Welcome to the short meditation for grounding.
My name is Lucy and I'll be guiding you through a breath-focused meditation which helps to open up your attention to where you might be holding tension in the body and a simple technique to support the washing down and out of wherever you might feel that holding or stuckness and to cultivate a sense of clearer and more spacious embodiment.
So you can begin seated or even standing if you prefer but in a position where you can sense the bottom of your body whether that's your feet or your sitting bones yeah connected to a steady and stable surface.
If you're seated the pelvis is balanced and there is an easefulness in how your spine lifts up and out from this pelvic wall.
If you're standing feel free to rock side to side gently and come towards a point of center of evenness.
Maybe a little movement around the shoulders and neck can help you feel into the space that is so often tensed or holding.
Just take a moment here to wash your awareness from the top of your head down past the shoulders and the chest and waist,
Hips,
The legs,
All the way to the heels and toes and acknowledge as if gently bowing to any part that feels like it's drawing your attention like it's in need of some tending or some care.
Begin to be aware of your breath drawing in through the nostrils filling down perhaps past the normal upper space of the chest but a little deeper towards the backs and the sides and the bottoms of your lungs and as you exhale letting that flow out smoothly through the nostril.
It feels like the breath itself is a bit challenged in this moment.
You might offer the next breath out as a sigh knowing that the sigh is a lovely way to dispel even unconscious ways of holding in the body.
Begin to see or sense the channel at the center of your body as if you have a wide opening the crown of your head and roots growing out from the base of your body feet or pelvis and through this channel you might notice little parts that feel blocked stagnant tense.
Let that be okay and as you continue to find these full and spacious breaths,
Visualize,
See or sense or imagine that every inhale draws from the top of your head and from the vastness of the sky down through your body and like a river streaming through as you exhale it flows out through the roots at the bottom of your body connected deep into the earth.
So every inhale you draw in from the vastness above flowing through the whole center of your body and as you exhale let that dispel itself down through the roots and continue like this.
So every inhalation and exhalation becomes a way to form more connection with the sky spaciousness of freedom around you and with the ground the stable unchanging part that holds us up.
Inhaling flowing through the head and down through the center exhaling out through the base.
Now we'll take another few rounds of breath like this and with each breath you might notice even a tiny bit more flow or ease in the flow of the breath as if each inhalation and exhalation clears a little more space in the riverbed of that central channel in your body.
Letting thoughts,
Any plans,
Any expectations move through knowing they will be there to be collected if you wish at the end of this practice.
Let's take one more round here inhaling vast space holding an exhaling deep ground.
You are most welcome to continue this breath for as long as you need.
If you're ready to come back to life let this next breath be full and spacious.
Hold the breath as if circulating it around your heart space and as you exhale let the whole breath go.
You may like to gently invite a bit of movement into your shoulders,
Your hands,
Your feet and then softly slowly blinking open the eyes.
Give yourself a few moments to receive your surroundings,
To notice where you are and how you are choosing to be before returning to life.
Thank you for your practice.
