MBSR Lying Down Mindful Movement

This is a 45-minute gentle directed lying down mindful movement practice. This mindful movement practice follows the mindfulness-based stress reduction guidelines. Each day, remember to always practice within your limits and with care to do only what your body needs.

Transcript

We're going to begin this time of mindful movement by finding a comfortable position on a floor or mat,

Lying down with our legs fully extended on the floor,

Arms to the side,

Your palms can either be facing up if that's comfortable or facing down towards the floor if you prefer,

Just a comfortable lying down position here on the floor and just beginning to breathe into this,

What's called integration pose and just allowing the floor to fully accept your weight and perhaps just letting go a little bit with each breath,

Feeling perhaps with each out breath again the floor just fully taking on the weight of the body just a little bit more and then as you're ready just bringing your attention to the breath you might notice the breath and the rise and fall of the belly,

The rise and fall of the chest or you might notice it the nose or the back of the throat but just a moment here before we begin this mindful movement just taking a moment to fully breathe the body in this pose,

Following the breath in,

Following the breath out,

Just allowing your attention to fully experience and follow the breath as it moves through the body and as we move into mindful movement just remembering that this is a practice of being in the body so our object of attention is the body,

The experience of the body this isn't an athletic event so we're really going to bring an awareness to any type of straining or pushing or desiring to be in a way that's not helpful or matching up with how the body is today it's really just noticing what's being asked for and called for by the body today as we move through these lying down poses with our mindful movement so we're going to begin just by bringing the arms up over the head in this integration pose so we're simply going to whether your palms are facing up or facing down just slowly and knowing that you have arms so bringing your attention to the experience of the arms just bringing your arms up over your head and just allowing them to rest on the floor up over your head and just fully stretching out here you might notice how the breath moves through the body in this pose you might notice the stretch in the arms in the torso and you might notice any tendency to hold the breath and if you do just simply return back just to a typical breath we're not trying to change the breath at all here so just holding this stretch up overhead for a moment or two longer and then when you're ready bringing the arms back down to your sides again just with intention noticing any inclination just to quickly just bring your arms back down to our sides as a habit we're really just noticing what we're doing here and being in the experience of the body moving so pausing here for a moment back in the integration pose allowing the arms to rest for a moment here at your sides again just feeling the full weight of the body against the floor taking a breath so we're going to start our next pose by bringing the arms out perpendicular to the body and we're going to have the palms facing down and then we're going to bring our bottoms of our feet to the floor and knees up towards the ceiling and from here we're just going to press the lower back into the floor and that also can be as if you're pressing the belly button in toward the floor we're just going to press the lower back very gently in towards the floor and then release and maybe do that a couple more times so simply pressing the lower back or thinking of it as pressing the belly button in toward the floor and releasing it pressing the lower back or belly button in towards the floor and releasing it and you're actually kind of getting a nice stretch in the lower back here just through this very small movement and then perhaps doing one more of these slight presses and then pausing in that neutral position and then next we are going to actually press the belly button kind of up towards the ceiling so we're going to arch the lower back just very slightly just enough maybe to put your hand under that arch in the lower back and then come back to the neutral position so again just raising that belly button up towards the ceiling arching the lower back just ever so slightly keeping your pelvis on the floor coming back down arching up just enough to slide your hand in perhaps coming back down again we're just trying to stretch that small of the back arching coming back down and maybe doing a couple more of those and then coming back to that neutral position and then just pausing at the end of your next stretch or your next arch and just taking a moment here just to take a breath and then bringing your arms back into your sides palms facing down and you can also bring your legs back down onto the floor so bringing your knees just back to the floor soles of the feet facing out so just back into that integration pose and just taking a breath or two here if you find your mind has wandered away just bringing it right back to the body taking a moment here to feel the breath in the body and from here we are going to bring the knees to the chest and so we can do that just by very gently from this integration pose