Take a moment to get yourself situated.
As you arrive in your meditative posture,
Take a couple of deep breaths,
Letting yourself sigh out the exhale.
If it feels comfortable for you,
Allow your eyes to close.
Allow your breath to return to its natural rhythm.
Begin to turn your gaze inward to inhabit your body.
Noticing any places of tension or fatigue,
Maybe noticing any minor adjustments you can make to your posture to feel a little bit more comfortable.
Acknowledge without judgment any pain your body is experiencing,
Any discomfort you may feel in being so aware of your body.
You spend a lot of time opening minds,
Thinking,
Worrying,
Anticipating,
Regretting.
That it can be uncomfortable to inhabit this physical body of yours.
I want to also acknowledge that sometimes our bodies betray us.
Sometimes our bodies aren't as capable,
As strong,
As resilient as we think they ought to be.
Sometimes our bodies don't do the functions in day-to-day life that we need them to do.
Sometimes our bodies get older,
And that's a part of being on this earthly plane.
Acknowledging what is possible in the here and now.
Resisting settling into judgment in comparison to what may have been however long ago.
We use our yoga practice to keep our bodies as young as they can be,
To maintain as much limberness and strength as we can on the mat.
But it's important to remember that day in,
Day out,
Our bodies change,
Our capacities change.
And acceptance is the healthiest way through that process.
Begin to bring your awareness into your hips,
And the parts of your body that are making contact with the earth.
Feel the stability,
The stableness of the earth beneath you.
Feel the support of Mother Earth.
We are held to this planet by gravity,
This invisible power that surrounds us.
And we step,
Sit,
Dance,
Pray on this earth,
Pulled down into its stable foundation.
We know that if we fall,
The earth will catch us.
It might not always be pretty,
But it will be there.
In this moment,
Take up as much of that stability and groundedness as you can from the earth.
Finding a sense of equilibrium.
Finding your balance on the earth.
Feeling that dance,
That play between air,
Gravity,
And the earth below.
With every inhale,
Keep pulling that sense of groundedness,
That connection to the earth deeper and deeper,
Up into your body,
Through your central channel,
Through your energetic spine.
Not taking on the sogginess,
The heaviness of the earth,
But just taking with you a sense of stability,
A sense of consistency.
Of having your feet firmly planted on the earth,
Not letting your thoughts run away with you,
Not letting your head getting caught up in the clouds.
The earth is also the source of life on this planet,
The tiniest microbe,
The grandest creature.
And I,
And every other human that walks this planet,
We all came from the depths of the earth.
We all came out of this little dance of chemicals,
Fungi,
Called life.
So as you feel this sense of groundedness in your body,
This sense of really being planted in space,
I invite you to also pull up any nutrients from the earth that you need.
Any life-sustaining sustenance,
Any of that juicy goodness that comes from the earth that helps us grow our crops,
That helps us produce nutritious food from our gardens.
Feel yourself pulling all of that up from the earth as well.
Revitalizing,
Bringing nutrition you maybe didn't even know you needed up into your body.
Begin to feel yourself revitalizing,
Growing stronger,
Becoming more vibrant breath by breath.
Give thanks for the nutrients you've pulled up from the earth.
Give thanks for the sensation of stability and groundedness you're experiencing.
Start to deepen your breath.
Pulling in great lungs full of air on the inhale,
And exhale slowly.
Begin to become aware of the quality of the air in the room against your skin.
Become aware of the shadows and light playing behind your eyelids.
You can inhale,
Bring your hands together at heart center,
Planting palms against one another,
Rub them back and forth,
Creating some warmth,
Some heat between your palms.
And then plant one palm over each eye socket,
Feeling the warmth of your hands.
And allowing your eyes to open behind your palms.
First,
Letting in little slivers of light,
And then slowly moving your hands away from your face to let in more and more light,
More and more of your surroundings.
Until you come back to the room you inhabit in this present moment.
And in honor to guide you through this practice,
Thank you for joining me.
