Feeling our feels.

Thanks so much for another beautiful dive into our cardiorespiratory system last week. I’ve been really loving our Cultivating Organic Fitness series (and I hope you have been too). We’ll come right back to it again in a week or two, but we’re going to shift our focus in a bit different direction this week.

Whereas last week we were tuning into our heart to sense it’s rate, effort, cardiac output, range, etc., this week, we’re going to tune into our heart (as well as the rest of our body) to simply notice how we’re feeling emotionally.

And, by that, I mean feeling (any and all) the feels.

We’re simply going to tune into our emotions and notice them.

We can even start right now.

Simply turn your focus inward, sense your body, and explore this question: How am I feeling?

That’s it, babe. That’s our main practice this week.

• No need to judge what you are feeling.

• No need to label them as good feelings or bad feelings.

• No need to limit what you feel, or how long you are feeling it.

• No need to stay in any one feeling—perhaps it is very fleeting.

• No need to explain our feelings or justify them to ourselves.

• And definitely no need to limit ourselves to just one feeling at a time.

We’re simply practicing sensing and noticing our feelings as they arise. We can think of it as a week to just check in with, and spend a little quality time with our emotional nature. :)

Feel it to heal it.

Often in meditation practices, guides will say things like “your thoughts are just like clouds in the sky, passing by. You can simply observe them, notice them, and let them float on by.” Similarly, our practice with noticing our emotions this week is kind of like that. We’re simply going to notice our feelings, and allow them to keep on moving through us.

There’s a common phrase in the mind-body world that says: “feel it to heal it.” I love how it emphasizes the importance of allowing ourselves to feel our feelings. And that’s what we’re doing this week, friend. We’re simply going to give ourselves time and space to feel however we feel.

• Not attaching

• Not ignoring

• Not forcing

• Not avoiding

• Not stuffing down

• Not dissociating

• Not distracting ourselves from

• Not hurrying

Simply feeling how we feel.

Want more to explore?

Ok, so simply feeling how we feel is definitely plenty…. Buuuuut, if you’d likemore to play with, here are some additional experiments that might be fun to observe this week.

In class we can check in periodically as we dance:

• How am I feeling?

• What body sensations (i.e., tense shoulders, clenched jaw, smiling face, fluttering heartbeat, lightness, relaxation, etc.) are connected with what I’m feeling emotionally?

• How do I feel when I listen to this song? How about the next song?

• How do I feel when I am moving this way? How about the next kind of way (for example, flow, kicks, splashes, hip circles, bouncing around the room, etc.)?

• Does how I feel change throughout the duration of class?

• ________ (Anything else you’d add to this list?)

And then throughout your day and week:

• How am I feeling?

• Do the sounds or sights around me have an effect?

• How about the activity I’m engaging in right now?

• Does sleep affect how I feel?

• Do different foods/drinks alter my feelings?

• How about the content I consume (feeds, books, shows, etc.)?

• How do I feel when I am using ____ app?

• Does the location, weather, or environment have any effect?

• How about the people who I am with?

• ________ (Anything else you’d add to this list?)

Again, no need for us to judge any of it. We can just stay ever-curious scientists, collecting data, noticing our authentic feelings as they arise. Perhaps seeing if any interesting patterns arise.

As always, I can’t wait to see what we discover together on the dance floor this week, friend. See you soon!

Much love,

💛 Dani