Stories Have Shapes

This session invites deep contemplation of the subtle body patterns that our minds and internal narratives shape. Use this sequence when you need an energetic reset or are seeking an a-ha! to illuminate your next steps forward.
*note - this meditation was offered as part of a longer Somatic SPACE practice. Please visit my bio page to learn more about my weekly Embodied Astrology classes*

Transcript

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.

Okay and I'm gonna start off seated today and I'll start off working with a little bit of a breath meditation so please feel free to lie down if lying down would feel better for you.

Please feel free to move if you're ready to move.

And if you're seated with me then let's take a moment and just adjust in the ways that we need to adjust.

So make sure you feel good and balanced in your seat.

And before we really drop in let's just greet our bodies a little bit allowing them to move in any way that they need.

If you're just waking up you might want some morning stretches.

If you've already been up for a while maybe it would feel good to hug yourself or hold yourself or brush off your energy body allowing any of your previous activities or things you might be thinking about to settle to the side.

And then in your stretching and kind of arrival orient yourself by looking around your space and if you're in a room then look into all the corners of the room and look back over both shoulders allowing your spine and your hips to move.

If you're outside look around where you are definitely look behind you and notice your surroundings.

Notice where your exit points are.

Notice where your resources are and then allow your gaze to find the ground.

And allow your eyes to close and shift your attention and your awareness to the back of your head and your back body.

And if your head had moved down when you were looking at the earth then sense through the back of your head now.

Sense into your back body and allow that sensing to align your head and your heart and your pelvis.

And then as your eyes are closed begin to notice the process of arriving internally in your felt sense and awareness.

And what does it take for you to arrive today?

Some of the things it takes for me frequently are checking in with how my body is feeling.

Allowing myself to feel the sensations that are present.

Without judgment,

Noticing temperature,

Noticing muscular tension,

Noticing ease and well-being,

Noticing discomfort.

Thoughts have their own kinds of sensations and sometimes to arrive we have to call our thoughts inwards.

And if your mind is busy and active right now you might notice how that feels in your body.

How does it feel to have a mind that's busy and active?

Getting curious about where are the thoughts?

Where do they live in your body?

What parts of your brain are they moving around in?

And the nature of everything is that as soon as it's observed it changes.

And so notice this also in the process of arriving.

There's no set destination.

Even though we might be still in our bodies right now there's always movement.

Let's let our hands find our chests.

Placing your palms over your breastbone,

Stacking one hand over the other,

And let's just rub a little bit making circles.

As you rub your hands over your chest let your breath arrive here.

And then allow the movement to stop keeping your hands as they are.

Sending your breath deeply into your chest and heart space.

And if there's any personal intention that you have for this particular day or this particular practice offer it now.

And then let your awareness spread through your ears and through the skin on your body.

And the other sensations of your felt sense,

If possible keeping your eyes closed,

Allow your awareness now to spread back out into the room or into the space.

And a moment ago we looked at all the corners,

We looked behind both shoulders,

We found the exits,

We saw where we were.

Now from your felt sense,

Not from your sight,

Allow your consciousness to move out into the space.

Notice how you feel the space.

If you're in a familiar space,

You have mental maps of this space and all the objects in it.

You probably could navigate even if you couldn't see.

Between furnitures or around corners.

Let your proprioception and curious sensitivities spread out into the space.

And then bring your consciousness towards the ground.

And internally map,

Imagine,

What would you have to reach through to touch the earth?

Some of you might be already there.

Some of us might need to reach through structures of buildings.

Some of us might need to reach through different kinds of materials like concrete or metal.

Imagine that the weight in your body can distribute through the structures that somehow you can sense the earth.

Underneath your two palms,

Feel the heartbeat in your chest.

Feel how your body is breathing.

And then through your body,

Sense into the earth and imagine that the earth also has a warm core.

The heart of the earth.

The earth is also alive.

And in its own way,

It's breathing.

All the ways that the earth breathes.

