Good morning.
Take a moment to feel your body in relation to where you are sleeping.
Feel your back body supported.
Bring your awareness inward to begin to notice your body breathing.
Feeling the gentle rise and fall of the breath.
Gently begin to gather a longer,
Smoother inhalation and a longer,
Smoother exhalation.
Inhaling vitality and nourishment.
Exhaling away heaviness,
Lethargy.
Do this a few times,
Literally breathing yourself awake,
Smoothing out the bumps of the breath.
Very slowly,
Let the breath come back to its natural rhythm.
Gently begin to draw the knees into your chest.
As you hug your knees gently into your chest,
Begin to rock yourself side to side,
Gently massaging your low back.
Continue to keep hugging the knees.
Relax your head,
Soften your shoulders,
And extend your left leg long.
Your right knee stays in close,
Hugging at the shin or the back of the thigh.
Begin to invite little circles into the right hip joint,
Weaving the intelligence of your breath in through the circular motions.
And reverse the direction,
Circling the opposite way.
Then gently extend the leg to the sky.
Clasp and interlace your hands at the back of the thigh or knee.
Relax your shoulders,
Soften your collar bones.
As the leg is extended high,
Begin to roll the ankle and wiggle the toes.
Point and flex.
Draw the right knee in close to the chest.
Gently guide it over to the left side of your body for a twist,
Making sure your top hip is stacked right over the bottom hip.
If not,
Scooch your bottom hip back a little bit.
And choosing what feels best for your arms.
Maybe your left hand reaches up to take hold of the right knee for a gentle added weight and support.
Maybe the right arm extends out wide to the right or up above you,
Softening the underarm and elbow.
The head can be neutral or maybe the head decides to roll comfortably away from the knee side.
Gentle breath,
Soothing your body awake.
Take one more breath here.
And then hug the right knee in close.
Come back onto your back.
Reset your spine as you hug both knees into the chest.
Rock yourself gently,
Side to side.
And then we hug the left knee in and extend the right leg long.
As you hug the left knee in,
Begin to create circular motions through the left hip joint.
And reverse the circles the opposite direction.
Extending the leg high when you're ready,
Clasping and interlacing behind the thigh or the knee.
And as the leg is extending high,
Soften the shoulders,
Soften the collarbones,
Relaxing the throat.
Roll the left ankle,
Wiggle the toes,
Point and flex.
And then we'll draw the left knee back in close to the chest.
And we twist to the opposite side,
Guide the left knee over to the right,
Scooch the bottom hip back a little.
So your left hip is aligned directly over the right hip,
Stacking the pelvis vertically.
Maybe right hand reaches up to the left knee as a gentle added,
Comfortable weight.
Maybe the left arm opens wide to the left or up above you,
Softening the underarm,
The elbow,
Head neutral or maybe rolling away from the knee side.
Going back home to the breath.
Feeling the breath soothing you,
Holding you,
Noticing the breath support and gently awakening the body this morning.
One more breath.
We hug the knee back in as we roll back onto our back.
Gather both knees into your chest now.
Gently rock side to side.
Hands cup the kneecaps.
And from here,
Circle the hips separately.
So as you're lying on your back in your bed,
Open the knees wide,
Draw them down together,
In and up.
Opening the knees,
Circle down together,
In and up.
Notice how the knees and hips are mirroring one another in their movements,
Soothing the hips,
Awakening the pelvis,
Our sacred center.
Reverse the circles.
Weave the breath in with your circles.
And eventually you can roll to one side,
Pausing here,
Or feel free to rock forward and back along your spine.
Eventually,
Either rolling to your side or rocking spine-wise,
We make our way gently,
Like we're moving through water,
To a comfortable seat.
Feel free to lean back on the wall behind you or pillows,
Propping yourself up accordingly to sit spaciously,
Held and supported.
Sometimes resting in the knees or thighs.
Eyes are closed.
Gazing inward.
As we're gazing inward,
Noticing your breath.
The natural breath.
Undisturbed and spacious.
Notice where the breath is appearing to you right now.
Notice how the breath is showing up.
The curious lens.
Feeling the gentle expansion on the inhalation,
Unforced and the softening on the exhalation.
Guide your awareness now to the belly.
Notice the belly's softness.
Allow the belly to become even softer.
Witness your breath here within the belly.
Natural breath.
Noticing how the chest and ribs are barely moving.
Most of the movement as we point our awareness to the belly is in the front of the belly,
The low back,
The lower right side waist,
The lower left side waist.
This three dimensional form of your breath in the belly.
Feel free to have your hands in your lap or in a particular mudra or on your knees or thighs or possibly one hand to heart,
One hand to belly.
Soften the shoulders.
Allow the elbows to come in close to the side body at ease.
Begin to move into smooth diaphragmatic breath.
Smooth and steady.
We'll inhale for one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Inhale one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Continue.
Smoothing out the bumps of the breath.
Smooth and steady.
On a scale of one to ten,
We're using about a three in our effort and in our strength.
Notice the breath's efficiency over time as you consciously shape the breath.
Chest and ribs barely moving.
Continue.
The breath is smooth,
Patient,
Steady.
Devoting all of your awareness to diaphragmatically breathing for one more minute.
The inhale melting into the exhale.
The exhale melting into the inhale.
Seamless breath.
Low and deep.
Smooth and steady.
Take three more cycles.
And on the last cycle,
Release the practice.
Let it go.
Release the conscious shaping of your breath and simply be with the breath as it is.
Let it return to its natural resting space.
The breath's natural state.
Gazing inward and acknowledging any shifts in your body,
In the breath.
Also acknowledging the state of mind.
Joining the palms together in front of the heart.
Swishing the palms together briskly.
Noticing the sound.
Feeling the warmth.
Drawing this warmth in through the body.
We bring the hands just up in front of the closed eyes.
Take a few deep breaths in.
Drawing in this warmth close to you,
Allowing your inner light to shine eternally.
Join the palms back together in front of the heart.
Anjali mudra bowing the head.
May you have a wonderful rest of your day ahead.
Namaste.
