Today,
We'll be looking at meditations to free the shoulder blades and tension in this area.
When you come to sit,
Make sure your hips are higher than your knees.
And if you're seated straight,
It's important that you put a pillow just underneath the hands so the shoulders can really relax freely.
If you have tension in areas of the body or fatigue,
Muscle fatigue,
That isn't recovering,
I also ask always of my students that they go and get blood tests,
Checking on low iron,
Low thyroid,
Or anything that might be causing the body to not repair on a muscular level or a neuromuscular level.
So please make sure you get all of that up to date and so that you know that when you're meditating we can then begin to work psychosomatically and energetically beyond the physical.
Let us begin.
Bring your attention to the front of your chest.
Open the shoulders gently.
Breathe into Anahata Chakra.
This means unstruck,
Unbeaten,
Spinning wheel.
The energetic body and chakra system is present in many traditions,
Tibetan Buddhism,
Theravada Buddhism,
Yoga,
Tantra.
Working with this energetic body is very important to the health of all levels of your being,
The koshas,
The layers.
Bring now your attention to the back of the shoulder blades.
We need to free up Anahata Chakra to lift the kundalini energy up to Ajna Chakra,
The point between the eyebrows.
And to do this,
We need to unlock Rudra Granthi,
A knot in the system.
The heart chakra must be open to unlock this knot to awaken the higher planes of consciousness and opening third eye,
Ajna Chakra and Sahasrara Chakra,
The crown.
Let's breathe firmly and also gently into the heart space at the back of the shoulder blades.
Feel the heart breathing and enter gently into the cave of the heart with compassion.
On your exhale,
See if you can really soften the top of your shoulders and also the back of your neck.
When the back of the neck is tight at the base of the skull and the top of the neck,
Prana,
Udana prana,
The prana that flows from heart to head,
Doesn't flow freely,
Giving rise to headaches,
Head,
Neck and shoulder tension,
Anxiety,
Stress,
Sometimes a feeling of deflation.
So really soften at the back of your neck.
Trace your awareness along the blade of the right shoulder.
Start at the top and on each exhale,
Consciously soften the rhomboid and trapezius muscles,
The musculature in behind the shoulder blade.
Each exhalation allowing that area to really soften and be free.
Here you're freeing up the blood flow in what we call Amsaphalaka mama points and the pranic flowing.
This means shoulder blade mama points,
Which relate to the energy of the heart.
Then we might consider what are we carrying?
What responsibility are we holding?
What are the thoughts that lend into this tension in performing some act where you hold tension in the arm,
Working,
Carrying,
Lifting,
Even in one's mind being responsible or overly responsible.
Perhaps your heart's not in it.
Perhaps you're carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders.
Whatever the thought is that drives this tension or creates this habit pattern,
How would it feel to let it go?
Where would you be without the thought?
I am carrying,
I am responsible.
I don't like my job.
All our likes and our dislikes create karma.
Trace your awareness from the right shoulder all the way down the right arm and be very sensitive to the flow of prana,
Tingling or a buzzing sensation,
The flow of energy in your arm.
Be conscious all the way down to the fingers and feel in the hand.
Are the hands overly giving with the intention of fear or anger?
Are the arms overly responsible?
Again,
Out of fear or resentment,
Is the mind driven towards a goal without softness or clarity,
Without the heart being truly in it?
Soften the whole right arm,
Soften the whole right neck,
Soften the right eye and jaw.
Good.
Centralize your awareness now back in the front of the chest and feel energy or breath in the front of the chest.
Feel your awareness between the shoulder blades at the back and again,
Soften.
If this is difficult,
Be mindful of sensation without the need to change anything,
Just observation.
Each is an equal path.
Bring your attention now to the left shoulder blade and trace your awareness gradually down with either mindfulness or the intention to soften the musculature behind the left shoulder blade.
Be aware of any extra responsibility,
Anything that you might be pushing away from you or pulling towards you.
How would it feel to let go of the action of needing to push something away in your life or grasp or pull something towards you?
Just notice how it would feel to let that go in the shoulders.
Bring your awareness now to the left arm and with mindful attention,
Concentration,
Samyama.
Samyama are on that one point.
Just bring your awareness slowly down your left arm and feel all inner sensations.
Move your attention into your left hand.
Be aware of any tingling or vibration,
Any heat or cold and just allow yourself to rest with what is.
Again,
Reflecting back on the actions of the body that reflect the mind.
Am I grasping?
What am I grasping for?
Am I pulling?
What am I pulling towards me that might be creating me stress or discomfort or disease?
Suffering or pain?
Why am I needing that?
Am I disliking or pushing something away and not open to whatever arises in front of me?
Non-acceptance.
Am I grasping onto that which is impermanent,
Fleeting,
Passing away and holding on for dear life,
Being overly responsible for the images that arise in my mind's eye,
For what I see in the life that I create around me?
Come back gently into the heart space.
Be aware of both front and back.
The chakra opens at both the front and back.
And we awaken this chakra with respect and compassion,
Firstly for ourselves,
And recognizing that the work that is done here and within affects all others with grace.
Really let go and surrender.
No need to help another.
Just you and watch the miracle of returning to you compassionately deeply affect all those around you.
Place your attention finally at two points,
Heart and third eye.
Create a deep and lasting connection between the two.
What you do in your sadhana,
Your meditation practice,
Sets up your waking everyday life.
The sadhana or meditation creates a ripple effect.
So we sit and we connect heart to intuition,
Heart to insight and awareness,
Heart expanding to see the true nature of compassion.
