Releasing Tension In Your Hands & Wrists

This Embodied Meditation is aimed at releasing tension in your hands and wrists, the parts of your body you likely use to offer your gifts to the world. Here’s a movement and visualization practice to give them a little love and attention in return.

Transcript

Hi,

This is Paige,

And today's Embodied Meditation is aimed at releasing tension in your hands and your wrists,

Where a lot of us express our work and offer our gifts to the world.

For you,

Maybe that work involves a lot of typing and texting,

Or maybe you're more involved in building or baking or sewing or weeding,

Painting,

Playing an instrument,

Or creating and configuring in some other way.

Our hands are one of our primary ways of interacting with life.

They hold and they do,

And they can often use a little attention and love,

So we'll focus on that today.

Let's get started in a tabletop shape.

So hands and knees.

You could be on a yoga mat or simply on the floor on a rug,

Somewhere where your knees are cushioned,

If that would feel good.

And then simply plant your hands,

Kind of plug them right into the earth.

And let's begin to just bring a little simple circulation to the hands and the wrists through some cow and cat movement and breathing.

So as you inhale,

You'll simply extend through your spine,

It might arch.

And as you exhale,

A gentle rounding in through the low back,

The middle back,

The upper back,

Just a couple more like that.

Inhale,

Extending,

Maybe arching as the belly drops and the sitting bones lift.

And exhale,

Reversing that shape as you round through the low back,

The middle back,

The upper back,

Your head can hang.

One more,

Hands plugging into the earth as you inhale,

Extend and maybe arch your spine.

And exhale,

Slowly round in through a little cat tuck.

And then bring yourself back through neutral,

Hands and wrists already beginning to feel a little bit of circulation.

From here,

Pick up your right hand just a few inches and begin to angle your fingers out to the right.

So they're going to move away from the body.

And then see if it works for your body to go ahead and swivel your fingers around a little bit more.

So as you set your hand back down on the earth,

Now the fingers of that right hand are pointing maybe all the way back toward your knee.

You just do what you can.

If they only angle out to the side,

That's fine.

If they can swivel around all the way so that the fingers are pointing toward your knee and that right hand can rest back down on the ground,

Perfect.

And then just begin to hinge your way forward a little bit and back a little bit,

Feeling into that right wrist,

Forearm,

The palm of the hand,

Hinging forward a bit and back a bit,

Maybe once more.

And then just pause,

Hinging away a little bit,

Back a little bit.

So maybe you feel a little bit more engagement,

A little bit more sensation in that right wrist,

Right palm.

And then you can just come back through neutral with your body,

Pick that right hand back up.

And this time,

See if it works for you to put the back of your hand on the earth.

So the fingertips are still pointing back toward the right knee.

The palm is facing up toward your torso,

The back of the hand,

Working its way down toward the earth.

So now you get the opposite stretch.

And again,

You can hinge forward and back a few times and eventually maybe pause,

Hinging back just a little bit,

Just as much as you would like to,

Just as much as you need to feel some sensation in the top,

The outer portion of that wrist,

Hand,

Forearm.

And back through center,

And you can lift that right hand back up,

Maybe give it a little shake,

Maybe give it a little swirl around.

And before we do that on the other side,

It might feel nice just to come into a child's pose.

So you could bring your big toes together,

Maybe widen your knees a little bit,

Sink your hips back toward your heels,

Let your arms stretch long.

And it might even feel nice with your arms stretching up alongside your ears and your hands resting down on the earth to just plug your fingers into the earth and almost suction your palms away from the earth,

Like you're making little cupcake hands there.

If there's a cupcake underneath your palms,

You wouldn't want to crush it.

Fingertips pressing into the earth,

Palms suctioning away,

Just getting a little bit of breath and circulation again to the undersides of the wrists,

The palms,

Even into the fingertips.

And then you can put your hands back down on the earth,

And you can climb back up to your hands and your knees.

And we'll do that bit of wrist stretching on the left side.

So pick up your left hand a few inches,

Angle your fingers out away from the body,

And then see how it works for you to swivel your fingertips all the way back so maybe they're pointing back toward your left knee.

