Mindful Stretching And Breathing: MBCT

This practice guides you through gentle, mindful stretching, bringing awareness to the movement of the body and physical sensations. Following this movement is a practice of mindfulness of the breath.

Transcript

Mindful stretching.

Finding a place that's quiet,

Secluded,

Where you have a little bit of space to stand.

And once you've found this place,

Standing with your feet hip distance apart,

Your hands by your sides.

With a little bit of bend in your knees,

Your elbows,

Your back is upright but not rigid or forced and allowing your shoulders to drop down.

Reminding yourself that the intention of this practice is not to achieve anything.

It's not to feel relaxed or to gain anything in the body.

The purpose of this practice is to bring a gentle approach,

Investigating and curious to the form of the body,

The movement of the body,

And also any limitations of the body.

As best as you can,

Trying to let go of any tendency to push your body or force it in any state,

There's no need to compete or to exceed in any way.

On the next in-breath,

Slowly and purposefully lifting your hands above your head,

Raising them up so they're eventually parallel to one another.

Elongating your back,

Your fingertips pointed towards the sky or the ceiling.

And once you've settled into this movement,

You're welcome to close your eyes and tuning into the body in its internal state,

Feeling the stretching of the arms and perhaps even by your sides.

On the out-breath,

Slowly,

Deliberately bringing your hands down back by your sides,

Allowing your palms and your wrists to lead with your fingers still pointed slightly upward,

All the way down until your hands are resting by your sides,

Allowing your hands,

Your fingers to relax into their natural state.

Once more,

Stretching your hands gradually,

Deliberately upward,

Moving into this position.

And once your hands are up above your head,

You might even interlock your thumbs with each other.

Feeling a release in your shoulders as your hands gently pull against one another.

Your feet are grounded into the floor,

The weight evenly distributed.

If there's a sense of discomfort or tension,

You're always welcome to take any adjustments in the positions,

The postures,

Any modifications you need.

If you decide to take an alteration,

Doing so with mindful intention.

And when you're ready,

Gradually releasing your thumbs if they were interlocked,

Allowing your hands,

Your arms to slowly intentionally fall back towards your sides.

If your eyes are open,

Then allowing them to close gently,

Turning inward and noticing any sensations or feeling that have been brought about by this stretch,

This movement.

Noticing if there's a contrast or a difference in your posture now from the beginning of the practice.

Or perhaps if there's a release or relief associated with returning back to your standing natural position.

On your next in breath,

Bringing your right hand up gradually,

Deliberately above your head.

As you reach upward,

Feeling the stretch in your side,

You might even lift your head slightly above,

Looking up towards the ceiling and your left heel might gradually lift up as well,

Allowing your entire body to elongate into this posture.

Noticing the sensations throughout the entire body as you lift upward.

And then when you're ready,

Gradually guiding your hand back down,

Moving it slowly through the air back towards your side.

And taking a few moments now to notice any feelings or sensations.

And then on your next in breath,

Gradually raising your left hand up towards the ceiling.

Again,

Lifting it up above your head as if you were trying to reach for something,

Something that is just out of reach.

Feeling the left side elongate,

Looking upward.

And perhaps your right heel begins to lift upward as well,

Your whole body engaged in this stretch.

And then when you're ready,

Allowing your left hand to slowly make its way back down by your side,

Spending a few moments reflecting on the sensations in the body,

Any changes or any new sensations you're able to detect as your body shifts into its resting position.

Continue now alternating arms,

Beginning with your right arm,

Lifting it slowly overhead on the in breath,

Reaching upward and then gradually guiding it back down.

And then lifting your left arm upward overhead,

Reaching up towards the ceiling and then gradually resting it back down by your side.

Continue alternating back and forth very slowly,

Very deliberately being aware of the movements being aware of any shifts,

Whether you feel opening in your sides,

Your ribs,

In your shoulders,

All the way up to your fingertips.

And when you've completed a cycle from both arms,

Allowing them to rest by your sides.

And once more,

Slowly,

Deliberately raising both hands above your head again,

Allowing the whole body to lift upward.

And once your fingertips are pointed towards the ceiling,

Either interlocking your fingers or your thumbs and gently stretching your body over to the right side.

As you stretch over your hands,

Your fingers,

Moving towards your right side,

You might notice your left hip gradually shifts over to the left,

Feeling the stretch throughout your entire body,

Observing any sensations,

Subtle ones and more prominent vivid ones.

On the next in breath,

Bringing your hands back up towards the ceiling,

Standing here for a moment.

