Land Acknowledgement
21/01/2022Polyvagal Exercises: Befriending
05/02/2022Body-based practices that center sensations of gendering pleasure.
For me, it's the practice of listening to the ways my soma (body) communicates through sensations / images / memories / vibes and more, then learning how to interpret that information. It's a skill set we can build up with practice!
I used to feel very few sensations unless they were assertive/strong. I found light/soft touches to be bothersome, annoying, or couldn't sense them at all. So, I started with those more certain sensations that I knew I enjoyed, like physical exertion and sensual pain.
Over time I practiced noticing and then inquiring into what brought me a sense of aliveness from those sensations. I got super specific with myself by asking, "What is it I am enjoying, specifically? What do I want/seek to feel in this situation? What feelings and thoughts do I associate with those sensations? What am I doing to instigate/get those sensations in my body?"
I love to use the practice of noticing to discover pleasure sensations that feel yummy. I then get curious about whether they are associated with moments of joyful gendering for me. Let me give you an example of this in practice:
I have a sense of aliveness when I bicycle hard and fast. This "aliveness" is similar to when I feel particularly aligned in my gendering. But why is this -- besides the kick ass chemical cocktail produced in my body from the joy of doing something that makes me happy?
So, to start...I needed to notice. One way to do this is to slow down, notice the sensations in my body, (insert kindly suggestion akin to "just take a bubble bath" and it'll be easier). Except that cycling slow bores the hell out of me! And slowness usually leads me to stillness that blocks my access to sensations.
So instead, I started with what I enjoy and what I know gives me lots of feedback sensations. That is, speed rocketing through the city.
I didn't try to change anything. On each ride, I began a practice of asking myself, "What am I experiencing ON my body at this moment"?
WIND!
I found out that the wind in my face helps cool the now near-constant heat from testosterone.
SWEAT!
The sweat on my back tickles, making me tighten my core and round my back. This reminds me how much I love my breastless chest.
AIR!
I gulped for air as I stopped at lights and corners, feeling my chest heaving. From within those breaths, I remember how they felt strained under 7 pounds of fat tissue.
All I knew at the start of this inquiry was the fact that I cycle too damned fast and I like it that way. But through this practice of asking myself what I felt specifically, I discovered that cycling hard rewards me with a scrumptious brain chemical cocktail AND glimmers of gendering euphoria.
I knew I was seeking those sensations while riding, but hadn't realized how they map onto my new sense of joy in my body. Now, I look for those flashes of joy throughout, turning towards them with gratitude for their presence and the pleasure they grant me in those tiniest of moments.