Belly2Belly: An Intro Session for a Pair

Belly2Belly is a Relational Breathing Meditation that invites some level of physical contact up to a full body embrace (with bellies touching).

In this meditation you will start slowly with a gently guided self-regulation practice first, getting the basics of the practice including rhythm and breathing.

Then you will roll over onto your side facing a partner and the meditation turns into a co-regulation practice.

There is endless potential for deep, profound, transformational intimacy here!

Transcript

If you have never experienced this practice of belly-to-belly,

Just raise your hand up gently so I can see.

And then simply lying on your back,

Giving your eyes a close.

And the eyes closed invitation is an invitation to allow your gaze to turn inward,

To relax,

To soften,

To drop in.

There's always the chance that closing the eyes encourages sleep.

There is the chance you will fall asleep.

There is the chance your partner will fall asleep.

If you have any kind of abandonment material that you're working with,

It's almost certain your partner will fall asleep.

So just allow that possibility to enter in.

And what I like to invite is that even in the state of unconscious,

Of sleep,

That I trust that you're getting whatever you need from the practice.

And if your partner should happen to fall asleep,

Trust and feel how safe they must feel right now to sleep next to you.

And see this as just another flavor of intimacy that you get to experience together.

And if you feel it's appropriate,

You can simply take your hand and place it perhaps on their shoulder.

Or you can make a sound with a little louder exhale to encourage them to wake back up if there's a prompt or something that you think they would benefit from joining in on.

But otherwise you can just allow that process.

Take a deep breath into your whole body.

And we'll do maybe a few pairings.

And then we'll take a break.

And then we'll come back,

I think,

For a final one.

But we'll see how the morning unfolds.

If you need to use the restroom or get a drink of water or a tissue or anything at any time,

Just feel free to do this.

And if you need support,

Then you can simply raise your hand and I can help you with any of these things.

Deep breath.

So I think this is good for now.

And we will simply let go into the practice now.

As we gather here this morning,

I also want to invite an awareness around whatever energy you're with in joining this training and meeting a new group of beings,

Undoing intimacy practices.

There's the possibility and potential for nervousness,

Anxiety,

Some more tensed body reactions,

Or even indifference or lack of desire for connection.

And I want to invite all of these parts here this morning.

Invite them into the practice.

Invite them to be here as fully revealed as they possibly can be.

And allow the use of this technology,

Of this practice,

To be the guide.

So to say,

The more dysregulated,

The more out you're feeling,

I want to encourage a deeper breath or a louder sound to use the practice to its fullest to bring yourself here.

As if you were a researcher,

Researching this practice to allow yourself the experience of fully going for it,

To feel the benefits.

And with that,

If you haven't already noticing your breath this morning,

The natural resting pace and rate,

The depth of your breath,

Notice from how and where you breathe,

Are you naturally breathing in and out of your nose?

Are you breathing from the mouth?

Does the breath enter shallowly into the top lungs or does it travel all the way down to the pelvic bowl?

Without any markers of good or bad,

Simply notice where your breath is this morning.

And just as you notice your breath,

Also notice your body,

How you're holding your body.

Are you fully relaxed in the position you're in or can you feel yourself holding tension?

Is there a way you could perhaps make a micro adjustment to create an even more comfortable position?

There are three foundational elements that feel most important to the essence of what is belly to belly.

The first is breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth.

There's many different breath work styles and techniques and they are all useful at different moments and times.

And for the purposes of this practice,

The encouragement is to take big deep breaths in through your nose.

And allowing this effortless opening through the mouth and allowing the breath to just,

In a way,

Melt off your tongue like butter as the breath leaves your body through an open mouth.

So take a moment if you haven't already to relax your face completely.

Relax your skull,

Your ears,

Your cheeks,

Your eyes and eye sockets,

Your forehead.

Relax even your tongue,

Allowing it to be fat in your mouth.

Relaxing your jaw and allowing there to be a small space between your lips as you continue breathing by taking a deep full breath in through your nose and out through your mouth.

If you're the kind of person who is supported by visualization,

My invitation would be to imagine you could implant camera-like receptors in the molecules of the breath.

And as you breathe in,

Breathe and allow those receptors to light up from within your body.

So as you breathe in,

You follow the breath down and in and notice where the breath touches you from the inside.

And use those indicators as guiding lights to what's calling to be felt more deeply from within your body.

Deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth.

Again,

Deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth.

