Hello and welcome.
My name is Rivka.
This practice is intended to ground you and bring you home to yourself.
It's a lovely way to start your day,
End your day,
Or take a pause in day.
You can take this practice either standing,
Seated on the floor,
Or seated on a chair,
Or even laying down.
Before you get settled,
Just move any part of the body that feels like it needs to be moved.
Noticing if there's any tension,
Perhaps in the neck,
Or reaching your arms above your head,
Giving yourself a stretch.
Do whatever you need to do to release some energy.
When that's done,
Find your comfortable sit,
Stand,
Or laying down position.
And regardless of where you are,
Find a sense of equality so that both halves of your body are mirroring one another.
So you're standing,
You're standing with a long spine.
If you're sitting,
You have a long spine.
And just begin here by bringing your awareness to the parts of the body that are in contact with the earth,
The ground.
And feeling the ground beneath your feet,
Your sits bones,
Or your whole back.
And as you inhale through the nose,
At least send the air down to the earth,
Down to the ground,
To meet this place that's supporting you.
Good,
And now really bring your whole body into your awareness.
Really sense your whole body as you breathe in deeply and exhale sweetly.
What does it feel like to be in your body in this moment?
And if your mind is drifting elsewhere,
Just call it back in.
Invite your mind to join you here.
And sweep your awareness from your toes all the way up your body,
The crown of your head,
Building your entire body in your mind's eye and your awareness.
Imagine the outlines of your body,
The insides of it.
As you breathe,
Imagine yourself really filling up your entire body with your breath.
Expand your awareness now to the room that you're in.
Sense the room that you're in,
The space that you're in.
Sense the walls and the furniture,
If there's other people in the space.
Extend,
Expand your awareness to the room that you're in.
Keeping your eyes closed,
Just feel what's here.
Picture it,
Imagine it.
Feel behind you,
In front of you,
Above you,
Either sides of you.
And breathe deeply into this awareness of the space,
The room that you're in.
Now extend your awareness,
Extend it to the building that you're in.
Picture and imagine what's below you,
Above you,
Around you,
Beyond the room that you're in.
Maybe it's a house,
Maybe it's an apartment.
Maybe it's something completely different.
Bring into your awareness this entire building,
Your space that you're in.
Breathe here,
Holding that sense of awareness.
And now bring your awareness even bigger.
Extend it to the street that you're on or the block.
You've walked down this space before,
You've driven it,
Both.
You can picture it,
The space that you're in,
The whole block or street.
And bring your awareness,
Expand it even larger to the neighborhood.
Sort of feel out your awareness,
Sense your awareness expanding.
Notice if there's any tension in the body,
Just soften it,
Gentle awareness.
Bring your awareness now to the city that you're in,
The town,
This place that maybe is new to you or you know very well.
Picture it,
Feel it,
Expand your awareness to include all of this and all of the people,
Maybe in the city.
And expand it even further now to the country that you're in.
And expand to the continent that you're on.
If you can expand your awareness,
This whole planet that we're on together,
Feel yourself on this planet.
And expand even more into the solar system.
Imagine yourself in a relationship to the sun and the moon on this planet.
And sense how this solar system is part of a bigger galaxy.
Send your awareness all the way out to this galaxy.
Feel how you can feel this expansiveness right in your body.
Come back into the awareness of your body here,
Sitting in this space,
Standing in this space.
Sensing here in gentle awareness of everything of yourself and of all the spaces you inhabit.
Perhaps from this place of awareness and intention comes forward just a sense of how you want to move through the rest of your day,
Your evening,
Your night.
A word or a feeling is here to go with it.
May just be expansiveness.
Allow this word or this feeling,
Your intention to settle over you like a soft blanket.
Giving one hand over your heart and one hand over your belly.
Thanking this body,
Thanking this life,
Thank yourself for being here,
For taking time to come home to yourself,
To center,
To be aware.
Such important work.
Thank you.
