Good morning and welcome to this movement and grounding practice.
This can be so helpful to do at the beginning of the day before moving into work and all the different activities that we do in the day that keep us in the mind and in our thoughts.
So this is going to be a standing practice.
So just coming to stand,
We're going to take a few minutes at the beginning here to just shake our body a little bit.
So you can start by shaking out your arms,
It can be however slow or fast you want it to be.
Maybe rolling out your wrist.
Maybe moving your arms in a way where it feels like you're flicking something off of your fingers.
And then shake out your legs,
Shaking your right leg and then your left leg,
Rolling out your ankles on both feet.
And then let your whole body shake,
Shaking your arms,
Shaking out your legs,
Letting there be a feeling of freedom and looseness in your limbs.
And then let go of the shaking and come back to stand with your feet about hips distance apart.
Bring your hands to your hips.
It actually might be a little bit more comfortable to spread your feet out just a little wider than your hips.
So just tap into what feels good for you.
And then we're going to begin to do some hip circles.
So first moving your hips clockwise and making the circles as little or as big as you'd like.
Maybe spending an extra breath in an area that feels tight.
And then switching directions,
Moving your hips counterclockwise.
And as you're doing this,
Let your breath be a little bit deeper.
Moving slowly or quickly,
Whatever feels good in your body.
And then letting that go,
Bringing your hips into a neutral position.
And if your feet are wider than your hips,
You can bring them back to hips distance.
And let your arms be heavy.
Your hands can rest in a relaxed and effortless way.
And on an inhale,
Roll your shoulders up towards your ears.
And on an exhale,
Down along your spine.
Doing this a couple more times with your own breath.
And then switching directions,
Inhaling your shoulders up towards your ears,
And exhale to round them forward.
And a couple more times again with your own breath,
Letting the breath be full and deep.
And then after your last round,
Letting your arms come back into a neutral,
Relaxed position.
And then on an inhale,
You're going to let your arms come out wide,
Creating a large circle around you.
And then when your arms are overhead,
Flip your palms so that they're facing down toward the earth,
And exhale to push your hands down toward your hips.
Pushing them down all the way toward your thighs until they straighten out.
And then inhale again,
Wide circle with your arms,
Maybe lifting your gaze slightly.
And then exhale,
Flipping your palms toward the earth,
And pushing downward.
Coming all the way down to your thighs again,
Inhale,
Arms come out wide,
And exhale to flip your palms,
Pushing your energy downwards.
And continue through this movement on your own breath,
Just letting your inhales and exhales be slow and deep,
But also letting it feel good and spacious in your body.
And each time your arms come out wide on an inhale,
Imagine gathering your energy.
And on the exhale,
As you push your energy downward toward the earth,
Imagine that you are pushing roots down from your feet into the earth.
And see if you can let the movement feel soft,
Not rigid,
But gentle and easeful.
Maybe bringing a slight bend into your knees,
Just noticing how this feels in your body.
Just stretch out your arms,
Raise your chest toward the sky,
And then what it feels like to move that energy downward.
Then at the end of your next round,
Again let your arms be heavy,
Resting down along your sides.
Your feet are hips distance.
And take a moment just to rock back and forth on your feet,
A gentle side-to-side motion.
Maybe moving forward slightly onto the balls of your feet,
And then back onto your heels.
And just feeling into all areas of the feet,
Feeling that connectedness to the earth,
Feeling your feet wide and flat,
Maybe spreading out your toes.
And then come into a still position.
Let there be a slight bend in the knees,
Tuck your tailbone,
And let your belly be soft here,
So no need to have six-pack abs right now.
Just let there be an expansiveness in the abdomen,
But keeping that tailbone tucked as you do so.
Let your spine be long,
Extending out through the crown of your head as if there's a string attached to the crown of your head,
And someone is pulling it very gently with the string.
Let your shoulders be soft and melt down your spine.
Let your arms be heavy,
Feeling into your hands,
Noticing if they feel warm or cool.
Maybe you can feel some tingling sensations,
And letting there be an openness in the area of the heart,
Noticing the spaciousness in this region.
And if you feel any tightness or tension in the chest area,
Just notice that and see if you can hold that within this larger sense of expansiveness.
Notice your body breathing.
Notice how it breathes on its own.
How this breath keeps you alive moment by moment,
And how it's here for you.
And it's here to calm you and ground you when you need it,
And noticing your body and how it feels after that movement.
Noticing your feet firmly connected to the earth.
And just taking a moment to acknowledge how amazing it is that you have this extremely intelligent bodily system,
And this equally intelligent mind,
And how these systems work together so beautifully.
And acknowledging as well that you are a part of nature,
That you are in a sense just an extension of the earth,
And that all day,
Whether we are aware of it or not,
We are connected through our bodies to the earth with the help of gravity.
And before we end this session together,
Welcome a deep inhale into your body.
On an inhale,
Filling the belly and the chest,
Expanding the lungs.
And then a slow exhale,
Either through the mouth or through the nose.
Bringing some movement into the wrists,
Maybe the hips and the ankles.
Maybe stretching your arms overhead once again.
And I hope you have a beautiful day and can carry this sense of groundedness through the rest of it.