The second foundational element to belly to belly is the sound on the exhale.

So every breath,

Every exhalation gets a sound,

However soft or deep or loud that sound is.

And ideally that sound also vibrates you.

That sound vibrates your core.

So taking a deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth with sound.

Beautiful.

Deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth,

Activating your vocal cords on the exhale.

Sound.

Better.

Again,

Deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth with a sound that activates your vocal cords.

You'll notice that vocal cord activation also comes with a vibration.

The body starts to vibrate from the inside out.

Deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth with sound.

Great.

And the third element of the belly to belly practice is synchronization.

So this is your breath being in sync with your partner's breath.

And or your breath being in sync with the entire group room.

One of the biggest elements to the synchronization is the different natural breathing capacities that people have.

So some people naturally breathe more shallow.

Some people naturally breathe more shallow and some people naturally breathe much deeper.

So I like to give a possibility for where you and your partner can meet,

Which is a place that is in the middle of most breaths.

Which looks like counting for about four to five seconds on the inhale through the nose.

And about six to seven seconds on the exhale through the mouth.

So let's try a few breaths like that together.

Deep breath in through the nose.

One,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

And exhale through the mouth.

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven.

Deep breath in through the nose.

One,

Two,

Three,

Four.

And exhale through the mouth.

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six.

Inhale through the nose.

One,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Exhale through the mouth.

Two,

Six.

One more time.

Inhale through the nose.

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

Exhale through the mouth.

Beautiful.

So if you continue just like that and add in your hands now.

Gently,

Softly placing your hands somewhere on your own heart space.

Somewhere you'd like to invite a little more presence this morning.

And using the hands as consciously as possible.

So that they're not just passively placed on your chest.

But that you really feel as much and as deeply as possible.

The weight and gravity of your own hands coming into contact with your chest.

With your rib cage.

With your heart.

With your lungs.

And breathing into the point of contact where your hand meets your chest.

And right there taking a deep breath in through your nose.

And out through your mouth.

With a sound from your heart on the exhale.

And again deep breath into your heart.

With a sound from your heart on the exhale.

And again deep breath into your heart.

Sound from your heart on the exhale.

Let's try that one more time.

Deep breath into your heart.

Sound from your heart on the exhale.

Beautiful.

Taking a moment to pause and feel.

Always feeling the impact of whatever practice we do.

Even if it's the simplicity of three deep breaths into your heart.

Using,

Allowing that expanded awareness in your chest and heart.

To allow any ripples of feeling or sensation to fully land.

And then allowing your hands to slowly make their way down to your belly.

And again the invitation here is for present conscious touch.

And I like to invite that as you breathe into the belly each breath fully inflates the belly.

So the opportunity with your hands on your belly is that your hands should rise with each inhale.

And fall back down and in with each exhale.

So with an inhale your belly fully inflates to capacity.

Imagining the visual of a water balloon that you fill from the sink faucet.

As the water comes in it fills the bottom of the water balloon first.

And then the water slowly moves up until it overflows at the top.

The same is how the breath should fall down to the lower bottoms of the pelvic bowl of the belly.

And then inflate the mid and work its way up into the chest.

So let's take now three deep breaths into our bellies together.

With a sound from our bellies on the exhale.

Deep breath.

And on the exhale sound from the belly.

And again deep breath into the belly.

Sound from the belly on the exhale.

And again deep full breath belly.

Sound from the belly on the exhale.

Beautiful and again as you continue breathing.

Feeling the impact of these breaths.

The impact of these breaths on your belly.

The impact of these three breaths on your emotional or energetic.

On whatever layers or levels of dimension where they have landed.

Just allowing an open receptivity to feel the impact.

And finally allowing the hands to move down again.

This time to the root of your body.

To the base of your core.

You can place your hands on your hips.

You can place your hands on your genitals.

You can place your hands on your perineum.

Whatever position supports you in inviting the energy of the breath.

To travel as down and deep as possible.

Sometimes I like to also suggest.

That you take a few moments to squeeze and release your pelvic floor.

So taking a few pumps or squeezes.

This will get the blood flowing all the way down in your base.

And can also help to invite the energy all the way down to the root of your body.

The base of your core.

And we will again take these deep breaths down into our root.

And make a sound on the exhale.

And for this round of sound.

My invitation is to turn up the volume on your ears.

And listen to the sound landscape around you.

Listen to the sounds of the other bodies.

Listen to the sound of the other base and roots in the room.

So let's begin.

