The somatics are working because you're no longer afraid of being sensitive

welcome to the Lion’s Gate edition. If you’re new to this, the Lion’s Gate portal is a time where the sun in the astrological sign of Leo lines up with the Earth and the star Sirius. In Ancient Egypt, Sirius was understood to be the Spiritual Sun, so this period was reserved for receiving lots of insight and an invitation to be in undivided Light. this is my favourite time of year where the visions get written down and the audacity to dream and enact it gets a loud upgrade. a few years ago i began teaching workshops about this portal with TheEasefulPlace as a time for collective and personal imagination for a better world.1 this year, i’m opening the practice to readers here with a combination of sharing my writings, somatics, and some scripting.

if you’re new here, a warm and big welcome to you. i’m AMARA, a certified mindfulness facilitator, somatic nervous system practitioner in training, a soul-led Founder, and a mystic poet. I created Mindful RISE ((There Is Another Way)) because i value what happens when you begin to come home to yourself mind body soul and wish to connect with others on the journey. consider the space a reminder of your fullness and the rich soil of growing towards your truth.

before we get into this edition, a question::

last month i came back to poetry while in the gym. mid-session, weights in hand, i heard in my body that i should return to writing and living poetry. i bought a journal from Tiger right after leaving the gym and i keep it near my bed to bring it into part of my rising or resting routine. it’s been a little different writing poems for fun again when life demands so much of me, but i understand what my body is trying to remind me: as an artist, ignoring my art is wasteful. i’m not AMARA if i’m not creating poetry from my experience on Earth. fully in the spirit of Audre Lorde’s Poetry Is Not A Luxury.2 this is the powerful work of making the body and nervous system available for more.

i’m thankful that i listened to my curiosity about somatics and am now learning to put my body first (the body is right, is my favourite lesson). this opening was the first step. expression is another limb of holistic wellbeing and so writing poetry is both spiritually and physically good for me. look out for more of my process to coming back to my poetics as a somatic practice.

today’s letter is about the sensitive side of becoming louder in yourself, courtesy of the portal we’re currently in.

Being both a soft and a bold personality will get you in trouble, depending on your company. the world is designed for dichotomy: being loud or being quiet, being sensitive or being sovereign. but imagine what can be achieved when you choose both? where do get to be when you refuse to be silenced but will willingly sit and observe?

there is definitely a pipeline from sensitivity to audacity. i’ve lived and watched it. sometimes, something happens to [a young diva/Empress/bad gyal] and her sensitivity becomes so unignorable in a situation or place that it awakens something:: courage, pride, compassion, awakeness to this deep feelingness that actively or dormantly guides her life. and this experience often is misunderstood, but please be unafraid to name it what it is: audacity returning.

in the spirit of audacity, when we let our sensitivities exist beyond judgement, we return to ourselves. it will heal a world built on patriarchal suppression, smallness and sometimes mystery chronic health issues much faster.

Being born sensitive you are initiated into a world of being apologetic all while learning how to become fluent in the inner language and dialogue of your body. it becomes normal to make light of not just being sensitive, but being too sensitive. when you are sensitive, it’s who you are felt to be — your presence alone is a somatic experience for many and yourself. this is a strange thing to translate, but it’s your everyday. Owning that is owning eroticism. it’s being unafraid of feeling the things others are not willing to. a person who welcomes the erotic doesn’t tame their sensations, and this is seen as the source of their capacity to feel things through. Equally, an uncompromisingly sensitive person doesn’t turn down their sensitivities because it is their source of power, an added sense. Apologising for being deeply feeling is essentially apologising for being alive as a sensitive person.

i find that the Lion’s Gate Portal is a perfect time to reinstall our belief systems, and a belief worth reincorporating is that being sensitive is crucial for the world we’re rebuilding together. additionally, it is integral to your becoming available for the vibrant life that is waiting patiently for you to claim your sensitivity. August and Leo season in general are all about remembering our right to care less and be more.

With some distance from some of the circumstances and social conditions that reinforced the idea that sensitiveness is something to be fixed3, i’ve learned that when approached healthily, sensitivity is insight, it is listening, vulnerable at times, it is divergent, and unfortunately being sensitive often means that you are early to many things. From a holistic Nervous System Regulation (NSR) stance, reinstalling a rhythm of life where sharing your sensitive nature is no longer threatening can be a helpful approach. we make space for the nervous system to be safe enough embrace sensitivity. i present the Lion/Lioness as an archetype to support our re-innerstanding of what sensitive beingness is.

The Lion and Lioness’ courage isn’t only in the commanding roar and rowdiness, but mainly in its ability to respect instinct. The king of the jungle has uncompromised confidence because he is in touch with his environment. The Lioness knows what she knows, that’s why her boundaries are fiercely in place and her attention immaculate. There is no fear of tapping inward, indulging in the magic of knowing exactly when to pounce and present because of the inner direction. This is the courage of moving from a sensitive body.

