Flower Hand: Guided Somatic Practice

This guided somatic practice which I call “Flower Hand” brings attention to the breath, gesture, and body via early developmental movement. Our physical and psychological development is deeply woven together. When we tap into these early, primal rhythms we are restoring the building blocks for our movement, breath, and psycho social & emotional development. These early rhythms await our return to revitalize and inform us.

Transcript

Hi,

This is Meg Ranaldi of Body-Centered Inquiry.

And welcome to a somatic movement practice I call Flower Hand.

When is the last time you felt tenderness toward yourself?

That's such an intimate question,

Isn't it?

And it's the place I most love to be with another.

So much of what has motivated me through the decades in body-centered work is to witness how gentle,

Steady presence,

Guided movement,

And well-honed touch liberates the spirit of a person.

When we honor the body,

The spirit flies free,

And that honoring includes a tenderness toward ourselves.

Here's a guided practice that brings attention to the breath,

Gesture,

And body via early developmental movement.

Because psychological and physical development go together,

As in one cannot happen without the other,

So when we revisit our developmental movement,

We allow for the emergence,

Support,

And resolution of missed psycho-emotional experience.

The intent here is nourishment and discovering how to turn toward the world as it is with renewed resilience and trust.

You may do this practice sitting or lying down.

Have what you need to be comfortable.

If you're sitting in a chair,

Have your feet flat on the floor.

Have sock or bare feet.

Remove your glasses,

A tight belt,

Anything that might restrict you.

And when you're ready,

Bring your awareness to your body and its connection to the support beneath you.

Allow yourself to drop in.

Allow your attention to gradually turn away from the outside world for a little while.

Close your eyes or allow them to rest in a soft gaze.

While being aware of your support,

Bring your awareness to your breathing.

Have your arms long by your sides or resting in your lap.

Be aware that the earth below is a living being and moves toward you as you allow yourself to rest into the earth.

You are on the earth whether you are on the floor,

A bed,

Or a chair.

It's the earth that supports us all along.

Continuing to follow your breathing,

Allow your attention to shift to your right hand,

To the fingers,

Thumb,

And palm of your right hand.

And begin to make a slow,

Very slow movement of opening the hand and then closing the hand such that all the fingers and thumb close together like a flower.

The tips of the fingers and the thumb of the right hand converge like a flower or a jellyfish.

Slowly the fingers touch and then ever so slowly the fingers open out.

Not stiffly or suddenly,

But slowly,

Gradually,

Like the opening and closing of a jellyfish or a sea anemone or a flower.

Listen in for a slow,

Simple rhythm of opening and closing,

Opening and closing.

Make sure you're not snapping your hand shut or splaying it too far open.

It's a soft,

Gentle motion.

Invite tenderness.

And begin to find a way to connect this gentle motion of opening and closing your hand with when you breathe in and when you breathe out.

What's natural for you in this moment?

Remain aware of the ground beneath you.

Your arm can rest easily in your lap or on your body or on the ground.

Where can your arm be that there's no extra effort happening as you do this simple movement of quietly,

Slowly opening your right hand and then closing it in a rhythmic way that is connected to your breathing?

Take your time to explore this.

Pause the audio as you need to.

And when you're ready,

Rest your right hand.

And listen through yourself for any echoes of that movement,

For anything that may be present.

You don't have to strain.

If there's nothing there for you right now,

So be it.

You don't have to manufacture any experience.

And breathing,

Feeling the support beneath you.

Now begin the same movement with your left hand,

Your left hand only.

Allow the right hand to rest.

Find a simple way for the left arm to be supported so that the movement in the hand can be simple and unburdened.

Just a gentle gathering of the fingertips and thumb of your left hand converging and slowly opening apart.

Listening through yourself for a connection between this movement and your breathing.

When you breathe in,

Notice what you're doing with your hand.

When you breathe out,

Notice what you're doing with your hand.

And bring into your awareness the center of the palm of your left hand as well.

Go gently.

We do so much with our hands.

Could you invite even more tenderness into this movement while you breathe in and breathe out?

Continue this movement a few more times.

