In this meditation we're going to learn how to relax our neck,
Find inner balance with the head resting over the chest,
Over the pelvis,
And we're going to compare the impact on our mental state,
On our psyche,
And the movements that we're going to do.
To begin with,
Sit in an upright position.
Ensure it's a position that is extremely comfortable for you.
If it's a strain to have a straight back while sitting on the floor,
Feel free to sit in a chair,
Like a dining room chair,
And close your eyes and tune in to how your body,
Your mental state is right now.
Now take three relaxed breaths.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
Breathing in,
Feeling beautiful length of your spine.
Breathing out,
Feeling relaxation cascading down your spine,
From your neck,
Through your ribs,
Through your lower back,
Down your legs,
Your feet.
Now the first exercise,
Pay attention to your nose.
Imagine your nose is against a sheet of paper in front of you.
If you're trying to read something very small,
Your nose is against a sheet of paper.
Just draw your nose up one centimeter,
Half an inch,
Up the paper.
Your head will be tilting back slightly.
Let your nose come back down to its relaxed,
Neutral position.
Repeat this movement at your own pace.
Try and make each movement very long and slow.
So raising the nose,
You might want to take five,
Ten seconds to do that.
Lowering your nose,
You want to take an equal amount of time to lower.
Really be curious,
Where is the point when you're lowering that your neck is at its most relaxed?
Raising,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
Lowering,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
And resting.
Raising,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
And lowering,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
And take a few breaths in stillness,
Putting your attention onto the back of your neck,
The top of the back of your neck.
It's an area often we ignore.
Work quite hard throughout the day.
Now keeping your attention on the back of your neck,
We're going to repeat the same movement.
Your attention right at the base of your skull,
Lifting your nose millimeter by millimeter,
And then descending your nose millimeter by millimeter until it finds a point of relaxation.
Do this in your own time.
I'm not going to count you.
Now we will move in the opposite direction.
So keeping your spine long,
Vertical,
Relaxed.
Start to lower your nose millimeter by millimeter,
Just starting to look downwards,
Maybe half an inch,
One centimeter,
The maximum that should travel here.
And then find how to relax your neck so that your nose rises back into your long upright position.
Try this a few more times,
Lowering your nose,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Pausing,
Noticing where is that tension in your neck,
Where is that tension in your body,
Maybe in your breath,
And releasing five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Head coming up to a neutral.
Try this one more time with a count,
One,
Two,
Nose coming down millimeter by millimeter,
Three,
Four,
Five,
And then coming back up,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
And relax in the stillness without altering your breathing.
Notice how your breath is flowing in and out of your body.
Now let's try and put those two movements together,
Raising your nose,
Feeling how the muscles in the back of your neck are performing this movement,
Slowly lowering your nose,
Noticing how the muscles on the back of your neck are lengthening and relaxing.
Now letting your nose drop,
Which is requiring some contraction on the front of your neck,
Letting your nose come back up to its balanced neutral position,
Relaxing the front of your neck.
Take a pause,
Breathe in,
Find the length in the spine,
Breathe out,
Find relaxation within that length.
Two more times,
Lifting your nose,
Paying attention to contraction on the back of the neck,
Lowering your nose,
Relaxing the muscles on the back of your neck,
Lowering your nose further,
Contracting the muscles on the front of your neck,
Releasing the muscles on the front of your neck smoothly as your nose and your face comes up to a relaxed vertical position.
Lifting your nose,
Lowering your nose,
Finding neutral vertical,
Lowering your nose,
Consciously contracting the front of your neck and releasing the front of your neck,
Finding the relaxed vertical position.
Pausing here,
Breathing in,
Finding the length in your spine,
The lightness maybe in your skull,
Exhaling,
Maintaining the length,
Feeling the relaxation as you sit here quietly,
Air direct.
For the last set of exercises we're going to do,
I want you to do the same motion with your nose.
As you lift your nose upwards,
You can do this with me,
Feel your body start to lean forwards ever so slightly,
So your chest is coming forwards.
As you let your nose lower,
Notice your body lean back to its neutral position.
As you lean your nose,
Let your nose drop,
Notice your body,
Your chest come backwards a few millimeters.
As you relax,
Notice your chest come forwards,
Head come back so that your head and your torso are perfectly aligned.
The nose comes up,
Head comes back,
Chest comes forward just a little,
Head comes back,
Upright,
Chest comes back,
The head comes forwards,
Chest comes back,
Chest comes forward,
The head comes back.
So what's happening here is our head and our body are counterbalancing each other.
One more time,
The head coming back,
Just torso leaning forwards,
The head coming back to the focal,
Torso leaning back.
Everything's aligned.
The nose coming forwards,
Down,
Chest coming back,
Nose coming up to vertical,
The chest coming forwards until your spine is vertical.
So this vertical position that you now find yourself in,
We've been playing with finding our balance,
The balance between our head and our body.
So notice how it feels with this new sense of balance,
Or this sense of balance that we've been developing over the last 10 minutes.
Notice what the state of your psyche is after this practice.
And when you're ready,
Gently open your eyes and move into your day.
