Breathing Into Connection

This meditation will start with a full-body scan that will explore awareness of the connective tissues, known as Fascia that weave through the muscles and the bones of our body. After our body scan, we'll explore breathing and moving the energy through the fibrous highway of these connective tissues. Our concentration work will focus on the "connective tissues" of our lives, that weave together who we are and our purpose in life.

Transcript

Hello everyone and welcome.

Today,

Let's get started in a comfortable seat.

So sit up nice and tall,

Whether you're sitting on a chair,

A bench,

Couch,

Maybe even the side of your bed,

Or if you're sitting on the floor.

And if you are sitting on the floor,

Maybe you place a prop underneath your hips,

Like a yoga block,

A stack of blankets,

A pillow,

Or a bolster.

And once you've found your seat,

Just let your hands rest on your knees or your lap.

Your palms can either be facing up or down.

And then just take a moment to observe your general surroundings.

Just start to connect to what is physically around you.

Use all five of your senses.

So widen your sense of sound to what's in your space or even outside of your space.

Notice what you see physically in front of you.

Notice any smells from within the room,

Any tastes lingering in your mouth.

And maybe you feel the fabric of your clothing along your skin or maybe just the air quality of the room.

Once you've had a moment to connect with your general surroundings,

Acknowledge their existence,

And then close your eyes gently and start to turn your attention inwards.

Make that first connection inwards by connecting to the breath that's moving in and out,

That connection between the internal and external.

So notice the breath as it moves through your nostrils.

What does it feel like as it passes through your nostrils,

Through your sinuses,

Through your throat,

Even feeling it down into your lungs and expanding into your ribs and your belly?

How does that breath feel from its first entrance into your body all the way till its exit out of your body?

Now we'll move our attention now to our physical body and just allow the breath to be in a natural rate and rhythm.

And we'll scan through the body in two different ways.

We'll start with all of the joints and the bones and then we'll move to the soft tissue muscles.

And as we move through this body scan,

Just notice if there are any points of tension,

Stress,

Soreness,

Achiness,

Or tightness.

And if you notice at any point in time,

Breathe into it.

So make that connection from breath to body and breathe as if you can send that breath,

That healing breath,

Into those spaces where you're holding on to tension.

So turn your attention down to your toes and just focus on the joints of your toes,

So where your toes meet your feet.

Notice the ball joints of your feet,

Those big toe mounds on the inner arches.

Notice the little toe mounds on your outer arches.

And then notice your ankle bones,

The connection from your feet to your shins and your calves.

See if you can feel your shin bone,

The tibia.

And then notice your knee joint,

Not just the cap of your knee but even the back of your knee.

And then notice your thigh bones,

Your femurs.

And then bring your awareness to the space where your femur heads meet the sockets of your pelvis and hip bones.

Just notice the space there.

If there's any tension or tightness,

Breathe as if you can breathe into that tightness to soften.

And then move your awareness now to your entire pelvis,

So your pelvic floor,

Your pelvic bowl.

Notice if any tension is lingering there and just breathe into that space.

And at the top of your pelvis at the back,

There's this triangular bone at the very base of your spine called the sacrum.

And just see if you can notice it,

Locate it mentally.

Notice if there's any tension there and breathe into it.

And then notice the natural curve of your lower back,

So that curve that curves inwards from your back to your belly button.

Just notice that curve within the center of your body and your spine.

And then notice the upper part of your back,

The upper part of your spine which curves outwards from your chest to your back.

See if you can feel your spine there,

Your spinal column,

And breathe into it if there's tension.

At the front of your chest,

See if you can notice your breastbone,

Your sternum.

And then just above your sternum,

See if you can notice your collarbones.

Notice if you're holding tension there and breathe into it.

And then notice your shoulder joints,

So the space where your arm bones meet the sides of your back and your chest.

See if you can feel that socket and the head of your upper arm bones.

And then notice your upper arm bones.

And then notice your elbow joints.

And then notice your wrists.

And from your wrists,

Notice the points where your fingers meet your hands.

Breathe into those spaces.

And then move your awareness up to your forearm bone,

So the second half of your arms.

And back up to your upper arm bones.

And then bring the awareness to your neck,

The base of your neck,

Where your neck meets the top of your chest and your upper back.

Just notice the natural curve of your neck,

Curving inwards from back to front.

