Tending The Well

This is an embodiment practice to support creating a baseline of support and nourishment in your system. It will guide you to open up richness in the body and receive it as nourishment. We will begin seated and then move to lying down. There is an invitation for some breathwork and movement, so follow what is right for you.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to your Tending the Well audio practice.

So this audio practice is really in support of how we create a baseline of support in our system that allows us to access nourishment,

Richness,

Vitality,

To feel our body as a resource that we can return to again and again and again,

A well that we can drink from.

So you can use this audio practice as a way to tend to that well,

To build up that baseline of support and ability to nourish yourself.

So we will begin seated and then transition to laying down.

So making yourself comfortable,

Getting what you need,

Starting to turn your attention toward your body,

Sitting in a comfortable position,

Starting to find your breath,

Maybe even letting out a sigh or some sound on the exhale.

And put your hand on your chest and begin to breathe into your hand,

Giving your body a way to start to feel itself and just noticing what's here,

Noticing the breath,

Starting to tune into those physical sensations in the body,

Temperature,

Texture,

Movement,

Pressure,

Numbness,

Tightness,

Qualities of energy in the body,

Without needing to change or fix anything,

Just feeling as a body,

As you breathe into your hand,

As you tune into sensations in the body,

And then starting to notice what effort is here,

Physical effort in the body,

Effort in the mind,

In the emotional landscape,

Just seeing if you can notice any effort.

And we're going to work at the physical level,

But also be aware of the other layers of effort that are tied to the physical effort in the body.

So beginning to tune into your shoulders,

Feeling any effort,

Feeling the way that you hold them,

Really putting all your attention on your shoulders.

Then you're going to increase whatever effort is there,

And even if there isn't any effort you can feel,

You're going to bring some effort,

Some contraction,

Really gently,

Just 20 percent activating,

Emphasizing,

Engaging the shoulders as you breathe,

Very subtly.

And then on your next exhale,

Drop the effort,

Soften,

And allow any movement.

So see if you can follow and track the letting go.

Maybe all the way down to your fingertips,

Maybe it feels good to move your face or let out a sound,

Really encouraging the letting go.

And then moving now into your back,

Bringing the attention to your back body,

To your spine,

And noticing any effort,

Any tension,

Any gripping,

Holding.

And once again,

Very subtly,

Almost imperceptible from the outside eye,

You're going to increase any effort that you find,

And also increase just an overall efforting and contracting in the back,

Bringing all those muscles,

Bringing all of your attention,

Your breath,

Your awareness to your back.

One more full breath in,

And on the exhale,

Drop the effort,

Allow any movement that flows through the body naturally,

Encouraging that letting go,

That softening,

That opening,

Letting out some sound.

And then moving to the front,

To your torso,

Your belly,

Your chest,

Your face,

This real interface with life,

Feeling any effort in your front body.

And then really slowly,

Emphasizing,

Increasing that effort just by 20%,

And also bringing an overall efforting to the front of your body as you continue to breathe.

And as best as you can,

Try to keep the other areas soft.

Of course,

They might get involved,

The body is very connected,

But really putting the emphasis on the front body,

The belly,

The chest,

The heart,

The neck,

The face,

The eyes.

One more full deep breath in,

And on the exhale,

Really let it go.

Soften the belly,

The chest,

The mouth,

Let out sound,

Follow movement,

Bring in more breath,

Just following the opening,

Following the door that starts to open when you drop effort in the body.

And now bringing all your attention to your pelvic bowl,

Your hips,

Your sacrum,

Your pubic bone,

Feeling how it meets the earth,

This real center where so much movement and action stems from.

And really inviting you to drop your full attention there as best as you can.

This is a space that is vast and unknown,

And so you might feel effort there that feels unreachable or deeper,

More subtle.

So bringing all your awareness there and just notice any effort,

Any gripping,

Holding,

Tightening,

Clenching.

And as you breathe,

Beginning to increase that effort and also increase effort in general in this area,

In the hips,

In the pelvis,

In the bum,

Softening as best as you can the upper body,

Continuing to breathe.

And on the exhale,

Drop the pelvis,

Open,

Follow movement,

Energy,

Softening.

And then lastly,

Bringing the attention to the legs,

Beginning to scan for effort all the way down to the back of the head,

Down to your feet.

You can move positions if it helps you feel your legs better,

Just noticing effort.

And beginning to increase that effort and increase effort in general in the length of the legs all the way down to the feet,

Continuing to breathe.

And on the exhale,

Let the effort go,

Soften,

Follow any movement,

Let out sound.

