30-minute Lying Mindful Movement Practice

Welcome. Dr. Miller guides you through a 30-minute lying mindful movement practice. This practice is designed to bring non-judgmental awareness to the moving body, moment by moment. Please be mindful of your abilities and make modifications as necessary based on your body's wisdom. Allowing self-care and loving awareness be your primary guide.

Transcript

Welcome to this 30 minute Lying Mindful Movement practice.

Inviting yourself to take this time to simply be present to this body moving.

Locating a space where you can be relatively undisturbed,

Where you might lie down or be seated.

So finding your comfortable position lying or seated,

Beginning to notice the body.

Sensing the body as a whole,

Noting the points of contact the body makes with the floor,

Surface of the chair.

Taking in the entirety of the body,

Resting here.

Noting sensations at the back of the body,

Front of the body.

Beginning to sense the breath.

Let's take three deep breaths together.

In through the nose and out through the mouth.

Sign if you'd like.

Again.

One last time.

Allowing the breath to settle into its own natural rhythm.

Allowing the body to settle in.

Checking in with what's here,

The field of sensation,

Any thoughts or emotions.

And seeing if we can just let them be as they are.

The mind is still in the past or moving out into the future.

Just allowing the mind to come back and to settle in the direct sensation of this body breathing.

The gentle movement of the breath.

Throughout this practice,

This breath can serve as an anchor,

As a point in which to return.

Whenever you meet some mental or physical challenge or obstacle,

Or when you may simply need to rest,

To take a break,

To check back in.

So let's bring our attention now into the arms and the hands.

And slowly and mindfully beginning to lift the arms and the hands from the floor.

And begin to gently lift them,

Moving them as if you were moving them through some very thick substance.

And beginning to reach out in front of you.

And slowly reaching the arms up and over the head.

Either straight or bent at the elbows to relieve the shoulders if straight arms are not accessible.

And once again just letting go,

Letting go of any effort,

Exertion,

Just allowing the body to settle here.

Take a little breath in and out.

Just pausing for a moment.

And beginning to extend the body,

Stretching out between the tips of the fingers and the tips of the toes.

Extending,

Stretching,

Breathing.

And then releasing,

Softening.

One more time,

Extending,

Stretching out from the tips of the fingers to the tips of the toes.

Just taking a breath here.

And then releasing once again.

So we simply notice in movement,

In stillness,

Whatever arises.

Having an attitude of curiosity in front of us toward this body as we move.

Now slowly bringing the arms out to your sides,

Extending out from the shoulders,

Palms facing up.

And bringing the knees toward the ceiling and the feet toward the buttocks.

Adjusting so that the lower back is in contact with the floor.

And if you're seated in a chair,

Just remaining in the seated posture until we come to the next part of this practice.

Bringing attention to the belly button,

To the belly.

And gently drawing the belly button back and into the floor or to the back of the chair.

Just beginning to notice a gentle tilt in the pelvis.

Pelvis tilting upward,

The lower back,

Lower back coming toward the floor.

And then on the next inhale,

Pulling that belly button up toward the ceiling or out in front of you.

And then coming in,

Creating a gentle arch in the lower back and bringing that tailbone down and back.

And on your next exhale,

Coming out and bringing that belly button and that lower back in and down toward the floor,

Toward the back of the chair,

Noticing that tailbone lifting up again.

And so taking a few more of these on your own,

Putting in as you bring the belly out.

Exhaling as you bring the belly in.

And gently tilting,

Noting the sensations here in the lower spine,

Hips and the belly.

Want the rest of the body to be at ease.

Again,

We're not trying to achieve anything here,

To get anywhere,

To make anything happen.

Simply to notice the sensations in the body as we move.

So pausing,

Resting the hips at neutral,

Just noticing.

Trusting the body to let you know.

Want to continue and to pause and to stop.

My voice is only guidance.

The body is the ultimate guide here.

So now bringing the hands to meet the knees or the tops of the thighs,

Beginning to bring those knees in toward the chest.

You can wrap the hands behind the thighs or atop the knees.

Just resting the hands,

Just here to support this bend in the knees and the hips.

And then you can pull or strain here,

Simply supporting this posture.

Something into the hips,

The knees,

The back.

Even gently rocking side to side.

Keeping that lower back a gentle massage,

Noting the sensations here,

Bringing this gentle rocking.

Noting where the mind is in this moment.

Is it in the body or has it gone onto the to-do list?

Just being aware of the emotions,

The emotions of emotion.

