turn & Face you’ll strengthen your resilience, get your rhythm on, and choose how you want to feel as you move forward.

Drop me a line at [email protected] to share your experience.

passion. purpose.potential.

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