32 | Movement 1 Standing (Practice Only)

Practice maintaining a mindful awareness in the standing posture. This practice can be particularly helpful if you're feeling too tired, or wired, for sitting practice. In-the-moment, this standing practice supports an enhanced sense of groundedness. Over the long-term, this practice builds skills for maintaining mindful awareness during moments of standing and walking out in daily life. Note: This practice supports Week 1 + 2 of my 8-Week mindfulness program.

Transcript

G'day,

My name is Rachel Grace.

Welcome to this standing mindfulness practice.

Please find yourself a place where you can stand in front of a chair or bench or railing so you can use that to steady and support your balance during this standing mindfulness meditation if necessary.

Once you're in position,

We'll begin with the gong.

Let your body come to a comfortable standing position,

Feet shoulder width apart,

Letting your arms hang loosely by your side or if you prefer,

You're more than welcome to hold the support in front of you if that helps you to keep your balance.

Noticing how it feels standing in this space that you're in.

Noticing how your body feels.

How your feet feel when they're making contact with the floor.

Notice how you are supported by the ground beneath you.

Now I invite you to roll your shoulders up towards your ears as you breathe in and then relaxing your shoulders back and down again as you breathe out.

So keeping your eyes straight ahead,

Don't look below the horizontal level.

Now I invite you to gently rise up onto your toes and stay there as you become very aware of how your feet feel,

How your toes feel and then narrowing your focus to concentrate on feeling the physical sensations in your big toes in particular.

Feeling your big toes right now and then lowering your heels,

Standing normally again.

If you're comfortable to do so,

I invite you to close your eyes now or let your gaze fall gently to the floor.

Now focus on letting go and relaxing into your feet and into your big toes.

Focusing all your attention as best you can on feeling the sensations in your feet and if you can in particular,

Feeling the sensations in your big toes.

We'll do another round now.

You can continue to stand or if you prefer,

You can do this exercise sitting in a chair with your eyes closed.

So once again now,

I invite you to gently rise up onto your toes,

Staying there as you focus your attention on feeling the physical sensations in your big toes.

Feel your big toes.

Keeping this position for the next 30 seconds if that's comfortable for you and during this time getting curious and noticing everything you can about how the sensations in your big toes are changing from moment to moment.

Now lowering your heels again,

Standing normally,

Closing your eyes,

Relaxing your feet,

Feeling your big toes,

All the sensations there.

Do they feel the same or different as they did before?

Does each toe feel the same or are there different physical sensations in each toe right now?

Just noticing.

You can continue to do as many rounds of this exercise rising up and down as you like.

Within the frame of this guided practice,

You now have another minute or so to rise up and down on your toes at your own pace,

Feeling the sensations in your big toes as you do.

Starting atFu typed in English flu unconditional.

As we move towards the end of this practice,

Lowering your heels to the ground if they're not already,

And allowing yourself to stand or sit normally.

.

Has there been a shift or change in the state of your body or mind?

Whether there's any change to notice or not,

It's okay.

Just notice.

.

As we approach the end of the practice now,

I invite you to join me by taking a deep breath in,

Filling the lungs right up,

And then relaxing your body and your mind as you breathe out.

We'll finish with the ring of the gong.

Good on you for taking a moment to practice mindfulness.

Let your intention be to carry this focused and calm presence with you as you begin what's ahead of you now.

Thank you for practicing with me.

I hope you will join me again.

Reviews

I found myself getting anxious when asked to focus on my big toes! In the beginning, my focus was there, but as it continued, I could feel the anxiety rise! This, to me, is a sign that I need to work on my mindfulness! This was a great practice, and I feel that I need to do it again and again until I can be mindful of my toes without getting anxious!

Interesting. Thank you 🙏🏻🙏🏻