A Body Scan for the Grip ♥ — Turn Down the Noise with Sonja Irina Johansen
Episode Transcript · A guided practice — best heard seated or eased back, not while driving
You were never broken. You were biological. I'm Sonja Irina Johansen, and for decades, I believed my struggle with food was a character flaw, until I learned the science that said otherwise. This is Turn Down the Noise, the show about why we really reach for food and the gentler way through.
Okay, before I tell you one single thing today, do me a favor. Stop moving right where you are. Don't fix anything. I want you to just notice. I want you to check your jaw. Is it tight? Can you relax anything there? Are your teeth touching? Mine aren't, 'cause I'm moving my mouth. Your shoulders, where are they right now?
Anywhere near your ears? Your hands, your forehead. Here's my favorite one, your tongue. Is it pressed up against the roof of your mouth? Mine was. It almost always is. Ready for action. So type in a, a word or several words that you noticed just now about what's going on in your physical body right this minute just sitting here.
I want you to hear that nobody put that grip there this morning. You didn't decide it. There was no memo, and most of it has been held for years. And until about 40 seconds ago, you maybe didn't ever notice it before.
That grip is not a detail. That grip is a state. It's the state your body can idle in, and every hard reach for food you have ever made, every single one, was made from that state, not from weakness, from a body that was already braced, already spending, already hunting for the fastest relief in the house. Is this making sense?
So you've walked a good piece of the book with me now. You know the reframes. Honestly, you can probably teach them back to me, which is exactly why today is not Tuesday's lecture again, but, um, I'm not handing you a grand theory here. Our stuff with food is layered, and you know that better than anybody on the planet.
What I've got today is one piece of a delicate, delightful, intricate puzzle. Oh, what a piece this is, though. It's the one you just touched. Because here's the thing, I did not build the Quiet Protocol and the Quiet Food Walk so you could listen to me some more. I built them so we could actually do the thing, to map it out, to lay down the pathways that serve us.
Less me talking, more you building. That might be my favorite sentence of the year.
I know, I, I know it seems like I like to talk, but I really, really love it when, when we build. So here's the plan for this morning. We're going to find the grip, all of it, the big places and the little ones, and we're going to soften it on purpose so you know what that feels like. And then, this is the part I really want, we're going to watch what your body does next.
And keep half an eye out as we go because everything today is secretly one move, just made in bigger and bigger circles. You'll see it by the end. So settle back and get comfortable. We're gonna start in the smallest place there is: your own body. So I'd like for you to settle where you are, seated or eased back, and I want you to hear this is a guided visualization, but I really want you to pay attention.
You can keep your eyes closed or soft or low. You don't have to go anywhere today, just stay with me. Stay where you are because where you are is important. We're not gonna go all the way down on this particular guided visualization. I've got a longer one ready for you later. But this is a waking visit.
And a reminder, there's nothing to do and nothing to fix. If your mind drifts, no harm. Just come back. If you need to move, move. Everything here is an invitation, and every invitation can be declined.
So let's take some breaths. I'd like you to take a breath in and then another breath in, and then a slow exhale. So two breaths in,
and then exhale out slowly.
I just noticed that my face was dropping when that happened. It was relaxing when I exhaled out. Just a noticing. Let's do one more.
You're paying attention, you can tell what muscles are relaxing. So we're going to visit a few places from the top of your head down to your feet. And your one job, the whole job, is to notice where you're holding. The big places and the little ones. You don't need to write it down. You're going to pay attention.
You're going to be-- It's going to be obvious. So when I invite it, let a place soften even for a nanosecond, just so you know what that feels like. No forcing. If it won't let go, that's fine too.
And here's what I want most to catch. When you soften a place, it may not stay soft. A minute later, it can creep right back quietly like it never heard you. When that happens, notice it. Twinkle in your eyes. And either relax again or concept, don't fix it, and don't fight it. Just watch it happen. Curiosity.
Where does it come back? How fast? That's not failure. That's the most honest information your body will hand you all week.
This is super paying attention time.
Most of the tension we carry has never once been noticed. So your attention may want to keep going back to the tight places behind the jaw, the eyes, the jaw, the tongue again and again. Let it. That returning isn't wandering and it isn't failing. It's the most faithful thing you can do.
So start at the top of your head, the very top, the crown, the scalp.
Just rest your attention there. Warmth? Tingling? Nothing at all? All fine? Is there anything you can relax?
If there's any holding, see if it wants to let go, even a little. Notice how that feels.
Now come down to your forehead and the muscles just above your eyes.
So many plans have lived here.
Notice any tension, tightness.
And see if you can smooth it, even for a moment.
Feel the difference when it softens?
And keep half an eye on it. It may creep back while we're somewhere else. Just notice.
Now behind your eyes.
The small muscles all around them.
They've watched for so much, for so long.
Let them grow heavy. See if they'll rest back just a nanosecond's worth. That's it. How does the releasing feel?
And now your jaw. Oh, the jaw, where so many of us hold the words we didn't say and the ones we wish we hadn't.
Let your teeth part just slightly.
Let it hang a little slack.
If it softens, feel that. If it doesn't, it isn't failing, and neither are you.
Mm. Now your throat. Soft and quiet. Your breath moving through it, easy as weather.
And your tongue, notice where it's pressed up against the roof of your mouth.
See if you can let it rest heavy and low.
How does that feel? Ugh. Bask in that.
Almost none of us has ever once visited the tongue. And if you come back later and find it's crept back up and gripped again, just let it down once more. That's the whole practice.
Oh, your shoulders. The part of you that's braced.
They may be up near your ears. Most are. Mine were. And nobody knew until this moment. Let them drop, even an inch. Let gravity have them.
And fair warning, they'll probably climb right back up. Shoulders always do.
And when you catch them, drop them again. Every catch counts.
Now your chest and the heart inside it.
If a hand wants to rest there, let it.
And silently, if it's true today, something in me needs care right now. That's all. Not a problem to solve. Just a heart kept company at last.
Now your belly. This part has heard a lot of opinions over the years.
None are invited here. Let it be soft. Let it rise and fall. That's all it ever owed anyone.
Let your attention pour down now. Hips, legs, all the way to your feet. The part of you that carried you here through every year of it.
Let them be heavy and warm.
They have been so faithful.
Now the whole body at once. One quiet field softening, breathing itself.
And if something has crept back while we traveled, like my forehead and my tongue, maybe your jaw, shoulders, you can visit it once more. Or just nod at it.
It's allowed to be here.
And underneath all of it, notice the quiet. The noise far away. The hum right here.
You didn't make it. It was always there. You're only hearing it now that things have gone still.
If one small true thing wants to float up, something your body knows this weekend,
let it be noticed.
You don't have to do anything with it.
Hmm. And now gently we come back on a slightly deeper breath.
Two, fingers and toes beginning to stir. Three, the room returning around you, the light, this good company. Four, a stretch if it wants to come.
Five. Eyes open whenever you're ready. Awake and here.
The body softens when it is finally noticed. And a reminder, you were never broken. You were biological.
Keep your plan. Keep your practitioner. Keep your medication. This is company, and not instead. Thanks for walking with me today. Everything I make lives at transformwithsonja.com. Until next time, with love and light, Sonja.