And when you're ready,

Stretching over to your left side,

Your hands,

Your arms,

Really stretching towards the left while your right hip might move outward towards the right side,

Your feet,

Your toes still grounded into the floor,

Surveying your body for any sensations,

Really being curious as you stretch towards your left side.

And when you're ready,

Lifting your hands,

Your fingers back up to the ceiling,

Stretching upward one last time,

And then releasing your hands,

Your fingers and gradually guiding them back down to your sides.

Once you're in this neutral position,

We'll begin taking some gentle shoulder rolls.

There are four positions that we'll move into.

The first one is guiding your shoulders upward towards the ears,

Spending a few moments here.

The second is bringing your shoulders forward as if they're trying to meet and touch each other in front of you.

The third is dropping your shoulders downward,

Creating as much space in your clavicles as possible.

And then the fourth position is stretching your shoulders back as if they're able to touch one another from behind.

Begin now seamlessly moving into all of these positions,

Upward,

Forward,

Down,

And back.

Feeling your shoulders at your own pace,

Noticing the change in sensations,

Whether there's opening or tightening,

Shifting,

Observing each sensation as it comes up,

Acknowledging it and continuing to move,

Changing the directions.

So now your shoulders move back,

Down,

Forward and up,

And observing any opening,

Tightening,

Or closing.

And then when you're ready,

Again dropping your arms,

Your shoulders down into a rested neutral position.

And we'll begin now with some gentle head rolls.

There are three positions we'll take,

The head all the way bent forward as if the chin is going towards the chest,

The head over all the way as if your right ear is trying to meet your right shoulder,

And then your head all the way over to the left side as if your left ear is meeting your left shoulder.

Beginning to seamlessly,

Deliberately putting these movements together,

Rolling your head in this semi-circle,

Feeling opening,

Stretching,

Releasing,

And possibly tightening as you go through each step of the motion,

And very gently switching the motion and rotating in the opposite direction,

Observing your sensations as you continue with this movement.

And when you've completed your next semi-circle head roll,

Returning your head back to the neutral position,

Standing here now with your eyes closed for a few moments,

Noticing sensations in the body,

And a few moments we'll shift to a seated mindfulness practice.

So when you're ready,

Opening your eyes and finding a place where you're able to sit down,

Either on the floor,

A cushion,

Or a chair.

Taking a few moments to adjust your posture so it embodies a sense of intention to pay attention.

It's helpful for the spine to support itself rather than leaning against something,

Resting your hands on your lap or by your sides,

And shifting your attention now to the sensations of the body with whatever it's resting against,

Feeling the weight of the body on the chair or the floor,

And feeling whatever that is,

The floor,

The chair,

Pressing back.

On your next in-breath,

Bringing your attention now to the physical sensations of the breath,

Moving in,

Moving out,

Finding a place where the sensations are most vivid,

Either at the nostrils,

The chest,

Or the abdomen,

Noticing the sensations as they change with the in-breath,

As they change with the out-breath,

Perhaps even noticing the slight pause between the in-breath and the out-breath,

And the out-breath and the in-breath.

As best as you can,

Staying here with the breath,

Really being curious to each and every breath coming in,

It's natural for the mind to wander.

If you notice that your mind has drifted away,

Gently redirecting it back,

Reminding yourself that this is part of the practice,

Gathering your attention,

Bringing it back.

At some point in your practice,

There may be challenges arising in the body,

Either tension or some pain.

If you notice this,

Seeing if your body has a desire to move or shift posture in some way,

And if so,

Doing this with intention,

Noticing your body realigning,

The weight shifting.

Another option might be to try turning towards whatever that tension or pain is,

Using your breath to move into it.

So with your in-breath,

Imagining that this breath could go to wherever that area is,

It creates space and openness,

And as you breathe out,

Imagine that your breath is softening this area,

Releasing some of that tension.

Breathing in,

Opening,

Creating space,

Breathing out,

Softening,

Breathing in,

Creating space,

Openness,

Breathing out,

Softening.

Again,

It's natural for your mind to wander.

If you notice your mind has strayed away to other thoughts or distractions,

Gently letting go of whatever that image,

That thought,

Or judgment was,

Imagine that as you breathe out,

You let go,

Breathing in,

Redirecting your attention back.

The moment you become aware of where the attention has wandered,

This is mindfulness.

Practicing this,

Noticing where your mind has gone,

And practicing a sense of gentleness,

Of bringing it back.

Your breath is always here,

You're always able to return to it.

Doing so gently,

Without coming up with a story or judgments about where your mind has been.

In a few moments,

This practice will end,

And I encourage you to try to maintain the same present moment by moment awareness throughout the next few moments of your day.

Reviews

Excellent. Exactly what I needed to release tension in my shoulders. Thank you.