Find your stillness first from a comfortable seated position.
Any seated position that you are able to maintain sitting upright with a vertical spine.
This could be also a kneeling position or perhaps you are using a chair.
Ensure that your back is unsupported and have your hands resting comfortably on your knees or on your lap.
If the eyes are open,
Close them.
Begin by taking a deep breath in.
As you inhale,
Work to lengthen the crown of the head upwards towards the ceiling.
As you exhale,
Maintain this length and try to root down into the foundation a little bit more actively.
Try that again.
Deep breath in and sit straighter,
Sit taller and more actively.
Deep breath out.
Maintain your length but guide the tailbone downwards as you root down.
Find your foundations and your grounding.
Then as you allow the breath to return to a normal natural pace,
Start to relax all the unnecessary muscles within the body.
Unclenching the jaw,
Unfurrowing the eyebrows,
Relaxing the forehead,
Keeping the lips closed as we guide the breath in and out through the nostrils in a natural way.
See what it feels like to gently but firmly press your tongue to the roof of the mouth.
Once established in your seat,
Start to gently move the body.
So,
Lead the chin down towards the chest and take your time to roll the head over to the right.
Then go backwards behind you lifting the chin and moving the head over to the left.
Then back forwards again with the chin down to the chest.
Take time to complete another gentle neck rotation.
As you're doing so,
You are starting to pay more and more attention to what it means to be a part of this body and to be moving at this body.
And so gently change direction to allow the head to move to the left.
Going backwards behind you,
Then to the right,
And then come forwards.
Gentle neck rotation.
As you're doing these movements,
It's quite likely that you might forget what you are doing and get lost in whatever is going on inside the head.
If that happens,
Try not to be frustrated and there is no self-criticism.
But each and every time you catch that you are distracted,
Please take a moment to re-establish your awareness,
To once again be present in your movement.
Okay,
So finishing your neck movements by leveling the head again.
And a moment here connected with the effect of that movement in the body is now you have brought your head to stillness.
Next,
We'll go into twisting movements of the spine.
As we do so,
We'll start to involve the breath,
To use the breath to guide the movement.
Using the inhale,
Try to sit straighter and taller.
Using the exhale,
Go into a twist to one side.
As you inhale,
Untwist and try to sit straighter and taller again.
Then as we exhale,
Twisting to the opposite side.
Continuing this,
A few more rounds,
Moving along with breathing.
As you're doing these movements,
Again remind yourself what you are doing,
Staying present,
Being mindful.
Each and every time,
There might be a mental distraction and you are no longer paying attention.
Then with all the patience and persistence you can give,
Guide your mind back,
Calm and peaceful,
To return to your movements in connection with your breath.
So finishing by untwisting the spine and returning,
Sitting straight.
As you now go into side to side body movements.
As we inhale,
Simply lengthen one side of the body by reaching the arm up and over.
As we exhale,
Both hands coming down and as we inhale,
Opposite arm reaches over,
Side stretching and as we exhale,
Both hands coming downwards.
Continue now this movement.
Breathe as you move.
Connect with what it feels like for the body to be in movement,
To be exploring its range of motion,
The intensity of the physical sensations of the movement,
The flow of the air that enters and leaves from moment to moment.
And so we're leading ourselves back,
Sitting straight,
Arms down.
As we bring the body to stillness,
We're connecting with what it feels like after the movement.
With so much movement,
But now so much stillness in the body.
Let's do this one more time with a different movement.
Place your hands behind you on the mat.
From your seated or kneeling position,
Simply lean back into the hands and as we inhale,
Lift the heart.
Exhale,
Lower the chest.
Inhale to go into a gentle backbend.
Exhale to let yourself sink into a gentle forward bend.
A few more breaths like this.
A moment to moment attention,
Moment to moment awareness.
And that's it.
Coming back to a nice neutral spine,
Your spine is straight and vertical with the length from the tailbone to the crown of the head,
With the rest of the body beautifully relaxed,
With the hands rested in a comfortable way and there is softness even in the muscles of the face.
Eyes closed,
Connected with a sense of stillness that follows the movement of the body.
We now start to commit ourselves to sitting absolutely still.
No more movement in the body.
We're setting an intention,
A sangalpa,
A promise to ourselves that no matter what happens,
We're not going to move the body one inch.
With the understanding that the stillness we give to the body will reflect beautifully as a stillness within the mind.
No more movement in the body.
Quite likely a part of the body might feel restless.
There might be a need to scratch or adjust.
Even that we are going to ignore.
Do this by creating the space of detachment around what you are experiencing.
That the bodily discomfort is observed as it is,
Not as it should be.
That you're going to accept whatever that feels uncomfortable or unpleasant the same way you are accepting comfortable,
Pleasant sensations within the body.
Like this,
Even if there is a need to move or adjust,
It is observed from a non-reactive place.
Like this,
You will gradually deepen your sense of physical stillness.
The body will become more and more comfortable as it is without the need to move or adjust.
And you will start to feel this beautiful stillness in the mind that follows the stillness in the body.
Spend the next few moments like this.
Stillness in the body,
Stillness in the mind,
Gentleness of the breathing,
Awareness of all this.
One more minute.
Pure truth,
Consciousness and bliss.
Sat Chit Ananda Good.
Then start to deepen and lengthen your breath.
Gradually allowing movement to return to the body.
Start from the tips of the fingers,
Then the hands.
As you take your time to lead your palms together left meeting right,
In the place where above meets below.
Here,
Where the inhale meets the exhale,
Finding joy in the body,
Peace in the heart.
So may the fruit of our practice be beneficial to all sentient beings.
May all beings be happy.
May all beings be well.
Concluding your practice by bowing the head down to the heart.
Namaste.