You can place the hand back down on the earth and then begin to hinge forward and back a bit,

Forward and back,

Just feeling into the palm,

The wrist,

Maybe into the forearm.

And if you like,

Pause for a moment,

Hinging back just a slight amount,

Breathing right into that left wrist,

Left palm,

Even the roots of the left fingers.

And come back through neutral,

Pick that left hand up,

And now experiment with putting the back of the hand on the earth so the fingertips are still pointing back toward the knee,

The palm is facing up toward your torso,

Back of the hand now is on the earth.

And again,

Just play around with that hinge forward and back,

Hinge forward and back,

Perhaps pause for a breath,

Hinging back,

Breathing into the outer edge of the wrist,

Breathing into the palm and the fingers.

And then come back through neutral,

Pick that hand up again,

Give it a little shake,

Give the wrist a swirl around,

And let's move from here into a comfortable seat.

So you could be sitting cross-legged on the floor,

You could be sitting up on a cushion or a blanket if your low back would feel a little bit better.

You could even be sitting in a chair from here.

Take your time to get comfortable in your seat and then interlace your fingers,

So just weave them together.

And then with your fingers interlaced,

Press your palms forward,

Fingers interlaced,

Palms pressing forward,

Arms stretching,

And just give yourself a long,

Full inhale and exhale right here.

One more breath like that,

Breathing right into the webbing in between each finger,

Really pressing the palms forward,

Drawing the shoulder heads back into their sockets,

Long arms,

Long relaxed neck.

And from there,

If you like,

You can keep the fingers interlaced and simply stretch the arms up alongside the ears so the interlaced fingers and palms are pressing up toward the sky.

And maybe let yourself breathe in one more inhale and exhale there.

And then slowly release the interlace of your fingers and begin to really slowly swirl your wrists around,

Almost like they're moving through a little bit of resistance,

Such as water,

Swirling the wrists around one direction,

Swirling them around the other direction.

Good.

Take another big inhale here and just let your arms and hands suspend.

They can be still.

And when you feel ready to exhale,

Let your arms float all the way down,

Just all the way down by your sides.

Pause there.

Maybe circle your shoulders around back and down once or twice.

And from here,

Let your right arm float forward.

It will just float forward like it's stretching out in front of you.

And one by one now,

Let's isolate the swirling into the fingers.

So start with your thumb and swirl the thumb around a few times.

And then index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

And pinky finger,

Isolating the movement of the fingers.

And then take an inhale and stretch your fingers open wide,

Really stretch from the palm out through the fingertips.

And when you feel ready to exhale,

Fold your thumb in and then gently fold your fingers around your thumb,

Making a soft fist.

Twice more like that.

Inhale,

Open the fingers wide.

The arm is still just extended out in front of you if that feels okay.

Exhale,

Fold the thumb in,

Wrap the fingers around the thumb.

Once more like that.

Inhale,

Open the hand wide.

Exhale,

Fold the thumb in.

Close the fingers around the thumb.

And then from here,

Simply circle the wrist.

So it's tempting to have that circling move all the way up the arm.

But just for a few times,

See if you can isolate the circling just to the wrist,

Just circling that fist around from the wrist and circle it the other way a couple of times.

Good.

And then gently open the hand again,

Maybe give the hand and now the whole arm a gentle little shake.

And then just rest that hand down,

Both hands now resting on your thighs or on your lap in some comfortable way.

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

Before we do that on the other hand,

Other arm,

Just reverse the cross of your legs if that might feel comfortable to rebalance the cross of your legs or adjust your seat in whatever way you'd like.

And your left arm forward,

Just let it extend forward.

And then one by one starting with the thumb,

We're going to circle the fingers of this hand.

So the thumb will circle a few times.

And then the index finger,

Middle finger,

Ring finger,

Pinky finger.

And then take in an inhale,

Stretch your fingers wide,

Way deep into the webbing in between the fingers.

As you exhale,

Fold the left thumb in,

Wrap the fingers around the thumb,

Twice more like that.

