Mindful Movement Seated In A Chair

This is mindful movement practice is designed for those who prefer to be seated in a chair. It takes the participant through a few simple, but helpful movements to help focus on the felt experience of the body at this unique moment in time.

Transcript

Welcome to mindful movement seated in a chair.

Mindful movement is related to yoga but is not yoga.

With mindful movement we move deliberately sensing the experience of the movement from the inside out and to the best of our ability without striving or judging.

Our bodies feel different every day,

Every hour,

Even every moment.

During this practice we assume an attitude of openness to the felt experience of what it's like to inhabit this body for now.

Find a comfortable chair where your feet are flat on the floor or otherwise supported.

If you are more comfortable using the chair's back support feel free to use it but be sure your back is upright with a gentle sense of uplift.

If you do not need back support find a comfortable upright posture sitting close to the edge of the chair.

Again feet should be supported.

Take a few moments to find a posture that works for you at this time.

Begin by sitting tall and feeling the whole body as you sit.

You may rest your hands in any comfortable position on your thighs or at your sides but just for a moment sit tall and just be with the sitting.

When you are ready bring your arms palms facing one another forward in front of you slowly deliberately and then bring them up as high as you like perhaps even with your ears perhaps a little lower and just feel what that is like at this moment.

Do your hands feel different than when they were down on your lap or at your sides?

Do your shoulders feel different?

What is the effect of your arms up in the air?

And then bring your arms down slowly deliberately and noticing how the feeling within your arms shifts in relation to gravity in relation to the rest of your body as you bring your arms back to their resting position.

Next we're going to do a few shoulder rolls so again rest your hands comfortably on your thighs or anywhere you like where you are comfortable and then bring your shoulders forward up and back in a rolling motion at your own pace and then try doing another shoulders forward up back and down and then just for fun let's do two the other way shoulders back shoulders up forward and down and then do one more shoulder roll starting with shoulders back at your own pace and let's take a moment to reflect do your shoulders feel different after that mindful movement is there some sort of echo in the body of the shoulder rolls if not that's okay or you may sense something there's no right or wrong here next the invitation is to raise your left arm up pointing toward the sky or however close to that you are comfortable to do at this time and then lean slightly over to the left where do you feel that stretch in your hand in your arm perhaps your shoulder your side and then when you're ready bring that arm back to its resting position and repeat that movement on the right side at your own pace where do you feel the stretch what is that experience like at this moment when you're ready return to the resting position sitting in your chair with a gentle sense of uplift next the invitation is to do a seated balance in this case bring your arms out to your sides perhaps a T shape or a little lower if that is more comfortable for you and then choose one of your knees and straighten your knee bringing your foot out in front of you as high or as low as you are comfortable just balance in that way for a moment one foot up arms out to the sides and then thoughtfully deliberately return to your resting position and now to the other side arms at the sides in a T position and leg up as high or as low that is good for you at this moment in time and then of course return to the resting position whenever you are ready if at any time any of these movements are not comfortable for you or just don't feel right at this moment omit the movement or modify it in any way you like the point of mindful movement is to experience what you're experiencing with movement so you can really do anything that feels right at this time really next we're going to do a seated forward fold so feel the length of your spine for a moment and with your hands resting on your knees or your thighs gently lean forward as far as you feel comfortable at this moment in time nice long spine lengthening out of the belly and using your hands to support your body do you feel a stretch along the back is this a pleasant movement or perhaps an unpleasant movement again if it's unpleasant in any way there's no need to do it and then when you are ready return to a seated position pushing yourself up supported by your hands and then rest for a few moments in the seated position does the forward fold has it left this this any sort of a feeling in your body a stretch somewhere or resonating somewhere or has it left no mark at all next we're going to do a seated knee to chest hip rotation a strap may be helpful if you have one handy but if you don't that's okay to put your hands beneath your leg your thigh just above your knee and lift as high as you feel comfortable at this moment in time no straining and then when you're ready put your knee back in its resting position and repeat that movement on the other side you and when you're done on that side simply lower your thigh back to the chair and come back to your resting seated position next we're going to do a seated twist so you may want to hold on to the side of your chair as you twist over to one side reach over with the either arm just support yourself on the chair so that your back is straight but is twisting perhaps with the upper back first in the lower back second or perhaps even the other way around if that's more comfortable for you today very gentle twist no straining and then you may if you like turn your neck in that same direction but with no straining we'll take a few moments with that movement and then return to Center and at your own pace repeat on the other side and then lastly we're going to just rest sitting as we end this session of mindful movement you may want to close your eyes take a few deep breaths and simply inhabit your body what does it feel like now what are you experiencing at this time take a nice deep easy breath and congratulate yourself for taking this time to do mindful movement

Reviews

Enjoyed the pleasure of simple movements and reflecting on the feelings in the body. The time went by quickly!

Thank you so much 🌺🌺🌺for the wonderful mindful movement in the chair 🪑 in these times it is so relaxing and makes me smile 💐 stay safe 🙏 Namaste

Ahhhhh , looking forward to more mindful movement