Hello,
Welcome back.
I'm Sarah,
A somatic facilitator and coach,
Here to help you build nervous system resilience so you can live up to your fullest potential with ease and confidence.
I'll be guiding you through meditation.
Breath works.
Visualization and deep rest so that you can explore the pause between where you've been and where you're going.
Welcome to liminal space.
Today's practice is for the days your attention feels scattered.
When you feel like there are a hundred tabs open in your mind.
And your energy is being pulled in different directions by all of them.
We'll be exploring a breath and awareness practice inspired by Taoism,
Which I learned during one of the yin yoga trainings I took.
The microcosmic orbit is where we guide the breath and attention in one gentle,
Continuous loop around the body.
Rather than forcing focus will give the mind a path to travel.
This practice,
In my opinion,
Is best unseated.
Spine long,
But soft.
Upright but not uptight.
But if laying down would feel better today,
Please make your way there instead.
And then take the next few moments to really land in your body and your surroundings.
Feel your bones softly loosen and your muscles starting to melt around them.
The space between your eyebrows softens.
Your jaw and clenches.
The shoulders drop away from your ears.
And as your body starts to ease towards the earth,
You realize you have no limitation of how relaxed you can feel right now.
You are spacious,
Boundless.
If your eyelids haven't yet grown heavy enough to close,
Maybe you invite them to do so now or start to soften your gaze.
And if you'd like to set a sankalpa,
An intention,
Take a few moments to welcome that in.
Feel it take up space in your body.
Maybe even repeating it to yourself a few times.
And then shift your attention to your breath.
Just notice exactly as it is,
No changing,
No fixing,
Just following the air as it enters and leaves the body Where is it landing today?
Is it shallow or deep?
What's the speed it's traveling?
Fast or slow?
And know that there's no wrong or right here,
It's just information.
And now we'll start to trace the path that our breath will follow.
Starting at the base of the spine And your mind's eye rises up the back body,
Vertebra by vertebra.
Slowly drawing up the net.
And the back of the head.
To meet the crown of your head.
And moving down the front of the body landing at the point between your eyebrows,
Your third eye.
Then your awareness starts to roll down the front of the body,
Sliding off the nose to the throat a heart's beat.
The belly button.
And returning to the base of the spine.
One continuous loop.
Now imagine your breath traveling that path.
As you inhale,
The mind slowly traces up the back body,
Pausing for a microsecond at the third eye.
And as you exhale,
Your awareness trickles down the front body.
To find its way back to the base of the spine.
Gently your awareness and your breath rise up the back body with your inhale.
Finding a gentle pause at your third eye,
That space between the eyebrows before travelling down the front of the body with your exhale.
Gently pausing when you meet the base of the spine You don't need to force your awareness or your breath along this path.
Just keep coming back to it.
And as you allow your breath to keep proceeding,
Allow it to be gentle,
Slow,
And forced.
There's no strain here.
No expectations.
You're not pushing energy anywhere.
You're simply giving your attention a path to follow.
We'll take a few rounds together for the count of five in and five out,
Just finding a little coherence as we trace the breath.
When you're ready.
Inhaling rising up the spine.
Exhale soften down the front of the body.
Inhale,
Rising at the spine.
Exhale soften down the front.
Inhale,
Rising.
Exhale returning.
Breathing in as you go up.
Breathing out as you go down.
Inhale,
Your breath is guided up the back body.
Exhale,
Your breath travels down the front body.
End.
And out.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Continue at your own pace now for a few rounds,
Trusting your own rhythm,
Your own pace No need to count if that doesn't work for you.
But each time the mind drifts,
Find the loop again.
Notice how the loop begins to smooth itself out.
Fewer sharper edges.
And one breath,
Just weaving into the neck.
Your scattered energy has somewhere to go now.
Gathers itself back into one current,
Not a hundred tabs.
Just one quiet orbit.
Take our final few rounds here together,
We inhale rising up the back.
Exhale softening down the front.
Breathing in.
Breathing out.
Inhaling Exhaling.
And now release all control of your breath.
Let it return to its natural pace,
Its natural rhythm.
Rest in the stillness that follows.
Notice the quality of your attention now compared to when we began.
Perhaps it feels more gathered,
More whole.
Less pulled in every direction and allow a knowing that it's okay to be off track.
This is where adventure can live.
But the path within.
Is always there for you.
This microcosmic orbit is always available whenever you need to call your energy back to the core of you.
To reorient,
To refocus,
To return.
Bring your intention back into your mind's eye if you sat on.
Just feel it being absorbed by every single cell in your body.
Feel it take up space as it radiates through.
And then you notice your senses start to awaken.
As you feel the surface beneath you,
The temperature of the air touching your skin.
Your fingers and toes have the urge to twinkle and your eyes want to blink open.
If this practice helped you gather your focus,
Please share it with someone whose mind might need a path to follow today.
Rest well,
And I'll see you next week.
