Mindful Movement

This guided, mindful movement meditation will help you release any mental or physical tension you may be holding. This practice will allow you to make space for your breath and become aware of the present moment, prompting a contentment and stillness of the mind.

Transcript

This is a recording for the owl and the coconut mindful movement.

Making sure you have enough space to move around in this mindful movement practice and that you're wearing clothing that you can comfortably move and stretch around in.

If you want to place a high back chair in front of you so you've got something to lean on to help you stabilise your balance or if you want to do it seated or sit down at any point feel free to do that.

The movements can be done standing or sitting and with or without art making.

Self care is really important in mindful movement practice so do hold in awareness what's right for your body right now only doing the movements that are okay for you knowing that you can opt out of this guidance at any time and simply come to stillness and breathing at any time.

The invitation is to explore with curiosity a range of movements without striving or pushing yourself too hard.

Begin by getting a sense of what it feels like to be standing or sitting here in this moment.

Feeling your feet making contact with the floor,

Feeling the weight of the body going down,

Grounding and anchoring and the height of the body rising up without striving with your posture in any way.

Now becoming aware of the breath moving in the body.

Notice where you sense your breath in your body right now,

Where do you feel it?

Perhaps noticing the rise or fall of the chest or the belly as you breathe.

Simply letting the breath breathe itself over and over.

Noticing if your shoulders might be tense or held tightly and on an out breath seeing if it might be possible to settle and let go of any holding on in this area.

Gently rolling the shoulders back and down to release,

Perhaps opening across the chest.

Releasing and softening the front of the body,

Making space for the breath,

For the fullness of the breath.

Just breathing in and breathing out.

Now gently and carefully bending slightly at the knees,

Moving up and down a few times if you're standing or if you're sitting,

Hinging at the knees.

Doing this one leg at a time,

Hinging at the knee,

Raising one leg slightly off the floor and then bringing it back with the foot in contact with the floor again and doing this with the other leg.

If you're standing just slightly bending at the knees up and down just a little.

And doing this a few times at your own pace and then coming to pause and stillness,

Feeling the connection of the feet on the floor.

Checking with your breathing.

Now slowly peeling the heel of one foot off the floor and bending into the toes,

Sensing the stretch through the whole foot and the toes and then gently placing the foot and the heel back down on the floor.

Repeating this peeling of the foot,

Raising it gently,

Feeling the stretch and then placing the heel and the foot back down in contact with the floor.

Trying this a few times at your own pace,

Alternating the feet,

Standing or sitting on the spot and stretching through the feet in this way and seeing what this is like.

Coming to a pause and stillness now,

Connecting with your breath.

Noticing any physical sensations you may be aware of.

Now bending into the knees gently once more if you're standing or if you're sitting stretching out the lower legs in front of you,

Perhaps raising one leg at a time.

Or if you're on a chair,

Raising both feet together and bringing both feet back to contact with the floor now.

Giving each foot in turn a bit of a wiggle or a shake,

Rolling the ankle.

Pausing here and checking in.

Noticing any effect or impact of these movements on the body.

Any particular sensations you're aware of right now.

And how's your breathing?

Simply seeing what's here and being curious as to what you notice.

And now if you're standing,

Carefully shifting your weight over to one leg and lifting the foot of the opposite leg a little way off the floor.

Perhaps holding onto a chair in front of you if you need to,

Finding your balance,

Breathing and gently rotating the ankle of the raised foot.

First one way a few times and then when you're ready,

Changing direction.

If you're sitting with one foot firmly on the floor,

Perhaps holding onto the sides of the chair with your hands to steady if you'd like and lifting the opposite foot off the floor a little.

Extending the other leg away from you and gently rotating the ankle.

First one way a few times and then round the other way.

And then placing the raised foot back onto the floor,

Feeling into the contact with the floor and taking a moment to pause.

And then repeating this rotation and lifting of the foot,

Rotation into the ankle with the opposite foot and the opposite ankle.

So lifting and rotating the ankle first one way a few times and then the other way.

Pausing and coming to stillness,

Reconnecting with both feet on the floor,

Coming to your breath and noticing what's here now.

Moving mindfully in this way gives us the opportunity to bring our awareness to our bodies and our breath and so anchoring ourselves in the present moment.

If our minds are busy with thoughts or emotions can be overwhelming the possibility is to notice this and then gently guide our awareness to the physical sensations of the body and the breath in movement and in stillness.

When you're ready standing or sitting let both arms float up and out away from your sides until they come to shoulder height.

So straight is lying across the shoulders from fingertip to fingertip.

Gently reaching outwards and seeing if it feels okay for you and if not choosing to do another movement with the arms or choosing to come to stillness in the breath at any point.

So if you're continuing with the movement of holding the position of the arms outstretched at shoulder height just breathing here.