just bringing the knees up to as far as is comfortable to the chest so you can just curl the knees in as if you were a ball and then you can hold them in whatever way is comfortable so bringing the knees in and you can hold them at the thigh you can hold them behind the knee you can hold them at the shin just figuring out for you what in this pose is a comfortable way to hold the knees into the chest so we're just bringing the knees into the body from that integration pose noticing again if there's any holding of the breath holding both knees into the body and then from this pose if you'd like you can bring the head to meet the knees so raising up the head to meet the knees just to get an additional stretch noticing if that is to your limit if that's within your limit and just holding that for a moment if you'd like you can rock back and forth in this position kind of massaging that lower back just noticing what is called for in the body today in this pose and then as you're ready lowering both legs back down to the floor lowering the head back down to the floor if you've had it raised coming back to that integration pose taking a breath and perhaps just taking a moment to be in the body and notice just any effects of our mindful movement so far in the body what is the communication from the body from this mindful movement so moving on to our next pose bringing the right leg into the body and again just bringing that knee to the chest but this time just with the right leg holding the knee into the chest again in whatever way is comfortable for you can have it under the thigh can have it across the shin can have it lower at the ankle if that's comfortable for you just working with your body and noticing what's right for you today so holding that for a moment and then again if you'd like you can bring your head to the knee of the right leg and get that additional experience that additional stretch and if that's not comfortable for you if that's outside of your limit today then honoring that and then as you're ready bringing the right leg completely back down to the floor and moving to the left leg and bringing the left leg into the chest holding that again at the thigh at the ankle the shin wherever is comfortable for you and raising the head if you'd like to do that then as you're ready coming back to integration pose by bringing that left leg back down to the floor and again just taking a couple breaths here in the integration pose and then for our next poses we're actually going to move to our hands and knees but prior to doing that just really again setting the intention to move before you move so noticing if your first intention is just to immediately move and moving instead with the knowledge that you are moving so going ahead and moving to placing all of your weight on your hands and knees so this is often called the tabletop position so your hands should be touching the floor your knees are also touching the floor and from this position we are simply going to arch the back and raise the back towards the ceiling this is often referred to as cat so just arching that back raising it towards the ceiling stretching the back out and then we're going to reverse that motion by bringing the belly button down towards the floor raising the head up often referred to as cow and then just going back and forth between those two movements for a moment so arching the back up towards the ceiling dropping the head down and then switching to bringing the belly button down towards the floor raising the head up reversing that arch back towards the floor so going back and forth on your own a few times between arching towards the ceiling reversing belly button towards the floor and then coming to just a stopping place with that and then coming from there pausing obviously in that tabletop position taking a breath and from here we're going to move into a balance pose and we're going to begin this balance pose by raising just bringing the right arm straight out in front of us so taking it off the floor bringing the right arm out so it's pointing out directly in front of you and then from here you have several options you can have the left leg so you can have just the toe touching the floor just gently touching the floor you can raise the left toe just slightly off the floor you can work with that you can raise the left toe kind of in between it being on the floor and it being completely parallel the leg completely parallel to the floor if you like you can work fully with the balance pose which is to have the left leg completely parallel so essentially at your hip to the floor so it's going to look like your right arm is fully extended and your left leg is fully extended out at the hip that if you are doing the full pose but remembering that any piece of the pose is completely fine so you can have your arm out you can have your toe touching the floor you can have it slightly above touching the floor or you can have your leg fully extended parallel to the floor at approximately hip level so bringing your leg and arm back down and just taking a breath in that tabletop position and then just completing that on the other side so bringing your left arm out and then extending the right leg having either the toe resting lightly on the floor bringing it slightly off the floor bringing it to that middle position or having it fully parallel to the floor and extended essentially at hip level.