Through oceans and forests and winds and bodies.

And if you're a person who can visualize images in your mind,

Then visualize,

If you can,

The relative size of your body on the earth.

And as you sense your own breath and imagine the earth's breath,

Or maybe you can feel it,

You might also imagine that you're a little part of earth.

Doing the things that earthly life does.

Breathing and transforming and moving and evolving.

Now see if you can sense or imagine where is the sun right now.

I have the sun shining into my eyes where I am.

So it's easy for me to place myself in relationship to it.

But you might be somewhere where the sun has already set or hasn't yet risen.

You might be unsure.

So from inside your body,

From your felt sense,

Reach into your curiosity,

Into your imagination,

And see if you can find the direction of the sun.

And then I'm going to invite us to somehow either turn in our bodies or shift in our inner sense so that our hearts can face the sun.

And if the sun is below the earth where you are,

Then you might even want to lie down and let the back of your heart against the ground receive the sun.

So shifting your sensory awareness or shifting your posture so that your heart can receive the sun.

And your heart is multitudinous in its directions and possibilities.

I've turned so the front of my heart can receive the sun.

But the back of your heart or the side of your heart can also receive the sun.

Let's make a relationship here.

And then beginning to breathe again,

Noticing heartbeats,

The ways that we're breathing,

Inhaling,

Exhaling,

Feeling our places on earth,

Feeling ourselves as part of earth's breath and life.

And then tuning in with the sun.

And the sun,

Like our hearts,

Is the center of a system.

A radiant core,

Extending energy into all directions,

Vitalizing and bringing life,

Emitting wind,

Creating breath.

I want to invite you now to visualize your heart like the sun.

You might have seen videos or pictures of the sun.

The sun is also always moving.

It's a very dynamic being.

Waves and ripples of the sun's flares,

Traveling across its surface,

Spitting fire into the sky.

Breathing into your heart and sensing or imagining the heat of your heart,

The light of your life,

The warmth of your vitality,

Like the sun.

And then let's offer some gratitude.

And first,

Let's offer gratitude to the sun itself.

And as you orient to the direction of the sun and as you breathe in,

See if you can find a feeling,

And it might be a feeling that has words or images.

How would you express your appreciation to the sun?

The sun could hear you,

Could feel you.

What kinds of offerings would you bring to the sun?

If you were going to express gratitude through a gift,

What would your body do?

What would your voice do?

Maybe you would sing and twirl around or fall to your knees and lift your arms.

How would you exalt the sun?

Let's take a moment to offer that gratitude through our imagination.

And notice how it feels.

How does it feel to imagine this?

And where in your body are these feelings?

What parts of your body get lit up?

And then bring your attention through the weight in your body and down through as many layers as you need to travel through.

And now can you offer some gratitude to the earth?

How would you offer this gratitude?

Maybe there are words,

Maybe there are images.

Maybe there are places on earth that you would travel to leave an offering.

What would you bring?

If you could fully express the gratitude that you have to the earth,

Its power,

Its life,

Its breath,

What would your body do or your voice do?

And how does that feel?

What parts of your body do you notice sensation arising?

And then travel in your sensation and your awareness back into the space that you're in and into your body and into the center of your body and into your heart.

And put aside everything that you know about yourself.

And for a moment,

Can you just perceive yourself as a living,

Breathing body on earth?

Emanating like the sun.

The life of your body,

The beating of your heart,

The movement of your breath.

Expressing the earth through material form.

Put aside your name.

All of the things you do and don't do.

All your personal history and ideas about everything that that means.

And just for a moment,

Can you be curious about your essence?

The energy that is inside this heart.

Living in this form.

And what kind of offering or gratitude or expression of appreciation could you offer here?

Notice what emerges in your imagination and felt sense.

Taking a deep breath in.

And as you exhale,

Allowing your hands to move up towards your face and your face to fall into your hands.

And let's cover our eyes.

And if you're seated,

You can bring your elbows down to your knees.

