Calm & Cool

The height of summertime heat can feel draining and depleting. All the bright, hot energy can also fan the flames of agitation and irritability. It’s nice to know we can draw on simple practices to cool down and calm down. This offering begins with gentle breath and movement and finishes with a soothing lake meditation, so you can move into what's next feeling replenished and a little more levelheaded and open-hearted.

Transcript

Hi,

This is Paige.

Many of us live in places where,

As this week's episode releases,

We're experiencing the height of summertime heat.

That can sometimes feel draining and depleting,

And all the bright,

Hot energy and heavy doses can also,

For some temperaments,

Fan the flames of agitation and irritability.

It's really nice to know we can draw on some simple movement,

Breathing,

And meditation practices to cool down and to calm down.

That's what we'll tap into today.

You may want a blanket to sit on for the first part of the practice,

And that same blanket you could use to roll up and tuck under your knees at the end of practice,

But it's fine if you're practicing without one.

Let's start in a seated position.

You can be cross-legged,

You can be in a chair,

Whatever feels comfortable to you.

And we're going to do a really simple cooling breathing practice.

In Sanskrit,

It's called Satali breathing,

Cooling breathing.

So when you're ready to inhale,

You're simply going to purse your lips and imagine that you're drawing that breath in through a straw.

So simply bring your breath in as if it's entering through a straw,

And then close your lips as you exhale,

And simply exhale through your nose.

And try that again.

As you inhale,

Purse your lips as if you're drawing the breath in through the small opening of a straw,

And then exhale,

Relax through closed lips just through your nose.

Continue with this so that drawing the breath in as if it's coming in through a straw cools and hydrates the breath as it comes in,

Almost a refrigeration of the breath.

And as you exhale through your nose,

Then that's a relaxing,

Slowing exhale.

And you can continue with this a few rounds.

If you'd like to try something a little bit more,

Or if you know this practice,

Rather than simply breathing through that imaginary straw in your lips,

You can extend your tongue and curl the edges of your tongue around so you're making a little straw shape with your tongue,

And draw the breath in through that straw shape of the rolled tongue,

And then exhale,

Close your lips again,

And exhale through your nose.

If that feels too complicated or your tongue simply doesn't do that,

It's fine just to keep inhaling through the imaginary straw of your lips.

Three more rounds,

Noticing if this breathing practice,

Once you become familiar with it,

Has any kind of a cooling,

Calming effect.

And then you can simply release that,

Go back to a natural,

Effortless breath.

And if you've been sitting with your legs crossed,

It might feel nice to switch the cross of your legs to balance out your body.

And we'll move from here into a really easy seated forward fold.

So many of us find forward folds to be cooling,

Quieting,

Inward turning.

As you explore this in your body,

You can see if that feels true for you.

From your seat,

Cross-legged or simply in a chair,

You're just going to walk your hands forward easily and begin to lengthen forward.

It really doesn't matter how far you go,

You're just allowing the energy of this forward fold and inward turn to settle into your body.

So you simply walk your hands forward as far as they're going to go along your legs,

Along the floor.

And then when you reach a point where it feels perfect to stop,

Simply rest there.

You can let your head drop,

You can let the energy of your brain drop and cool.

Notice the rib cage billowing in and out on your inhales and exhales.

And you can stay in this forward fold right down through the center.

Or if you like,

You could add a little bit of a side stretch by walking the hands over to the right.

So as the hands and the arms climb their way over to the right,

Right along the floor or right along your legs or the edge of the chair,

You can allow that left hip to gently sink back and maybe that whole left side waist feels some release of any bits of tension it's been holding,

Any sense of tightness.

Again,

The head can drop,

The shoulders can drop.

A few breaths here in this forward folding shape with this option of a side stretch.

One more round of inhale and exhale here.

And if you walked your hands over to the right,

You can just lumber them back through to center,

Just right to center.

And before we do that on the other side,

Let's walk the hands back to the body,

Slowly bring yourself back to upright for a moment.

Pause,

Let your body soak in any effects of that time folding down and forward.

And then if your legs have been crossed one more time,

You might switch the cross of your legs so the hips get some evenness of sensation.

And we'll move right back into that seated forward fold on this second side.

So you'll simply walk your hands forward along the earth or along your legs,

Bowing down and in.

Again,

It really doesn't matter how deeply you fold here.

We're simply drawing on the energy of bowing down toward the cooling grounding quality of the earth.

Once you reach a point where your body wants to pause and rest,

Simply be there,

Feeling the hips sink,

Feeling the energy of the body drawing in,

Cooling down.

And if you like,

You can walk your hands over to the left,

So the hands and the arms slumber their way off to the left.

And once they reach a point where it feels comfortable to pause,

You can let that right hip gently draw back and down so you can bring some attention,

Maybe even a few rounds of breath deep into the right low waist,

Right low back.

Energy settling,

Grounding,

Calming.

And as you feel ready,

Walk your hands back through center if you moved over to one side.

Really walk your hands back toward your body,

Ease yourself back to upright.

And again,

Just take a breath or two here,

Letting your body soak all of this in.

