2026-07-31 ## Making the Beach a Safe Space to heal ## ![[stones.jpg]] ### Connecting with the environment to generate the feeling of Safety. I go to the beach by my place almost daily. Especially on work days. When I take my shoes off and my feet splay onto the sand, the tension in my body begins to dissolve. Its like the sand just sucks the tension out through my feet. The feeling of relaxation travels up my leg, to my lower back, and then to my neck and head. The whole body slows down as it works to correct posture and it relearns how to move in the absence of tension. Those first awkward steps are soothing. On sunny days I can’t help but also take off my shirt. I usually plant myself right at the edge of the shade where its not too cold, and not too hot. Sitting all day on a chair just begs for me to stretch. I have my own routine which usually finishes on Shavasana (Corpse pose). I’ll lay 5-10 minutes in pure bliss. As the clouds roll past me, the sound of waves further give me the feeling as though I am an vacation. Remember, this happens daily! I get up gently, and then do a little walk, usually to the water. My feet sometimes enjoy the soak, especially on really hot days. Its a real refresher. Rarely I’ll jump completely in, but not usually. I find this short transition, of walking a few steps for a couple of minutes, just as important as those stretches. By this point, almost an hour of being here, my nervous system feels resourced and ready. Now is real healing begins. I’ll get my journal out and begin to think about the things in life that have been nagging at me for a while. I feel for what needs my attention. When I find it, I put my attention on that felt sense, usually unpleasant, and I begin to yield to it. I notice my body will tense up. Since I am so relaxed, I can feel that tension wash over me because it is juxtaposed to my relaxed state of being. Here at the beach, however, it doesn’t feel threatening. It feels more like I’m sitting on an uneven chair. As I keep my attention on it, I let a few breaths out, which relaxes my body further. Its almost like I’m going to the bathroom. I find that relaxing and yielding feels right. I let nature takes its course. There’s no forcing. I notice the tension come and then I gently relax, allowing that tension-energy to grow a little bigger if it wants to. I notice that I’m not creating that tension. It seems to grow stronger as I try to relax. So its almost like a stool that’s moving inside the body and by letting it move, it gets to come out by itself when it wants to. Sometimes the energy that comes up is very intense. My breathing gets really fast, and I feel very dizzy. The pores of my skin open up intensely and it feels like I am about to pass out. During such moments which can last 2-5 minutes, both feet are planted into the sand to my ankle. I’m not going anywhere. Sometimes I am laying down. My hand grabs the sand and I let it fall between my fingers. Again and again. My nose picks up the scent carried by the wind. My eye catches moving leafs from a tree near me and keeps me company. But I don’t focus on anything. I try to keep my gaze relaxed and wide-angle. If I am sitting I am looking at the vast horizon or the sky, which becomes a giant blank canvas into to which memories can be projected into. Now I am watching a movie, the memories associated with the experience that is being released. Since I am grounded where I sit, I am not lost in my own delusions. I can watch this movie and my body feels safe, held warmly and gently by the beach. The sun wraps itself around me like a warm blanket of safety. I haven’t gone anywhere. It is mere a projection. All of my senses tell me I am still at the beach, safe and sound and relaxed. The trauma in the body passes through like a stool, all in just a few minutes. Sometimes, like a distant rolling cloud of thunder and rain, moving across the horizon. It comes and goes in waves, just like the waves at the beach. At the end of it all, it feels like one of those days where it has been raining in the late afternoon and yet the sun is coming out on the other side of the sky, giving rise to strange array of grey colors that have an orange tint to them, and where a rainbow appears on one side of the sky. Such days feel magical, I think, because of how rare they are, and how they pull us away from ordinary days. There is a sense of play in the air. Something has shifted inside for the better. After that? I eat a cookie I’ve been saving myself and then I go play because that’s what beaches are for! Right after a session yesterday, I grabbed some rocks and started balancing them. I’ve never done this before, what a pleasant past-time!