Hey there,
It's Michael.
Welcome to a moment to pause,
Breathe,
Reflect.
As you're charging your EV,
Now that you got your car all hooked up and you're giving it some juice,
Let's do the same for you.
Find a comfortable position.
You may be in your car.
You might be on a bench near the charging station,
Or you may wish to do this as a walking practice.
If you're walking,
Eyes open,
Please.
I wouldn't want you to trip.
That would ruin your trip.
If you're seated,
You can close your eyes.
And we'll drop in.
Let's begin with a few healthy inhales.
Breathing up fully through your nose if you can,
Noticing your lungs expanding,
And feeling the energy of your in-breath.
As your car gets revved up,
And then release that breath out,
Relaxing into the moment.
A nice full breath in and a relaxing breath out.
Making a connection with your breath in this moment.
And then when it feels natural to do so,
Settle in to the normal rhythm of the breath.
You've been driving for a bit.
So let's tune into the body,
Giving it a chance to stretch and relax.
So let's begin with a few neck rolls.
Rolling your head and neck counterclockwise.
Let's do five of these.
And you can move at your own pace.
Opening up this part of the body,
Allowing it to relax.
And now switch directions.
Rotating your head counterclockwise.
Often we hold a lot of stress in our body,
Especially around the neck and our shoulders.
So this mindful movement can help relax the body so you can enjoy the rest of your drive.
Now let's stretch the neck by tilting our head to the right shoulder,
Bringing our ear a little bit closer.
Feeling the stretch on the left side of the neck.
We'll hold this stretch for a bit longer.
Remember to breathe as you do.
Nice job.
Now let's tilt the head to the left and feel the stretch on the right side of the neck.
Great,
Nice job.
Now let's twist the trunk of the body.
You can begin by twisting slowly to the right,
Feeling that stretch through your torso.
And now coming back and turning to the left.
Let's do four more of these and open up this area of the body.
And now we'll transition to something I like to do when I'm charging up my EV.
It's called progressive muscle relaxation.
And for this practice,
We'll focus in on the upper body.
We'll begin with our hands.
So I'll invite you to make a fist really tight,
Squeezing your fist and feeling that tension.
And now as you breathe out,
You were breathing,
Right?
Open your fists,
Relax your hands.
Now let's place our attention on our biceps and triceps.
We'll flex our muscles.
Feel all that tension building again,
Remember to breathe.
And now as you breathe out,
Allow those to release,
Relaxing into this moment.
And now we'll work on our shoulders.
We'll tense this part of the body up,
Bringing our shoulders to our ears,
Scrunching everything up,
Feeling that tension,
That stress on purpose,
Remembering to breathe.
And now release the shoulders,
Dropping them away from the ears,
Relaxing the body.
Nice job.
So now we've opened up the area around the neck.
We've done some progressive muscle relaxation to wake up the body.
Now,
As we finish the practice,
Let's spend a few moments connecting with our breath.
Any drive can be stressful.
So we'll place our attention on our breath to ease any stress we still may be carrying with us.
As you're breathing in,
Notice that you're breathing in.
And as you're breathing out,
Notice that you're breathing out.
Almost like you're playing a game of hide and seek.
You're playing follow the leader.
Follow the in-breath from the very beginning through its middle and all the way to its very end.
Notice the pause and then continue to follow the leader as you breathe out.
And now appreciating this moment to be connected with the breath,
A chance to renew your energy as your car continues to charge.
And if your attention just wandered off,
Taking some side trip,
Congratulations.
You,
My friend,
Are human.
We all like to wander off from time to time.
Notice when you do and I guess have the GPS recalculate and come back to the breath.
Each time your attention gets pulled away,
Simply come back and begin again.
Placing your attention on the breath,
Playing follow the leader.
As you follow each moment of your in-breath and each moment of your breathing,
Each moment of your out-breath,
In a world that likes to rush around as we do,
Savor this opportunity to simply connect with the breath in this moment.
And as we begin to round out our practice together,
Because your car has almost completed its charge,
I'll invite you to spend a moment expressing gratitude for something or someone in your life.
What are you grateful for at this particular moment?
And as you see it clearly,
Notice what sensations you feel or maybe there's a thought bubbling up in the mind.
How does your body change when you're expressing gratitude?
I have a hunch that mother earth is grateful for you.
Thanks for driving an EV.
When you feel ready,
You can begin to open your eyes and wiggle those beautiful fingers and toes and maybe give your body a little stretch.
I'm sure your car is almost done.
And in the time that you have left,
You may wish to reach out to a friend or a few,
Letting them know how grateful you are that they're in your life.
I hope you enjoyed the practice and you'll come back to it the next time you have to charge up your car.
And if you know someone who might like it as well,
I hope you'll share it with them.
And remember between now and the next time we charge our cars together,
If you run into a challenging moment when you're in a traffic jam,
Slow down,
Come back to your breath and be grateful that you don't have to buy gas.
But most people around you do.
And also know that you've got this and we've got you.
And together we'll put an eco-friendly ripple into the world.