This year the Lion’s Gate portal is open from July 28th to August 12th, with the peek being August 8 - the eighth day of the eighth month. If your sensitivity has you falling back, lets bring it forward for the strength your body knows it to be.

in case you’d like to sit with some prompts for this 8/8 while sitting under the sun. Feel free to use these to build a script that you can keep on your bedside table or in your journal::

what does the start of your day feel like?

where do you take your body first thing in the rising?

what do you do to cleanse and maintain your awareness?

what does ‘work’ look like?

what does ‘service’ look like?

what does ‘rest’ look like?

what is your love life like in this chapter?

how do the people around you treat your sensitivity?

how do you feel in these loving bonds?

where do you and Love spend your day?

what does it feel like to freely put language to what used to remain guarded in you?

what are you creating within yourself?

how do you end your day?

what are you looking forward to?

how does it feel to end the day with all your senses tended to?

questions for the creator collaborating with their sensitivity again::

how does honouring your sensitivity affect your taste in [food/people/places]?

what do you feed yourself for breakfast?

what type of music are you most sensitive to?

what colours make up your wardrobe?

what do you imagine yourself wearing to feel most confident?

how do you tend to your heart throughout the day?

what do you create when you are unafraid?

what does your expression look like when you’re free of shame?

what do you say?

what do you write?

how do you activate courage within yourself to create bold and sensitive art?

who do you share it with?

where?

how often?

be specific and very sensitive to the sensations you receive when answering these prompts, it will help you build a script for how you imagine your next phase of living to feel. happy journalling.

Below is a grounding practice to recalibrate and support your nervous system while choosing to own your sensitivities.

the nervous system loves familiarity.

the nervous system loves varied movement, i.e. to dance or move.

the nervous system loves neural pathways that don’t startle, but settle.

From my experience, the path to truly embracing your sensitive nature is a multi-layered approach to grounding.

this is where movement supports us. of course your younger self knew that dance parties in your room was a great way to release stress. Of course our elders knew that dancing alone is fun but dancing together is healing. Of course there is a time to be seen and a time to be restored. My intention with offering this practice is to remind and maybe reintroduce into your system that there is nothing to be afraid of when being visible while sensitive.

so, choose a song that feels good in your body, take yourself into a public/outdoor space like your local park and bring a mat or maybe just your headphones. while you play the song, allow your body to move the way you’d like it to. your task is to enter a vortex, a safe space, of feeling in public where being sensitive and seen becomes commonplace. you’re gently rehearsing how it feels to be seen listening to your body’s sensitivity in public, committing to self-listening, and learning that this is safe and good. often, the sensitive-inclined existence simply needs evidence that it is welcomed just as it is.

of course, this is what dance floors are made for. but being intentional about carving out daily time, a yoga/qi gong/dance/free-flow and a specific environment for being unapologetically in touch with your present moment, is an intentional practice of not dampening the sensitive experience, which is so necessary. it’s also just fun to come out of your head and into your body in this quick and effective practice.

because we need your sensitive soul having fun.

~ create an environment you feel safe in and set up a reasonable time frame, a few minutes will do it.

~ notice what thoughts come up, move them around

~ notice, without judgement, where you feel a little stagnant

~ if you’d like, you can write or speak out what came up after your movement practice. Things like observations and patterns over time, all while maintaining non-judgement.

~ in the case that you start to feel a little conscious about this task (naturally friend, you’re doing something a little disruptive <3) you can repeat to yourself, i am safe here three times and slow your movements down. the slower the better to affirm that safety. both the fascia4 and nervous system respond well to slowness over faster movements, it sends signals of calmness and safety.

~ to create structure and predictability in your nervous system, you can also choose the same time of day for this practice.

~ i recommend trying this for 28 days, a full cycle to install a new habit and comfort zone

~ i personally love this song for an outdoor freestyle yoga flow.

Thank you for reading this edition of Mindful RISE. This is a space dedicated to holistic wellness and remembering the fullness of being in your truth. If you’d like to become a paid member of the Mindful RISE ((There Is Another Way)) community, consider this your invitation~

Paid members receive::

𓆃 Exclusive paid reader posts

𓆃 Space held for specifically for paid members to discuss and chat

𓆃 Intimate reflections, somatic activities, and sharing on my rewilding/decolonising/ and holistic healing journey

𓆃 Founding members of the space also receive a hand-written letter.

Your presence is gratefully received here and i hope the space nurtures us collectively above all.

if you’re new here, feel free to introduce yourself and share your own experience of stepping into your sensitivity or anything else that landed. the next letter will be the August nu moon edition and will be with you by August 12th.

Until the next one,

AMARA~•🌺