You can also move the knees in a circle,

Drawing a circle with the knees in one direction,

Reversing the direction.

And if you'd like,

You can begin to bring the forehead toward the knees,

Simply tucking the chin,

Beginning to lift the shoulders off of the floor.

If you're seated,

Leaning in closer to the thighs,

Keeping the chin tucked.

Again,

There's no goal,

There's no optimal place.

Just simply sensing what's here to be felt in the body.

Noting the breath here in this position,

Breathing.

And then gently straightening out that spine and releasing the head down to the mat,

To the floor,

And into the neutral position.

Keeping the right leg just where it is,

Releasing that left leg,

Extending it out onto the floor.

If you're seated,

You can simply extend the left leg,

Continuing to hold onto that right knee.

Just noticing.

One leg bent,

One leg extended.

What is here?

Without judgment or reaction.

Just noticing.

And gently releasing that right leg down to meet the left,

And just pausing here.

Perhaps noticing one leg,

The experience is different than the other leg.

Just allowing it to be so,

Neither good nor bad,

Worse or better.

Allowing that right leg to stay extended and bringing that left knee back up,

Supporting it in whatever way you did on the opposite leg.

Just breathing here.

And if any of these postures bring about discomfort or even pain,

Knowing that that is not the right thing to do,

You can just feel it.

And just being conscious and to offer this attitude of kindness and compassion to yourself to modify.

Adjust the position or to not engage in any particular posture.

This act of kindness toward yourself.

Listening to the body.

And releasing that left leg and extending it out.

Just pausing here in this lying posture for a moment.

Breathing.

Just feeling the gentle movements,

Sense of blood flow,

Tingling,

Ease or tension,

Warmth or coolness.

Simply allowing whatever is here,

Arising and passing to be as it is.

I'm going to transition now into a tabletop posture.

So rolling onto one side,

Bring the feet up toward the hips to allow you to roll over onto the side.

And I need to rush.

We're in no hurry.

There's nowhere to go.

This is your time.

Using the hands now to bring you up onto all fours.

Knees below the hips.

Hands below the shoulders.

Hip distance apart,

Shoulder distance apart.

Straight line between the crown of the head,

The neck,

And down to the tailbone and tabletop.

From here we move into the postures of cat and cow.

So beginning with cow,

Taking a deep inhale,

Dropping the belly down,

Allowing that tailbone to naturally shift upward and for the head to come up.

You can even open your eyes and look toward the ceiling to extend that stretch through the eyes.

And just breathing normally as we pause in this posture,

Noticing how the breath feels here.

Easy or challenging.

And then on the next exhale,

Arching the spine,

Exhaling into cat.

Pulling that belly button up toward the ceiling,

Dropping the tailbone and the head.

Just pausing here,

Noticing sensations throughout the back,

Belly,

Anywhere you go.

Anywhere you are noticing sensation.

Breathing in again,

Dropping the belly,

Coming into cow,

Arching tailbone coming up,

The crown of the head coming toward the ceiling.

And again,

If you can only stay in tabletop or move ever so gently into cat or cow,

That's okay.

It's not a race or a competition.

It's a mindfulness practice,

Noticing,

Tuning into our body.

And then taking a few of these on your own.

Sinking the breath or just letting the breath breathe itself.

Coming into cat,

Arching the spine up toward the ceiling,

Dropping the belly into cow,

Arching the hips,

Neck,

Lower spine,

Belly,

Whatever's arising.

It's all welcome.

And then coming back into tabletop,

Into neutral.

We're going to move into a balancing pose.

So bringing the front weight of your body into that left hand and the back weight of your body into the right knee.

Beginning to reach that right hand out in front of you as if you're going to shake hands with someone right in front of you.

And then beginning to lift that left leg off the floor.

You can use your big toe as a kickstand and just begin to lift or just leave the toe there on the floor.

Again,

This is a balanced posture so you may find that some days it's easier than others to balance and that's okay.

So stretching out from those right fingertips through those left toes,

Keeping that alignment of the spine all in one line.

Noticing what it takes for the body,

Perhaps some more energy,

Breath here,

Making sure you breathe.

And bringing that left toe down and that right hand down,

Bringing that right knee down.

Just pausing here for a moment.

Sensing perhaps an increase in energy in the body,

Having balanced.

Now bringing that front weight of the body into the right hand,

Even shaking that left hand out a little bit if the wrist has been taking away the body.

Reaching that left hand out as if you're going to shake a friend's hand.