Notice any tension,

Any holding on,

Any parts of the body that are tensing up that might not need to.

Perhaps breathing into and out from any areas of tension on an out breath softening and releasing letting go as best you can.

Keep breathing and stretching out the arms in both directions holding the arms here and breathing.

And now lift your fingers upwards as far as they can go reaching towards the sky.

The palms facing together arms straight ahead reaching upwards.

Feeling into the arms,

The hands,

Along the arms,

The shoulders.

Keep breathing and stretching and softening exploring into your edge,

The edge of the comfort zone of this stretch.

The shoulders,

The armpit,

The arm,

The hand but also taking good care of yourself.

Noticing when it feels okay to deepen and extend the stretch a little further and seeing what that's like.

Or being aware when the stretch feels too much and being aware that maybe you're striving or pushing too much and if that's the case allowing yourself permission to just ease off.

Gently lower your arms whatever feels right for you.

So just exploring and investigating and being curious about moving in this way about how it affects you.

Perhaps even taking the opportunity to explore doing the opposite to what you might usually do.

Doing a bit less or doing a bit more and just seeing what that might be like.

And when it's right for you if you haven't already gently lowering your arms back down to your sides coming to stillness.

Simply standing or sitting and checking in.

What's here now?

How's your breath?

What do you notice?

Any physical sensations in your body?

Perhaps temperature in the body,

Heat or coolness?

Perhaps pulsing or tingling or energy flow?

Perhaps heaviness and fatigue?

Noticing any feelings or mood state that might be present now or maybe not?

Noticing what's the mind doing?

What thoughts might be here?

Perhaps absence of thoughts or any particular feelings?

Now sitting or standing and breathing in and letting your hands and arms rise up in front of you.

So floating up skyward to right above your head to your upper arms up by your head.

And your fingertips are pointing to the ceiling.

Noticing if it might be possible on an out breath to relax into the shoulders to release.

So the shoulders can go down as the hands and the fingers reach up.

Checking in,

What's this like?

Exploring the sensations and playing with your edge with this stretch.

Extending the stretch a little further if that feels ok to do so.

Well mindfully and wisely just gently easing off a little.

Perhaps turning your arms towards your hands and resting them.

Resting your hands on the lap.

Or continuing to explore this movement by stretching both arms above the head.

Or taking it in turns to stretch one arm and then the other arm.

Stretching and breathing as playing with this movement.

Bringing a childlike play to this movement.

And picking his mind to how this feels in this movement.

Using the breath as best you can to soften and release as you continue to explore this movement.

And then if you haven't already just lowering the arms and coming once more to pausing,

To stillness.

Breathing and checking in what's here now.

Now standing or seated.

Taking one arm up by the side of the head again so the upper arm is stretching towards the sky.

And then stretching up and over the top of the head.

So bending over the side in a curved arch shape.

Remaining here if that's okay and breathing.

Breathing into this stretch,

Seeing what this is like for you.

And then when you're ready gently returning to the centre position.

Lowering the arm down to the side.

Pausing.

Breathing.

And when you're ready repeating this movement on the other side of the body.

So bringing the other arm up so that the upper arm is by the ear.

The arm is stretching skyward and then extending the stretch up and over.

So we're curving over into the arch or a side bend.

And breathing into and out from this stretch.

Exploring and playing with how far you'd like to go in this stretch at this moment.

And if it feels too far at any moment,

Easing off a little.

And when you're ready coming back to centre position and gently lowering the arm.

Taking a pause here,

Just breathing.

Seeing what this is like.

And if you'd like to,

An opportunity to repeat this movement once on both sides.

So sitting or standing,

Bringing one arm up stretching upwards towards the sky.

And then extending the stretch over to the arm and the hand goes over the top of the head.

And the body bends to the side in a curve.

Breathing and stretching into this shape with the body.

When you're ready,

Coming back to centre position and gently lowering your arm.

Just taking a moment and then repeating this movement on the other side.

So stretching the arm up,

Fingers pointing to the sky and then taking the arm over the top of the head.

Let the body curve gently over to the side.

Breathing into and out of this side stretch,

This side bend and then coming back to centre when you're ready and lowering the arm.

Coming to stillness and pausing,

Connecting to the sense of your feet on the floor and breathing in.

Now standing or sitting,

Very gently twisting at the waist to one side.

Twisting at the waist letting your arms and your shoulders follow the movement as it turns towards one side.

So being aware of not striving or straining too hard and letting your neck and your head gently follow the direction of the body with the twist as you twist to one side.

So the neck and the head are the last to follow this twisting to one side.

And if you notice that you may be straining then easing off a little.

Holding this twist to the side and just breathing here.

And when you're ready letting the waist twist back towards the centre position.

And let the upper body,

The shoulders,

The neck,

The head,

The arms return to the centre.

Pausing for a moment,

Breathing,

Checking in.

