Hi,
My name is Dieke and welcome to the FEM embodiment quest.
This is day number four and the word,
The theme is flow.
Basically we're going to be connecting to this feminine flow,
Energy and current within.
The masculine principle is more about this linear straight lined movement.
And so very often in our movement practices,
We work in that more linear way.
Now,
If we want to connect to our feminine essence,
Then it's important that we learn to connect to a more flowy nonlinear flow and movement within.
And basically today I'm going to be guiding you through an exercise that is one of my favorites and easiest way to very quickly connect to that flow within.
Okay.
Make sure that you are comfortable,
Have a yoga mat close by.
You don't need any props besides just yourself.
And then coming to sit down,
You can place your hands in front of your chest in a namaste.
You can connect to that word of flow for a moment,
Close down your eyes and then one bell marks the start.
Three bells mark the end of this embodiment practice.
We're going to start off here in a cross legged seated position and I just want you to play with your arms first where we have a difference where we can move in straight lines with the arms.
So play with that for a moment.
You can move them out to the sides up and down in a straight line way of moving.
So linear way and now relaxing your arms and see if you can come into this nonlinear flowy sort of movement and exploration and noticing how that feels different straight away.
So let's do that one more time.
Now coming back to straight lines,
Moving the arms in a straight motion,
Exploring through linearity.
What can you do?
And again,
Just relaxing the arms,
Letting them flow and playing and exploring in that way.
Okay.
And then from here,
Now you understand the embodied difference.
We're going to come into a cat cow position.
So hands underneath the shoulders,
Knees underneath your hips.
So basically rolling forwards,
Coming into this tabletop.
So a good pose or a tabletop pose.
And then from here,
Let's just do a few cat cows to wake up our spine and connect to the body.
In breath,
Arching the spine,
Looking up,
Out breath,
Chin to chest,
Stomach in,
Rounding,
Pressing the mat away.
In breath,
Arching your spine,
Chest moves forwards,
Out breath,
Chin to chest,
Stomach in,
Rounding,
Pressing the mat away.
Doing three more times here in your own pace,
Your own rhythm.
And after your third time,
Coming back to a neutral spine.
And so what you may have noticed here is that it's quite linear.
So you're just arching,
Rounding,
Arching,
Rounding.
And maybe at some point you're noticing or you noticed,
At least I did,
Where I was like,
Oh,
I kind of wish I could move a little bit outside of that framework because I'm feeling a little bit of tenseness or density there.
So taking your time now here and giving yourself that permission to move out of that linear movement structure and see if you can just explore how else can I stretch and move my spine?
Is there anything my spine means?
And so you can still play with arching and rounding,
But maybe moving your body in different ways to see like,
Hey,
How else can I explore my spine in a more nonlinear way?
Moving outside of the structure of the cat cow while still keeping hands and knees connected to the mat.
So creating and keeping some sort of framework.
You can close down your eyes so you keep the attention within.
So you're not so much thinking about the next stretch,
But you're feeling yourself into the next movement based on what your body needs,
What your spine needs.
Keep using your breath also.
And then coming back to normal cat cow for a moment.
So three times in breath,
Arching your spine.
Breath to the chest,
Looking around.
Arching,
Rounding,
Arching,
Rounding.
And then from here again,
Moving outside of that structure and just letting your body guide you.
And now you can let go of even the initial cat cow.
So the movements might be completely different.
See if they can connect to this flow,
This feminine flow within,
This guidance within.
And so you might even get up,
Might look completely different than what I am doing.
The movements might be slow or more fast.
But the invitation is to keep your eyes closed.
You can ask yourself,
What does my body need?
And get you to entrust the flow of how your body wants to move.
It doesn't have to look a certain way.
It doesn't have to look pretty.
And if you're noticing you're getting back into your head instead of following the flow of your body,
And you're thinking about the next movement and just doing,
Or you're trying to stretch left and right equally,
That's also another sign that you're back into your head.
So in that case,
Coming back into that normal cat cow structure,
Just a few rounds of anchoring yourself back into the here and now.
You'll be arching,
Rounding the spine a few times.
And then maybe naturally from there,
That flow current takes over.
Your body guides you exactly where it wants to,
Where it needs to move itself,
Where it needs that stretch.
Last 30 seconds or so here.
How does your body want to flow?
From there,
Starting to make the movements a little slower,
Finding a way to come to stillness.
You can either be lying down or sitting or feeling the body.
Preferably keeping your eyes closed,
The attention within.
Coming to stillness and just allowing yourself for a moment to be a witness.
Can you sense that movement,
That flow within?
Those three bells mark the end of this embodiment and then practice.
You can place your hands in front of your third eye or your chest,
Thanking yourself for showing up.
