Hi,
Thanks for being here.
Here when you could be in a myriad of other places.
I Need a Minute offers short practices for when you need to step away from your day and come back to yourself.
Each offering is 15 minutes or less,
With simple practices in meditation,
Pranayama,
Movement,
Or stillness to help you pause,
Breathe,
And reconnect with your body.
For today's practice,
I'll invite you to come to a comfortable seat.
You can sit on a block or a bolster on the ground or in a chair.
As you find your seat,
Begin to tilt your pelvis forward and back.
Maybe even side to side.
Come to stillness in the place where you feel well aligned,
Well stacked in your own body.
Feel the ears over the shoulders,
Shoulders over the hips.
Guide your chin ever so slightly in and down,
Almost as though you're guiding your head back in space.
Allow your hands to rest comfortably on your lap.
And check in here.
If there's any part of your seat that doesn't feel supported,
Please change the shape of your body.
Give yourself a little bit more height or shift forward in your chair.
Allow here your elbows to grow heavy.
Invite the features of the face to slack in.
Feel your upper and lower teeth separate slightly.
And guide your tongue to the upper palate of the mouth.
As you seal your lips.
Soften your gaze or close your eyes here.
And take a moment to see what you're bringing with you to your practice today.
Notice the sensations that are here with you in the physical body.
Perhaps there are areas that feel tense or uncomfortable due to movement.
Or to a way that you rested and the way you held your body for a prolonged period of time.
And notice too your thoughts here.
What's holding your attention at this moment?
I invite you to see your thoughts,
To welcome them.
What a gift it is to have a thinking mind.
That moves,
That plans,
That organizes.
But for now,
Can you begin to guide the thoughts to the back of the head?
My daughter recently said,
You know,
Mom,
I remember what it is you're talking about.
But I can't find it right now.
It's in the back of my head.
So perhaps here you too can take these thoughts and tuck them into the back of the head.
Energetically so that you have a clear palette,
A blank space from which you can build your practice today.
Begin to notice your breath.
Are you breathing through the nose or the mouth?
Do you feel the breath in the upper third of the chest or lower in the abdomen?
And can you begin to take the breath in and out through your nose?
To feel the breath low and wide.
Maintain this gentle rhythmic pattern of breathing here.
As you begin to draw a circle with your nose.
Find a tiny little circle rotating your head in one direction.
Gradually allow that circle to get larger.
Feel the gentle sensations or stretch that arise.
And begin to take your circle in the opposite direction,
Starting with that larger circle.
And gradually.
Let the movement get smaller and smaller as though you were trying to trace a dime with your nose.
Bring the head to stillness.
Begin to draw the shoulders up towards the ears and down the back.
The eyes stay closed or you have a hooded gaze,
Ardha drishti.
Begin to take your shoulders forward and down.
Forward and down.
Come to stillness here.
You might like to take the shoulders up and down the back one more time.
The eyes stay closed here or hooded as you reach your right arm and then your left arm up into the sky.
Allow your seat to get heavier as you reach one arm and then the other,
Like you're climbing a ladder or a rope here in the sky.
Feel a little bit of length through each side of your waist.
Notice if you're Letting your rib cage fly forward.
Try to guide the lower ribs a little bit in and down towards your pubic bone.
The next time you reach both arms up to the sky,
Clasp your left wrist with your right hand,
Reach up and over to the right.
Gently press down into your left foot if you're seated in a chair,
Left shin or knee if you're in a cross-legged seat,
Or a hero's pose.
With your inhale,
Guide yourself to center.
And switch sides.
Clasp your right wrist with your left hand.
Reach up first and then guide your right hand over to the left.
Get heavy through the right side body.
Send breath from the armpit down through the side of your body towards the hip crease.
Keep your jaw soft.
The breath flows here with ease.
And then inhale to come back to center.
Cactus the arms with your exhale.
Try to guide the elbows together behind the heart space.
Inhale,
Push your fingertips up towards the sky.
Exhale to pull the elbows down and towards one another.
One more time,
Inhale,
Push your fingertips up.
Exhale,
Pull the elbows down.
Inhale,
Reach your arms up to the sky.
And exhale,
Let your fingertips rain down into your lap.
Let the hands rest here.
Take a moment to notice sensation here in your body.
Interlace your fingers in front of your heart space,
Roll your wrists around.
Notice any creakiness here.
Make the movement smaller if it feels uncomfortable in your body.
Keep your hands interlaced as you come to stillness.
Flip your palms so that they face away from you.
Exhale,
Press the interlaced palms away from the body as you round through the back.
Inhale,
Turn the palms to face you,
Sit upright,
Elbows are to the sides.
And exhale once more,
Press your palms forward,
Thumbs are drawing down towards the ground.
Broad through the back body,
Thin breath between the shoulder blades.
Inhale this time guide your interlaced hands up towards the sky and exhale let go of the interlace reach the fingers down and out alongside you all the way back to your left Take a gentle breath in through the nose.
Audible breath through the mouth.
Please take three more rounds of breath here.
To transition from your gentle movement back into your day.
Guide your hands together at your heart.
So close our time with the teacher student prayer.
Om Sahana Babatu.
Sahanao Bahu Naktu.
Sahaviyam Karvabhai Tejasvina Vadhitamastu.
Mahavir Vishavahai Om Shanti Shanti Shanti.
May we be protected together.
May we be nourished together.
May we study together with great vigor and may these studies be enlightening.
Let there be no animosity among us.
Let there be peace,
Peace,
Peace.
For we are all teacher and we are all student.
Walking the path of yoga.
Thank you.
