I personally find that "Oming" in a group is incredibly powerful. After practicing this for just one minute, you can physically feel the vibration of your own body and others within yourself. I think that this is a beautiful way to harmonize bodies, however, not all are open to it. I love the idea of simply being in presence and breathing together as well. I feel like this can be felt in a "moment of silence" that I have experienced in large group settings in the past. Prolonging this moment to "moments" would be so incredibly powerful. I have learned about the magnetic field that our hearts exude recently which relates so well to this. When we are able to still and calm our bodies, our hearts send out a field that shares that energy with other hearts and bodies. Even if not all participate fully in the exercise, simply by stilling some of the bodies in the group, you positively impact all those present.
Q. Read the “Body Practices to Do Together” beginning on pg. 184, at the end of Chapter 14. Complete the practices that you wish to engage in. What does this do for your own body? How might this benefit other bodies?
I love doing tapping that it is a very instant relief technique for me and it is also like a soothing mechanism so is the belly rubbing so this is something I would like to try and integrate to my practice, the breathing sounds and chanting or repetition of mantras like the Om sound are my favorite this technique gives me harmony and I feel that it integrates us as a group I feel like sharing movement together connects our souls also if you are meditating together, singing together and even being in complete silence together and you can add to it like when we chant and integrate instruments, there is always something new to add even if it is making noises when we breath together, what this does to my body is take it to a higher vibration, my energy becomes clean, I feel complete and happy, so if I feel this others practicing together should feel the same or even more and sharing about it opens my mind to it and expands my experience.
Chapters 13–17 — Reflections
The most significant thing to me is the importance of settling my own body and having a calm, settled presence when I am teaching. How can we all settle our own bodies? These chapters really reminded me that we experience events in our bodies — events don’t just happen outside of us or in our minds.
Active listening stood out for me: not interrupting, not making judgments, not giving advice, and not giving your own story. There was also an emphasis on completing an action that was once thwarted, which is what got the trauma stuck in the body in the first place.
The author distinguishes between settling energy and protective energy, and also speaks about the importance of harmonizing with other bodies, which requires us to respect other bodies.
The media also stood out as something that unsettles. To me, it doesn’t even feel real — it feels like a low-vibration energy that is taking over and removing individual thought. It feels like a collective energetic washing of generalizations.
When it comes to activities that involve touch in groups, especially in populations such as incarcerated individuals, these would not be activities I would choose. I honestly don’t feel comfortable touching people in a group setting, even with people I know well. That awareness felt important to honor as well.
Activities to Harmonize Bodies (Daily, Brief Practices)
These are the brief, in-the-moment, “10-second reset” type activities that stood out to me: walking silently side by side in sync for a minute, humming for 10 seconds, not over-organizing the activity, noticing sensations, emotions, and impulses, “OM” together (as a harmonizing practice, not a religious one), lullaby-type sounds, and rocking back and forth, with or without music, without touch.
Silent walking in sync is the one I resonated with the most, and I really feel the most comfortable and in my body with this one. These chapters allowed me to reflect on what I connect with most in terms of activities and harmonizing vs. over connecting which is sometimes my go-to.