If you're lying down,

You might cross your arms over your face,

Allowing the weight of your arms to blacken out your eyelids.

And then let's begin from here.

Just gently rubbing the face.

Rub your forehead.

Rub your eyebrows.

Rub your temples.

Let's let our index and middle fingers slide around our ears and move the hands a little bit to rub around the ears.

Then let one hand slide onto your forehead.

And if you're seated and your elbow is on your knee,

Then try and really rest the weight of your head into your hand.

And let the other hand come back and hold the back of your head.

And if you're lying down,

Then you can just let your arms rest in the gravity.

And if you're seated,

Then let the top elbow relax down.

So that the weight of your hand and arm can rest into your head and your head can rest into your hand.

And your hand can rest in your elbow and your elbow can rest into your leg and into the earth.

And let's use our minds to relax our brains.

Take a deep breath into your belly and send your breath up into your head.

And then use your mind to relax the space inside your skull.

Can your brain rest into the container of your skull?

Can your eyeballs relax?

And then if you're seated,

Then switch sides and allow your other elbow to find the other knee and roll your head into the opposite hand.

And if you're lying down,

Then find a way to switch and we'll do the same thing on the second side.

And again,

Using your mind to relax your brain.

And I want to invite you here to also use some language and the language should be appropriate for you.

But the message here is that you don't need to know everything.

And in fact,

You don't really need to know anything.

And particularly if there are things that you're trying to figure out right now,

Then I want to invite you to send the message to yourself about those things specifically.

You don't need to know how it's going to work out.

You don't need to know how to get there.

It's okay for you to not know.

It's okay for you to not know how you feel.

To not know what's going on.

Whatever is relevant for you in that message.

And then let's take the elbow back to the knee again and both hands to the forehead.

And if you're sitting with me,

Then we're actually going to use our hands to push upwards into our heads to lift the head up.

And if you're lying down,

Then allow your palms.

And if you're sitting now,

Then do this too.

Allow your palms to slide to the left and the right of your forehead.

And then to slide to the back of your head.

And then to slide up into the base of your skull.

And now use your fingertips to start to massage the small muscles that are just underneath the base of your skull.

If you're lying down,

You can cup your thumbs underneath the base of your skull and let your hands kind of relax and turn your head side to side.

Sometimes can be kind of nice.

And if you're seated,

You can also use your thumbs or your fingers and just try and find little small circles.

And we're going to rub all the way around the base of the skull.

So make sure that you rub to the two sides and to the center.

And as you rub here,

Let your breath travel all the way up into the top of your lungs,

Into the root of your brain.

Let your jaw relax.

And then use your mind to relax the base of your brain.

Use your mind and your breath to invite awareness into the base of your brain and the top of your spinal cord.

And invite any parts that are ready to let go a little bit to let go.

And then let's just use one hand and squeeze the back of the neck.

Moving down from the base of the skull into the neck.

Using your hands like a claw.

So your palms and your fingers can squeeze the two sides.

And then switch arms and do it from the other way.

And then switch arms again and support your opposite elbow with your hand.

So that you can reach back and now start to squeeze the muscles at the top of your shoulder.

And drop your head to the opposite side.

So your neck gets long on the side that you're rubbing.

And then you can keep squeezing if this feels good to you or you might make a gentle fist.

And do some taps,

Tap taps.

Breathe upward into your shoulder and chest.

And then we'll come around to the front and use our palms and full fingers to rub circles around the front of the chest.

On this side,

Rubbing your pectoral muscles out to your armpits.

And let your fingers slide in the muscles underneath your collarbone.

Find the area in your outer collarbone right above your armpit where there's a soft divot kind of to the upper side of your chest.

Right before your shoulder and then use your fingers to rub gently circles there.

Breathe into that side of your chest.

Send your breath all the way into the sensation.

Whatever hand is working with the massage,

Shake it out.

And then we'll go back to the same side.

Whatever side you're working,

Lift that arm.

You can drape your forearm over your head.