Deep breath all the way down into your root.

Sound from your root on the exhale.

Deep breath down to your root.

Sound from your root on the exhale.

And again if it helps a squeeze of the pelvic floor.

Deep breath root and sound from your root.

10% louder deep breath root.

Sound from your root.

Keep breathing and sounding.

As you feel the impact of these breaths that travel all the way down.

I'm taking a moment here to acknowledge any shifts or changes.

Or changes that have taken place.

From the combination of these breaths into heart.

Of these breaths into belly.

Of these breaths down into your root.

Whether it's simply just a little more relaxation.

Perhaps a little more tiredness bubbling to the surface.

Perhaps a softening.

But there can also be agitation.

Or restlessness.

Or spinning thoughts and mind chatter.

And I want to give permission for this experience.

Just as important as the experience of softening and relaxing.

As is the agitation or the restlessness.

This practice is inviting us to slow way down and feel.

Belly to belly isn't inviting us to get somewhere.

Or activate something in particular.

It's inviting us to become more and more present with what's here.

And to create a bigger and bigger container to hold that.

And sometimes the slowing down can initiate this resistance to feel.

So if the resistance presents itself,

That's okay.

I am just as good as everyone else at keeping a very busy life.

So that I don't have to feel all the things that bubble up to the surface.

To be felt when I slow way down.

So in these final moments as you're in your own space.

My invitation is to consider what haven't you been feeling.

That's here now.

Asking for you to finally feel it.

Asking for a little more space.

Asking for a little more love.

Asking for your presence to meet it.

And allowing your hands to move somewhere on your body.

Anywhere where it feels like you could meet a little bit more of that which wants to be felt.

You can simply allow your hands to move until they just intuitively stop somewhere.

Or perhaps there is a particular place on your body calling for you.

Allow your hands to move here.

And with your hands here.

We'll take three deep breaths together into this part of the body.

With a sound from this part of the body on the exhale.

Deep breath into your hands.

And a sound from there on the exhale.

Again deep breath into your hands.

Sound from your hands on the exhale.

One more deep breath into your hands.

Sound on the exhale.

And feel.

And gently allowing your hands to return to a neutral position.

And as you continue breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth.

With sound on each exhale.

Opening up energetically to start to sense the being lying next to you.

Just taking a few breaths into the energetic awareness that there is a living breathing human.

Residing next to you on the mattress.

And what can you already start to feel as you take that frequency in.

And on a more human animal level.

What starts to happen in your nervous system.

When you consider that in a moment you'll start to turn onto your side and come into contact with this being.

Does your heart rate increase?

Do you become sweaty in your hands?

Are there any thoughts or ideas?

What happens on an animal human biological level?

At the thought that you'll soon make physical contact with your partner.

And whatever those shifts or changes are will take a moment now to take a few breaths into that.

Taking a deep breath in through the nose.

And out through the mouth with sound.

Deep breath into your heart.

Sound from your heart.

Into your belly.

Sound from your belly.

One more deep breath into your root.

Sound from your root.

Beautiful.

And so now gently rolling over onto your side.

Without making any physical contact just yet.

But rolling over onto your side.

And opening your eyes.

And meeting the eyes of the being lying next to you.

And taking a deep breath together into your heart while making eye contact.

Sound from your heart.

And a deep breath into your belly together.

Sound from your belly.

Sound from your belly.

And a deep breath all the way down into your roots together.

Sound from your root.

And then another moment here to see.

To see in to these eyes.

To see beyond whatever surface,

Level or layer.

And see in to the depths of the soul.

To see the spirit carrying this human flesh.

To see the young boy or girl.

To see the mother,

The father,

The elder,

The beloved.

And allow yourself to be seen by these eyes.

And again a deep breath together.

Now slowly allowing yourself to come into a physical connection to this stranger potentially.

You're invited to come as close as it supports your body to relax.

So the most important piece of this practice is that your body is always in the most relaxed position possible.

I have a sense that physical contact helps our bodies to relax more.

You can explore and experiment now for the next few minutes without any rush.

In taking one step at a time closer to your partner.

Perhaps holding hands.

Perhaps touching knees or legs.

Perhaps wrapping your arms around one another's bodies.

Perhaps intertwining your legs.

But take your time here.

You have two or three minutes to really explore and experiment.

And know that you are not required to stay as close as you come.

You can come close and then move away.

If it feels more supportive for you to relax by taking a step back.

