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#ElvisEnergyExperiment: Experience awe

February 7, 2023

#ElvisEnergyExperiment: ExperienceAwe

 

Throughout 2023, we’re continuing to explore our energy. How it affects us physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. To help us to do this we’ve been hooking up with a series of experts who set us an experiment every month to help us discover a new way of managing our energy.

We couldn’t be more excited about this month’s experiment, with the amazing team at The Living Project.

We love with their philosophy that getting outside and spending time in nature is good for the soul. It inspires connection to self, other and the natural world of which we are a part.

They provide mindful adventures in wild places, such as Dartmoor,Snowdonia, Scotland, Sweden, and Morocco and have been named by The Guardian as"One of the UK's best wellbeing retreats for 2023".

What more could you ask for in an Energy Experiment partner?

This month’s experiment is all about “Experiencing Awe”…

Science shows us that ‘experiencing awe’ is good for us, both physiologically and psychologically. According to Professor Dacher Keltner, ‘experiencing awe helps us to live happier and healthier lives’, he argues that it has, (and still is), ‘an essential mechanism for collective survival.’  

Sounds good right?

Here’s how this months experiment works….

First-up we need to find a ‘Sit Spot’ that we’ll use for this experiment.

A sit spot is simply a favourite place in nature that is visited regularly to cultivate awareness, expand senses and study patterns of local plants, birds, trees, and animals.

We’ll then gently build on being in our sit spot with additional simple mindfulness practices.

Week One: Sit + Sense

Find your ‘sit spot’ in nature.

It can be close to your home, but ideally the same place.

Visit your sit spot three times a week for (a minimum) of 20minutes.

For this first week, simply to tune into the landscape around you through your senses.

·     What can you hear?

·     What can you see?

·     What is the air like?

·     What can you smell?

·     Which sense is the most ‘dialled in’?

Week Two: Breathe

Return to your sit spot & like before, tune into your senses with the simple ‘Sit + Sense’ practice.

This week we are layering in a very simple breathing exercise: The box breath

In for 4, hold for 4, out for 4, hold for 4.

Repeat this breath for a minimum of 5 rounds

Sit with the quiet once finished for the remainder of the 20 minutes and notice what you are experiencing in that moment.

Week Three: Journal

This week, once we’ve completed our ‘Sit + Sense + Breathe’ - we invite you to journal about how you’re feeling in the moment.

Use one of these two simple prompts to get going:

1.     How does it feel to be me right now? (Internal reflection on feelings& emotions). So the sentence starts “Right now it feels …. to be me”

2.     What am I noticing in nature? (External reflection on nature/elements/landscape). So the sentence starts, “Right now I am noticing…”

Feel free to journal with pen and paper. But if you prefer a digital way to journal, head over to www.talkitout.app and use their app to capture your thoughts and feelings by talking to the app.  Either is a perfect…

Week Four: Shake it out!

Exactly the same as week three, except for the last minute of your sit, stand up & shake it out and feel free to make any noises / ways to release which arise.

Once you’ve had a chance to ‘shake it out’, we’d encourage you to share the sense of awe you experienced over the last 4 weeks…. By sharing the things you’ve experienced and any sense of awe you've experienced you’ll feel more connected to those you share it with, and you’ll make the feeling of awe more real for you.

 

We’ll be reporting back throughout the month on how the experiment’s going for us and will be sharing the impact our experiences of awe have had, so keep a look out for our updates on our social media channels.

You can find out more about The Living Project at www.thelivingproject.life

And you can join in with us on this experiment by following us onInstagram, LinkedIn and Twitter and sharing any pics or stories of your experience of awe – we can’t wait to see them.

Have fun with this one…

Big Love,

Upping Your Elvis.