And then the working hand will reach for the back of the armpit.

And go ahead and try and actually grab a hold of these muscles.

You can try and grab a hold of the side of your armpit.

And I find a lot of sensation here in my own body.

So if you find a lot of sensation here too,

And those of us who are especially computer users or if you're on your phone a lot,

These muscles can get real tight.

So if you find a spot that's quite tender,

You might pause for a moment squeezing it.

And then send your breath into the spot.

And again,

We're going to use our minds to connect with our bodies.

So send your mind into this spot as you breathe.

As you exhale,

You can use your mind to invite your body to relax any amount possible.

And then shake out your working hand.

And then we'll just squeeze down the arm.

And first we're going to squeeze from the back of the shoulder and the tricep side.

Squeezing down the little finger side of the forearm.

And then pulling out your little finger,

Pulling out your fourth finger.

And then we'll squeeze down the front of the arm and the bicep side.

The thumb side of your forearm.

And then pull out your thumb and pull out your pointer finger.

And then squeeze down the center of your arm if you can,

Just grabbing a hold of the bone.

Letting your fingers find the center of your forearm between your two forearm bones.

And then pulling out your middle finger.

And then we'll sweep off this arm.

And then we'll rub up the inseam of the arm.

All the way back up to the armpit.

All the way over to the chest and to the heart.

And then one more time,

Shake out the hand.

And then let both hands rest and tune in to your two sides.

And use your minds to remember now what we just did.

And use your minds to reflect and remark upon any changes that happened.

And then we'll go to the other side.

So supporting the elbow to find the back of the shoulder with the second side hand.

And then starting by squeezing the muscles back here.

Send your breath to the places that we're working.

So as we're working the arms,

We're working the Gemini parts of our bodies.

Gemini rules your whole wingspan from your fingers all the way to your collarbones.

And Gemini also governs the air inside of your lungs.

So the movement of your breath.

Maybe try the trap tap with a fist.

Ah,

Breathing.

Breathing.

You might know that Gemini is a sign that is associated with the mind and the movements of the mind.

As well as being associated with your arms and your breath.

Shake out your hand.

Find the front of your chest and now rub circles over the front.

Moving along your collarbone.

So when our minds get really busy and especially if they're busy with things that feel like we need to act on them.

Anxieties,

Frustrations,

Fears,

To-do lists,

Things like that.

One thing that can happen is that our breath gets shallow and our arms and our shoulders can get really tight.

Shake out your hand.

We'll find the back of the shoulder now.

Again,

Squeezing the muscles at the side of your shoulder blade.

If you find tight spots anywhere we go that have a lot of sensation,

You can always pause.

Pause squeezing them or pressing into them and then send your breath into those spaces.

And use your mind and your felt sense to really be with the sensations and with your breath.

So your muscles get tight because of your nervous system.

And this is a really important thing to know,

You know,

Especially if you're someone who feels like you need to stretch or your muscles get tight a lot,

Experience tightness in your body.

Your muscles get tight because of your nervous system,

Not because of the muscle tissue.

There's something called spindles in your muscles where your nerves actually kind of bunch up.

Okay,

Let's come around to the top of the arm and we'll squeeze down the back of the arm.

And so when we're working with tension,

Bodily tension and mental tension are often part of the same thing.

Pull out your little finger and your fourth finger and come to the front of your arm.

And tension patterns in our bodies often have associated mind states or thought patterns.

Pull out your thumb and your pointer finger.

Come to the center of your arm.

And mind states and thought patterns often have associated tension patterns or body postures.

So when we're working with the body,

We are working with the mind.

Shake out your hand.

Let's sweep down the arm.

And when we're working with our minds,

We're working with our bodies.

Rub up the inseam of your arm.

Back up to your armpit.

Around this rib and back to the chest and the heart.

Shake out your hand and then let both hands rest.

Okay,

Now use your mind to notice how your two sides feel.

Use your mind to observe what just happened.

Let your hands find your back body.