And see if you can find that connection from your neck bones,

The neck part of your spine,

To the base of your skull.

And then bring your awareness to your entire head.

See if you can feel or just even imagine the shape of your skull.

Now shift your attention now to all of your facial features.

So just notice all the fleshy parts of your cheeks,

Your chin,

Your forehead,

The sides of your head,

Your ears.

If you're holding on to any tension there,

Soften with your breath.

And move your awareness down to your neck,

The front of your neck,

The back of your neck,

And the sides.

Notice if there's any tension being built up here.

Just soften your neck.

Notice at the back of your neck,

There's this connection called the trapezius.

It connects your neck to your back,

Your shoulders.

And just soften through that muscle,

That big muscle.

And bring your awareness to your upper arm muscles,

Biceps,

The fronts of your arms,

And your triceps,

The backs of your arms.

Breathe into any tension and soften.

Move your awareness down to your forearms,

The fronts of your forearms,

And the backs of your forearms.

And just soften if there's tension there.

And move your awareness to your hands.

Feel the muscles,

The fleshy muscles along the palms of your hands,

Skin on the back of your hands.

And even feel the fleshy parts of your finger pads and the tops of your fingers.

And then just feel both arms in its entirety,

From your shoulder joints to your fingers.

And just notice both arms.

Notice if there's any tension still lingering.

With a soft breath,

Breathe into the entirety of your arms.

And let go.

And then move your awareness to your chest.

And then notice your back,

Your upper back muscles.

Breathe into any tension and soften.

And move the awareness down to your lower back.

And then to your belly and your abdomen.

And have an awareness for your entire torso.

Soften with the next couple breaths.

Move your awareness down to your bottom.

And soften through your glutes.

And connect to the muscles on the tops of your thighs,

Your quadriceps.

Notice the backs of your thighs,

Your hamstrings.

Move your awareness down to your calves.

And feel the skin along your shins.

And then notice your feet.

Notice the skin on the tops of your feet and your ankles.

Notice the fleshy parts of your heel,

The soles of your feet.

Notice the pads of your toes,

The fleshiness of the ball joints of your inner and outer arches.

And then just notice your entire lower half of your body,

From your toes all the way up to your glutes.

Any tension lingering still,

Soften through those places with the breath.

And I want you to bring your attention now to your entire body,

But just feel the skeletal structure of your body.

All the bones,

All the joints,

All the ligaments,

The tendons connected.

And as you're breathing,

Breathe as if you can feel the breath move through the bones as if they were tunnels.

The joints sort of like intersections connecting those tunnels together.

And then shift your attention from your skeletal structure to your muscular structure.

So all the soft tissue,

All the fleshy parts of your body.

And then just notice as you're breathing in a natural rhythm,

Notice the expansion of those muscles,

All of them connected to each other.

And now shift your attention to the entirety of your body.

So both your muscular and skeletal structures,

Together as one,

Connected in union.

And throughout our body,

There are these fibers that move and weave through both the muscular and the skeletal systems,

And they're called fascia.

So I want you to imagine an entire system,

An entire webbing of these fibers surrounding you,

Weaving in and out of the muscles and all the bones and the joints that you explored so far in this meditation.

And if you can see it and imagine it,

Now start to feel it with the breath.

So as your breath is moving naturally,

Feel the breath move through these fibers connecting the muscles to the bones from point to point,

From limb to limb,

Maybe even tracing where you're feeling it.

So as you breathe in,

Notice where you start to feel sensation,

And then just follow that sensation as it expands,

And imagine that it's moving through this highway system of fibers connecting all of our muscles and bones.

Continuing to imagine and feel these connections,

Please invite a deep inhale into your nose,

And then a gentle sigh out through your mouth.

Inhale,

Notice what expands and how the breath expands through your body,

And then exhale out through your mouth.

Feel the contraction of all the muscles,

The hugging of the bones.

Again,

Inhale through nose,

And this time out through your nose.

And then inhale for the count of four.

Three,

Two,

One.

Hold for three,

Two,

One.

Exhale for four.

Three,

Two,

One.

Hold for three,

Two,

One.

Inhale for four.

Pause for four.

Exhale for four.

Pause for four.

Inhale.

Pause.

Exhale.

Pause.

And I want you to keep going on your own,

Breathing in for a count of four,

Pausing for a count of four,

Exhaling for four,

And pausing for four.

