It's interesting when we change our view of ourselves from just dense physical beings to the underlying energetics of our being.
When we can actually switch our attention to that,
Which we don't normally do because the dense physical is so much more obvious.
But as we start to connect,
We take ourselves back a little bit from the world as being just a physical space.
Close our eyes and we go into the inward landscape.
It becomes a different experience.
As we notice where we are physically,
Where we are with our nervous system,
Where we're breathing,
We can eventually understand this as almost like a switch between how we perceive our experience as fundamentally solid and how we're separate and how the world is dangerous to something where we can go deeper within the physicality into something more subtle where everything is connected and where we feel safer,
Where we feel less separate anyway,
Less need to protect.
Just taking the breath,
Allowing it to drop into the belly.
That shift from chest to belly is more profound shift than it seems just from the location.
Although we can begin to think about,
Understand,
Connect with this notion of what's above the diaphragm in our body is conscious and what's below it is more murky and unconscious.
We often brace ourselves from all of that unconscious,
Murky stuff and we reside up here in the conscious area.
Letting the diaphragm move and letting the breath go down into the belly allows us to connect a little more deeply with this unconscious material.
Just delve deeper into our being and it's somewhere in here where both seems like the physicality disappears,
But it's also where we can ground ourselves.
Anxiety from an energetic view is energy rising a little bit too fast.
Energy being released or unmoored,
Grounded and floating upwards.
That's often how it feels.
We feel a little bit lightheaded sometimes from it,
A little bit overwhelmed in that part of our body.
It can feel like we're going to pass out from that same kind of energy rising quickly too quickly.
So with breathing,
With meditation,
We can bring those energies back down.
Connect them.
So as you bring your breath in downward into the belly,
Even that downward motion of the breath starts to bring the energy deeper into the body.
Bringing that oxygen,
That chi in and downward.
As we're breathing and as we're bringing that energy inward and downward,
Can feel deeper into the body,
Down into the bottom of the torso,
The perineum.
And even feel specifically to that area between the anus and the genitals,
Right down the bottom of the torso.
And direct the breath downward towards that spot,
Towards that area,
Towards that part of us.
We can refer to it as where the root chakra is located.
Breathing down,
Letting the belly come out,
But focusing that awareness and that energy downward.
And you can imagine yourself standing like a tree with your legs rooted in the ground as though your feet were literally underground.
And as you breathe in,
As you breathe down,
You can see,
Feel,
Experience energy coming down through the body and into the earth.
With each breath,
New roots start to form from your legs,
From your feet down into the earth,
Connecting you gently but firmly grounding you.
So as you breathe in,
This energy comes nice,
Gently but firmly down into the earth through you.
First through your belly,
Down to the perineum,
Down the bottom of the torso,
Down the legs,
Into the earth.
And when you breathe out,
You can imagine,
Feel a little bit of that energy rising back up,
Gently up the back of your spine,
Up towards the top of your head.
And then as you breathe in again,
Bringing that energy down the front of your body,
Down into the belly,
Down into the perineum,
Down the legs and into the earth.
So the energy becomes grounded.
It still circulates.
Nothing is floating away.
Nothing is unmoored.
We connect ourselves into this inner space with a dense physical aspect of our perception,
Loses its dominance,
But at the same time we connect deeply into the physicality of our earth,
Of all that we are deeply intertwined with.
Breathing in,
Allowing all of that energy to come down.
Breathing out,
Allowing that energy to rise through the back of the body up over the top of the head.
Breathing in,
Pulling it back down.
Allowing that out-breath to then be breathed in by the other trees in the forest of grounded people in the forest of other actual trees.
Their out-breath can come into you as an in-breath connecting,
Stabilizing,
And networking.
Realizing the interdependence,
The interconnection,
The deep interplay of all beings,
All rooted in the earth.
Drawing energy down into the earth,
Back out into the body.
And as you take the breath in and down,
You are also growing,
Expanding the trunk of the tree.
The trunk of the tree that you are grounded in the earth,
New roots coming out,
Forming,
Spreading,
And the trunk expanding and growing upwards,
Branches coming out.
Nothing else to do.
But attend to the growing of the tree.
Attend to the energies in the tree.
Okay?
And seeing yourself now as this very strong,
Very well rooted tree.
Being a person,
You're able to move,
Able to walk.
You're able to be free while still grounded,
Still connected.
There's no restrictions.
You have a full footing,
Still rooted.
The roots never leave.
There's nowhere to float off to.
We remain here,
Being grounded,
Bringing the energy in through the breath down into the earth,
Breathing out,
Allowing some of this energy from the earth to rise up through our body,
Pulling it back down.
As you continue to breathe in,
Out,
Circulating energy,
Tree,
Rooting the tree,
Expanding and growing branches,
Extending leaves,
Forming,
Opening upwards to receive the energy of the sun.
So now as you breathe in,
Bringing the breath in,
Bringing the breath down,
Also bringing in the energy of the sun through the leaves,
Also down into the earth,
Transforming that energy into the life that we are.
Strengthening,
Solidifying,
Grounding.
Allowing for the inspiration,
The breath,
Absorbing the rays of the sun.
Grounding,
Rooting,
Nourishing,
Thriving,
Gently circulating energy within the body.
And then noticing sensations,
Calmer,
Steadier,
Quieter,
And stable.
And then we keep this feeling,
Keep this circulation,
Keep this grounded quality as we go.
To the rest of our day.
Looking back,
Remembering the feeling,
Remembering the grounding,
Physically,
Viscerally remembering.
And whenever the energy starts to shift.
Take just a couple of deep,
Full breaths.
And as you're ready,
You can open your eyes and come back,
Move into the next part of your day.