Inhale,

Spreading wide through the palm and the fingers.

Exhale the thumb folds in and the fingers wrap around it.

Once more,

Inhale wide open stretch with that whole left hand.

Exhale fold the thumb in,

Wrap the fingers.

We've got a gentle fist.

And then just from the wrist again,

See if you can circle that fist around so you isolate the movement,

Isolate the circulating into the wrist and stir it around the other direction a couple of times.

Open that hand,

Maybe give the hand,

The wrist and then the whole arm a gentle shake.

And pause again,

Let the backs of your hands rest on your thighs,

Let your palms face up.

And starting with the right forearm,

Just massage down the right forearm with your left hand so the fingers might wrap around the back of the arm and the thumb might press its way down the forearm and into the wrist.

You can press into the wrist,

Make little movements there.

And into the palm of the right hand,

That thumb might just massage its way around the palm.

The fingers could be counter moving around the back of the hand a little bit.

And then gently just pinch in between the webbing between each finger.

So in between the thumb and the index finger,

Index finger and middle finger,

Middle finger and ring finger and ring finger and pinky.

And then starting with your pinky,

Just give your pinky a little tug with your left fingers.

Give that right ring finger a little tug,

Right middle finger.

It's like you're opening up space in between each of the joints,

Right index finger and right thumb,

Little tug.

Go back to stillness,

Pause,

Let the hands rest on your thighs,

Take that in.

One last time if you'd like to switch the cross of your legs or adjust your seat in any way.

And we'll take the right hand over to the left forearm and just begin to massage down the left forearm in whatever way makes sense to you,

No right or wrong.

Just maybe little squeezes and releases all the way down that forearm and into the wrist.

You might walk the thumb through the tunnel of the wrist a bit into the palm of the left hand.

Make sure the thumb massages around the palm or the fingers press and release on the back side of the hand.

Then a little squeeze in between the webbing between each finger,

Right in between the thumb and the index finger,

Index finger and middle finger,

Middle finger and ring finger,

Ring finger and pinky.

And then starting with the pinky,

Give a little tug to that left pinky making space in between each joint,

Little tug to the ring finger,

To the middle finger,

Index finger and thumb.

Back to neutral.

You can just be in a seat again here.

If you'd feel more comfortable coming onto your back and just resting in a lying down position that's fine too.

And once again let your palms face up.

Backs of the hands can rest on your thighs if you're sitting,

Backs of your hands just resting beside you on the ground if you're lying down.

Wherever you are,

The backs of the hands feeling supported,

Palms feeling open.

Allow your breathing to be natural and relaxed.

Imagine that you're holding a bundle in each hand.

Something that's manageable but that has a bit of weight to it that you can take in with your imagination,

Maybe as if you have a small bag of flour in each hand.

Feel your hands holding and taking in that weight.

Feel your breath relaxed and easy.

With your imagination let those bundles that you're holding empty out half of their weight.

So they're just half as heavy now.

Feel a bit of imaginary sensation,

Imaginary weight in your palms,

Half as heavy.

Breath easy,

Shoulders relaxed,

Backs of the hands supported.

Little bit of weight in the hands.

And now with your imagination let these bundles take on the weight of balloons just barely there,

Barely any weight at all.

Just the softest sensation of holding something subtle.

Then begin to allow those imaginary balloons to begin to simply drift away on the breeze of your breath.

They might gently rise and just hover and then begin to drift away.

Notice the sensation in your hands and your wrists as those balloons drift away.

Your hands are symbols of the creating,

The caring for,

And the holding that we do in life.

As you watch in your mind's eye those balloons become even lighter and float even further away.

If there's something you've been holding that feels too tightly gripped,

Even metaphorically,

Too awkwardly held,

Perhaps even unnecessary,

Let those drifting balloons and your breath carry that extra heaviness away too.

Take in another conscious breath here and feel your hands and wrists open,

Refreshed,

Revived,

And ready to receive what's next for you.

Thank you so much for making this time and I'll be with you again soon.