Our bodies are dynamic reflections of our past experiences, thoughts, and emotions. We often hold these in our physical form through our posture and movement patterns, sometimes unconsciously. In this blog, we’ll share a beautiful somatic practice with you called Figure-8 Resourcing.
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Understanding Figure-8 Resourcing
In this practice, we will use gravity as feedback to enhance our proprioceptive awareness (our sense of body position) and interoceptive awareness (our internal sense of self).
How to Perform This Exercise
1. Prepare Your Stance
Begin by standing with your feet hip-width apart or in whatever stance feels comfortable for you. Settle into your body by focusing on your breath. You can close your eyes or keep a soft gaze directed gently towards the floor. Take a moment to notice any immediate emotions, thoughts, or tension.
2. Tune into Your Breath
Bring your awareness to your breath, observing without changing its natural pattern. Notice if you’re breathing shallowly or deeply.
3. Start Swaying
When you’re ready, gently sway side to side, feeling your weight shift and your body move against gravity. Feel the increased weight on one side, then the other.
4. Visualize the Figure-8 Motion
Imagine you have two paintbrushes attached to your sit bones, the bones you sit on. Envision yourself drawing a figure-eight motion with these paintbrushes. Shift side to side in a gentle figure-eight motion. Feel your whole body shift and move, and notice any sensations that arise.
5. Expand Your Awareness
Expand your awareness to your whole body: your head, neck, shoulders, and the subtle movement in your spine, especially as you move down to your pelvis. Notice how each figure-eight creates different sensations in your body. You might feel tension on one side and relaxation on the other, or perhaps discomfort on one side.
6. Reflect and Adjust
As you become more aware of these sensations, see if anything begins to shift from when you started. Notice the rhythmic nature of your movements, and bring your awareness back to your breath and body.
7. Ground Yourself
Return to the stance you started with, feeling your feet grounded. Feel the soles of your feet anchored to the floor, the weight of your body against gravity, the center of your core around your belly button, and the position of your head over your spine.
8. Reflect on Your Experience
When you’re ready, bring your awareness back to the room. Take a moment to reflect. Part of our somatic practice involves noticing what’s happening. You may want to journal your experience—whether it was positive or negative, what emotions or thoughts came up, and what physical sensations you noticed.
Use this practice anytime you want to tune in and connect to your beautiful body.
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Other things that might interest you:
2 Somatic Practices for Overwhelm
3 Somatic Exercises to Get You Out of Your Head Into Your Body