And then repeating this twisting movement on the other side.

So twisting on the waist,

Turning the body,

The upper body round.

While the lower body remains anchored and grounded.

Just twisting at the waist,

Seeing how far you'd like to go with this twist.

And letting the upper body,

The shoulders,

The arms follow the movement of the twist of the waist.

And letting the neck and the head follow the movement of the twist.

So the neck and the head are the last to move.

Pausing here in this twist and breathing.

Seeing if it's possible to release and soften on an out breath.

And when you're ready undoing the twist.

So gently letting the waist turn back to centre.

Letting the upper body,

The shoulders,

The arms,

The neck and the head return to this centre position.

And coming to stillness once more.

Reconnecting with the sensation of the feet in contact with the floor.

Noticing where you experience the breath of the body right now,

Checking in.

Of any physical sensations and how you are right now.

And now gently rolling the shoulders back and down,

Very gently.

Together the shoulders at the same time,

Rolling them back and down at your own pace.

You might want to explore doing this with your arms bent at the elbow.

Bending the arms at the elbow so that the palms are facing upwards.

And gently rolling the shoulders back and down.

Checking in to see if you're breathing along with this movement.

And if you'd like to,

Rolling the shoulders in the opposite direction,

So taking them over and forward to the front of the body.

If this is okay for you.

Exploring,

Seeing what this is like.

And at any point,

If you wish to just come to stillness,

Just giving yourself permission to do that.

Coming to pause and stillness once more.

Letting the hands and the arms rest in the lap if you're sitting or by the sides of the body if you're standing.

So now gently bringing the hands into soft fists.

So the nails are curling into the palms,

Soft gentle fists.

And then opening the hands and stretching the fingers out like stars.

Stretching right through into the fingertips.

And then curling the fingers into the palms once more into soft fists.

Stretching out the fingers again into a star shape.

And then curling and repeating this movement a few times.

With both hands together,

One hand at a time.

And when you're ready,

Pausing and then rotating at the wrists with either both hands at the same time or one at a time.

So gently rotating the wrists.

So gently making circles one way and then the other way.

Breathing into and out from this movement.

So imagine taking your breath into this gentle rotation at the wrists.

Exploring what this feels like.

When you're ready,

Letting go of the movement in the hands.

Letting them rest in the lap if you're sitting or by your sides if you're standing.

Checking in here with the posture and the breath.

Noticing on an out breath if it might be possible to let go,

To soften,

To release any holding on that you might be aware of in the body.

Now gently stretching the neck a little if this is okay for you.

So just tilting the chin downwards towards the chest and letting the head follow this movement as far as is okay for you to go.

And then slowly bringing the head back upwards to balance on the top of the spine.

So really taking time with this movement as you repeat.

Tilting the head slightly down to the chest and then slowly and gently rising back up.

Tilting the head back up so it comes to its position balanced on the spine and the neck and just repeating this movement a few times at your own pace.

Taking good care not to rush this.

And coming to a pause and breathing.

And when you're ready gently turning your head and your neck to one side.

So looking over one shoulder.

And very gently breathing into and out of this movement as you're looking over one shoulder.

Taking care not to strain,

Not to over stretch.

Checking that your shoulders aren't up by your ears and softening into the shoulders.

Breathing here.

And when you're ready returning your head and your neck back to the central position facing forward.

Pausing and breathing.

And then gently taking the head over to the other side over the opposite shoulder.

Taking it as far as is comfortable for you and breathing here.

Exploring on an out breath if it might be possible to let go and release.

And when you're ready returning your head slowly and gently to the central position of facing forward.

Pausing and breathing.

Noticing if you might like to do that movement again.

Just twisting,

Turning the head gently to look over one shoulder.

And coming back to the centre and then looking over the other shoulder and coming back to the centre and pausing here.

Coming to stillness,

Coming to the breath.

Noticing how are you at this moment?

What's here now?

Any physical sensations that you're aware of in the body?

In the mind?

Any specific thoughts?

Nothing particular?

Any emotions or mood?

Maybe not?

Just seeing what's here for you right now in your present moment experiencing.

And perhaps using the next few moments to use your sketchbook to illustrate anything you've noticed in this practice.

Continuing the practice into mindful mark making.

As we bring this practice to an end for now.

Reviews

Nice😌

Exactly what I was looking for, a calming soothing voice leading me in mindful movement. Thank you!

Brilliant thank u so much🙏 just what I need to get moving in a beautiful & meditative way on a cold winter's day! Namaste 🌞

This is the type of gently guided and enjoyably paced stretching movement practice that I’ve been searching for that allows me to be seated, when I’m having my dizzy days. Well-done! With gratitude...❤️

Thank you 🌺🌺🌺🌺for sharing this wonderful movement 🧸I enjoyed it very much 🙏Namaste

Fantastic for my evening practice