This is a stretch and breath practice which begins with some simple movements and stretches in a standing position and then goes on to a period of sitting meditation.
In the first part of the practice we bring awareness to the body as it moves and stretches and holds positions.
Listen to the instructions and follow them as best you can.
But it's very important to take into account of how your body is right now,
Especially if you have an injury or any problems with your back or neck.
So feeling free to adapt or modify any of the stretches in whatever way seems right for you.
We'll spend some time just being with the body,
Enjoying it,
Appreciating it.
And we'll also spend a bit of time close to our limits,
Our edges,
Investigating them,
Making wise choices about when to continue with the stretch and when to move away from it.
Practice isn't about getting it right or doing it well.
So seeing if we can bring a spirit of interest and care to the body into our experience from moment to moment.
So standing with the feet flat on the floor,
About a hip's width apart and parallel.
The knees can be soft,
The spine upright but not stiff,
Shoulders open and relaxed,
The arms hanging down by your sides,
The head balanced and the chin tucked slightly in.
Standing here with a sense of dignity and presence.
Take to each moment,
Standing like a mountain or a tree,
Grounded on the earth and with the crown of the head towards the sky.
Now bringing your focused awareness to the breath,
Turning your attention to the physical sensations of breathing down in the lower abdomen,
The belly,
Feeling the rising of the belly on the in-breath and the falling away on the out-breath.
Not controlling the breath in any way or trying to change it.
Just letting the body breathe naturally and tuning into the full duration of the in-breath,
The full duration of the out-breath.
Just breathing and when the mind wanders,
Noticing where it has gone to and gently bringing it back.
So in a moment we're going to loosen up the body a little by moving our joints.
There isn't a correct way to do this,
Just doing whatever feels right for your body.
Small or large movements,
Fast or slow.
So let's begin with the hands,
Curling and straightening fingers and thumbs.
Flexing and extending the wrists.
Bending and straightening the elbows.
Turning the shoulders around.
Tuning into sensations as we do this.
Perhaps enjoying the sense of the body moving,
Appreciating the body's abilities.
Making some gentle movements of the neck and taking care as we do so.
Then moving the trunk of the body a little,
Loosening up the spine perhaps.
Moving the hips in whatever way works for you.
Flexing and extending the knees and the ankles.
When you're ready,
Coming back to stillness.
Coming back to standing like a mountain or a tree.
Inhabiting the body.
Tuning into the after effects of these movements.
Feeling free to savour pleasant sensations and enjoy the sense of having a body that can move and can breathe.
Now we're going to do some simple movements of the arms.
Perhaps coordinate these movements with our breathing.
So when you're ready,
On an in-breath,
Slowly raising the arms in front of you so that they come up to the horizontal.
On an out-breath,
Letting them come down again.
On an in-breath,
Moving up.
On an out-breath,
Moving down.
Just continuing these movements in time with your breathing,
If that's okay for you.
Keeping the muscles working as you do this.
Tuning into sensations.
Savouring.
Appreciating.
And if your body is telling you it needs to rest,
Then doing that.
Or if you'd like to take things further,
You can extend the movement so that you're moving the arms all the way up to the vertical as you breathe in and down again as you breathe out.
When you're ready,
Coming back to the starting position.
Something like a mountain or a tree.
Coming back to stillness.
Perhaps bringing attention to the breath at the belly.
Now we'll do a stretch,
Perhaps beginning on an in-breath,
Slowly raising the arms out to the sides this time.
Really slowly,
Feeling the muscles working as you do this.
The arms up above the head and stretching up towards the ceiling.
The arms and hands can be parallel to one another.
If you prefer,
Linking the thumbs together.
Stretching gently upwards.
Noticing and feeling the stretch.
Feeling the stretch in the arms,
The shoulders,
The trunk,
The legs.
Noticing any intensity,
Perhaps particularly in the shoulders.
And if it's not too much,
Spending some time exploring the intensity.
Really feeling the sensations.
Stretching with the intensity and only staying for as long as feels okay.
Easing away from the stretch if you need to.
Then on an out-breath,
Releasing the thumbs.
Very slowly letting the arms come down.
Perhaps with the wrists bent.
So that the palms of the hands are facing out to the sides.
And the fingers pointing upwards.
Shooning into the sensations in the muscles as the arms move downwards.
And allowing the arms to come to rest at the sides of the body.
And closing the eyes and tuning into the after effects of the stretch.
Breathing with sensations that are here in this moment.
Now doing some shoulder rolls.
