Okay,
So good morning or if you're listening to the recording then good evening or welcome to whatever time it is for you.
Let's take a moment to arrive and get settled.
Allow yourself the time to get comfortable,
Warm,
Supported,
Whatever cushions or blankets you might need until you come to the moment where you're ready for stillness.
Connected to the ground,
Feeling the earth,
The soil,
Sand or rock,
Dropping down it's the ground.
So that you might feel rooted,
Feeling into the energy of your pelvis in relationship with ground.
An energetic taproot dropping down through the soil,
Through the rock,
Right the way down toward the heat and the fire at the center of the earth.
Noticing your spine,
An upward motion of energy from tailbone up through the sacrum,
The small of the back,
Moving up through the waist,
The lower ribs,
The back of the heart,
Collarbones,
Throat,
Feeling the skull,
The crown of the head,
An energetic connection to the space above the head.
Finding the felt sense of your midline,
Just pausing your awareness at the base of the skull,
The occiput.
Letting your awareness rest there,
As you start to notice your breathing.
Starting to draw your in-breath down through your nostrils and then down this central column.
Visualizing it,
Feeling,
Sensing it,
Moving down right into the sacrum,
Down to the tailbone.
That drawing in of breath,
It's a bit like the ocean drawing itself back before the wave.
Coming down to the pelvis and then the exhale,
Moving up through the midline,
Up to the occiput.
Like the ocean waves rushing forwards at the shoreline,
Making their way upwards.
You will find perhaps that your breath responds by deepening.
It's quite the journey,
Inhaling all the way down to the pelvis and exhaling all the way back up.
Perhaps the end of the exhale can start to move around the scalp.
Perhaps the tip of the inhale can move right into the perineum,
Through the depths of the pelvis.
Notice the part of you that is responding to the practice,
Perhaps wanting to get it right or wanting to do something else or whatever the response is that comes alive for you.
See if you can soften towards her with a smile.
So the whole practice can soften,
Can feel less like rules you must adhere to and more an invitation to explore something,
To experience something.
The inhale drawing downwards into the pelvis.
The exhale rushing up through the spine,
Through the midline,
To the occiput and in the scalp perhaps.
How does the breath want to respond?
The breath is moving like the ocean pulling back and drawing in.
Is there a rhythm to the waves?
And taking your next inhale right down to the very base of the perineum and seeing if you can move the exhale up to the space of the third eye.
You might visualize this movement.
You might be someone who works in imagery or sound or sensation.
Just trust whatever emerges for you with practice.
As you allow your breath to move prana,
Exhale to third eye and then drawing the inhale down again to the perineum and allowing the exhale to move up towards your throat.
Inhaling to the perineum and exhaling to the very center of your heart.
Inhaling down to the perineum,
Allowing the exhale come to the diaphragm,
The sternum.
Inhaling to perineum and exhaling to navel and allowing the breath to deepen.
So we have a big cleansing breath.
Inhaling right the way down into the ground,
Through the tap root,
Into the center of the air and exhaling all the way up through the midline and up into the space above the head.
Cleansing,
Clearing,
A deep and powerful breath.
And then letting the practice go and feeling how it is to be here this morning.
Bringing your hands to your heart to be offered the fruit of our practice to ourselves,
To one another and to all beings.
Namaste.