And just move at your own rhythm,

Own rate,

And as you continue to move through your box breathing,

Still feel the breath moving through all of the fibers,

All of the fascia,

Connecting the muscles to the bones.

Continue to move through your box breathing,

And just feeling that connection of the fascia to the joints,

To the bones,

To the muscles,

To your entire body.

And if you would like to expand a little bit more,

I invite you to move to a count of five after your next round.

If four is enough for you,

Then continue to stay with four.

We'll stay here just a little bit longer.

Continue to move through box breathing in a count of four or five,

But if you feel comfortable and you would like to expand a little more,

Maybe move to a count of six.

Again,

Just feeling the connection from breath to body.

After your next cycle,

When you've breathed out and paused,

Allow the breath to just simply go.

And then allow the imagery of the fascia,

The skeletal system,

The muscular system of your body,

Just allow that imagery to go as well.

And then just let yourself be in your seat for just a moment,

And just with the breath,

And just with your being.

And then turn your attention now to your head and your heart space,

And that space that's in between your head and your heart.

And for the next few moments,

I just want you to contemplate on your life so far.

I want you to just think of all the things that are going well in your life.

All the things that you can say you're grateful for,

Lessons learned,

Important people,

Maybe things that you've acquired or parts of your career or your life purpose that you are achieving and living.

But just for the next minute,

Just contemplate all the things in your life that have made you who you are today and have brought you to where you are today.

And now,

Thinking of all of the things that have come up in your mind so far,

That you've assessed,

That you've noticed and observed,

I want you to find the connection between everything.

What,

Through all of these things that you are grateful for,

That have brought you to where you are,

That are going well in your life,

What's the one thing that you can say has been interwoven through all of those things that connects them to you,

That you've breathed life into?

Maybe it's a certain word that you live by.

Maybe it's an intention or a part of your personality that drives you.

But what could you say is the one thing that connects all of these things in your life,

All of these aspects in your life,

To you,

Who you are and how far you've come along?

And then once you've identified that one thing that connects everything,

I want you to breathe into whatever that word is,

Whatever that intention is,

Or that part of you.

And I just want you to breathe into it,

Just like you were breathing into the fascia.

And I want you to just feel that breath,

The energy of the breath,

Move through that word,

That connection,

And feel it breathe into all that you've so far observed with this meditation.

And just continuing to imagine all of this.

Once more,

Breathe in through your nose.

Feel it expand.

Gently exhale out through your mouth.

Feel it soften.

Seal your lips.

Inhale for the count of four.

Three,

Two,

One.

Hold for three,

Two,

One.

Exhale for three,

Two,

One.

Pause for three,

Two,

One.

Inhale for,

Pause for,

Exhale for,

Pause for.

And just keep going with box breathing on your own pace.

Maybe you feel comfortable to go to five,

Or maybe even six.

And as you're breathing in the box breathing,

Imagine that word,

That intention,

That part of your personality that connects to all the things in your life.

And breathe into that connection.

And feel that connection through the breath.

Be here just a little bit longer.

Again,

Breathing in box breathing.

Count of four,

Five,

Or six.

And just breathing into that connective tissue of your life that you've identified today.

After your next exhale and your pause,

Allow the breath to go.

And allow the imagery of all the things in your life that you're grateful for,

That have contributed to your growth and where you are today.

Just allow the imagery of all those things to go.

And then just hold on to the imagery,

Whatever it is that you identified as the connective tissue to all of these things in your life.

And then take a moment to give it full gratitude.

Gratitude for being in your life,

Being that connective fiber that holds everything together,

That has contributed to your growth,

Made you who you are,

And have brought you at this point in your path in life.

And just like we allow the fibers of our fascia to be in our body and settled,

Just allow whatever this connective tissue of your life,

Allow it to be and settle here right now.

And just for the next few moments,

Just simply be in stillness and in silence with yourself,

Your being.

Just letting the breath be in a natural written rhythm.

Take a moment to invite a deep inhale and let it go.

Slowly draw your hands together at heart center,

Thumbs pressing up against your sternum.

Take a gentle bow of your head towards yourself,

Giving reverence for your effort and energy.

And showing yourself gratitude for showing up for you today.

For self-love,

Self-acceptance,

And self-care.

Thank you so much for sharing your practice.

Namaste.

Reviews

This was just what I needed today. Wonderful practice.

A real complete meditation. Thank you!