Hello and welcome.
I'm so glad you made it here.
You carved out this small piece of time for nothing other than being with yourself.
Take a moment and let your body begin to arrive.
Let the edges of your day start to blur.
You don't have to hold anything together right now.
You don't have anything to perform or fix or manage.
Take a slow,
Generous breath in and then let it fall out.
Feel the weight of yourself being received by the ground or the chair beneath you.
Let yourself be held.
You are safe to soften.
You are safe to rest.
Begin to notice the points of contact beneath you,
The floor or the chair or the bed.
Let your awareness pour into those places.
The ground,
The earth knows how to hold you.
You don't need to help it.
You just allow.
If you notice tiny shifts in your body,
Allow them.
If you notice fidgets and wiggles,
Allow those too.
That's your body's way of remembering how to release into rest.
Maybe already your breath starts to change quietly without you doing anything.
Let yourself be curious about that.
Maybe the breath softens and deepens.
No need to control it.
Just witness it as it moves through you.
As you breathe in,
Sense the whole ribcage expanding into the front body,
Side body and back body.
And as you exhale,
Feel the ribs return in towards center.
Imagine the breath as a tide flowing through the body,
Expanding in all directions and coming back to center again and again.
Notice how your spine subtly joins this rhythm of breath,
Lengthening with every inhale,
Coming back to center with every exhale.
You might sense the breath not as something you take,
But something that moves through you.
The body breathes itself.
Continue to breathe into three dimensions,
Like you're expanding outward into a sphere.
And as you exhale,
Feel the whole body come back to center.
Bringing your awareness to the diaphragm,
That dome of muscle at the base of the ribs as you inhale.
Notice how that dome drops down toward the belly,
Toward the hips.
And as you exhale,
It rises,
Coming back up toward the low ribs and the heart.
Breathing in,
Feel the diaphragm drop down into the low back toward the sacrum.
Breathing out,
Feel the whole body come back to center,
Like the diaphragm on the exhale brings you home.
As you inhale and you allow the breath to expand in all directions,
Sense down into the bowl of the pelvis.
And as you exhale,
Notice how the bowl of the pelvis comes in toward midline.
Inhaling,
The pubic bone,
Tailbone,
Sitting bones ever so slightly drift apart.
And as you release the breath,
They come back in toward one another.
The pelvic floor gently tones inward and upward.
Breathing in,
Allow the pubic bone,
Tailbone,
Sitting bone to ever so subtly drift apart.
As you release the breath,
Feel them tone in toward your center.
Tuning into the base of the pelvis as you inhale,
There's a very gentle softening.
And as you exhale,
The diaphragm squeezes the air up and out and the pelvic floor lifts in response.
And let yourself feel the conversation between the pelvic floor and the diaphragm.
The rise and fall,
The descent and return.
Inhale,
Expanding,
Softening.
The exhale,
Gathering,
Supporting,
Integrating.
Between the inhale and the exhale,
We'll find a gentle pause.
So at the top of the inhalation,
Gently hold the breath.
Visualize softening,
Expanding,
Lengthening.
Release the breath softly,
Slowly feel the pelvic floor lift in and up.
Hold on empty,
Drawing the pubic bone in and up.
And when you're ready,
Breathe in once again,
Releasing completely.
Hold full,
Feeling the volume of breath expand.
When you're ready,
Release the breath,
Drawing the sides of the waist in,
Feeling that consolidation in the bowl of the pelvis.
Hold on empty,
Drawing the pubic bone in and up.
When you're ready,
Take that generous breath in,
Front body,
Back body,
Side body,
All the way down to the hips.
Hold full and notice.
Let it go when you're ready.
And if you'd like,
Continue this breath pattern,
Noticing the gentle influence we have on our body's pressure management,
On our body's stability.
Begin to release this focus on the mechanics of breathing and notice what you feel as after effects of echoes of that gentle work of awareness.
Noticing anything that feels energized or activated,
Perhaps fuller,
More expansive.
And if you'd like,
Bring one hand to heart,
One hand to belly.
Giving your body the message that you're listening,
You're noticing,
You're sensing into how everything is connected.
Every breath,
Every pulsation of the heart,
Every shift.
Return to this idea that you are being breathed.
Your body is breathing all on its own.
Feel how the ground still holds you.
Perhaps you feel a little softer,
A little more at ease.
Notice any tenderness that surfaced.
Take another full,
Unhurried breath in,
Breathing into the heart space,
Into the belly space.
And then release the breath with a long,
Unhurried exhale.
Take a few moments here.
When you're ready,
Begin to bring movement in to fingers,
To toes.
Flutter the eyes open,
Let the light return.
We'll sweep the hands out and up,
Bringing fingers and palms to touch overhead.
And as you exhale,
Hands to heart,
Just tune into that gentle sense of drawing to center as you release the breath.
Carry this gentleness,
This awareness with you into whatever awaits.
Thank you for sharing your practice with me.
The light in me honors and bows to the light and the divine with you.
Thank you again for joining me for this meditation.
If you enjoyed this meditation,
You can take a peek at my other offerings here on Insight Timer.
I teach several classes a week on the lives,
Yoga,
Chair yoga,
And yoga for the pelvic floor.
I hope to see you there.
