Hi,
This is Paige.
Most of us haul around way too much.
Stress,
Second-guessing,
Worry,
Regret,
An overloaded calendar,
And an endless to-do list.
Over time,
You can start to feel the burden in your body.
It might become tired,
Sluggish,
Or just weighed down.
Today's embodied meditation is a practice to help you lighten up physically.
I've kept it short and fun so you can really tap into ease and release.
We'll finish with a traditional breathing practice that invites vibrancy,
Along with a few minutes of quiet meditation to let the lightness you've cultivated radiate and expand.
We'll start this practice standing if that feels comfortable to you,
And then we'll finish in an easy seated position,
Which can be in a chair,
On a cushion,
On the floor,
Whatever feels best for you.
So if you'd like,
Come to an easy standing position and start to raise your heels and lower them again,
Letting it have a little bit of almost a light,
Fun bounce to it.
Just a raising and lowering of your heels.
Doesn't have to be much in any way that feels comfortable to your body.
Feeling your heels tap the earth,
Feeling them raise back up,
And allow a little bit of ease in your ankles,
Your knees,
Even your hips,
Your waist,
Your shoulders,
And your neck and head as you bounce like this.
These little bouncing heel raises,
Just a few more times.
And then as the bouncing naturally becomes still,
You might give your whole body a little shake through your legs,
Your arms,
Your torso,
Your head,
As if you're literally shaking off anything extra you've been holding on to.
And then as you come to a gentle,
Still standing place,
Feel a little buoyancy in your stance,
Rather than heavy and stagnant,
Almost shimmering from the inside out.
You might feel your shoulders soften away from your ears,
And even experience your head light on your shoulders.
Imagine your body as a helium balloon,
Not untethered,
Still with a little string connecting you to your home base here on the earth,
But embodying a sense of lightness,
Expansiveness,
Ease.
Feel yourself breathing easily in this light stance,
Maybe echoing that balloon shape.
You might feel the entire circumference of your ribcage billow wide on the breeze of your next inhale,
And then release back to an easy resting position on your exhale,
Billowing wide through your whole ribcage,
The whole circumference of your torso on your inhale.
Easy release back to a resting position on your exhale.
A few more rounds on your own.
Each inhale inviting in freshness and light.
Each exhale releasing anything you simply don't need to hold or carry for now.
And then the next time that you're ready to inhale,
Squeeze your shoulders way up towards your earlobes.
Give them a little squeeze,
An exaggerated shrug.
And when you feel ready to exhale,
Exhale with a releasing ha sound and let your shoulders drop down.
We'll do that a few more times.
Inhale,
Squeeze your shoulders way up to your earlobes,
A releasing of heaviness ha sound as you drop your shoulders down.
Twice more,
Inhale,
Squeeze your shoulders up,
Releasing what you're carrying as you exhale and drop the shoulders.
Once more,
Inhale,
Squeezing your shoulders up,
Ha sound as you exhale and let your shoulders drop.
And then drop your chin toward your chest,
Roll one ear over toward its shoulder,
Maybe tip your chin up toward the sky and roll your chin all the way back down to your chest.
Other ear toward its shoulder,
Chin up toward the sky,
Creating some easy half neck rolls.
Let your head and neck roll through that half moon shape another couple of times.
Again,
Simply inviting anything unnecessary.
You've been carrying or holding to move its way out as you roll your head and neck around one more time.
And then you can bring your head,
Your neck,
Your face back through center.
When you feel ready to inhale next,
Stretch your right arm all the way up alongside your right ear so your whole right body feels some openness,
Some lightness.
And as you feel ready to exhale,
Put a little bend in your right elbow and circle that arm back in space a little bit and all the way down,
All the way back down by your side.
And then do that on the left.
Inhale,
Stretch your left arm right up alongside your ear.
When you feel ready to exhale,
A little bend in your elbow,
Circling that elbow all the way back and all the way back down until your arm comes back by your side.
A few more arm circles like that.
Bring your right arm up and as you cactus bend that elbow,
Your whole right chest might spread open a little bit.
Your shoulder blades can squeeze down your back,
Releasing anything on its way down.
Inhale your left arm up.
Exhale circle that arm around and back and down.
One more time each side.
Right arm stretching up alongside your ear.
Let it feel like a full-bodied release as you bend that elbow and circle that arm around and back and down.
Left side,
Inhale,
Stretching your arm up alongside your ear.
Easy release as you bend that elbow and circle that arm around and back and down.
Come back to your light,
Buoyant,
Easy stance.
Let your body simply take that bit of movement and breath in.
And to finish,
Let's come to any comfortable,
Supportive seat.
If you prefer to stay standing,
That's perfectly fine.
If you'd like to settle yourself in a chair,
On a cushion on the floor,
Make yourself comfortable.
And we'll engage with a lightening,
Clearing breathing practice for a few rounds.
This is an ancient practice called Brahmari Pranayama.
In modern times,
We've come to call it bumblebee breath.
It's simply a closed mouth humming sound on your exhale.
So when you're ready to inhale,
You can inhale through your nose and then with your lips gently closed as you exhale,
Let yourself hum.
Can last just as long as you'd like.
And then when you're ready to naturally inhale again,
An easy cleansing inhale.
And again,
That gentle closed mouth,
Vibrational humming sound as you exhale.
Continue with this for a few rounds at your own pace.
Inhaling through your nose,
Nice and easy.
And then feeling the vibration,
The clearing,
Perhaps in the whole globe of your skull into your jaw and your throat,
Maybe even your chest as you hum out your exhales.
Continuing for a few more cycles if you feel comfortable.
Nothing forced,
No objective to make the breath long,
Just natural pacing.
In through your nose,
A gentle clearing,
Lightening,
Humming vibration every time you exhale.
And as you feel ready to release that breathing practice,
You can relax any effort,
Allow your breath to be light and easy and natural.
And let your whole body bask in the after effects,
Soaking in any lightness,
Any clarity,
Any cleansing and ease.
Just a few more quiet minutes,
Allowing your entire physical form,
Your entire system to soak in,
To rest in,
To bask lightly in the after effects.
So this practice,
Thank you so much for creating this time and space for yourself.
I hope you can take some of this lightness in the form of clear,
Full presence with you out into what's next.
I look forward to being with you again soon.