I like to use fists for this.

I'm going to take my knuckles into two sides of my spine.

And move my arms back and forth a little bit,

Making circles.

I'm going to allow my back to round a bit and I'm going to rub down the two sides of my back.

Okay,

As you rub down your back,

Breathe into your back.

Rub all the way down to your sacrum and then up and over the tops of your hips.

Into the sides of your hips.

And then let's use our hands to squeeze the thighs.

Squeezing the thighs.

Now we're in Sagittarius's home.

So Gemini and Sagittarius are opposite signs.

Gemini rules the arms and the wings and the breath and the lungs.

And Sagittarius rules your thighs and your butt.

And actually the coordination of your whole muscular system.

Use both hands on one thigh and rub up and down the inner and the outer thigh.

Let your leg go wide a little bit so you can squeeze your adductor muscles,

Your inner thigh muscles.

Grabbing a hold of the flesh,

Pulling it away from your bone.

All the way up to your groin and all the way down to your knee.

The coordination of our muscular systems that Sagittarius rules has a lot to do with our minds and our breath.

So how our postures and our movements get coordinated are really influenced by our environments,

By our perceptions,

By our mental patterns.

Let both hands find your knee.

Rub around your knee.

And then we're going to rub down the lower leg.

And here I'm letting my hands work the inner and the outer leg along my shin bone.

Just rubbing up and down.

And then I'm going to go all the way down to the bottom of my leg and find the back of my ankle.

And now I'm going to squeeze up my calf all the way to the back of my knee.

And then I'll do that again going down,

Squeezing the calf muscle.

And again,

If you find spots and you're like,

Oof,

That's tight,

You can pause for a moment,

Press into it,

Breathe into it and see if you can use your mind to relax your body.

So then in whatever position you're in,

Let's see if we can get to the foot on this side.

So I'm going to cross my leg up and over so I can reach my foot.

If you're lying down,

You might make an adjustment.

And then use your hands to move your ankle joint a little bit.

And let's squeeze the base of the heel.

And rub out through the arches of the feet.

Try and feel all your toe bones and move your toe bones around.

And then wiggle and pull on all of your toes.

Okay,

Let's slap the bottom of the foot.

And then rub the bottom of your foot.

And rub the top of your foot.

And then put your foot back down on the ground and rub up your calf.

Over your knee.

Over your thigh.

And back to your sacrum.

And then let your hands slide forward on your thighs and pause.

And do a little bit of a mental map here.

How do you experience and feel your right and your left legs right now?

What did we just do?

What happened?

And then we'll find the second side.

So starting off by rubbing the thigh.

And then squeezing along the inner thigh muscles.

Really trying to get a whole handful of your flesh and squeeze it away from your bone.

And if you find a tight spot,

Breathe into it.

So when your muscles get tight,

The nervous system in your muscle spindles registers tension as normal.

And it basically holds the tension.

And so stretching doesn't often or doesn't always do the thing that we need to do to release tension in our bodies.

And a lot of times what we need is actually touch and breath and awareness.

So when you notice tension in your body,

Go ahead and rub around your knee.

You might try really intentionally using touch,

Using contact and pressure.

And then using your breath and using your mind,

Go ahead and move down to your calf,

Get both sides of your shin.

Using your mind to actually work your felt sense.

And if you're a person who stretches or does yoga,

Then when you're working in your stretches,

You can use your mind to locate the sensation of tension.

And then with your breath,

Direct into the release.

Go all the way down to the back of your ankle.

And then we're going to squeeze up the back of the calf.

And squeeze back down.

So this week,

The sun and mercury are coming together in Sagittarius.

And Jupiter is in Gemini.

Let's sit up and cross the leg over and we'll work the foot.

So you might know that Sagittarius is Jupiter's home.

Jupiter rules Sagittarius and Gemini is Mercury's home.

So as Mercury and Jupiter oppose each other,

They're in each other's homes.

In each other's home signs.

And this is called mutual reception.

