Hi.
I'm Lisa,
And I'll be your movement meditation guide for today.
Today we'll be practicing the spinal wave.
In the sagittal plane,
Meaning we're moving from front to back.
So begin in any seated position that's comfortable to you,
Even if that means you're on a chair.
Rest your hands on your knees or thighs and begin to imagine your spine moving like a wave through water.
Let the movement be soft.
Slow.
And fluid.
There is nowhere to get to.
Just stay with the wave.
Now let's break this down.
I will show you my side view and we're going to think about starting from the head.
And making a chin tuck,
A very essential movement actually.
So we're going to begin tucking our chin.
Let's simply sit tall and root down through the pelvis and slide the ears back over the shoulders.
And as you do this,
Sense the flattening of the back of neck.
Sense the lengthening through the back of neck and upper back as you draw your shoulder blades down from your ears.
And then allow that chin tuck to initiate your spinal wave.
Here's what I mean.
Draw your chin back into the chin tuck.
Then down into your breastbone,
Then reach the chin forward and lift the chin a little bit up before repeating a circle.
That occurs as you move the chin.
From a chin tuck.
To down into the breastbone,
Reaching forward the chin and lifting the chin a little bit up.
Inhaling and exhaling as you move through a gentle,
Spinal wave.
That initiates by drawing the chin back,
Then dropping the chin down,
Reaching the chin forward,
And lifting the chin a little bit up.
Inhaling and exhaling through the movement and allowing that wave to travel down your spinal column.
And feel a sensation of strength?
As well as softness.
Breathe with the movement.
Let your breath and your movement become one.
And get a sense of the direction you're moving in and try to reverse it.
Feel as though the wave is rising up from the ground.
Rising up and releasing out through your crown of head now.
As you breathe with it,
As you inhale and exhale and make audible exhales anytime.
You desire.
Notice where you can soften and notice where you can stay strong.
Let the movement come from a place of curiosity rather than effort.
And feel the rhythm of your own body.
Allow yourself to be moved by the movement itself.
Know that there is strength in fluidity.
And there is freedom in letting go.
Now we can practice this wave from many different positions.
So let's try it from our hands and knees,
The quadruped position.
Where we have our knees under our hips and our wrists under our shoulders.
And move with a cat and camel stretch with straight elbows.
Meaning find extension of your spine and then flexion of your spine.
Extension where you sink down through the lower back and look forward.
Flexion where you look to the navel and lift the navel.
Moving softly through those two positions before turning that too into a gentle wave.
I'll talk you through.
Flex your spine and look to your navel before pushing gently back.
Then extend your spine looking forward and pull your body forward.
There's a sensation of waving back.
And waving forward.
See if you can do that with straight elbows.
See if you can let your eyes be the guide.
So when you're at the front of the move,
Look to the navel and flex the spine before pushing back.
Then lift the eyes,
Extend the spine,
And pull forward.
Look to the navel,
Flex the spine,
Then push back.
Lift the eyes,
Extend the spine,
Then pull forward.
And reverse it as well.
Flexing the spine as you move forward.
Extending the spine as you push back.
Breathing through that wave.
As I said,
We can practice this from a variety of positions,
So let's take it to standing.
And let's stand with the feet about shoulder width apart,
The knees slightly bent.
And let's find the chin tuck.
And make a circle from there with the chin.
To initiate a spinal wave that travels from the crown of head down the body.
Let's think about tucking the chin at the start,
Then lowering the chin tight to the chest,
The breastbone,
Before reaching it forward and lifting the chin a little bit up.
And repeating,
Chin back,
Chin down,
Chin forward,
And up.
Chin slides back,
Chin lowers down,
Chin reaches forward and lifts up a little bit,
Keeping your eyes perhaps around eye level or just above.
At least for now.
And the chin tucked.
Slides back before it lowers and reaches forward.
And see if you can feel that circle also happening at your heart.
See if you can move your heart in that similar circle.
That you can notice from the side view,
Where the heart will pull back.
Think down,
Push forward and lift up.
Pull back.
Then drop and hollow.
Push forward and lift up.
And see if you can feel that ripple effect.
That wave traveling down your spinal column.
As you inhale and exhale with that movement.
And as you do this,
Attempt to keep your knees slightly bent the entire time.
Attempt to keep the same height.
Feel the difference between effort and ease.
Let your body remember how to move.
Movement doesn't have to be perfect to be meaningful.
Movement doesn't have to be perfect.
To be meaningful.
And when you're ready,
Reverse the direction of your wave.
Here,
Feel that wave rising up.
Rising up from the pelvis.
And releasing through the crown of head.
As you keep your knees slightly bent.
Pay attention in particular to the pelvis.
Notice a posterior tilt,
A tucking under of the pelvis,
And then push the pelvis forward.
Then find an anterior tilt and push the pelvis back.
So anterior tilt as we push the pelvis back.
Stay back and tuck the tailbone under to a posterior tilt and push the pelvis forward.
Notice how you shift the weight through your feet forward and back.
And we allow that pelvis to initiate the wave that rises up through the spine.
And breathe with that wave.
Let yourself explore the space.
Between strength.
And softness.
Between stability.
And movement.
Between holding on.
And letting go.
You don't have to be rigid to be strong.
You can be strong and fluid.
You can be grounded.
And free.
Keep waving and reflect on the idea that movement is a conversation with your body.
An opportunity to listen to the body.
Ask what the body needs.
And give the body time to heal.
Movement doesn't have to be perfect to be meaningful.
Movement doesn't have to be perfect.
To be meaningful.
Anytime you're ready to reverse your wave,
Feel into it.
Just do so.
And anytime you want to change the wave slightly,
Do so.
Here noticing how I'm moving up and down with the wave.
Breathing with it,
Inhaling,
Exhaling.
Reversing can make micro-changes to the spinal wave and explore what feels good.
It's really an opportunity to allow movement to create some space within you.
So feel yourself become more spacious.
Feel yourself coming back home to your body.
Back home to your breath.
Back home to yourself.
I am grounded.
I am fluid.
I am strong.
I am supple.
I am grounded.
I am fluid.
I am strong.
I am supple.
I am resilient.
I am adaptable.
I am fully alive in my body.
I am resilient.
I am adaptable.
I am fully alive in my body.
