Standing Mindful Movement

Gentle directed standing mindful movement with modifications for sitting and supported standing practice. This mindful movement practice follows the MBSR guidelines. Each day, remember to always practice within your limits.

Transcript

Beginning this period of mindful movement,

Just by beginning in the mountain pose.

So standing with your feet just about hip widths distance apart and just feeling your feet on the ground and perhaps beginning to feel the breath,

Moving through the body.

And just taking a breath or two as you stand in mountain pose and just noticing perhaps the steadiness of the body as you stand here.

And just standing with a soft knee,

Again noticing the in and out of the breath,

The rise and fall of the belly.

And of course you can also be sitting in a chair and if you're sitting in a chair just following the same direction,

Feeling your feet on the floor,

Noticing the in and out of the breath.

And as we begin mindful movement,

Just a reminder that mindful movement is a practice of staying within your limits and simply noticing what the body is asking for as we move through this practice and knowing that today may be a different practice from a previous day and just honoring the body as it's here today.

And noticing that again this practice is not an athletic practice so it's not about going to maximum effort.

This is really a practice about connecting mind and body.

So really noticing any desire or want to go beyond what your limit is today.

And when you notice that,

Just acknowledging it or noting it and just perhaps noticing if you can just work within what feels right and what feels just to the edge of your limit for today.

So let's begin our mindful movement just with some beginning breaths.

So again sitting or standing in this awake and steady pose.

Showing up to this practice,

Following the breath in,

Following the breath out and just taking notes perhaps of how the body is today.

Is there energy in the body?

Is there fatigue?

What is the body asking for today?

Is there tingling?

Is there other sensation?

Just taking a few moments here as you breathe just to note the current state of the body without trying to change it,

Without bringing judgment to it.

But just with a kind eye and with a kindness of breath.

Just noting the state of the body.

And then we're going to begin by just bringing the arms up over the head.

So we're going to take both the left and the right arms and just with a slow steady pace raise them up over the head.

So we're not rushing this,

It's not a race to get to the top of the head.

But just with the palms facing one another as you raise the arms.

Just bringing the arms up over the head.

Feeling the stretch in the arms,

The fingertips,

The muscles of the arms.

Just reaching those arms up over your head.

You might notice how the breath moves through the body as your arms are upstretched.

And if you'd like you can just gently stretch the fingertips up.

And just reaching up with the hands.

Stretching out the body.

Noticing how the breath moves through the outstretched body.

And then noticing perhaps if there's any holding of the breath.

And then as you're ready bringing your arms back down to your slides.

Just at a slow easy pace.

Palms back down facing the sides of the body.

Just allowing them to come to rest the sides of the body.

And just taking a couple of breaths here as again you're standing back at Mountain Pose.

And perhaps even noticing the effect just of one stretch of the arms overhead.

So noticing the effect of that on the body.

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

And then for our next movement we will just raise the arms just to parallel.

So just parallel with the ground.

You can have your palms facing out towards the wall.

So the bottom of the arm is just parallel with the floor or if you're sitting parallel with the chair.

Just having your arms outstretched.

Palms are up facing to the outside.

And just stretching the hands out,

Fingertips are pointed up towards the ceiling.

Again feeling that stretch,

The fingertips,

The arms.

And just breathing here,

Allowing the breath to move through the body.

Seeing how the body responds to this stretch.

And you can press the palms out if you'd like toward the wall,

Toward the windows.

And bringing your hands gently and slowly back down to your sides.

Arms to your sides again.

And just for a moment allowing the hands to rest at the sides.

And having some breaths here.

And during this practice you can have your eyes and you can experiment with having your eyes open or closed.

And we want to maintain a steady stance and posture.

So noticing if having your eyes open or closed leads to any kind of change in steadiness and wanting to maintain a steadiness.

So you can certainly experiment with that.

And so now we are just going to begin by raising the left arm only,

Just very gently,

Up above the head.

And having that palm out.

And bringing that left arm just up over the head.

And just stretching up with that left arm.

Again,

Reaching up as much as is comfortable for you.

Having those fingertips reach toward the ceiling.

You might feel a stretch in the side,

Perhaps down toward the hip.

Again this movement is the same whether you're standing or in a chair.

Just reaching that arm up towards the ceiling.

And again just breathing through the arm,

Through the side.

And slowly again connecting mind and body,

Bringing your arm back down to your side.

Palm back down to the left side.

And then doing the same on the right.

So bringing that right arm up,

Keeping the mind connected to the arm.

Remember the body is our object of meditation here.

And reaching that right arm up.

Fingers reaching toward the ceiling.

Reaching as much as you're comfortable with.

When you're ready,

Just bringing that right arm with intention back down to the right side.

And then pausing here,

And just taking a moment to check and make sure your knees are still soft.

So starting again with our next position,

We're going to bring both of the arms up overhead.

So again just slowly bringing the arms up overhead.

And as you do that,

The palms will be facing one another.

And so as you have the arms up overhead,

We're just going to very gently lean towards the left.

So both the left arm and the right arm will be leaning towards the left side.

And you'll have a stretch on that right side of the body.

And just remembering to breathe as you bend toward the left.

And then coming back towards that center position,

Arm outstretched,

Reaching up,

Taking a breath.

And then leaning towards the right,

So the left and the right arm move to the right.

And feeling that stretch in the left side of the body.

And just resting here for a moment,

And again continuing to breathe,

Noticing if you're holding your breath.

And then bringing your arms back up to center,

Stretching them up one last time,

Up over your head.

And just getting a good stretch here.

And bringing your arms back down to your sides,

Palms back down to the sides.

And as you stand again in Mountain Pose,

Just following the breath,

Noticing how it moves in the body after these stretches.

And if you notice that the mind is beginning to wander off,

Simply bringing it back to the body,

Remembering that the body is our object of attention here.

So just simply staying with the experience of the body,

And simply noticing what is the experience in the body right now.

And then bringing your attention to your shoulders.

So again,

Whether you're sitting or standing,

You're bringing your attention to the shoulders.

And so as we've talked about,

The shoulders are often a place where we store attention,

Even where we might store feeling or mood.

And so bringing your attention to the shoulders,

Noticing what,

If anything,

Is to be found there.

And then we're simply going to raise the shoulders.

So bringing the shoulders up towards the ears,

And our shoulders are often in a contracted position anyway.

But here we're doing it with intention.

So we are intentionally raising our shoulders.