And just bringing a real depth of letting go in the body.

So anywhere else that started to effort,

Maybe bringing some light movement to the forehead,

To the eyes,

To the neck,

Just softening,

Dropping.

How can I find even more ease and spaciousness in my body,

In my breath?

So beginning to transition to laying down,

Bringing the soles of your feet to the earth,

Your knees to the sky,

Feeling your breath.

Ah,

Beginning to let the body settle down into the earth,

Feeling where you touch the earth,

Seeing if you can let those areas sink more into the ground,

Letting the muscles drop off the bones,

And really letting the structure be held by the earth,

Feeling how the earth holds you and finds you,

No matter where you are.

Feeling the breath,

Feeling how the back of the heart expands into the earth as you breathe.

Starting to tap into earth energy.

So earth energy is simple,

Uncomplicated,

Rhythmic,

Steady,

And deeply replenishing.

And we come from the earth,

So we also hold those qualities in our bodies.

So see if you can start to tap into that earth energy,

If you can feel the heartbeat of her under you.

Trusting that your body knows this energy,

It comes from this energy.

So letting it align,

Reattune,

Tap into that steady,

Pulsing earth energy.

And as you tap into that,

Seeing if you can also feel it inside of you.

So there might be these layers of emotional waters that can be more complicated,

More loud.

So can you drop below that,

Into the earth energy that resides inside of you that is simple,

That is uncomplicated,

This simplicity inside.

And letting go of any effort to do this,

Any trying to do this,

And just trusting the body can drop into that energy,

Can tap into that energy.

And the more you give space for that,

The more able you are to attune to that.

So we're just going to start to bring some breath and some movement to whatever energy you are able to tap into,

That feels nourishing or steady or grounded or sweet.

I'll invite you to begin an open mouth breath,

Connected breath.

So the inhale and the exhale through the mouth.

This connected open mouth breath is always an option.

So if it doesn't feel right for you today,

That's okay.

But just bringing some juice to your breath in whatever way feels doable.

Using this breath as a way to amplify whatever energy might be beginning to arise in the body,

In the pelvis.

And as you breathe,

You're going to bring little movements to the pelvis,

To the hips,

To the legs.

And you're going to let the body lead.

So following impulses,

Bringing this life breath to this area.

Ah,

Letting the body show you,

Letting the earth hold you.

And as you continue to follow your movement,

There's full permission here.

So it might be more active,

More fiery.

Maybe you press your feet into the earth and lift your hips,

Let out sound.

Or it might be more slow,

More gentle,

More subtle.

Nourishment and richness in the body can come in all forms.

So really feeling the body,

Letting it lead,

Letting it show you,

Dropping all your attention to your breath,

To the sensations in the body,

To where you meet the earth.

And for the last minute here,

Letting the movement spread.

So the full body can move in any way,

Feeling the spine against the floor,

Moving the face,

Allowing any and all movement,

Sound,

Breath to open the body,

To let the body feel itself.

Ah,

I am alive.

I am here.

I am a body on the earth.

Letting that breath,

That movement,

Continue to open you for just a few more moments.

Ah,

Following any threads of goodness,

Of yumminess,

Of pleasure,

Of anything that feels nourishing.

Even if there are other things here,

Emotions or sensations or thoughts or things that you wish wouldn't,

See if you can even open to the pleasure in that,

In the sensations and qualities of energy that you feel as a body,

Continuing to breathe,

To feel,

To follow.

And if this is feeling particularly yummy,

You can pause the recording and just stay and keep moving.

But if the body feels like it's ready to start to slow it down,

You're going to come to a more still experience,

Letting the body lay however it wants to,

And feel the sensations,

The qualities of energy that are alive in you right now.

And find a sensation that feels particularly nourishing.

So maybe it's a sensation or an area of the body or a quality of energy that feels safe or soft,

Rich,

Warm,

Grounding,

Heavy,

Spacious.

Whatever feels good for you,

Finding.

Where is that in my body?

What is that?

And what about that feels nourishing to me?

And you're going to drop all your attention there,

As if you could rest your whole being in that space,

In that sensation that feels nourishing.

Seeing if you can stay there,

If it can take up a little more space.

You can turn up the volume without effort,

Just attuning to this nourishment inside of you,

What it feels like.

Breathing,

Seeing if you can receive the nourishment from this place,

To draw on the qualities of energy that reside there,

To drink from your own well.

And you can stay here for as long as you want,

Continuing to sip,

To soak,

To receive this nourishment.

The music will fade out and that will be the end of your practice.