Welcome.
This guided meditation and breathing practice was offered by Renée Seals for Somatic Space.
Somatic Space is a weekly embodied astrology class where we practice attuning through our bodies with current astrological influences.
For this meditation please find yourself in a comfortable position where you can breathe easily.
So I want to start with a breathing meditation today and I'm standing and I'm going to stay standing for this meditation and you can do this meditation also as a movement practice.
It can be a really nice way to start to initiate more organic fluid movement in your body.
You're welcome of course to do this practice seated and this is a great breathing practice to work with before a seated meditation.
You're also welcome to lie down and I will say that if you choose to lie down you may fall asleep which would be a great way to begin.
So however you want to be let yourself be and I'm going to close my eyes because it does help me bring my attention and awareness inward and if you want to close your eyes I invite you to join me.
If your eyes aren't closed see if it's okay for you to turn away from the screen so that your eyes can rest on nothing in particular but also not a screen.
And whether the eyes are open or closed let's just take a moment and feel into that space of the eyes and the forehead.
We are in Aries season and this is where Aries lives.
And you might invite your eyes,
Invite the front part of your brain and your forehead to relax any amount.
There might even be a feeling of the weight of your brain sliding away from your forehead and towards the back of your skull.
Allowing any facial expression that has been held in place for any reason to consider its own possibilities for dissolve.
Your face could just go into its resting space.
I have my hands touching my own chest and this feels supportive for where I know we're going to go.
And if it would feel good for you to touch your own body as you breathe just notice where your hands want to be and what kind of touch would feel good right now.
And then begin to tune in with your breath.
And the first invitation is just to notice your breath and not to change it.
But as we begin to notice things,
Things change.
And so as you bring attention to your breath if it starts to change just notice how it changes.
And inside of this noticing and inside of the change invite your own mind and the tissues of your body to be.
So there's a real intentional surrender of effort.
You're not trying to do anything with your breath.
And that in and of itself can sometimes be an activity.
Every breath is different.
And as you notice your breathing can you begin to pay extra attention to the parts of your breath that feel easy.
And the entirety of the breath may not feel easy the whole way.
There may be times when it feels like you have to exert a little bit or there's something to kind of push through in order to get the breath.
But we want to turn our focus to where does the breath feel really easy,
Easeful.
The natural resting place for our lungs is the place after the exhale.
And so the inhalation is always a little bit of an effort.
And in the spaces of your breath whether that's inhale or exhale where you might find that effort is required.
Are there any little corners or pockets where you can find ease around the effort?
Let your attention hold the easy places.
The places where it feels like your breath can seep or slide.
And in my body the exhale feels very easy.
My body returns to what it's resting state is.
And if you also feel ease on the exhale allow that to just be a surrender.
Really allowing the exhale to flow out maybe to pour out.
That doesn't resonate for you let it go.
Noticing where in the inhalation there might be feelings of ease.
And an image I love to work with that many of you are familiar with is how water moves through sand at the shoreline.
And as your breath flows in you might think about the way that water moves to the openings.
Water slides around the bodies of the grains of sand.
And no need to press into the sand to make the sand into water just slide around it.
And in this way begin to bring your attention to the places in your breath where it might feel a little harder.
There might be some constriction or more awareness of effort.
Sometimes it can feel hard to get a breath.
And with total playfulness,
Curiosity,
No attachment to outcome,
Investigate if there is any ease around an edge of where it might feel more challenging.
Could any amount of seepage,
Slippage of the breath slide into the tissues that may feel a little more restricted.
Then let your awareness and attention grow and encompass your whole body.
And notice where in your body is holding tension that isn't needed.
Might check in again with your eyes,
Your brain,
Your jaw,
Around your joint spaces,
Inside your belly,
Pelvic floor,
Muscular bodies,
And let's see if we can invite that sense of ease into all of those places or any of those places.
No attachment to relaxation,
Sometimes there is wisdom in the body holding.
But if any amount of release is possible and wants to happen,
Letting the breath facilitate that.
And then taking the next couple of breaths to start to move a little bit,
Keeping your eyes closed if they're closed or soft if they're soft.
Letting your breath spread out and stretch out any movements that your body wants to make.
And if your eyes have been closed,
Allow the lids to open just the tiniest bit.
So a little sliver of light comes in at the bottom of the eyelids.
And as we open our eyes more fully,
Not yet looking at the screen,
See if we can keep breathing,
Keep noticing spaces of ease,
And let your eyes start to wander around your space as you breathe and stretch or move your body in any way that's intuitive.
Let your eyes just wander around and see where you are.
This is a familiar space to you.
Look in places you don't normally look.
Let your eyes wander back over both shoulders.
Let your whole spine follow,
So your chest and your hips move a little bit.
And then look for something beautiful.
Search around your space for something that's lovely.
You like to look at it,
Brings you some sense of beauty.
And let your eyes focus there.
And now really see the details of this beauty.
And internally pay attention to the feeling of appreciating beauty.
Really let yourself admire what you're seeing.
And in this admiration,
It may be possible to also feel some gratitude.
And this is nothing that we want to perform or force.
So just an invitation here to sense into the opportunity to be witness to this beauty.
There might be a story,
Or connection to what you're looking at that you feel grateful for,
That has some kind of larger appreciation.
And then allowing that image of beauty to kind of saturate your feeling tone.
And then if it feels okay to close your eyes again,
Close your eyes again.
And if it feels okay once more to touch your body somewhere,
Bring your hands to touch your own form.
And let's begin our practice today or begin again with some appreciation for the beauty in our lives.
And I want to invite you now to just call upon your own gratitude.
It might be the beauty of relationships,
The beauty of land,
The beauty of practices or teachings,
The beauty of spirit.
And calling beauty into your consciousness.
What does it take to feel this in your sensing body?
So we're not just thinking about it,
But feeling appreciation,
Admiration,
Gratitude.
In any way that makes sense to you in your own language,
Offering gratitude to the creator,
The mysterious divine is that has brought these beauties into being.
And then one more time,
Opening your eyes and looking around and letting your eyes wander.
And this time,
If it resonates and in your own way,
Offering gratitude to your space and to the day that we're in right now.
And as we offer gratitude to the space and the day,
Letting that gratitude extend into the many causes and conditions all the way to that ineffable,
Unknown,
Large creation,
Who knows why we're here,
But here we are.
Thanks for this day and for the opportunity to be here in this way.
