Mindful Movement

This **Mindful Movement Meditation** is designed to help you connect with your body through gentle, intentional movement. Blending breath awareness with fluid motion, this practice encourages presence, ease, and a deep sense of grounding. Whether you're looking to release tension, enhance body awareness, or simply move with mindfulness, this meditation offers a space to cultivate balance and inner harmony. Perfect for all levels, no experience necessary—just an open mind and a willingness to flow.

Transcript

This is the mindful movement practice.

Taking a few moments now to set up your space if you haven't already and just remembering the objectives of this practice.

Learning to apply mindful attention to the body both in motion and stillness.

Using this practice so that we are able to apply mindfulness to both informal and formal movement practices.

Being able to recognize the body as a source of information and learning when and how to respect one's limits and knowing when it's time to modify a movement.

So now as you're able,

Coming into either a seated or standing position,

Allowing the body to ground,

Feet flat on the floor,

Just taking a moment to check in with whatever surface is supporting the body.

And when you're ready,

Slowly bringing both arms up at your sides and keep bringing them up until they're up pointing towards the sky.

When we've reached the top,

Just taking a moment to pause here and slowly releasing the arms back down.

Bringing the attention to any sensations that may arise in the arms or any other part of the body during this time.

And then at your own pace,

Completing this movement a few more times.

Remembering if the attention starts to wander.

Once you notice this,

Just gently bringing it back to the sensations and the body parts that are moving without judgment.

And now when you're ready and able,

Moving on to the next movement.

Whether in a seated or standing position,

Whatever is available to you,

Slowly bending the whole upper torso to reach the hands towards the feet.

Not trying to force any outcome here,

Not trying to reach the toes,

Just being mindful of how the body feels during the movement.

Once you've gone as far as you feel you can go,

Just taking a short pause here and then slowly allowing the torso to again rise back up to a full standing or seated position.

And again taking a pause and completing this movement a few more times on your own.

Just keeping attention to sensations in the body.

And during the pauses in between the movements,

Just keeping the attention on the breath,

Seeing if you can notice the breath in these moments.

And when you're ready,

Moving to the next movement.

Move to the floor with both hands,

Both knees on the floor.

This will be the Cat-Cow movement.

You can also modify this by sitting in a chair and following along the movements as best you can.

So starting with the back coming upwards into an arch,

The chin coming into the chest,

And just pausing,

Noticing the stillness,

Anything else that may be arising.

And the next part of this movement,

Allowing the belly to drop towards the floor,

The chin and face and head up towards the sky,

The back arching downwards,

And just holding here for a moment.

Now just completing this movement a few more times at your own pace,

Keeping the attention with sensations of the body.

And when you're ready,

Move into the next position.

This is called the Child's Pose.

And start by coming into a position on your knees,

With your buttocks resting on the heels of your feet.

And then when you're ready,

Just slowly bringing the torso and hands and head down towards the floor in front of you,

Stretching out your arms,

Just allowing the body to reach whatever position feels comfortable,

And taking a moment to settle into stillness here.

And after the pause,

Slowly coming back up to the seated position,

Completing this movement a few more times on your own,

Just noticing any sensations that arise in the body,

And checking in with the breath during the moments of stillness.

Remembering that if the attention starts to wander,

This is a normal tendency of the mind,

And just bringing the attention gently back to sensations in the body or the breath.

And when you're ready,

Move into the next position.

And if you're able,

Come to resting on both knees in a half-standing position with the back straight,

And bring the right foot out in front of you,

Resting the hands on the right knee,

Now slowly reaching both hands up into the air.

At this point,

You may need to keep eyes open to maintain balance,

And pausing with the hands in the air.

Now slowly bringing the hands back down to the right knee,

Keeping the attention in the movement,

And completing this movement a few more times at your own pace.

And when you're ready,

Preparing for the next movement,

Bringing the right foot back tucked under,

And the right knee to the floor,

Allowing the left leg to come up,

Planting the foot flat on the floor,

And both hands resting on the left knee.

And again,

If it's more comfortable with the eyes open,

And again,

Raising both arms into the air,

Slowly maintaining attention into the body.

When the hands are pointing towards the sky,

Just holding here for a moment.

And now allowing the hands to lower to the left knee,

Pausing here to check in with the breath,

And then completing this movement two or three times at your own pace.

And when you're ready,

Coming into a position where you're sitting on the floor,

With your legs out in front of you,

And if this isn't available to you,

Maybe using something for a backrest,

Or modifying in other ways as needed.

