soften & settle.
a few minutes to let the holding go.
Hello, lovely. We're so glad you're here.
Your shoulders and your hips hold more than you think. This is a short practice with Hanna to let some of that go. You do not have to understand it. You just follow along, and let your body do the rest.
soften & settle with hanna.
Find a seat where both feet can rest on the floor. Press play, and move with Hanna. There is nothing to get right.
video coming here
Hanna's 5 minute follow-along. Placeholder until the recording is filmed and embedded.
Headphones if you have them, but they are not needed. A quiet room is enough.
two small check ins.
These are not a test. They are a way of letting your body know you are paying attention. Read each one slowly. The first answer is usually the truest.
before you press play
- Where in your body are you holding right now? Just name it.
- If your shoulders could speak, how high are they sitting today?
- On a quiet scale of one to ten, how braced do you feel? No need to change it. Just notice.
after the practice
- What feels different now, even slightly?
- Did anything let go that you did not know you were holding?
- That same scale of one to ten. Where are you now? Whatever the number, your body just practiced softening. That is the win.
If you want, hit reply to the email that brought you here and tell us what moved. We love hearing it.
a small softening.
Soften & Settle is a short follow-along practice for two places the body braces most. Your shoulders, where you hold yourself up and stay on guard. Your hips, where you hold on and keep yourself steady.
We do not stretch or fix anything. We just move slowly enough that your system feels safe to stop bracing for a moment. That is the whole idea. Less holding, even a little, is regulation. The quiet kind.
one. sit and press play.
Find a seat with both feet on the floor. You do not need space or special clothes. Just somewhere you can be undisturbed for five minutes.
two. move with hanna.
A few slow shoulder movements, a gentle sway through the hips. Small and easy. Follow along at your own pace. If something does not feel right for your body, leave it out.
three. settle and notice.
At the end you come back to still and simply notice. Maybe your shoulders sit lower. Maybe your breath dropped. You did not force it. You just stopped holding.
a few small ways in.
You do not need any of these to begin. But once the practice feels familiar, these are the things that let it land a little deeper.
go slower than feels necessary
The pace is the medicine, not the movement. If it feels a little too slow, you are probably doing it right.
let the exhale be longer
On each shoulder drop, let the out breath stretch a beat longer than the in breath. That is the signal your system reads as safe.
soften your eyes
After the first round, let your gaze go soft, or close your eyes. Less to track on the outside, more room to feel on the inside.
stay for the stillness
The settling happens in the quiet at the end, not the moving. Do not rush off. Give it the last minute.
come back to it
Same time each day, even once, teaches the body that softening is safe. Repetition is what turns a nice moment into a baseline.
come back to it often.
Five minutes means you can return to this whenever you need it. A few moments it fits especially well:
the wired evening
When the day is done but your body has not caught up. Tired and switched on at the same time. This is a way to tell your system it can clock off.
before something hard
A conversation, a call, a room you have to walk into. A few minutes of softening first, so you arrive a little less braced.
the desk reset
When your shoulders have crept up to your ears and you have not moved in hours. A small reset, right where you are.
no reason at all
You do not need to be in a state to do this. Repeated on ordinary days is how the body learns softening is safe. That is the point.
Bookmark this page. It will be here whenever your body needs a minute.
that is the whole thing.
You stopped holding for a few minutes. Your body remembers how, now. Come back to it whenever you need to. We will keep walking you through the rest, gently, in your inbox.
R Y M E
Hanna and Loes ♡