Moving Meditation

I created this 15 minute guided Moving Meditation track as homework for students of my Mindfulness Lab Series but wanted to share them with all of you.

Grab your yoga mat and watch your present moment practice expand. Practice in the mornings or the evening.

It is my hope that with regular practice, you will strengthen your ability to remain present for longer periods of time, on and off your yoga mat.

Transcript

Welcome to your 15 minute moving meditation practice guided by me,

Dani.

While we'll begin in a seated position,

We'll also be inviting in gentle movements.

So I invite you to have your mat or blanket for extra support.

Feel free to pause the recording now while you gather these items before you continue on.

When we introduce mindful movement into our meditation practice,

We're developing and expanding our mindfulness practice.

And if at any point you find yourself in thought,

You can simply stop the movement,

Reconnect to your breath,

And join in once again once you're fully present.

Start by finding a comfortable seat with your legs and arms relaxed,

And your spine upright so that your shoulders are above your hips.

I encourage you to gently shift around,

Perhaps from side to side,

Front to back,

Eventually coming to a place of stillness where you feel settled and supported.

With your eyes open,

Begin to turn your attention to your breath until you find a natural,

Comfortable rhythm.

You might start to notice the subtle movement of the breath as your body rises and falls.

As you center yourself here,

Bring your hands to touch and slowly begin to rub them together,

Stimulating your nervous system and connecting you to your body.

As you relax your hands down,

Pay special attention to the heat and lingering sensation while you continue to focus on your breath.

Palms facing down,

Starting with your pinky finger on your right hand,

Then moving to your ring finger on your right hand.

Slowly tap each finger slowly onto your thigh,

One at a time.

To continue to breathe,

Moving on to the left hand.

Going through two full rounds of gentle finger tapping,

As you continue to remain focused on your breath.

Starting with very simple movements.

Finally relaxing your fingers and paying attention to all of the sensations as you continue to focus on your breath.

So next,

Allow your right ear to fall towards your right shoulder and then your left ear towards your left shoulder.

Staying mindful as you pass through center,

Continuing to pay close attention to your breath as you draw your head to the right and to the left.

Once more,

Using the cadence of your own breath.

And as your head returns to center,

Just notice the sensations on either side of the neck as you stay focused on your breath.

From here,

Start to very slowly draw your shoulders up toward your ears and down to their natural resting position.

Once more,

Continue this shoulder movement.

And see if you can stay focused on the breath.

Starting to time the movement with your inhalation and exhalation.

To continue this movement for another five cycles of breath.

Just go ahead and relax your shoulders and come back to your breath.

Next allow your hands to rest facing down on your knees.

As you inhale,

Draw your chest open and forward,

Taking the gaze upward.

And when you exhale,

Round the spine back,

Taking the gaze down.

See if you can keep the breath soft as you continue to repeat and slow down this movement.

As the chest comes forward and up,

The gaze lifts,

Just tracing the gaze up.

And then as you press into your hands around the spine,

The gaze traces all the way down.

Just relaxing your arms and your spine as you make your way back to center.

Just finding stillness and connecting to your breath.

Next mindfully place your left hand on your right knee,

Taking your fingertips to the floor,

As you exhale,

Twist your torso to the right.

A gentle inhalation takes you back through center and with your next exhalation,

The right hand comes to the left knee,

The left fingertips to the floor,

Twisting your chest to the left.

Continue this movement in your own pace,

Staying fully present as you rotate the spine to the right and to the left.

Once more.

As you come back to center,

Relax your arms and spine,

Returning to the sensations of the breath.

Slowly placing your hands behind you to assist as you extend your legs forward,

Keeping the spine upright.

You might notice new sensations in the backs of the legs.

See if you can maintain the same quality of breathing as you did when you came to your practice earlier today.

With the legs extended,

Start to flex and point through your feet.

Doing this a few times.

Then finally rotating the ankles and exploring the full range of movement of your ankles,

Staying true to your breath and as always,

Keeping the movements slow and mindful.

As you settle your feet,

You begin to walk the hands forward any amount,

But only going as far as you can stay fully present in your breath.

Coming present to whatever sensations are coming forward for you.

Mindfully walking the hands back.

As you move through a few more rounds of this forward folding movement,

Just know that the movement itself can take up to several cycles of breath as you fold forward and come back to upright.

During this movement,

The eyes open and breath soft and easy.

Coming back to an upright seat now and keeping the gaze steady.

You're going to begin to make your way to a table position on your hands and your knees.

Be mindful that the gaze doesn't wander as it usually likes to do.

Here you'll consciously reconnect to your breath as you sit back to child's pose.

In child's pose,

Reach your arms forward.

Inhale pulling both hands.

Draw your pelvis in towards your belly to come up to table.

As you exhale,

Start to tilt the tailbone up and away from the belly,

Release back to child's pose.

Again,

Inhale pulling with your hands,

Starting the movement in the pelvis,

The way of the spine forward to table.

As you exhale from table,

Start to tuck the tailbone up and away,

Releasing back to child's pose.

Just repeat this movement three more full cycles of breath on your own.

Adding on to this movement,

Inhale make your way up to table from child's pose.

This time as you exhale,

Start to tilt your tailbone up and away from your belly and push into your hands as you start to lift the knees and extend your legs to downward facing dog.

Then exhale,

Come back to all fours.

Repeat that.

Inhale make your way to table from child's pose.

This time as you exhale,

Tilt the tailbone up,

Press into the hands,

Start to lift the knees,

Extend the legs back to downward facing dog.

Go ahead and repeat this slow modified flow,

Moving with your breath and really keeping the gaze focused here as you move to and from table to child's pose,

Back to table to downward dog.

From downward dog,

Slowly beginning to walk your feet up towards your hands.

As you step your feet about hip distance apart,

Invite a slight bend in the knees in order to rest your torso on your thighs.

Can dangle the arms or clasp opposite elbows here.

I invite you to mindfully sway the torso from left to right,

Right to left.

You might gently shake the head no,

Ending in a yes.

Start to bend at the knees eventually making your way down to a comfortable seat,

Spine nice and tall,

Shoulders and jaw relaxed.

I invite you to take eight deep conscious breaths to reintegrate your inner and outer before moving into your day.

Thank you.

You

Reviews

Wonderful way to start the day. I will definitely do this again!
Thank you for this - it helped me focus on my breath and feel calm and focused on myself and be IN my body.

I have made this practice a part of my morning routine.

That was exactly what I was craving. Smooth, easy, mindful movement. I practiced before bed and it was calming to my nervous system. Thank you!

Thank you for sharing your practice as I used this to start the day. However, I am new at yoga but your gentle soothing voice with choice of words made it easy for me to follow and understand.

Lovely and soothing way to begin the day. 🙏🌻

great morning or anytime moving meditation! thank you!

loved it. Lovely gentle flow. Would love a longer one 😊

Love this! Thank you 🙏🏽

Nice way move from seated meditation into soft movements into the day.

Now that was mindful movement!
I feel truly amazing!
Wishing you the same ♡

Thank you!

Awesome. Really lived how this is combining movements with the meditation and that it is just the right amount of time to fit into my morning routine

Excellent + just what I needed today 💚

I loved this! I’m just getting back into sitting practice but incorporating moving meditation as an experiment. This was gentle and perfect for my level of yoga experience. I’m hoping to level up on it little by little 😝

Refreshing to start the day x

Loved this - gr At way to greet the day! thank you! 🙏

Thank you. A gentle soft voice taking one through a great mindful routine.
💐🙏

This was fantastic!

Loved it. Bookmarked. Enjoyed moving in the morning with this meditation. Thanks 🙏🏽