And for the next movement,

Bringing the right arm straight up,

So it's pointing straight out in front of you,

And then bringing it across the chest,

So now it's pointing to the left,

And bringing your left arm up in front of your right arm,

To tuck it into the chest.

Just holding here,

Maintaining attention in the body,

Then allowing both arms to release,

Slowly coming back to a natural position.

And after checking in with stillness for a few moments,

Completing this movement a few more times at your own pace,

Just keeping the attention anchored in the movement.

And when you're ready,

We'll move to mirroring this movement with the left arm,

So bringing the left arm straight in front of you,

Pointing forward,

Then slowly coming across the chest,

Bringing the right arm up in front of the left arm,

And tucking it into the chest,

And holding here,

Just being with the body as best you can.

Now releasing the movement,

Slowly allowing the arms to come back to a natural state,

And then completing this movement with the left arm a couple more times.

And when you're ready,

We'll move into neck rolls,

Bringing the chin to the chest,

And slowly rolling the neck and bringing the right ear to touch the right shoulder,

Or as close as possible,

Whatever feels comfortable and whatever is available for you.

Just pausing here on the right shoulder,

And bringing the chin back towards the chest,

And continuing the rotation until the left ear is close to touching the left shoulder,

Maybe feeling the stretch in the neck,

Noticing any sensations that arise here.

And after a pause on the left side,

Bringing the chin back to the chest,

And completing this movement a few more times on your own,

Just checking in with the body here and noticing whatever arises.

And when you're ready,

Still sitting on the floor,

With a backrest if needed,

Or in a chair if that's more appropriate for you,

Bringing the attention to the ankles and the feet,

Specifically the right ankle,

And starting with ankle rolls,

Turning to the right,

Slowly,

Deliberately,

Keeping the attention in the movement,

And stopping and switching the direction to the left,

Just noticing what arises here,

If there are any sensations,

Or maybe there's nothing at all,

And that's okay too.

And now bringing the right ankle to stillness,

And completing this movement a couple more times at your own pace,

Remembering to switch the direction of the rotation,

And when you're ready,

Moving the attention to the left ankle and foot,

And starting the ankle rotation to the right,

Just checking in here with the body and seeing if anything arises,

Modifying this movement as needed for balance,

And switching the direction to the left,

And now allowing the left ankle and whole of the body to rest in stillness for a few moments before repeating this movement a couple more times,

And when you're ready,

Shifting the attention away from the left ankle,

And remaining in the seated position on the floor or in a chair.

The next movement involves reaching towards the toes,

Bending the full of the torso as far as is possible for you today,

Just keeping the attention in the body during this movement,

Noticing what arises,

Just reaching as far as you can and pausing there,

And allowing the body to come back up to a full sitting position,

Completing this movement a couple more times on your own,

And while noticing sensations,

Just seeing if you can notice any characteristics of the sensations,

Noticing whether there's any labeling of pleasant or unpleasant,

Wanted or unwanted,

And just being the observer here,

And if you're able now coming down into a lying down or supine position on the floor,

Allowing the body to rest here for a moment,

And when you're ready,

Lifting the right leg up off the floor as far as is comfortable for you,

And just holding this position,

Noticing what may be arising in this moment,

Just trying to see if you can allow the body to be as it is without judgment,

And then slowly bringing the right leg back to the floor,

And again completing this movement a few more times at your own pace,

Allowing the right leg to rest in the air,

And just keeping the attention there,

Noticing what arises,

Maybe noticing if any resistance to this movement or the holding of the leg is arising,

And when you're ready,

Allowing the right leg to rest on the floor,

Bringing the attention to the left leg,

Slowly bring the left leg up off the ground as high as feels comfortable for you,

Allowing it to stay here,

Suspended in the air,

Just noticing what sensations arise,

Not trying to change the experience,

Just being the observer,

And slowly allowing the left leg to come back to the floor,

And then in silence completing this movement a couple more times at your own pace,

And when you're ready,

Allowing the left leg to rest back on the floor,

Both the body lying on the floor now,

Your arms to the sides,

Palms facing up,

Feet falling away from each other,

Just checking in with the breath here,

And if you're able,

Maybe taking a moment to bring some gratitude,

Some gratitude to yourself for allowing this time of self-care and mindful movement,

Just allowing the body and the breath to rest in a natural state,

And when you're ready,

Slowly moving the body in whatever way feels comfortable for you,

And slowly coming back to the room,

Trying to take this practice with you through the rest of your day.