But keep breathing and feeling each step of the way.

And once you've found the position that feels complete for now.

You can close your eyes and return to the breathing.

But while you're still exploring closeness you can keep your eyes open if you'd like.

And again the invitation is for the position that allows the deepest relaxation of your body.

So if your body is holding any tension right now.

Then my invitation is whether that's taking the risk to move towards connection.

Or taking the risk to move away.

I invite that you give your body and your partner's body the gift of that risk taking.

Another minute here to explore physical closeness.

Noticing if the closeness has encouraged a deeper relaxation.

Maybe you come a bit closer.

Beautiful.

So if you haven't already finding this one breath.

Allowing your body to relax into this supportive embrace.

However close you find your bodies.

Trusting this is the perfect distance.

Knowing you can adjust at any time.

And meeting now in the breath.

Taking a deep breath together in through your nose.

And out through your mouth with sound.

Deep breath together in through your nose.

And out through your mouth with sound.

Deep breath together in through your nose.

Always making a sound loud enough so that your partner can hear you.

So that they can find and meet and match your breath.

And if those breaths together inspire a body movement allowing that movement.

But now your eyes are closed.

Your gaze is turned inward again.

And the invitation is to feel what happens on the inside.

As you make this physical contact with your partner.

As you continue breathing together in through your nose.

And out through your mouth with sound.

And the invitation in this morning's partner practice.

Is going to be to allow the breath to deepen us together.

So we'll take a simple sound journey.

And for that what is required is that you continuously breathe.

And sound on each exhale.

Allowing the sound of your breath.

To meet and merge with the sound of your partner's breath.

To the place where they make one sound.

Turning up the volume on your ears.

Feeling the physical connection of your bodies.

And allowing a generous sound on each exhalation.

Deep breath in through the nose.

Filling the belly to capacity.

And allowing an effortless flow of energy out through the mouth.

In a sound that's shared with your partner's sound.

And again finding that place where your sound and your partner's sound meet.

And create one sound.

One frequency.

It's as if you and your partner are a band.

Or a symphony.

You might have different instruments.

But both of those sounds have the ability to create one song.

What is the song of this partnership?

The unique one sound that you create together.

And allowing that sound to be a little louder.

So turning up the volume about 10% more on the sound between you.

A little more generous with this sound.

And again a little louder,

10% more volume on the sound between you.

As you continue also following the breath down and in to feel your own body.

And allowing the sound on the exhale to be a reflection of you feeling yourself.

Breathing in I feel myself.

And on the exhale I share my sound.

I share my internal world with you.

Breathing in I feel myself.

Breathing out.

Finding that one sound together with your partner.

And even 10% louder still on the exhale.

Exhale a little bit more generous in the sound,

Vibration,

Frequency of your breathing and sounding.

Full breath in through the nose.

Down to the belly.

Filling the depths of the belly.

Seeing if you can meet and merge in the rhythm.

The synchronization of breath and sound with your partner.

And as you continue breathing and sounding with your partner.

Noticing all the levels and layers of impact.

The impact of hearing another sound.

Another voice.

Another breath that is breathing with you.

And sound together whether it's the breath and sound of your partner or of someone else in the room.

And also feeling the impact of the physical connection.

Whether your bodies are in close contact or whether there is still space between you.

Feeling the rhythmic harmony of a body that is inhaling and exhaling with you.

Or perhaps the level or layer or dimension you're operating on now is more of an energetic frequency.

Feeling the subtle dimension of energy of this being.

Of this breathing.

Of this rhythmic spiraling circular breath.

That's both deepening,

Harmonizing your two frequencies together.

And all the subtle dimensions.

And feeling back into the space of your heart.

And taking three deep breaths into your hearts together.

With a sound from your hearts on the exhale.

Another deep breath into your heart.

Sound from your heart on the exhale.

More deep breath,

Heart.

Sound from your beautiful and now traveling down to the belly.

As we take three deep breaths into our bellies together.

With a sound from our bellies on the exhale.

Deep breath,

Belly.

Sound from the belly.

Again,

Deep breath,

Belly.

Sound from the belly.

More deep breath,

Belly.

Sound from the belly.

And three deep breaths into our roots together.

With a sound from our roots on the exhale.

Deep breath into your root.

Sound from your root.

Deep breath,

Root.

Sound.

Beautiful.

And in a moment we're going to transition into a short sharing.

For you to come up to the surface and put some words on your experience.