So left arm extended right leg extended in any one of those positions and just working here in this balance pose.

And then coming back to bringing your arm and leg back to the floor taking a breath kind of getting your grounding again in this tabletop position and preparing to move back to the integration pose and then moving with intention back to the integration pose so moving back to a full lying down position on the floor your full body being held by the floor and then from this position from the integration position we are going to again bring our hands up over our head and palms facing out up over our head and we're going to bring our feet soles of the feet on the floor knees facing up toward the ceiling and then from here we're going to lift the hips off the ground and just lifting the hips up toward the ceiling just to the degree that is comfortable for you today.

This is a great place to also work with how your body is today.

So you can hold this pose for a few moments you can bring the hips back down and rest for a few moments and then bring the hips back up just really paying attention to what's called for you not anyone else in the room but what's called for you today.

So taking a few moments here just to either hold this raising of the hips or to lower and raise the hips again noticing if the mind gets busy simply bringing it back to the body and then when you're ready bringing the hips back down to the floor lowering the legs back down fully supported by the floor and bringing the arms back down to your side and just taking a couple breaths here fully breathing into the body and then from here bringing the arms up once again but this time we are going to just bring them gently up back behind the head so you can have the palms of the hands just rest in gently supporting the head so having the palms of the hands just behind the head just holding the head and again we're going to have the soles of the feet on the floor knees facing up toward the ceiling and then from here we're going to very gently just let the knees fall to the right of the body and feel that stretch in the hips as the knees fall to the right and as you do that you can experiment with turning the body the torso the upper body to the left so you can notice if that is good for your body today if it's not you can just keep the body just steady in that neutral position hands behind the head facing forward but if you'd like as the knees are dropped to the right you can turn the torso to the left and get an additional stretch and then when you're ready bringing your feet back soles of the feet to the floor knees facing up if your body has been to the left bringing it back fully supported by the floor and this time letting the knees drop to the left turning the body to the right if that feels good for you today and just working in this pose for a few moments then coming back to the integration pose so bringing your feet and legs back fully on the floor bringing your torso again back fully on the floor if it's been to the right and just taking a few breaths here fully breathing into the body noticing again the effects of moving through these poses on the body and then preparing for our next pose our next movement we're again going to bring the soles of the feet to the floor knees facing the ceiling arms are remaining at our side and we're just going to bring the right leg up towards the ceiling and as much as possible getting that sole of the foot just to face the ceiling and just feeling that stretch of the leg so you have your left leg the knee is facing the ceiling and then the right leg sole of the foot is facing the ceiling so just feeling that stretch for a moment and then when you're ready you can work with just perhaps getting an additional stretch here by holding onto the leg and again just experimenting with what works either you can hold onto the leg at the shin at the ankle at the thigh but just experimenting with is there any additional room for pulling that leg in towards you maybe on an in breath can you bring the leg in towards you breathing into this leg breathing into this stretch and you also can again bring the head up towards the leg as you are pulling it in towards you noticing if that is a good fit for how your body is moving today so working with that for a few moments here and then when you're ready bringing that right leg back down to the floor and just having the sole of the foot on the floor knee pointed up and then doing the same on the left side so keeping the right leg sole of the foot on the floor knee pointed up but now bringing that left leg just pointing up so on the left side the sole of the foot is going to be pointed toward the ceiling and just getting that stretch there you might move the foot around you might just leave it stationary just experimenting with what feels good why the leg is pointing up and then when you're ready you can work with the idea of a little bit of a furthering of this stretch by holding the leg in at the shin at the ankle at the thigh again just being honoring of the body as you're working in this stretch you can bring the head into the leg for some more work with this stretch and then bringing the leg back down and coming back down into integration pose so having both legs on the floor fully accepted by the floor arms to your side taking a couple breaths here and then we're going to roll over onto our side so just coming up onto your right side so laying on the side laying on your hip and on the side of your torso your head's going to be supported by your right elbow by the right palm of your hand so just laying on that right side you can have your left arm in front of you for support so just getting in that position finding a stable base and then we're just going to raise the left leg because you're laying on that right side we're just going to gently raise the left leg so just raising the left leg a few times experimenting with how far you raised the leg perhaps with the number of times you raised the leg just being very curious about the body in this movement and then when you're ready pausing coming over onto the left side so again you're laying on the left hip the side of the left torso the head is held in the left palm of the hand and you can use that right arm for stability holding the body so finding a comfortable position here and then raising the right leg in the same way you did before and working with that and then when you're ready just come into a stopping place there and then we are going to from this side lying position just roll over onto our stomach onto the belly so doing that coming over onto the belly you can have your head turned to either side your hands are going to continue to be by your side with the palms up so taking a moment just to find a comfortable position there breathing into the body here so from here we are going to raise both the head and the right leg just get a stretch throughout the whole body so just doing that here for a few moments noticing if you're holding the breath struggling with the breath and just settling into this position and staying steady with the breath and then bringing the head down bringing the right leg down and then switching sides raising the head up raising the left leg up and feeling that stretch again and when you're ready bringing the head down bringing the left leg down you can have your head to the side just taking a breath here and then we are going to raise both the head and both legs together so this stretch is often called a superman position because you've got your hands palms facing out you've got your head up you've got both of your legs up you're kind of flying in that superman position so going ahead and beginning that pose head up legs up off the floor of course your arms are to your sides palms up and just feeling that movement in the body breathing fully into this stretch not holding the breath and then when you're ready bringing the head down bringing the legs down having your head to the side just for a moment here and then one last time with intention coming back over into integration pose so fully laying on your back palms can be facing up palms can be facing down but just again your whole body being held by the floor and we're just going to conclude this mindful movement just with a very brief body scan just beginning at the feet feeling the feet and the toes the ankles moving up to the lower leg knees and the thighs just allowing your attention to fully be in these parts of the body and noticing any sensations tingling heat cool just being present to whatever is here coming up to the lower back the pelvis the hips noticing any sensations you find in this area and then coming to the middle back the upper back perhaps just seeing if you can even let go just a little bit more as the floor is holding you coming to the shoulders the belly and the chest feeling the breath move through this part of the body and then bringing that spotlight of attention to the hands and the arms the neck and the head and then just allowing your attention to rest just on the full body so just bringing your attention to the wholeness of the body and you might experience the breath just fully moving through the body beginning at the feet moving up the legs the torso the head just the full experience of an embodied breath perhaps just following that for a few breaths if that's available to you and then just coming back to the breath just simply the experience of the breath and the belly the chest wherever it's most available to you and just experiencing the breath in this area of the body again just knowing you have a body that you are connected to this body and just staying with that until you hear the bells.