Embodied Wisdom

This practice centers the wisdom of the body and the land. We will listen radically to our thinking- feeling-embodied selves and bring our attention to our relationship with the earth. We start with a body scan that invites us to acknowledge our embodied wisdom. We then expand our focus to the land that sustains our bodies. We close this practice by listening, breathing, and sending our love and gratitude to the earth and our bodies.

Transcript

Our bodies are wise. The earth is wise. Today we're going to take some time to bring our awareness to our bodies and to the lands that we're on. I'm Chelsea Viteri and I feel honored to be here with you. I invite you to arrive to a comfortable position. You can be sitting down or laying down, Whatever feels good for you today. And you can either close your eyes if that feels good or set your gaze on one spot. And we're going to begin by just recognizing how it feels to inhale and exhale today in our bodies. I invite you to take a deep inhale, The biggest inhale you've taken today. Hold at the top, Feel that fullness in your body, In your lungs. And slowly exhale, Letting go, Feeling that emptiness, Feeling that contraction in your stomach. And now just coming to a regular rhythm of inhales and exhales. Recognize how your thinking, Feeling, Embodied self is arriving today without wanting to change anything, Just kindly, Lovingly recognizing, Listening. Feeling how with each inhale, Wonderful vital energy flows through your body. And feeling with each exhale, An opportunity of letting go, An opportunity of giving back breath. We bring to our attention our feet. For a moment, Think of the wisdom, The memory that your feet carry, That your feet hold. Think of all the places that your feet have taken you to. Think about all the different muscles and bones and ligaments and tendons coming together to make your feet. Feel the oxygen flowing all the way to the tip of your toes. Bring your awareness now to your legs. Once again, Acknowledge the wisdom that they hold, The memories that they carry. You come back up to your hip bones, To your sexual organs. Recognizing the wisdom that this part of our body holds, Listening deeply to our body. We bring our attention to our internal organs, Our livers, Our kidneys, Our stomachs, Our lungs. And once again, Just acknowledge the stories, The wisdom, The memories that they carry. Take note of what comes up for you. Once again, Without judgment, Just a lot of love, A lot of commitment to listen. We come up to our heart, Our chest, Our ribs, Our shoulders. We take a deep inhale and a deep exhale as you listen, As you recognize, As you acknowledge. We bring our attention to our backs, To our spine. Feel all those little bones aligning to help you carry yourself in the world. Feel all the wisdom, All the legacy, All the stories that your back holds. We come to the tip of our fingers. We bring to our awareness our hands. This part of our body that creates, That gives, That shares, That touches. Once again, Hold, Listen, Honor the wisdom of your hands, The memory of your hands, The lineage of your hands. Coming up through the rest of our arms, All the way once again to our shoulders. Taking note of what comes up as you listen to this part of your body. We come up to our neck, Our neck that carries our heavy heads. And once again, Just listen. Come with curiosity and recognize the wisdom of your neck, All those stories, All the memories that your neck carries, Coming up to our face, To our jaw, To our mouth, To our tongue, To our nose, Our eyes, Our eyebrows, Our forehead, Our ears, Our brains, Our skulls. Listen to this part of your body. Recognize the wisdom, The memories, The stories. If it feels right, Take a moment to maybe send gratitude, Maybe just send a message to your embodied self, A part of our being that doesn't get front and center in our everyday lives. Take a moment to talk to your body. Take a moment to process what came up for you. And if your mind seems to wander, Come back to breath, This powerful embodied anchor. I invite you to take a deep inhale and a long exhale. And we're going to expand our attention just a little bit as we recognize that our bodies are so interconnected with the world. We expand our focus to the land that we're on, This land that offers you shelter, Nourishment through food and community, Nourishment through water, Nourishment through the heat of the sun and the fire. I invite you to visualize the land that you're on. Maybe there's some landmarks. Maybe you visualize the desert or the mountains or the oceans that are close to you. And for a moment, Just like you were listening to your hands and your feet, Try to listen to the land. How is the land inhaling and exhaling today? From this place, I invite you to acknowledge the wisdom, The memories, The stories that the land that you're on carries. The stories of healing, The stories of liberation, The stories of joy, Just as much as the stories of pain and harm. Hold this relationship from a place of love and care and curiosity through listening. And I invite you to visualize yourself maybe right beside the river that's close to your house or maybe on the top of the mountain that is close to you or maybe in your neighborhood park. And just like we spoke to our bodies, I invite you to speak to the land that nourishes you, The land that is you. Maybe you want to offer some gratitude or maybe there's a lot to say and ask. Just take note of what comes up for you as you talk to the land. I invite you to take a deep inhale and a long exhale. For a moment, Hold the power and vulnerability that comes up as we recognize our interconnectedness with the world around us. I invite you to come back to your breath and just notice how it feels to inhale and exhale right now in this place of relationship. Reassuring that we are not alone, But you are and I am because we are. If it feels good, I invite you to bring one hand to your chest, To your heart and one hand to your belly right beneath your belly button. And I invite you once again if it feels good to send your body a wave of love and gratitude for the deep wisdom and care that it has for you. And once again we expand our focus to the land that we're on, To this earth that sustains us. And I invite you once again if it feels good to send a wave of love and care to the land for all its wisdom, For all its nourishment, For all its teachings. Can you picture how this wave of love that surrounds the earth and the lands that are around you, Surround the people, Surround the animals, The trees, The forests, The insects, The bacteria, Surround you too. Feel that heat, Feel that care. And with that I invite you to take a deep inhale and if it feels good bring your arms all the way up to the sky and take a long exhale as you rain your hands down. We take one more deep inhale with our hands all the way up to the sky in celebration for all the relationships that make us. And as we exhale raining our hands down we open our eyes and we observe this magical world that we get to be a part of. I hope you have a beautiful day. Thank you for sitting with me. Thank you for your love and care.