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Boundaries Exercise

This will help you to get better at creating boundaries with others (physical, psychic, emotional) and get clear about what exactly those are for yourself.
DB
Demetrius Bolduc

Basics

You can use these practices to create boundaries in moments when you’re feeling compromised.
This is a 2 part practice, starting as an energetic/psychic practice and eventually a partnered somatic exercise.

Specifics

Part 1

Begin by taking a moment to center and ground yourself.
Take 3 long, deep breaths; in through the nose filling your lungs completely, and out through the mouth.
Start to feel your energetic boundaries around your body.
How far out does it extend? What color is it? What texture? How solid?
Once you can feel your energetic boundary (even if it is subtle) begin to play with moving/changing it.
Imagine you have 2 energy sources that create this boundary. 1 is your heart, the other at the base of your spine.
What do these energy sources feel like? Do they have a color? A composition? Are they in motion or stagnant?
By drawing on these energy sources, you can begin to change your energetic boundary in various ways.
You can extend it out, draw it closer, turn it a different color or composition, make it more or less solid.
Experiment with this and notice what feelings and thoughts arise for you. Is there something that you like more, feels more comfortable or safer?
Once you have established a clear energetic boundary surrounding you, you can strengthen it by infusing it with a symbol of protection.
Visualize this symbol on each of the 4 sides surrounding you, along with above and below.
Be open to what symbol feels natural to you.

Part 2

The 2nd part of this practice involves another consenting human. As such, it may not be something that you can do right away or every day.
A partner is needed for this exercise.
Can be done sitting or standing.
Take a breath and ground in your body. Feel the air in your lungs and the solidity of your body occupying the space. Feel where your energetic and spatial boundary exists around your body. How far out does it extend? Does it extend at all or live very close to your body or even inside you?
Hold your hand/hands up and ask your partner to push against you.
Feel what it is like to have someone push against your physical boundary.
What does this experience bring up in you? What is your somatic experience? What is your mental experience? What emotions come up?
Visualize your spatial and energetic boundary existing wherever you are holding your hands.
Experiment with moving your hands and spatial boundary as your partner presses against you.
See how it feels when you move your hands closer vs further away from your body.
While you are invited to experiment with different levels of boundaries, I want you to end each exercise with your partner forcefully pushing against you and you forcefully pushing back/holding your boundaries at least 1.5ft away from your body.
The goal is not to “win” the pushing contest. Rather to feel what it is like to experience someone forcefully pushing against your boundaries and you forcefully holding your boundaries.

Timeline


Basics
Specifics
Part 1
Part 2
Timeline
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