This exercise is an invitation to center yourself,
And we do that along four dimensions length width depth and intent So to begin I invite you to stand or sit with your eyes open And then becoming aware of your posture So the feet rooting into the ground,
The crown of the head reaching towards the heavens Imagining length and space in the body Scanning through the body and allowing muscles to relax,
To settle towards the earth Starting with the head,
Relaxing the eyes,
The jaw,
The shoulders,
Chest,
The belly,
And the legs And as you inhale,
Relax your head and relax your shoulders And as you inhale,
Breathing deep into the belly region,
Following the in-breath in as the belly expands and then the ribs and then the chest And as you breathe out,
Following the breath out,
As the chest falls,
Then the ribs and then the belly And so length is a dimension of dignity,
Of being firmly planted on the ground and standing tall It's settling without collapsing Standing tall without striving It's settling without collapsing,
Standing tall without striving And then we move to the dimension of width Becoming aware of the left side of the body and the right side of the body Allowing the shoulders to be broad Breathing into the space between the shoulder blades,
Allowing the chest to open And the shoulders to roll back and down Now width is about balance,
So distributing the weight evenly between the left and the right And it's about relationship,
How we push things away or pull them close It's about taking up space and knowing that you fully belong And then we become aware of depth And often we're focused on that which is in front of us And we forget everything which is behind us Our history,
Our teachers,
The experiences that make us who we are Being grateful for that which has shaped you Being aware of the back side of the body Sinking into the back side of the body And then moving with the attention from the back side of the body Towards the front side of the body,
Through the middle Aware of the light that is in front of us And then moving with the attention from the back side of the body,
Towards the front side of the body,
Through the middle Aware of the organs,
Each doing their job,
Keeping you alive,
The heart beating,
The lungs,
Bringing oxygen in and waste out And from depth,
We move to that which matters most And this can be with that which is important to you or an intent So you might imagine your intent for the day or this moment Or you might imagine that which you love That which gives your life purpose And having called this to mind Imagining that this intent,
That it's filling you,
Like a warm golden light With each breath filling the body And that if someone were to walk in this room right now That they would see you radiating this quality with which you filled yourself And staying with this for just a moment Aware of the body as a whole And of having oriented yourself around that which matters most right now And knowing that you can return to this center and knowing that you have the choice to center yourself whenever it would be supportive throughout the day
