Settle

This Embodied Meditation is perfect if you want to settle into bed for the night. You can also use it to settle scattered, swirling energy during your day. It’s a calming, grounding practice that incorporates slow, earthy movements. We end with a guided relaxation, envisioning of a body of water settling, followed by a period of quiet stillness — creating a place where you can anchor and come to rest.

Transcript

Hi,

This is Paige.

Maybe you're preparing to settle into bed for the night.

Or maybe you simply want to settle any scattered,

Swirling energy in the middle of your day.

Either way,

This calming,

Grounding,

Embodied meditation can help.

It incorporates slow,

Earthy movements and ends with a period of quiet stillness,

Creating a place where you can anchor and come to rest.

You can do this whole practice lying down,

Even right in bed if you'd like to use it as a way to settle in for sleep.

If you're drawing on this practice as more of a daytime reset and you'd rather be sitting,

Feel free to sit in any way that's comfortable.

On a cushion on the floor,

At a chair at your desk,

Truly anywhere you can feel supported for a few minutes.

So get yourself ready.

And to settle,

We're going to descend from the top of your physical body to the bottom,

Tapping slow,

Rolling joint movements as we go.

And the process will also shift from outer focus to inner awareness where you can release the extraneous and rest more fully in the ground of your being.

So if you're lying down,

You might feel comfortable on your back.

If you're sitting,

Feel steady.

Take just a moment to feel your body being held here and notice the natural rise and fall of your breath.

Begin a slow rock of your head from side to side.

So if you're upright,

You can simply turn your face side to side.

If you're resting on your back,

You can feel the heavy globe of your head rock against what's supporting it.

One direction and then the other.

Really allow this movement to slow itself down.

So it becomes almost hypnotic,

This slow rock side to side of the heaviness of your head,

Even all the weight of your brain beginning to quiet and still and settle.

See another time side to side,

Noticing any ripple effect in the muscles of your face into your shoulders.

And then you can allow your head to rest still in the center again.

Next let's roll our arm bones in and out.

So your arms can be resting however they're comfortable right by your sides and then way up at the very top stems of your arms where your shoulders settle into their sockets.

Give your arm bones a little roll inward.

You might even feel a doming inward of your shoulders slightly.

And then reverse that by rolling your arm bones outward,

Feeling the shoulders roll in their sockets all the way down then the length of your arms following along.

So again just letting this movement be slow and deep and still,

Your arm bones rolling in all the way down your arm bones and rolling back out.

Just a slow motion movement each direction rolling in and rolling out like you're settling the stems of your arms in their shoulder sockets.

Again just a rhythmic slow rolling in and rolling out.

As you move through this a few more times letting your shoulders get heavier,

Allowing any rippling release up the sides and the back of your neck as your arm bones roll.

Finally let that movement get still.

You might land with your arm bones rolled out,

Your palms facing up,

Resting easy.

From here rest your attention on the whole cage of your ribs.

The next time that you naturally inhale,

See if you can feel some expansion maybe in the sides of your ribs,

The backs of your ribs to take in that breath.

And as you exhale,

Just like a softening,

A hugging in of your rib cage as that breath releases.

Again when you feel ready to naturally inhale,

Expanding through the sides and the backs of your ribs,

You might even feel yourself pressing against whatever you're resting on if you're lying down.

And as you exhale,

Just a receding from that support and a drawing in toward your center.

Few more of these,

Your inhales naturally cause your rib cage to expand the sides and the back.

And as you exhale,

Softening in,

Release toward your center.

Few more of that billowing expanse of your ribs,

The bones moving to take in your breath.

And as you exhale,

A softening,

Releasing toward your center.

Let yourself breathe like that once more.

And then your breath can simply settle back to its natural rhythm.

Your awareness settled perhaps a little more fully in the center of your body.

And we'll move from here to a windshield wipering action of the knees.

So if you're lying on your back,

You might bend your knees and put your feet on the bed or on whatever you're resting on.

If you're sitting on the floor in a cross-legged shape,

You could uncross your legs and put your feet on the floor.

If you're in a chair,

You could just widen your legs a little bit,

Let your feet be supported by the earth.

And let both of your knees just drift their way to the right a little bit.

Let them come back through center and let both of your knees and leg bones drift their way to the left.

So it's a little side to side movement.

You might coordinate this with your breath,

Inhaling your knees through center and exhaling,

Letting both knees,

Both sets of leg bones drift their way to the right and inhaling through center,

Both legs drifting to the left,

A little side to side windshield wipering action.

Your inhales can bring you through center,

Your exhales let your knees drift one way.

This can just happen on the rhythm of your breath a few more times.

Again,

The movement,

Slowing down,

Feeling that heavy,

Deep drift side to side of your knees,

That action perhaps massaging all the way into the sockets of your hips.

Maybe one more time,

Side to side,

Your own pace,

Restful and slow.

And the next time you come back through center,

You can pause.

And then if you'd like,

You could stretch your legs out long.

If you're sitting in a chair,

You can simply lengthen your legs.

Your legs might be a little bit wide,

Kind of like a narrow V shape.

And then just like we did with our arms,

Let's roll the leg bones inward.

Your toes might even point inward as you do that.

And then slowly the entire stems of your legs rolling outward like the long bones of your legs are rolling in the sockets of their hips in and out,

Massaging way into the socket of your hips.

Long heavy bones of your legs slowly rolling in and out,

The energy now even more fully saddling down and in.

Maybe one more time,

Rolling your leg bones in and out,

Slow and deep and restful.

Allow your legs to fall still when they're ready.

And finally,

Just a slow motion stirring around at your ankle joints.

Just swirling your ankles,

Your feet will follow along.

Slow,

Deep,

Restful stirring of your ankles in one direction,

Letting all of your attention and awareness drift all the way down to your feet as they make this slow motion.

And if you like,

You could switch the direction of that swirling around a few times,

Maybe slowing the movement even more.

And eventually letting that movement fall still,

Your feet heavy and restful.

If you like,

You can envision yourself as a tranquil body of water.

Something that feels peaceful and safe,

Maybe a quiet stream or a little pond.

Could be someplace familiar or a place that naturally emerges from your imagination.

Experience yourself as this body of water settling.

Anything that's been stirred up,

Active,

Even restless during the day,

Now gently beginning to call.

Your surface untroubled,

Placid,

Clear.

What's beneath your surface undisturbed,

Serene.

Finally,

Let yourself embody the bed of this body of water.

A still restful ground where everything can land,

Where everything can release all effort,

Where everything can be held.

Simply quiet and still and settled.

We'll spend just a few more quiet moments resting in this settled place.

You'll hear my voice again when we're ready to complete the practice.

You'll hear my voice again when we're ready to complete the practice.

You'll hear my voice again when we're ready to complete the practice.

You'll hear my voice again when we're ready to complete the practice.

You'll hear my voice again when we're ready to complete the practice.

Thank you so much for making this time to settle yourself.

I look forward to being with you again soon.

Thank you.

Reviews

Thanks Paige. This gentle practice is what my dysregulated nervous system needs and fits nicely with somatic movement awareness practices I've started.
Blessings to you. 🙏🫶

Just wonderful for stilling and settling. Thank you 💖

A lovely practice before bed. 🙏😴💕