We begin our monthly four hour silence retreat with a meditative guided movement and breath practice to release stored trauma and clear our system. We move from stillness and soft belly breathing for two minutes into two minutes of Shaking the Tree (QiGong). As we come back into mindful breathing for another two minutes, we notice how our energy and breath have changed and the effect of "throwing it off" during shaking. We dance for about four minutes then we're back to breathing and stillness. Our experience is different each time. After we've let go of tension, are present in our body and relaxed, we settle into the calm alert stillness of yoga nidra.