This meditation can be done sitting or standing.
I recommend standing or at the very least being in a chair with your feet firmly planted on the ground.
And as you begin,
Taking a deep breath,
One where it fills your lungs all the way down to your belly and allowing that breath to fall out of your mouth,
Making a sound,
Whatever that sound is for you.
It might sound like a lion,
It might sound like the ocean waves.
Deep breath in,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
And deep breath out,
And again,
Deep breath in,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
And deep breath out.
And as you breathe out each time with sound,
I'd love for you to bring awareness to your body.
Do you notice your shoulders drop,
Your back loosens,
Your belly loosens?
Start to bring that awareness inwards on what happens when you release the trapped energy.
And wherever you are today,
Simply let yourself arrive.
No need to be perfect,
No need to be composed,
Just human.
Beginning to feel the weight of your body,
The ground holding you up and supporting you,
The permission for even one moment to simply be.
Letting your breath deepen,
Not forced,
Just steady.
We're going to start a body scan.
We're going to start at the top and work our way down,
Feeling a scan or energy coming over your eyebrows and forehead,
Maybe wiggling your eyebrows,
Noticing if there's any tension there.
Down to your jaw,
Maybe moving your jaw,
You might not even notice you were holding on to so much tension.
Your shoulders,
Rolling your shoulders,
Are you holding any tension there?
Your breath,
Do you breathe into your belly or does your breath get stuck up near your collarbone?
Starting to bring in tension into the body to notice where you hold the tension,
Where you hold the stress.
Coming down to your belly,
Do you notice that your belly is tight,
Maybe even sucked in,
Making it hard to breathe deep?
Your lower back and your hips next.
When the mind races,
The body tenses up to keep up.
In this meditation,
We don't need to fix it,
We're just noticing.
Each exhale is a small act of rebellion against the pressure to keep it all together.
Your body will show you where your tension patterns are.
Just allow it.
Moving down from your SI joint and lower back into your thighs,
Your calves,
And even your feet.
Deep breath in and out.
Whatever noise has to be made,
It can be as loud as it needs to be,
A whisper if it needs to be,
Let it out.
Now we're going to move into a somatic release practice.
When animals experience stress,
They don't analyze it,
They shake it out,
They discharge the energy,
They complete the stress cycle and they return to presence.
So let's try that.
We're going to bring your awareness to your hand.
How often have we simply looked at our hand?
I want you to notice all of the curves,
The wrinkles,
The lines,
Maybe even some scars.
Maybe you know some chipped nail polish.
Every imperfection is perfect.
I want you to feel a bubbling up within the hand.
Instead of a somatic experience of where we're moving because I tell you to move your hand or move your body,
I want you to imagine that there's a bubbling up coming from inside your hand,
Almost like you're a superhero in a Marvel movie and you have this fire that's growing,
That your thoughts alone can cultivate it.
Now with that bubbling up within your hand,
I want you to feel it traveling up your arm.
And as it travels up your arm,
I want that movement in your hand to start moving your body,
Not your mind moving your hand because I told you to.
The movement,
That old static,
That bubbling champagne feeling within your hand,
I want that to move you.
And as you feel your hand starting to move,
You might start to notice your shoulders start to sway or maybe you start bouncing on the spot.
Allow whatever sounds need to come out to come out here.
It might be very primal sounds that come out,
Sounds that replicate the ocean,
But let it come out and move in a way that is cultivated from the inside out.
It starts in your hand.
Remember,
It's that bubbling and it's traveling through the body.
Maybe you notice that bubbling traveling into the areas of tightness.
If you found a tight spot in your lower back when we did the body scan,
Maybe you notice that bubbling traveling into that tight spot in your lower back and all of a sudden your hips are moving and your shoulders are moving.
It almost feels like you're dancing on the spot.
Let your breath move you fast or slow.
It doesn't matter.
Bouncing up and down or primal on hands and knees,
It doesn't matter.
You're not doing it wrong.
You're releasing what's been sitting too long.
And taking a couple minutes here with the music,
I'm going to leave you with the music for a few moments.
Continuing to come back to however I move,
It is because it is coming from within me.
It is not because my mind is saying,
Move your arm,
Move your other arm.
It's because it's moving from inside.
And trust in how your body is moving.
It's going to discharge things in the way you have to discharge it.
Now,
As the body begins to settle,
Notice what shifted.
Maybe that tension in your SI is gone.
Your shoulders have dropped an inch.
Your jaw no longer hurts.
I want you to ask yourself,
What part of me has been holding tension that is not mine to carry?
What part of me has been holding tension that is not mine to carry?
What belief,
Expectation,
Or responsibility can I let fall away with that movement?
What belief,
Expectation,
Or responsibility can I let fall away with that movement?
Take a deep,
Grounding breath in,
And let it go with a deep sigh.
You've just practiced radical happiness,
Not by escaping your stress or toxic positivity,
But by letting your body remember how to come back home.
Feel the aliveness under the calm.
That's your vitality waking up.
Carry it with you into your next breath,
Your next choice,
Your next truth.
You're already thriving.
You're just learning to feel it.
Deep breath in and out as we close off the practice today.
Thank you.