And it's actually like a benefic aspect.

It's helpful.

Make sure you get into all your toe bones and your arches.

And part of how we might work with this through an embodied sense is really trying to bring the mind into the coordination of our movements.

And those could be mental,

Emotional,

Physical movements.

We become mindful.

Curious.

And through our curiosity and awareness,

Make sure you pull out and wiggle all your toes.

Through our curiosity and awareness,

We might notice,

Oh,

There are patterns here.

Or there are places of habitual tension in my posture that I could change if I wanted to.

Can you slap the bottom of your foot?

And then rub the bottom of your foot.

And then rub up your calf.

And over the knee.

And back up to your hip.

And back up to your spine.

And then around to your belly.

And let's rub the belly a little bit.

Rub circles around the soft part of your tummy.

And then let your fingertips find the place right underneath where your lower ribs come together.

So soft upper abdomen.

And gently push in.

And feel free to let your spine round a little bit.

Especially if you're seated,

Let your spine round a little bit so your abdominal muscles can relax.

And this is a major nerve plexus in your body.

This is one of the places that Leo governs,

Right?

Leo and Cancer govern.

So our Mars retrogrades are working here.

And if you feel like the sensation is tolerable for you,

You can even fold over onto your fingertips.

But if you have a lot of sensation right away,

Keep it more upright.

I'm just going to breathe into the pressure here.

And then go ahead and relax that.

And notice now the breath in this part of your body.

And then we'll go down about,

I don't know,

Like to the,

Maybe your nipple lines or something.

If you have nipples or your outer collarbone lines.

And go underneath your ribs a little bit.

So poke up and under.

And again,

Some of you might want to fold over.

And if there's a lot of sensation,

Which there definitely can be,

You just work light.

And if you're seated,

Let yourself round a little bit.

If you're lying down,

That's great.

And then breathe into the sensation.

And then we'll inhale and release that.

And notice your breath.

And now find your belly button.

And go about two inches to the sides of your belly button.

And you can clasp your hand around your waist if they fit.

Or just poke your fingers in on these two sides of your belly button.

And then again,

We're going to kind of poke in,

Maybe fold in.

Sending your inhales into your tummy.

Into the places where your fingers are.

And then we'll release that.

Breathe into those spaces in your belly.

Notice how the breath moves now.

And then one more,

About two inches below your belly button.

Let your fingertips come together.

And right at the center below your belly button,

Press in.

Let your inhaling breath press your abdomen into your fingers as your fingers press back.

And then release your hands and breathe.

And then use your mind to reflect on how this feels.

What you're noticing sensation-wise,

Movement-wise.

Remember what we did.

So,

Now that we have pretty much touched our whole bodies.

And brought breath and awareness into our bodies.

And hopefully,

Maybe relaxed some places of tension,

Even just a little bit.

I want to invite us to do some embodied research.

And get curious about how we might map different kinds of feelings or thoughts.

So,

How does the mind live in the body?

And what I'd like for you to do now is recall a kindness.

Recall something that has happened in your life that you really just experienced as a very deep kindness.

And this could have been kindness that you had or felt and shared to someone or somewhere.

Or this could have been a kindness given to you.

A generosity.

And any memory that surfaces is good to work with.

Let's look for a memory of a kindness.

And I want to invite you to really focus on that memory now.

Let it come very deeply into your memory body.

Visualize what was happening.

Who was there?

And let's use our minds now to observe the sensations of this memory.

When we call this memory up,

What does it feel like in our bodies?

Now,

If you have a pen and paper nearby,

You could draw this out or you can imagine it in your mind.

You might make like a figure or an outline of a person.

And then draw where are the sensations.

How would you express them?

If your heart feels full and happy,

How would you show that?

Maybe little squiggles or lines or something like that.

What parts of your body get lit up by this memory?

And in your mind's eye or maybe even drawing it out on a page,

See if you can create a little bit of a map.

What is the map of this mind state?

The map of this memory.

What parts of your body get lit up?

