7 Stations Of The Spine

The seven stations of the spine is a body scan that passes from the soles of the feet up the legs and then to the 7 points in the spine and the associated viscera. The emphasis is on a playful, curious quality of attention that has no expectations or judgment. It finishes by releasing tension through the top of the head and then breathing white light down from the top of the head and out through the soles of the feet.

Transcript

So in this meditation called the seven stations of the cross,

You may lie down.

It can be done in the morning or in the evening before going to sleep,

Or the morning before you wake up,

Or the evening before you go to sleep,

Or any time during the day.

Making sure that you are going to be warm for the next 20 minutes and as comfortable as you can be.

So lying on a yoga mat or if not on your bed.

You can also put a cushion under your knees if that helps support your back.

And we're going to go on a journey with our attention from the soles of the feet all the way up to the top of the head.

You can compare those two places in your body right now.

So the soles of your feet,

There's a point right at the center of your feet.

You might feel a certain tenderness there,

Those points in the soles of your feet.

And there's a similar kind of tender spot right on the crown of your head,

The fontanelle,

Which remains without skull protection when you're a baby.

Slowly closes.

Seeing if you can feel that tenderness there as well.

Just comparing and contrasting that point on the top of the head with the bottom of your feet.

And it might be that you can't feel anything at the moment in those places,

Either of those places.

That's perfectly fine.

Just let your attention rest in those points.

Okay,

So there's quite a distance between them,

Some distance to cover.

Let's start now with the soles of the feet.

And at any point during this where you feel a certain amount of discomfort,

You can always return to the breath,

Letting the attention ride the breath all the way in and all the way out.

It can be a kind of safe haven should you encounter difficult sensations.

And indeed you can use the breath,

Breathing out to just loosen,

Soften any tensions you encounter along this route.

So starting now with those two points on the left and right feet,

The bottom of the feet,

Letting the quality of the attention that you bring to these points be one of friendly curiosity.

You might even say a childlike,

Playful curiosity.

One that has no expectation of what you find there and no judgment either.

Just allowing what it is you feel just to be what you feel.

And if you notice the mind becoming involved in this,

Just acknowledge that,

Dropping that balloon and just coming back to these points in the body we're going to pass through.

So these points are the soles of the feet.

What energy can you sense there?

How does energy manifest for you in these points?

There's no need to move your feet,

Even if you feel they're a bit tickly,

Seeing if you can just encounter,

Meet that sensation,

Whatever it is as it is.

Let's shift our attention now from the soles of the feet and now taking in the bone and the flesh,

The tendons and sinews,

The skin of the whole of your left and right foot,

The ankles and heels.

Traveling up the legs with your attention to the bottom of the legs,

The calf muscle and shin bone on both left and right legs.

Up to the knees.

Continuing on our journey up the thighs,

The thigh muscles and bones to the hips and buttocks and that whole pelvic area,

Which is at the bottom of the spine.

This is our first station where we will just rest our attention.

If you notice the mind wonders,

That noticing is also mindfulness.

So there's no need to be judgmental or critical about that.

Simply once you notice,

Bringing the attention playfully back to this point at the bottom of the spine and the whole pelvic area,

Wherever you feel tension or a tightness,

As you breathe out,

Seeing if it's possible to soften,

Open,

Allow.

You can even repeat to yourself,

It's okay to feel this,

Whatever it is,

It's okay to feel this.

Traveling up the spine to a point equivalent to the belly button at the same height there.

So taking in the lower belly,

The lower back,

Letting your attention play around this area.

Really being curious about what's here for you right now.

The body is always present.

Our attention meanwhile can flit into the past and future,

But we're making that deliberate choice to be with the body in this moment,

On this journey.

Shifting and resting our attention now a little further up the spine in the solar plexus,

So the other upper part of the abdomen.

Again if you encounter difficult sensations,

Pain,

Tension,

As best you can,

Breathing into allowing,

Opening,

Softening these tender parts.

We continue on our travels up to the heart center in the spine and that whole area of the heart and the lungs,

The chest.

Again as we explore this area like a child in a playground,

Let's also play with our attention all the way down the arms,

The shoulders,

The upper arms,

The elbows,

Both left and right,

The forearms,

Wrists,

Hands,

Thumbs and fingers.

And coming back the same way up,

Back to the heart center,

All along as we breathe out,

Softening,

Opening,

Allowing us to feel whatever we feel.

We can't heal what we can't feel.

So the first stage of healing is to feel,

And the second stage is to release or express,

And that is why we move up to the throat area and the neck,

And allowing any sound that wants to come out to come out.

It might be a sigh,

Whatever sound that wants to come out,

Just allow it to come out,

Not forcing anything,

Simply through just softening,

Opening,

Allowing what you feel to be felt.

Sometimes it feels like there's a tight grip around our neck,

Just allowing that grip to soften with each out breath.

Coming up now into the head,

So the spine continues up into the brain and into a point in the center of the brain at the level between the eyes.

So playing with our attention around this mask we call a face,

Which as we explored is created in the heart when we are in the womb and then opens out.

So just relaxing the face and letting your attention play along,

Your jaw bone,

Your chin,

Your mouth and lips,

Your nose,

Your cheeks and cheekbones,

Your eyelids,

Your eye sockets,

Your eyeballs,

Your eyebrows,

Traveling around to the ears,

The temples,

The back of the head,

And the top of the head,

The forehead,

And then the top of the head.

And all the tensions that you gathered and noticed on the way on this journey,

Let them evaporate through the top of the head,

Releasing them through the top of the head,

Letting all those tensions and discomforts that we noticed on the journey be released through the top of the head,

Letting them go,

Surrendering them through the top of the head,

Clearing us out so that now when we breathe in,

We breathe in a white light back through that hole in the top of the head that we're imagining,

And we breathe that white light,

That purifying,

Cooling white light,

Breathing it down through the body,

Back down through the soles of the feet so that any remaining tension comes out as like a dark smoke out of the bottom of our feet through the soles of our feet into space or into the ground,

You might like to imagine.

So white light through the top of the head,

Down through the whole body,

Passing down to the,

Through the bottom of the feet as a dark smoke.

Finally,

As we come to the end of this practice,

Simply lying here,

Resting in this awareness of a body,

A body that's breathing,

A body that's feeling,

A body that,

For want of a better word,

Is bodying.

And see if it's possible to let go of this concept of my body and simply rest in the awareness.

Taking a deep breath in,

Breath out,

A deep breath in,

And a deep breath out,

A deep breath in and holding it and breathing out and starting to move your fingers and toes,

Stretch if you wish,

Opening your eyes if you're ready,

But in your own time.

Might choose simply to go to sleep if it's the evening or continue with your day,

Start your day if it's the morning.

Reviews

Thhank you Iwan! That was lovely. You have a soothing voice, lovely invitational language and well paced.