At your own pace,

Again,

You can pause the audio.

Notice that your natural rhythm may be quite different from your socialized rhythm.

And then rest the left hand if you've not already done so.

And again,

Listen for any echoes through yourself from those small gentle movements and focused awareness.

And now return to the right hand opening and closing,

Allowing the left hand to rest.

And allow your breathing and your movement to come together in a way that makes sense to you.

Listen for how whatever you're doing wants to happen.

Imagine that the center of the palm of your right hand is actually drawing your fingers together.

So there's a point that draws the fingers together and then yields and allows them to move apart.

Being aware of your support and tending to that for a moment or two.

And then shift your awareness to the left hand.

Allow the right hand to pause.

Begin to open and close the left hand in a gentle rhythmic way.

Listening for what makes sense to you in terms of the relationship between movement and breath.

Be aware of the similarities and the differences between the two sides.

Be aware of that point in the center of the left palm that draws the fingers and thumb together and allows them to go apart.

And yes,

Attend to the similarities and differences between the two sides.

There's nothing to do about it.

We're not symmetrical.

And pause the left hand.

And again,

You can pause the audio at any time to pace yourself differently.

Now have both hands slowly open and close at the same time.

Being aware of that place in the center of each palm that draws the fingers together and then allows them to move apart.

No need to snap shut or force open the hands.

There's a tenderness to this.

It's evocative of movements from our young life.

A time when we lived closer to a natural pulse of life.

When our natural rhythms were closer to the surface for us.

These rhythms are still there and important to recall.

It's restorative to visit developmental movements such as these.

They are the building blocks for our movement,

Our breath,

Our later psychosocial and emotional development.

These patterns are all there waiting to revitalize and inform us.

And rest.

Listen again through yourself how these evocative,

Rhythmic movements from an earlier time echo through you.

It could simply be you feel rested.

It could be just that simple.

Breathing,

Feeling the support beneath you.

What's present for you right now?

Whatever it is,

Make a note of it.

And when you're ready,

Open your eyes,

Look around the room and take your time moving into your day or into your night.

Reviews

Love this! It brought healing tears to my eyes. Thank you!

Such a beautiful soft essence. Lovely. Blessings

Soo powerful. I felt incredibly calm and a bit emotional at the end. To take the time to really listen to yourself in such a tender way was so healing. I loved it.

A sweet little fow and relaxation. Feeling rested and mellow. Thank you! Namaste 🌺 🙏 🌺

This was wonderful - a totally new experience. I didn’t want it to end 🎇 Thank you.

Another exceptional practice and high-quality recording! I will share with my capital Long Covid Recovery group here on IT. This is a great practice for anyone looking to rediscover the innate and reliable ways of being in our bodies.

Unusual exercise. Feels like doing Sun Style Tai Chi. Increases level of sensitivity and awareness of moving with ease vs. effort. Helps identify feeling of relaxation vs. tension. Very helpful for synching breath with movement. Will share. Thank you.

Wonderful! Like nothing I've done before. Thank you! 🙏

Amazing! Such a deep inner experience of connecting with my basic goodness. Thank you!

What a wonderful exploratory practice! I’m delighted to have stumbled across this and I will definitely return to it. Thank you so much!

Beautiful. Very refined and relaxing. I will come back to this. Thank you 🙏

I liked that, connection to breathing and movement and calm. Definitely do this one again

Wow. Amazing!! As a piano player this helps me connect to my instrument so much. Thank u

Deeply relaxing and healing.

Thank you for this lovely meditation. I closed my day with it, and the sleep that followed was so peaceful. Must try the longer version.🙏🌸✨

Feeling very peaceful. My meditation was not As busy as it often is. I’ll try the longer version next. Thank you. 🙏

Lovely, relaxing, balancing practice. Very interesting and thoughtful to revisit early movements.

Felt the serenity and calmness of your voice. My left hand had easy and flowing movements compared to my right. Thank you for this new meditation experience of movement. I am glad i tried this.

Thank you for this gentle and powerful guided somatic experience. I felt an unexpected and greatly appreciated joy emerge during the practice.