With your partner.

And the invitation for you in this sharing is to put some words on what's been happening for you on the inside.

We are so sensitive,

Especially when we come this close.

What could you share with your partner about the truth of your experience of what's been happening for you on the inside.

That would help both of you to relax even deeper.

Deep breath.

So if you're lying on your right side,

You will share first.

You have two minutes to name whatever is happening for you on the inside.

Through this practice or right now in this present moment.

And partner lying on the left,

You will simply listen as the silent Buddha just receiving their words.

Your only task is as they share to keep breathing.

Your continuous breath will allow the share to deepen.

Deep breath.

So person lying on the right side,

You can begin.

What's happening for you on the inside.

Starting to wrap up your share.

Letting the words fade away.

And taking three deep breaths together.

Deep breath into your hearts together.

With the sound from your hearts on the exhale.

Deep breath into your bellies together.

With the sound from your bellies on the exhale.

And a deep breath into your roots together.

Sound from your roots on the exhale.

And partner who was listening.

Partner who was receiving this share.

Take a moment to feel the impact of this share.

The impact that it's had on your body physically.

The impact that it's had on you emotionally.

Or if there are any spiritual or energetic levels or layers of impact also feeling.

And in a moment,

I'll invite you to share the impact of this share.

So before sharing your own share,

Sharing how you were touched.

The impact share isn't giving advice.

It isn't fixing or changing anything.

It's a heart share.

So that this being can feel you feel them.

And feel how you were touched by what's happening for them on the inside.

Deep breath.

So person lying on the left side.

You have one minute now to share the impact.

Which can sound like hearing you share that.

You share that I noticed.

And share what you noticed happening for you as you received them.

You can begin.

Letting go of the impact share.

And taking three deep breaths together.

Breathing that share and the impact in.

And letting it go on the exhale.

Breathing that share and the impact in.

And letting it go on the exhale.

One more.

Breathing that share and its impact in.

And letting it go on the exhale.

And now switching roles of speaker and listener.

Partner lying on the left.

You'll have two minutes to share.

What's been happening for you on the inside.

And in a way that inquiry could also be.

What have you been feeling that your partner has also felt.

But they haven't known.

So how could you put words on your experience.

In a way that would relax both of your bodies even more deeply.

Deep breath.

Partner two lying on the left.

You have two minutes.

And you can begin.

Letting go of the words.

And returning back to the breath together.

Deep breath into your hearts together.

Deep breath into your bellies together.

And deep breath all the way down into your roots together.

And partner on the right who received this share.

Taking a moment here to notice the impact.

Where did it touch you on a physical level.

For example my chest opened.

And I felt the movement impulse to be closer to you as you shared.

How did it touch you on an emotional level.

For example I felt some grief and could sense my eyes watering up as you shared.

Or perhaps you were touched on more of an energetic or spiritual level.

It will take one minute now to share the impact.

And you can start by saying hearing you share that I noticed.

You can begin.

Wrapping up the words.

And returning back to the breath.

Closing your eyes and breathing that share and its impact in.

And letting it go on the exhale.

Breathing that share and its impact in.

And letting it go on the exhale.

Breathing that share and its impact in.

And letting it go on the exhale.

Taking a moment to internally acknowledge the gratitude that you feel for this being.

For this first partnership.

And slowly rolling back over onto your back.

In your own sovereign space.

Placing your hand on your own heart.

And three deep breaths into your own heart.

With a sound from your heart on the exhale.

Deep breath into your heart.

Sound from your heart.

Deep breath heart.

Sound from your heart.

Placing your hands on your belly.

Three deep breaths into your belly.

With a sound from your belly on the exhale.

And deep breath into your belly.

Sound from your belly.

More deep breath belly.

Sound from your belly.

Allowing your hands to move down to your root.

Your pelvis.

Your base.

And three deep breaths down to your base.

With a sound on the exhale.

Deep breath.

Another deep breath.

And if there was one word right now to encapsulate your felt sense or experience.

What would that word be?

And then just saying that word out loud so we can all hear you.

Any final words?

And a deep breath into your whole body.

Okay.

We are going to take a ten minute break.

And meet back in here at twelve o'clock noon.

Reviews

Thank you so much for this beautiful session, Rachel! I just did this breathing practice with my neighbor, and it was so grounding and nourishing. And it moved a lot of energy. Looking forward to listening to more belly2belly audios. Sending much love and gratitude. 🌷🙏💖