Redefining Strength

Are you the one that holds it all together all the time for everyone? Are you beginning to notice just how tiring it is to be the strong one? Maybe overextending, back bending, just trying to make it all work. Perhaps you've been carrying this definition of what it means to be strong in your mind and body without ever questioning it. You may have inherited stories and ways of being that no longer serve who you're becoming. If this sounds familiar to you, this practice is for you. So we'll begin by closing the eyes. We're just gently lowering the gaze, taking a slow breath in through the nose, and a soft breath out through the mouth. Just doing that a few more times, allowing the breath to soften and release what it can. Relaxing the eyebrows and the eyes, unclenching the jaw and the mouth, and letting the shoulders drop a little with each breath. Now allowing the breath to return back to its natural rhythm, and gently noticing what comes to mind when you hear the word strength. What images, memories, or sensations arise in the body? without judging or fixing, just noticing what's here. You might notice places in the body that learn to brace, places that stayed alert or held tension in order to keep going. So seeing if you can meet those areas with kindness and care. Now we'll try silently offering a few phrases towards ourselves. So if you'd like, you can gently rest a hand over the heart and just allowing these words to land in the body and mind. Repeating after me, may I learn to honor the strength that has carried me. May I learn to soften towards the part of me that had to be strong. And may I learn to trust a version of strength that supports and sustains me. Just continuing to breathe, perhaps noticing what else you need to hear in this moment, and also noticing how the body responds. May I learn to honor the strength that has carried me. May I learn to soften towards the parts of me that had to be strong. And may I learn to trust a version of strength that supports and sustains me. Just allowing this sense of kindness to fill the body, filling the body with care, with each breath. And then just letting those phrases go feeling your body making contact with the surface beneath you, and when you're ready, slowly and gently opening your eyes. So as you go on with your day, you might reflect on what strength looks like for you now. Not the version you learn to carry, but a version that honors who you are in this moment, a version that is supportive for your mind and body. Feel free to come back to this practice anytime you need a moment to pause and reflect, take care....