Releasing Tension Into The Earth

In this practice, we let go of the tension from our body down into the earth with a simple shaking practice and return to our natural state of rest in the lower belly. This is a wonderful practice to do before any sitting meditation practice as it helps it relieves the body of tension, bringing us into a state of ease and openness.

Transcript

OK,

So we're starting in the standing up position.

And best to have your shoes off for this practice if you can,

So you can connect with the Earth better.

Let's see if you can scrunch your toes a little bit to connect with the energy of the Earth.

We're going to start shaking the body.

Music's going to start in a second.

And as we shake,

We start to release.

As we shake,

We start to release all the tension from the body.

We're starting to shake your body now,

Shaking from your pelvis.

Your knees are bent slightly.

And let yourself shake to the rhythm of the music.

You can shake twice as fast as the music if that suits you,

Or just in the rhythm directly with it,

But it'll work for your body.

And as you're shaking,

You're starting to breathe in deeper now,

Just long,

Slow breaths into the lower belly,

Using the nostrils.

And on the exhale,

If you want to sigh or release,

Feel free to do that,

Whatever way you're letting out the tension out of your body.

It could be a deep sigh on the exhale.

It could be out through the mouth.

It could be out through the nostrils,

Whatever you prefer.

Keep the rhythm flowing with the music.

Let the rhythm of the body flow with the music.

And loosen up all the joints of your body.

Make it softer and softer.

Anywhere you notice tension in the body,

You just let it fall down through the body into the earth.

You can squint your toes in a couple of times as you're shaking,

Just to really connect with the felt sense of the energy of the earth underneath you.

Keep shaking.

Keep letting your body get looser and looser,

Making sure your knees are not locked.

At the same time,

As your knees are not locked,

You're also straightening your spine,

So that the energy can really flow along your spine,

Right up to your tailbone.

It's almost like it's pulling back behind you,

Towards the wall behind you.

Just very,

Very slightly.

Your spine is elongated,

Your knees are loose.

All the other major joints of your body are loosened up,

Becoming more and more soft.

Keep shaking through the music,

Breathing nice and deep,

Feeling like the center of your breath is the center of the belly.

Resting,

Relaxing,

One more.

If you notice anything,

You can just treat that as tension,

And it'll fall down through your body.

You have the sense that your body is less and less physical.

It's more like liquid,

More like a river,

More like a flowing water.

As you're doing the practice,

See if you can bring a very gentle smile into this.

Bring your body to a relaxing deep breath.

Feeling that on every exhale,

Letting go of everything down through your body into the earth.

Let's scan the navel joints of the body as we're shaking.

Make sure we're letting all the tension go in those places.

Please soften and open your knees as you're shaking.

Your pelvis.

See,

All along your spine it's loose.

You're moving your spine in slightly different ways.

It's very supple,

Very open.

Shoulder blades.

See if you can really release your shoulder blades.

The breath is so long and slow and deep into the belly.

Exhaling any way that feels good to you,

Any way that helps you to release.

And your shoulders.

Maybe in some way with the rhythm of the music too,

Picking up your shoulders more and releasing it downwards into the ice cream.

You become even more aware of anywhere that you're holding it.

Just letting it go.

Your body becoming more and more loose,

More and more like a liquid,

Less and less solid.

Just letting that happen.

And your neck.

Again,

Any thinking,

Just let it fall downwards.

As you're shaking,

See if you can let the shaking happen from deeper and deeper inside your body.

So it feels less and less like you're doing it.

I like the shaking starting from the inside of the body.

It's like from the very cells and they're releasing everything by themselves.

And then we'll do a very simple movement to ground this energy.

So you can slowly let your body stop shaking and come to rest.

Your knees are still bent.

Your spine is straight.

You're just feeling your body now.

Feeling how it feels much more in flow.

And then we'll do a very simple movement where we'll first move our left hand out to the side of our body in an arching motion.

So it moves out to the side,

Goes above the head.

And as it goes above the head,

It goes straight down the middle of the body.

Maybe four to six inches away from the body in the front of it.

Your hand moves straight down,

Comes down to the lower belly.

You put your left hand on your lower belly.

And then you repeat the same motion nice and slow with your right hand.

You move your right hand out to the very side,

Becomes an arching motion,

Goes over to the top of the head.

Then your hand gets straight and comes down the very front line of the middle of the body.

Nice and slow.

As you move each hand,

As you draw the hand upwards,

It's almost like you're gathering the energy of the earth.

It comes to the top and then you move it down the center line of the body.

Bring it down to the lower belly where you gather it.

So in the first part of the practice,

We were shaking up the entire energetic system.

And now we're gathering all of that energy in the lower belly,

Centering it.

We'll be doing that for another minute or two.

Just gathering all the energy and feel like each time you move your hand down the center line of the body.

So you replace that hand and then you move the other hand out in the arching motion to the top of the head and then straight down through the front line of the body,

The middle.

And keep doing it,

Altering the hands.

Having the sense that the energy is gathering stronger and stronger in the lower belly.

Everything is coming to rest.

We'll do it one more time with each hand.

And finishing with the right hand.

You can place your left hand on your lower belly.

Again,

Your spine is still straight,

Nice and upright,

Your knees are bent gently.

Your feet are about hip-width distance apart.

Now have the sense that on the inhale,

You're breathing the energy in through the hands into the center of the belly.

So all of this lovely energy we've been gathering through our hands are now gathering and drawing into the center of the lower belly.

The center of the lower belly being like a reservoir for energy and vitality inside of us.

Again,

You can have that inner smile,

Just a very gentle smile on your face as you're doing this.

This helps the body to rest even more.

Long,

Long,

Slow breaths through the nostrils,

Very long now,

Very slow.

I feel like you're gathering all this energy from your hands in through your body into the center of your body.

Then you can just let your hands come to the side of your body nice and gently,

Just feeling your body again and noticing the difference before you start it now with how you feel.

Thank you.

Reviews

Thank-you Derek. Very effective way to release built up tension. The rhythm of the music helped.
For me the closing bell came suddenly and too soon.
I would encourage some lying down and breathing perhaps to follow, really absorbing the nourishing energy and letting go further into the earth.

Great to have a standing meditation/ Qi Gong practise ! And I love your voice ☺️🙏💕

Really helped! I was laughing and felt like I was dancing: delicious!

Really opens up, relaxes and centers all the energy down in a grounded way into the open body.

Loved the shaking part. So good for the body.🙏💚

Wonderful- I always wake up stiff and tense. This really got rid of that negative energy. I feel good. Thank you 🙏🏻 🌸

So helpful to release all the holding. Thank you!

Thankyou really needed to do this, feeling revitalised

Excellent practice, thank you!
💜🙏🏼💜

Wow that actually worked amazing! Wasn't expecting the movement but it was exactly what I didn't know I needed.

Great for releasing tension. Will use in my teens mindfulness class.

Interesting. Good start to the day and I feel better after doing this. Wasn't expecting the movement so I had to change location for privacy. (Would have looked strange to my family).

This was SO fun! Great way to start the morning. Would have liked a few more reminders to breathe near the end, but overall fantastic & quick.

Loved this exercise! Felt really great to start the day and release the links from sleeping funny :-)
I will be doing this one again, thank you!

Wonderful way to start the day.

I loved this. Perfect way to feel grounded while mindfully releasing tension. Great way to start or end your day.