Hi,
It's Ash from The Philosophy here with this week's Meditation and Mindful Movement.
This week I want to explore the feelings that are associated with pleasure and sensuality.
Because although sensuality can be linked to sexual pleasure,
I do believe we can tap into sensuality on its own.
For me,
Sensuality does not necessarily mean tapping into your sexual pleasure.
To be sensual is to gratify your senses.
What do you see,
Hear,
Smell,
Taste,
And feel?
In today's Meditation and Mindful Movement,
We explore how to create pleasure in day-to-day moments,
Exploring our body and using self-touch to begin creating that deeper relationship to sensuality.
So if you haven't already,
Finding a comfortable seat,
Maybe it's cross-legged or with the legs out in front of you,
Perhaps you need a wall or something behind you to support your spine.
Allow the eyelids to soften and potentially allow the eyelids to close.
Start to find your own natural rhythm of breath.
Breathing in through the nose and breathing back out through the nose.
Breathing in through the nose and breathing back out of the nose.
Try to find five more breaths like this.
Continuing to breathe in and out of the body.
Starting first to take in what you hear around you.
Really becoming present to the small sounds.
Perhaps you're outside and you hear birds or a car driving by.
Maybe you hear some light footsteps or if you are taking a moment in your office,
Maybe you still hear the clicking noise of a computer.
But really start to become aware and present of these small noises,
These gentle noises and perhaps finding joy in them and a little bit of pleasure in them.
The clicking of a keyboard reminds you that you have a job,
That you're lucky enough to have work or the little footsteps of maybe your kids running around is the joy of parenthood,
Although sometimes challenging.
Maybe it's the sound of nature that gives you the joy and pleasure of being able to be outside and find moments to soak it all in.
As you continue to breathe in and out of the nose,
Stay present to these small noises around you,
What you hear.
You can start to now move into noticing maybe anything that you smell,
The smell of your home,
The space around you,
The fresh air.
And as you continue to breathe and check in with what you can smell around you and try to find the small joy in that.
And continue now to tap into anything that you taste.
Because this is a seated meditation,
Perhaps there is nothing in your mouth,
But there could be lingering flavors from a meal.
Or maybe you just explore kind of the inner workings of your mouth,
How your tongue feels on the roof of your mouth.
And finally now start to move into and notice how you feel physically in your own body.
How do you feel in the sit bones,
Noticing the sensation of the sit bones meeting the cushion or the earth.
Maybe there's a feeling of breeze on your skin or the texture of your clothes on your skin or a blanket on your lap.
And again noticing how you feel,
Exploring the joy in that,
The small pleasures here of being able to be in your body.
And now we start to move into our mindful movement,
Exploring pleasure using self-touch.
So staying seated,
Just turn your left palm to face up so you're exposing your left forearm using your right hand,
Your right fingertips.
Start to slowly drag your fingertips from your left wrist all the way up towards the left shoulder.
Notice as you move quickly through this and could you do it again,
But really take your time.
The taps now and the second time you go through,
Use a little bit more pressure.
Draw those fingertips up the left forearm,
The bicep to the shoulder.
And now do the same thing with the right forearm.
So turning your right palm to face up,
Use your left fingertips to start to trace and feel along the surface of your right arm up towards the shoulder.
Exploring and playing around with different pressure that you use in the fingertips,
Moving slowly,
Moving quickly.
And then allow both arms now just to fall,
Hands in your lap.
And so pleasure and sensuality can be tapped into in these small moments day to day.
Finding joy in the everyday and sometimes the mundane,
Finding pleasure in it.
And for me the pleasure comes in the moving slowly and really taking a moment to soak in and see what's all around me.
So I move slow sometimes when I wash the dishes and when I apply lotion in the morning or even when I shower.
Sometimes when I want to link my sensuality to my sexuality and find sexual pleasure,
A lot of times it's about moving slow and knowing how you feel in your own body and then being able to vocalize that.
So remember today just to move slowly if you can,
If only for a brief moment.
It will become easier.
And just remember,
Why rush?
Have a lovely rest of your day.