Leaning the back weight of the body into that left knee,

Extending that right leg out.

Using that right big toe as a kickstand,

Lifting the heel toward the ceiling and extending from the left fingertips all the way to the right toes.

Feeling that line,

Breathing.

It can also be helpful to find a spot on the floor or something stationary to help you hold your balance.

Dropping that right toe down,

Left hand down and that left knee.

Just pausing for a moment here.

We're going to transition now onto our right side.

So coming onto the right side,

Leaning on that elbow,

Resting your head in your hand.

Now lounging pose.

That right side of the body,

The upper arm,

The torso and the right leg all in contact with the floor.

Right hand cradling the head,

Left arm is in front of the chest to provide support.

Now bringing attention into that left leg and beginning to gently lift that left leg up to about a 45 degree angle or wherever you find that's accessible for you.

Feeling the shape of a V,

Breathing here.

Just sensing the body,

What it takes to hold this posture,

Muscles engaged on the floor side of the body,

The lifted side of the body.

Again if this is putting too much strain on your neck you can also rest your head on the upper arm,

Extending that right arm out.

Again this is your practice,

Making whatever modifications you need.

If you're seated in a chair this might simply involve imagining this movement.

We're lifting that leg outward in front of you.

Dropping that left leg down,

Gently rolling over onto the left side and repeating this on the opposite side.

Cradling your head and your left hand,

Elbows bent,

The upper arm,

The entire side,

The left side of the body is in contact with the floor.

That right hand is providing support to keep your body upright.

And then lifting gently and slowly lifting that right leg extended out to a 45 degree angle or whatever extent you can lift the leg.

If not at all that's fine too.

Sensing again the muscles engaged and holding the leg here.

And then we're going to bring that right leg down to the left,

Gently rolling onto the back.

And then we're going to bring the hands up and over the head,

Extending up beyond the head.

And just as we did with the pelvic tilts we're going to pull that belly button down into the floor,

Gently lifting the hips off of the floor.

Now this may simply be as far as you'll go.

And that's okay.

Just staying here,

Breathing if you'd like.

Beginning to push into the heels,

Keeping the shoulders firmly planted on the floor,

Beginning to lift the hips into a bridge pose.

And just lifting to wherever you feel is available to you.

Just holding this posture,

Sensing the front of the body,

The back of the body,

Softening the base,

The hands,

Breathing here,

Noticing the effects of this movement,

This posture.

And then slowly dropping down,

Starting with the upper back,

Vertebra by vertebra,

Just unrolling.

Unzippering the spine,

All the way down until the hips reach the floor.

Just pausing here.

And trying that again,

Pulling that belly button up the floor,

Onto the back of the chair,

And gently beginning to lift that tailbone up.

And again,

That may be enough.

Or you can begin to lift the middle and upper back,

Lifting the hips.

Feeling the contact of the feet,

Shoulders,

The effort here,

The body engaged,

Holding itself here,

Breathing.

And gently releasing,

Coming down slowly and gently.

And bringing the hands,

Clasping the fingers,

Bringing them behind the head,

Resting the head in the hands,

Knees are still pointed toward the ceiling,

Beginning to just gently drop the knees in the direction of the right side of the body,

Keeping the shoulders,

The floor,

And even turning the head gently to look to the left,

Sensing this in the back of the body,

The side,

The belly,

Breathing.

And then,

Just wherever you are able to go,

Just wherever you're able to go,

Honoring that And then bringing in,

Burning out and releasing the knees over to the left side.

Turning the head to the right if you'd like to extend that stretch up into the upper body,

Keeping the shoulders planted.

Breathing in,

Bringing those knees back to center,

Releasing the arms.

Extending the feet out,

Extending the legs.

Just pausing.

Releasing any effort here.

Allowing this practice and all of its effects to just seep in.

Let's take a few more of those deep breaths together.

Breathing in through your nose.

Pausing and releasing,

Exhaling.

In the mouth and just letting go.

Again,

Breathing in and out.

Pausing and releasing,

Letting it all go.

And for the next minute or so,

Just taking this time to offer this kind,

Friendly attention to this body,

Perhaps offering gratitude or offering yourself a thank you for taking this time.

For offering yourself this compassionate practice of paying attention.

And for the next minute or so,

Just taking this time to offer this kind,

Friendly attention.

And for the next minute or so,

Just taking this time to offer this kind,

Friendly attention.

Thank you.

Reviews

Awesome slow movement meditation. Thank you for your guidance. Namaste.