Moving Mindfully

Moving Mindfully is a 15 minute guided practice about being present for the experience of moving the body. Rather than focusing on deep stretches or perfect poses, this guidance stays well within your comfortable range of motion, sensing into and embodying the experience of movement.

Transcript

This is a 15-minute moving mindfully meditation.

The most important about this practice is that you take care of yourself.

This is not about 110% of effort,

More like 60% of effort,

Well within your comfortable range of motion.

What we're doing with this practice is not about doing a pose correctly or deep stretches.

What we're doing here is about being aware of movement as it's occurring,

Making a choice about how you move,

And feeling the sensations that may be associated with any particular movement you're doing.

You can do this while seated in a chair or on a cushion.

You can do it while lying down or standing.

Find a position that is most helpful and supportive for you.

And again,

Taking care of yourself and listening to your body's unique needs that may be different than anyone else's.

If you hear some guidance that is not appropriate a movement for you and your body in this moment,

It's okay to just do it a little bit or not at all.

Just imagine yourself doing the movement.

Begin by just checking into how the body is positioned right now.

Are you seated?

Are you standing?

Maybe you're lying down and noticing what sensations might be showing up in the body in this moment.

Contact with the floor or chair,

Noticing the hardness or softness of that contact.

Maybe clothing on skin or temperature of the room you're in is showing up.

There's no rush here.

Taking your time and just checking into the body in stillness for a few moments.

And when you're ready,

Our first movement will be to just gently raise the arms over the head pointing towards the ceiling.

Take your time and again,

There's no rush.

And once the arms are pointed up,

Pausing here,

Noticing what new sensations might be making themselves known in the shoulders,

Sides of the body.

Maybe some activation in the tips of the fingers is showing up.

And when you're ready,

Slowly,

Gently lower the arms and release them to gravity,

Just held gently at your sides.

And here too,

Checking in,

Noticing what sensations might be showing up once the arms have been lowered.

It may be that in these movements,

You don't feel any sensation at all.

This is not about feeling sensation,

But about listening to the body and noticing what might be showing up,

Acknowledging it,

And maybe working with it,

Adjusting your movements to support yourself.

And as best you can,

Embodying the movement as it occurs,

That it's a practice,

Not a perfect.

Bring a little kind playfulness to yourself in this.

The next movement,

I'll extend the arms out to either side,

Like a bird flapping its wings,

And just holding the arms out to the sides.

And noticing if there are any different sensations that might be showing up from holding your hands over your head.

Noticing what might be showing up in the shoulders,

The back.

And then slowly,

Slowly lowering the arms.

Maybe hearing some sounds as you do so as well.

That is also part of the experience of moving mindfully,

Noticing with more than just one sensation what might be showing up in this moment.

One more time,

Just raising the arms out to the sides for a few moments.

Noticing here,

Embodying this position,

Tuning into what sensations might be known,

And when you're ready,

Gently lowering the arms.

Next movement will be to raise one arm over your head while keeping the other at your side.

And once that arm is pointed straight up,

Just describing a gentle arc to one side,

So that if your left arm is up,

You're curving gently to the right,

Or if your right arm is up,

Curving gently to the left.

Remember this is not a deep twist,

This is not a deep stretch.

This is just a gentle movement well within your comfortable range of motion.

And coming back up to center and lowering the arm.

Pausing for just a moment or two.

And then lifting the other arm slowly,

Slowly up over the head.

And then casting another gentle arc in the other direction.

Again,

Taking care of yourself,

Making sure you are balanced and not overstretching.

Noticing too if there are any performance measures that are showing up or habits around doing it right.

Letting those go and instead shifting attention to the movement,

The feel of it.

And coming back up and gently lowering the arm once more.

You may notice some tension creeping into the body here and there in different spaces.

Often it may show up in the shoulders or neck.

So we'll do some shoulder rolls,

But we'll do them a little bit at a time,

One part at a time.

Again by just lifting the shoulders up towards the ears and holding there for a few moments.

Noticing if the arms are nice and loose.

Just the shoulders are being held up.

And pulling the shoulders back,

Noticing how the muscles of the back are involved.

And pushing the shoulders down,

Noticing how the arms move as you do.

Maybe there's a sound of the arms sliding across clothing.

And then bringing the shoulders forward,

Closer together in front of you again,

Nice and loose with the arms.

And then in nice,

Slow,

Gentle circles,

Lifting the shoulders,

Easing them back,

Easing them down,

And easing them forward,

Just a few nice,

Lazy little circles with loose arms.

And curiosity and playfulness,

What do you feel in the body during these movements?

And you can switch direction if you like,

Going the other way.

And what do you notice there?

And then allowing the arms to rest,

To settle in.

And pausing here,

Checking in with the body,

Noticing how breathing is.

What other sensations might be showing up or other parts of your environment that are making themselves known.

For the next movement,

You can again be lying down or standing or sitting.

We're going to just lift one foot at a time.

So if you're standing,

You may need to shift your weight to one leg and then lift the other.

Or if you're in a chair,

Just lifting one foot off the ground.

And same thing if you're lying down,

Just lift one foot.

Notice if there's any interest in going as high as you can or raising it correctly.

And let that go.

This is just lifting the foot a little bit off the ground,

That's all.

And where do you feel muscles holding the foot up?

And when you're ready,

Lowering that foot,

Allowing it to touch the ground again.

Before we begin raising the other foot,

Just gently establishing a light intention to feel each part of the movement of lifting that foot off the ground.

When you're ready,

Nice and slow,

Just pick that foot up off the ground.

Really highlight that experience in this moment.

And before you bring the foot down,

Back to the ground,

Paying particular attention to that moment when it first touches the floor.

When you're ready,

You can lower that foot,

Noticing landing.

What's that feel like?

That foot first touches the ground.

Let's do this once more.

Bring your other foot again,

Just lifting that,

Holding for a few moments and lowering it.

Feel that all the way through on your own.

Take your time,

No rush.

And when you're ready,

Raising and pausing and lowering the other foot,

Maybe noticing how the body shifts to support this lifting of the foot.

And coming back down once more.

Pausing here.

Again,

A gentle check into the body as it is in this moment.

Are you feeling a little more activation in some muscles?

Just noticing some tingling here and there,

A little tension or perhaps some ease has shown up in different parts of the body.

One more movement to try,

And this is whatever movement you would like to do.

Take a few moments and just consider,

Would you raise the arms or do some shoulder rolls,

Lift a foot or perhaps something entirely different.

Whatever you choose to do,

And this is your choice,

Be gentle with yourself,

Not having to get a pose or movement correctly or a deep stretch,

Just a gentle movement that feels good to you in this moment.

When you're ready,

Begin to that movement.

Pause,

Feel,

Feel what's here.

And then returning to center once more.

You can move in this way with awareness at any time.

It's just a light check in and noticing what's here,

Whether you're walking,

Standing,

Sitting,

Lying down,

Or just going on about your day,

Washing dishes or typing,

Whatever it happens to be,

Become aware of moving mindfully.

Thanks so much for your time.

That concludes this meditation.