So to begin our meditation this morning,
We're going to just do some gentle movements for the neck and the head.
So first,
Just getting into your comfortable seated position.
It's important to move the flesh out from underneath your seat so your sitz bones are really plugged in.
And not just to the floor beneath you,
But really plugging into the earth and feeling that support of the earth,
And that she's always supporting us.
And feeling that support as you stack your shoulders over your hips,
Allowing for the space and the liberation of the spine,
Feeling a gentle pull through the crown of the head.
And getting any little wiggles out of your seat,
Coming into an easy seated position.
And from an easy seated position,
Keeping that pull through the crown of the head,
We're gently going to make some circles as if you had a paintbrush coming out of the top of your head.
So you may start with a small circle just to get the felt sense,
Like you're painting on the ceiling or the sky.
Noticing whatever color you project onto this paint.
And then making those circles a little larger.
And making them as big as you can.
Letting your ears come down side to side,
Chin to chest,
Lifting through the crown of the head,
Especially as you draw the head back.
Making one more big revolution and then pausing on the right with the ear towards the right shoulder.
You can reach your left hands down towards the earth,
Drawing the shoulder back and down,
Softening in both shoulders,
Softening the jaw.
You may explore with the nose,
Turning the nose up towards the sky and down towards the earth.
Just finding a nice stretch in your scalenes and the side of the neck.
Wherever it benefits you most,
You may pause in stillness or you may like to continue to move the head back and forth very gently.
Deep breath in,
A little fuller breath out.
Then we're going to lift the left arm as you inhale,
Just lifting the left arm straight out as if it's on the horizon line.
And you may take your right hand down by your side as a little support,
Keeping the right ear towards the right shoulder,
Just getting a little deeper stretch down the left arm,
Down the shoulder.
And explore with your thumb.
You can turn your thumb down towards the ground and then up towards the sky.
Getting this nerve stretch all the way down your left side.
Turning the palm face up,
Taking a deep breath in,
And full breath out.
And then inhale,
Come back up to center,
Taking both hands down to the lap,
Head lifts up.
And just feel the difference right to left.
You might want to wrap your right hand around you to touch the left side of your neck.
And gently squeeze the flesh between where the shoulder and the neck meet.
Gently give yourself a little massage,
A little loving touch and attention.
And then coming back up to center and feeling the difference from right to left.
Deep breath in.
On the exhale,
Let out a sigh.
Just releasing any surface tension held in the neck and shoulders.
Gently switching to the other side,
We'll just lower the left ear towards the left shoulder.
You may like to reach the right hand out towards the earth,
Relaxing both shoulders.
And then with your nose,
Just searching up and down,
Left and right.
Finding all these different aspects of the neck,
Hidden pockets of tension,
Just allowing them to unwind as they are brought into awareness.
Each little area of the neck.
Maybe pausing in one place for a few moments or continuing to move.
Then placing your right hand by you as you inhale,
Lift the right arm.
Bring the left hand to the ground for a little support,
Reaching the right arm out along the horizon.
Feeling wherever this stretch initially meets you as you lower the head to the left,
Reaching the right arm out across the horizon.
The left arm is there just to support.
You may like to turn the thumb down towards the earth,
Exploring this stretch,
Revolving the thumb back behind you,
And then all the way up to the sky,
And again back behind you.
Taking a couple of revolutions with the arm,
Just getting a nice stretch.
Then reaching the arm back out along the horizon line,
Palm face up,
And just pause here for a couple moments.
Reaching especially through the thumb and pointer finger,
Opening up these channels that correspond with the season of fall,
The long and large intestine,
Which go to the thumb and pointer finger.
One more breath here.
Then gently exhale,
Lowering the right hand to the ground,
Lifting the head back up.
You may like to reach your left arm around you to reach for the right neck and shoulder,
And just pinching along the area,
You can grasp your skin and lift it up,
Opening up that fascia and connective tissue across your neck and shoulder,
Letting your head rest into your hand,
Any kind of self-massage that feels supportive to you,
Releasing any habitual tension in the neck and shoulders.
This is the place,
They say,
We hold the weight of the world on the shoulders.
There's so much weight in the world to be held.
You don't need to hold it all on your own.
You can release some of that tension and we can hold it together.
Releasing your hands into your lap.
Just a couple gentle shoulder rolls with the breath,
Inhaling shoulders forward and up to the ears,
Exhaling them back and down as you're sliding your scapula into their socket,
Into sheath.
Now rolling the shoulders forward and up and exhaling,
Imagining you're sliding your shoulder blades down and into a sheath along your back,
Like their blades sinking into their pocket,
Rolling them up and forward,
Letting the shoulder blades separate now and open up,
And then exhale,
Drawing the shoulder blades together and down the back,
Getting a little bigger range of motion.
Last big revolution with the breath.
And then one more just to release tension.
We'll inhale and come up and gather tension.
Hold the breath in,
Make fist,
Tighten everything up,
Tight,
Tight,
Tight.
Hold,
Take another sip of air.
Exhale out through the mouth and let the shoulders drop.
Just shake it out.
Let your hands land into your lap,
Setting yourself up for your meditation,
Making any adjustments to your posture.
Opening the spine,
Closing the eyes if you haven't already,
Dropping in,
Noticing that felt sense of dropping in.
When we project into the world as we did that color of paint,
The projection comes from inside.
One of the valuable aspects of meditation is to polish the mirror of the heart so that we can see the world more clearly.
Letting the metaphorical muddy water settle so that we can see through the glass of water,
Which is consciousness.
Beginning this practice by just drawing attention very gently to the breath.
Realizing how it feels to just watch this breath.
Understanding the whole length of breath.
At the beginning,
It may be beneficial to name the parts of breath.
The beginning of the inhale,
Middle and end of the inhale.
The space between breaths.
The beginning of the exhale,
Middle and end of the exhale,
And the space between.
Giving the mind words can help to distill any thoughts that may be trying to capture your attention and draw you away from the moment.
You map this out and you thus understand that you may be able to balance out across the.
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