Hey mama,
Thank you for choosing a time that feels of service to practice together.
Now take your time to find a comfortable and supportive way to stand,
Sit,
Or lie down for this guided practice.
Feel free to use any props like blankets,
Holsters,
Pillows,
Or blocks to support your practice today.
Let's begin.
So we're going to start with just a little bit of movement to settle in.
Sometimes it takes us a moment to really be able to be with stillness,
Especially as the body changes,
Baby moves perhaps.
So I'll invite you just to sit comfortably,
However that looks for you right now.
And then perhaps let's take our palms,
Reach them up and around to sky,
Find some length,
And then exhale the palms down and around.
Inhale the palms up,
Exhale them down,
Back and around.
Inhale up,
Exhale down and around.
Okay,
Let's go ahead and inhale the palms,
Reach them up to sky,
Find some length here.
Allow your hips to be soft,
Your hips to be heavy,
Just finding length through the fingertips.
And then exhale the palms down around in front of you this time,
Just letting them fall forward.
Inhale the arms,
Reach up to sky.
Exhale them down in front of you.
Inhale them up,
Exhale them down,
Inhale them up.
This time once they're raised up there,
Go ahead and bring them down and around to your sides.
Inhale them up to sky,
Exhale down and around.
Go ahead and bring the palms somewhere on the knees,
Bring the shoulders up by the ears,
Letting them slide down your back.
Doing that again,
Inhale,
Shoulders up by the ears,
Allowing them to slide down your back.
Good.
Go ahead and just take your chin towards your chest,
Let your head weight hang.
And then maybe just gently roll the head over to the right shoulder,
Letting the left shoulder be soft.
Coming back through center,
Rolling the chin down.
Inhale the chin over to the left shoulder,
Letting the right shoulder be soft.
Roll the chin back down,
Let the head hang.
Gently bring the head back to neutral.
Bring the palms to belly,
Palms to baby,
Just inviting you both into this meditation practice,
Into a sense of stillness.
Although you might shift and move at any point to find comfort and ease.
Notice what the word allowing feels like for you,
To allow.
That's what we'll do here.
We're just allowing ourselves to be here,
Connecting with baby.
So letting palms either stay on belly or allowing the palms to relax.
And just allowing the sounds of the bells in the background to just be part of this practice.
There's no need to fixate or focus on the bells.
It can just be noise.
Perhaps the sounds are soothing.
Just notice.
See if you can allow your breath to just gently begin to flow,
Maybe in through your nose,
And perhaps out through your nose.
Notice what that's like.
Just breathing in through your nose and out through your nose.
Don't get caught up.
And if you're not doing this right or if you are doing it right,
Allow for a sense of curiosity.
Just bringing some awareness to your breath,
To your body,
To baby.
See if you can stay with this breath.
Just breathing in through your nose and out through your nose.
The process of allowing is really a big ask.
It's not easy.
It's a practice.
So that's why we start simple here.
Just start with the breath.
There's so much out of our control,
And that's okay.
Here's something that you can work with right now in this moment and in any moment.
Your breath.
And if you've lost your breath,
Come back to it.
If the mind wanders and when the mind wanders,
Come back to your breath.
Breathing in,
I allow breathing out to be here.
Breathing in,
I allow myself breathing out the gift of stillness.
Breathing in,
I allow myself to not get frustrated breathing out with any distractions or anything pulling my attention.
Breathing in,
I feel my breath.
Breathing out,
I let go of things I cannot control.
There's so much shifting happening,
Not only just in the body,
But in your everyday life as it's changing often and as the world changes daily.
Allow for this,
This moment to be a part of the unfolding process.
Whether that's the really great things or something that maybe feels sticky or edgy.
You can allow for yourself to sit with it.
Welcome what comes up.
With kindness,
With curiosity,
Be gentle.
And I'll just read a poem called Allow by Dana Felds.
And she says,
There is no controlling life.
Try corralling a lightning bolt containing a tornado dam a stream and it will create a new channel.
Resist and the tide will sweep you off of your feet.
Allow and grace will carry you to higher ground.
The only safety lies in letting it all in the wild and the weak fear fantasies,
Failures and success.
When loss rips off the doors of the heart or sadness fails your vision with despair,
Practice becomes simply bearing the truth.
In the choice to let go of your known way of being,
The whole world is revealed to your new eyes.
Allow yourself to feel.
Take a full deep breath in through your nose.
Exhale,
Sigh out through the mouth.
Do that two more times.
Breathe in through your nose.
Exhale,
Sigh out through the mouth.
One more time.
Breathing in.
Exhale,
Sigh out.
Go ahead and bring palms to heart center,
Maybe one at heart center,
Touching the heart and one to baby this time.
In this moment,
I allow.
Go ahead and bring hands to heart center from my heart to yours.
Thank you for all that you are.
Namaste.
