Chapter 1 "Where I Am Now" | Honoring truth, honoring endings, honoring the self you've become
IN THIS LESSON
Remembering what matters and listening through the body.
Take a moment to settle where you are.
Feel your breath move softly in and out.
Let your shoulders fall away from your ears.
You’re stepping into a space meant to support you.
Rushing and pushing through are not welcomed here.
This module invites you back to the quiet place inside yourself where truth has always lived.
Not the truth you were taught or inherited.
But the truth that rises from the ground of your own being.
THE PRACTICE
There is a way your life wants to feel. A way that belongs only to you. But most of us spend years shaping ourselves around expectations we never chose: Family ideals, cultural stories, unspoken rules about success, worthiness, or belonging.
We absorb these early and hold them tightly, oftentimes, long after they’ve stopped resonating.
This first part of the journey is about remembering what is truly yours and loosening what has been conditioned into you. Your body is the place where this remembering begins. It responds instantly…long before the mind starts negotiating.
When you imagine a life aligned with what matters, the body often softens, warms, or expands.
When you imagine a life built on someone else’s expectations, the body tightens, contracts, or grows heavy.
This is your compass and the language of your inner truth.
Returning to what’s true is the first step in discerning where you are, what’s complete, and what wants to grow next.
Somatic Pause
Take a breath.
Let your eyes soften.
Ask your body quietly: “What is true for me right now?”
Notice sensations rather than thoughts.
Are you leaning forward or holding back?
Is your breath shallow or deep?
What softens when you feel into truth?
What tightens when you imagine living for someone else’s ideals?
There is nothing to fix.
Only to notice.
Invitations (Journaling Prompts)
Take a few minutes to write freely (stream of consciousness), without editing:
• What truly matters to me in this season of my life?
• Which desires feel like mine, and which feel inherited?
• When I imagine living in alignment, how does my body respond?
• What am I quietly longing for that I haven’t named?
• What feels complete or outdated in my life right now?
Write slowly. Let the truth come through sensation first - through heart to hand to paper.
Optional Audio Practice: Somatic Body Scan “True vs Conditioned Values”
If you’d like deeper support, listen to the guided practice for this module. It will help you sense what belongs to you and what does not.
This practice uses gentle theta waves to soften mental rigidity and allow truth to rise through the body. You can return to it anytime this course asks for clarity or discernment. Ideally, earbuds or headphones are needed for the full therapeutic value of binaural beats. However, the audio does stand on its own if headphones or earbuds are not available.
Closing Reflection
Notice how you feel now compared to when you began.
Something subtle may have shifted. A softness. A recognition. A quiet honesty rising in your chest or belly.
This is the beginning.