Welcome to this Earth-Sky practice to ground and center and calm.
This is a practice that's best done standing up and can include some movement,
But if you need to sit or lie down then you can also adapt this practice to meet the needs of your body and your energy levels.
So come to a standing position in your room with space around you and take a moment at the beginning to simply stand with your feet hip-width apart,
Your knees soft,
You can close your eyes and then place a hand on your heart or on your belly to sense and receive how you are right now,
Noticing how your body feels and what emotions or thoughts are present and then tune into your breath and with your breath,
Particularly with your exhalation,
Drop the weight of your body downwards,
Softening your face,
Unclenching your jaw,
Dropping the weight of your shoulders,
Relaxing your belly and unlocking your knees and with each exhalation,
Letting yourself be received and supported by the ground under your feet.
As you feel into the texture of this meeting between your feet and the ground,
Starting to imagine roots growing down into the earth from your feet.
With each exhale,
You can imagine sending roots down into the soil,
Roots that reach and make their way into this dark earth,
Wrapping around rocks,
Meeting other roots,
Growing down,
Down into this rich fertile soil,
Bringing your breath and your attention further and further down and feeling even deeper into the roots,
Consciously receiving this energy of the earth as nourishment,
Nourishment that with your inhale you can begin to draw up into your own body,
Into your being.
So with every exhale,
Reaching into the roots,
Reaching down into the earth and with your inhalations,
Bringing this earth energy upwards,
Slowly filling the feet,
The legs,
The hips,
The trunk of the body,
A little bit more with each breath and you can use your arms and your hands and the movement of your whole body to direct this energy.
So you can keep drawing the earth energy upwards till you reach the top of your head and in this cycle of exhaling down and inhaling,
Bringing the energy up in your own time till you feel you've really filled the whole of your body with a sense of beautiful nourishing earth energy.
And once you've filled your whole being with this earth energy right up to the top of your head,
Reaching with your arms to the sky like the branches of a tree stretching towards the light.
Let your attention and your eyes and your awareness reach up with your arms,
Connecting to this vast space above you,
The energy of sky and air.
And once again with your arms and with your breath,
Draw this energy of spaciousness into yourself,
Breathing in,
Reaching for the sky,
Breathing out,
Bringing the breath down into the body again and again.
Again you can use your hands,
Your arms to direct this energy along with your breath downwards,
Stretching up,
Reaching and drawing this energy down into the body,
Working with the breath and with movement again and again until you bring this sky energy all the way down to your feet.
And then when you reach your feet,
Letting these two energies connect in a loop of breathing down into the roots,
Drawing up earth energy towards the sky and then breathing down the sky energy towards the earth,
Letting this be a flowing movement of the body,
The hands,
The breath in your own time with your own tempo,
Raising and lowering your arms and hands as you're raising and lowering your attention,
Your focus and letting these two energies,
Earth and sky,
Meet and mingle in you.
You can imagine yourself as a tree that bridges these two places from the roots up to the branches,
From the branches down into the roots,
Really spending some time here in that movement till you feel complete and then coming slowly back into a still standing position,
Taking a moment at the end of this practice to simply notice how you feel now,
What's changed,
What are you aware of now in your body,
In your heart and in your mind.