So notice that and then we'll let it go and you can wiggle or squirm in your body a little bit.

Let that map move out.

Let it go.

And then if it is okay,

Close your eyes again.

And I want to invite you now to call to mind a relationship with someone who you've maybe known for a long time.

A relationship that's fairly established and familiar for you.

And call that person up in your mind's eye.

Let them arrive.

You might say their name inside your mind.

You might imagine what they look like.

You might see how they move or move through space.

And then tune in with your felt sense and your inner landscape,

Your inner body.

How does your body map this relationship?

What parts of your body light up?

Noticing sensations through the inner body,

In the joint spaces,

In your head and in your face,

In your back body.

What's the map of this particular relationship?

And then again,

If you had a piece of paper and a pen in your imagination or for real,

You draw a little diagram and somehow show what's happening.

What parts of the body start to constellate?

How would you describe particular sensations of what feels open or closed or warm or cool or grounded or uncertain?

However you might feel these feelings.

Okay,

And then we'll wiggle that out.

Shake it out.

Blow it out our lips,

Shake it out our heads.

And then we'll do one more,

One more little map.

And this next map is the map for the unknown.

And so I want to invite you here to call up some direction that you feel yourself moving right now.

And it could be in a project or a relationship or with your health or in your life in general.

But some direction that you feel yourself moving and you're not really sure where you're going or how to get there.

Or maybe you have an idea,

But you feel some kind of challenge or blockage in terms of how to get there.

Or maybe it just hasn't even happened yet.

Let's call in a situation in the future that we are approaching from the present.

And as you visualize this situation,

As you allow yourself to call in and contemplate the questions that you have or the direction that it is or the people that are part of it.

Really tuning in with your felt sense and your inner body.

What happens?

What happens?

Where do you feel movement?

Where does movement stop?

What are the textures and the tones and the vibrations of these sensations?

So noticing the map,

If you could draw it out,

What would it look like?

And then before we end with this,

I want to ask you,

Is there anywhere in this map that needs some support?

Is there anywhere in this map where you feel like there's a lot of energy somewhere and maybe not so much somewhere else?

Or maybe a texture could get informed or smoothed out somehow.

And I want to invite you now to move through the map of your entire body.

To remember how you can use your mind to bring breath and awareness to other places.

And if you have a sense of what this particular map might benefit from,

Can you use your mind now to open up those possibilities?

Locate support.

Bring breath.

Anchor somewhere that feels stable.

Relax somewhere that feels stuck.

And then before we let this go,

Let's one more time bring our hands to our hearts.

And change my words in your mind as you need,

But let's offer some gratitude to the situation as a place where we get to experience our own growth.

Gratitude for the opportunity to be here in this way at this time with this question.

And then from our hearts,

Let's reach to the sun.

And we might ask for the sun to help enliven and illuminate or maybe even bring into shadow what needs to be seen,

What needs to be felt,

What needs to be worked with.

And then one last time,

Turning our heads and our hearts and our attention to the earth.

And let's just pray here that the outcomes of this situation serve the greatest good of the earth and all life on earth.

And the ways that we navigate and journey and explore and in all the failures and the missteps and the learnings and in all of the achievements and all the impacts that we have,

May we move in ways that serve the greatest good for the earth and for all life on earth.

And then remember that you too are life on earth.

And let's close our practice with a sincere wish that the ways that we navigate these situations bring well-being and healing and contentment into our own lives,

Our own bodies,

Our own hearts.

Taking a deep breath in.

And as we exhale,

Opening our eyes,

Releasing our arms.

Thanks for your time and thanks for your practice.

Reviews

I needed this. The set up was especially helpful, that we began with noticing the space around us and any movement our bodies may want before settling in, where our resources are, brought up some scientific aspects like even when we're still we are energetic particles in movement... It's very helpful for me to not have to start with breathing practices, that those get worked in later on in the process. I loved learning a bit about the zodiac and how it is represented in different places in our own human bodies.