This episode is part three of a nine-part series of body-centered practices. Dr. Janys originally recorded this as part of a crisis counseling course. Their students kept asking to download it so here it is for anyone and everyone. Body-centered practices can be helpful in gaining resources for calming the nervous system. If you are looking for brief practices for personal use, resourcing for counseling, or for being a counselor- this will be of use to you! Transcript included.
In addition to being a therapist and a professor, Dr. Janys is certified as a yoga instructor and yoga therapist. In addition to using her own experience leading guided body-centered practices, they referenced the readings below to create the body-centered practices series:
Levine, P. (2008). Healing Trauma: A Pioneering Program for Restoring the Wisdom of Your Body. Sounds True.
Menakem, R. (2017). My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and Our Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies. Central Recovery Press.
Rothschild, B. (2000). The Body Remembers: The Psychophysiology of Trauma and Trauma Treatment. W.W. Norton and Company Inc.
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Body-centered practice, three humming.
Find a place where you can be comfortable. And undisturbed. For at least three or four minutes.
As you settle into your space and breathe, focus your awareness on the center of your belly. Behind your navel.
See if you can imagine in your mind's eye the breath that's coming in and out. Or if you'd like, you can bring your hand onto your belly.
And if you find that you tend to breathe also in your chest, you can bring your hand to your chest as well. Just know that there's no wrong way to breathe.
See if you can breathe in more breaths. Deeply and slowly.
Fill your belly in your chest, rise and expand with each inhalation and exhalation.
On your next breath in.
Bring your attention to the back of your throat.
And in an exhale, just allow yourself to have a very low hum. That may be only you can hear.
Notices you're humming what happens to your body?
When it feels right to stop humming and taking more breath, a breath that supports your hum, go ahead and naturally do that.
You may even want to pause the recording and spend some time just experimenting with your humming. Allowing yourself some time to have a louder hum or a deeper hum? Or maybe changing the way that the hum moves in your body.
Just allowing yourself to relax and just enjoy the sound of the humming.
Let yourself do this for a couple of minutes.
If it helps you, maybe you want to hum something that, you know, like a gospel hymn or a lullaby, a punk rock song. Anything that is catchy for you that helps you hum along.