And if you've been sitting with your legs crossed,

Uncross your legs and stretch them out long,

So you're sitting with the legs stretched out long,

Staff pose,

Dandasana.

Just let the heavy bones of the legs rest down toward the earth.

And then if you easily reach,

Let your palms come to the earth right beside your hips so you feel the grounding,

Stabilizing quality of your palms against the earth,

Shoulders dropping away from the ears,

Legs outstretched,

Body calm and steady,

Grounding and still.

And from here,

Give yourself a gentle twist to the right so the legs can remain outstretched.

So just twist your torso to the right,

Maybe that left arm crosses over the body,

The left hand could gently hold on to the outside of the right leg,

Right hand.

If your arm is long enough,

The palm could still be on the earth,

You could pop up onto your right fingertips.

They might be right beside your right hip.

You just let yourself ring around the whole length of your spine.

Maybe your gaze gently floats out over your right shoulder.

Just another cooling breath all the way into the body here,

Ringing out along the spine.

Bring yourself back through center,

Back through neutral.

Gently pause,

Let the energy of the spine unwind and settle back in.

And then that same twisting shape to the left.

So the torso will just wrap itself to the left,

The right arm might gently cross the body,

You could anchor the right hand on the outside of the left thigh.

Left palm could be on the earth right beside the left hip or you could rise up onto the fingertips.

Take an inhale that just fills the body nice and easily.

Just a gentle ringing out as you feel the body exhale and twist to the left.

Your gaze might even float over that left shoulder.

One more cycle of breath here.

Calming,

Cooling breath,

Wrapping around the body.

And inhale and bring yourself back through center,

Back through neutral.

Everything recalibrating and taking that in.

And from here let's move onto our backs.

So if it feels okay on your body,

You can simply stretch out wide on your back.

Maybe your legs will be a little bit wider than your hips.

Your arms might open up wide,

Very receptive and open with the palms facing up.

This is sometimes called pentacle pose in yoga.

If you'd prefer to have a little bit of support for your low back,

As I said at the beginning,

You could have a rolled blanket that tucks beneath your knees to give you a little support.

You could also feel free to bend your knees and put your feet on the ground if that feels a little friendlier to the body here.

So taking your time to get yourself settled into a wide,

Receptive,

Open space resting against the earth.

And we'll move into a guided meditation here.

Imagine that your body is becoming a body of water.

Could be a lake or a quiet pond.

Your body becoming a tranquil body of water.

Allow yourself to feel into this.

You might feel the organic shape of your body's edges blurring into the shoreline.

You being held in a receptive basin by the earth.

Allow yourself to feel fluid,

Unobstructed,

And receptive.

Begin to breathe as this body of water.

Your breath an ebb and a flow.

On your inhales,

You might very subtly stretch the edges of your shoreline.

And on your exhales,

You might just subtly recede a bit.

Feel your body temperature lower.

The way water temperature is often cooler than the air around it.

Body temperature very gently,

Very gradually lowering just a touch.

What does it feel like when the water of your body is brushed by a breeze?

As that breeze passes,

Let your surface become placid,

Clear,

Almost glass-like.

There's nothing at all for you to do.

You're simply a mirror,

Open,

Receptive.

Your surface reflecting whatever comes near.

Branches,

Birds flying overhead,

The sun or the clouds,

Changing light.

Allow yourself now to become clear all the way to the bottom.

No debris,

No disturbance or distraction,

Spacious clarity.

Feel how as you rest here in this clarity that the parts of you resting layer by layer farther from the surface perhaps get even cooler,

More still,

More calm.

Give yourself a bit more time here to explore some of this depth as much as you'd like.

Again everything clear and inviting.

And then find the perfect level to settle your attention right now.

Just a bit more time here if you would like.

Still,

Calm,

Quiet.

The gentle rise and fall of your breath,

All of this contained in a safe and comforting way by the earth.

Seeing the sun in the sky,

Trees,

Birds,

Light.

Touched by the air,

Receiving any breeze.

Fluid,

Spacious,

Clear,

Tranquil.

As you're ready,

You can begin to gently release this visualization to re-inhabit your human body.

You might feel nice to give yourself a gentle stretch,

Feeling cleansed,

Refreshed,

Ready for what's next.

This guided relaxation was inspired by something called the Lake Meditation by well-known teacher John Cabot Zinn.

He has many variations of this,

Longer versions of it online if that's something you would like to explore a little bit further on your own.

Thank you so much for making this time for yourself,

And I'll be with you again soon.

Reviews

I really needed this meditation. My air conditioner is not working properly so I have a wet towel draped over me to cool off. Your meditation helped me keep my mind off the heat and helped me to relax. Thanks so much!

I absolutely loved this. I felt so clear and fluid and tranquil.
The ending was a bit abrupt and it shook me a little.
But it was one of the best meditations I ever heard ❤️

The perfect prescription for serenity! Thank you!🙏🌺💙

Very relaxing and calming.

Amazing!! Thank you.

This is fabulous for easing me into the day. It has everything - gentle stretches followed by a beautiful visualisation and intention setting. Thank you 🙏