Hi,
Ellen here with Head and Heart.
Welcome.
I wanted to offer an embodied breathing practice.
We're so often stuck in our heads,
Right?
We're like little bobbleheads walking around almost forgetting that we have this incredible,
Intelligent,
Wise,
Sophisticated body.
This home we inhabit all the time.
Every moment here we are.
And so I'm offering this as a practice to just become aware and be in your body.
In this moment.
So finding a comfortable seat or laying down and gently become aware of your breath.
The in breath and the out breath.
On the inhale,
Inhaling up and out the crown of the head.
And on the exhale,
Exhaling down the spine and out the tailbone.
Let's do that together for a little bit.
Inhaling up the spine.
And exhaling down the spine.
Feeling aware of this spine.
On the inhale,
Really feeling into the flexibility and gentle and fragility of the spine around the neck.
On the exhale,
Really feeling into the thickness and the rootedness around the low back and the pelvis.
This incredible spine,
Flexible and expansive and mobile in the top.
And rooted and strong and steady at the base.
Inhaling up and down this spine.
Your mind may wander,
That's okay.
That's what minds do.
Just notice that and come back to the breath.
Come back to the spine.
I'll invite you to lean back on your shoulder blades,
Lean back into your skull.
We're beginning to rest on your skeleton.
We're so often forward focused,
Future tripping the front side of the body.
Just feel into the backside of the body,
This three dimensionality that we live in.
Leaning back.
Inhaling.
Feeling the back of your lungs fill as well.
The three dimensionality of the breath and the lungs.
It might help to note internally,
I breathe in,
I breathe out.
This body being breathed,
Letting your breath do its thing.
We don't even have to think about the breath.
It knows what to do.
And when distraction arises,
Because it will,
Just notice it.
There it is.
And come back to the breath.
Come back to being in this body and in this moment.
And then we'll just invite the practice of softening.
So on the exhale,
Whenever your body is exhaling,
Just invite a softening.
Softening around the neck,
Softening around the shoulders.
Maybe the jaw.
Forehead.
Sit bones get heavy.
Just soften in this body.
A respite from the doing.
Just being.
And I'll just invite you to bring a hand to your heart and just a nod of gratitude for all that this body does for you.
The heart that's pumping blood.
The lungs that are inflating and deflating.
The digestion.
The strength in your legs and arms.
This deep gratitude for this vehicle.
This home with which you reside.
Beautiful and gently and lovingly breathe through the end of the chime.
Take care.