Moving the shoulders through four positions.
First of all,
Raising the shoulders towards the ears.
And moving the shoulders forwards as if they wanted to touch each other in front of the body.
And then letting them drop down towards the floor.
Then gently bringing the shoulders backwards as if they were going to touch each other behind the back.
And now linking these four positions together into a continuous rolling motion.
Doing this in your own time.
Perhaps breathing in on one half of the roll and breathing out on the other half of the roll.
Tuning into sensations as you do this.
And then at a certain point,
Changing direction.
Moving the shoulders the other way as you breathe in and as you breathe out.
Now coming to rest and standing like a mountain or a tree.
Losing the eyes if they've been open and noticing sensations that are here.
And if there's any tension in the shoulders,
Letting it leave on the out breath if it will.
When you're ready,
Some gentle movements of the head and neck,
Taking special care with the neck and only doing this if it feels okay.
First of all,
Dropping the chin down towards the chest.
And then slowly rolling the head over to the left so that the left ear is by the left shoulder.
And then carefully moving the head across in a straight line so that the right ear comes over the right shoulder.
And then rolling the head down towards the chest again.
Tuning these movements into a continuous semi-circular motion,
Tuning into sensations in the muscles of the neck.
And if you'd like to,
Breathing in time with these movements so that you're breathing in on one half of the roll and breathing out on the other half.
And then at a certain point,
Changing direction and moving the head the other way.
Then coming to rest and perhaps closing the eyes,
Being with the body,
Being with sensations,
Breathing.
And for the next couple of minutes,
The invitation is to really tune into the signals that the body is giving you and respond to those signals.
Perhaps a part of the body is asking to be stretched as the body wants to move or perhaps the body just needs to rest.
So taking care of the body,
Doing what feels good,
Enjoying the body.
Then coming to rest and perhaps closing the eyes and simply standing like a mountain or like a tree.
Standing right here,
Right now,
Inhabiting the body,
Appreciating and honoring the body.
So in a moment,
We're going to move from a standing position into a sitting position.
As best you can,
Be aware of each and every movement as you make this transition so that the transition itself becomes part of the practice.
When you're ready,
Very slowly moving with full awareness to your chair or your stool or your cushion.
Chair sitting now and when you're ready,
Allowing the eyes to close and giving some attention to posture.
If you're on a chair,
Allowing your back to come away from the back of the chair,
If that's comfortable for you.
The spine upright but not stiff,
Shoulders dropping down,
The chest open,
The head balanced and the chin tucked slightly in.
Breathing in a way that will support you in being present,
Awake,
Open and allowing the body to become still.
And at a certain point,
Inviting the mind to bring awareness to the sensations of breathing.
Bringing your attention to wherever you experience the breath most vividly,
Most clearly and allowing the awareness to settle back.
There's no need to control the breath in any way.
Letting the body breathe naturally and tuning into the full duration of the in breath and the full duration of the out breath.
Sensations may be very subtle,
So moving in close,
Bringing interest to the details,
Not trying to do anything or get anywhere,
Simply being with breathing.
When you notice that your mind has wandered away from the breath,
Just becoming aware of this,
Noticing where the mind has gone to and then very gently bringing it back.
However many times the mind wanders,
The breath is always here to return to,
An anchor to bring us back to the present moment.
Appreciating the breath,
Honoring the breath,
Just as we hold it in awareness,
Just this moment,
Just this breath.
When the mind wanders,
Just noticing where it went and bringing it gently back,
Coming back to this particular in breath,
This particular out breath.
Just this breath coming in,
Just this breath going out,
Each in breath a new beginning,
Each out breath a letting go,
A letting be.
We're not trying to achieve anything or get anywhere,
As best we can,
Whatever is here,
Allowing things to be exactly as they are.
Moment by moment,
Breath by breath,
In touch with this breath coming in,
In touch with this breath going out,
And this breath,
And this breath,
And this one.
And then at a certain point,
Expanding the field of awareness to become aware of the body as a whole,
Perhaps having a sense of the space that the body takes up and the contact between the body and the seat,
Contact between skin and air,
How the body feels as it sits here breathing.
It may feel as if the whole body is breathing.
As best you can,
Bringing an openness or receptiveness to sensations from any and all parts of the body.
Sensations in this moment may notice parts of the body that feel pleasant,
Perhaps a sense of warmth,
Lightness,
Comfort,
Perhaps zooming in,
Moving in close to some of these sensations.
Noticing the details,
Savoring the sense of pleasantness,
Enjoying what is here,
And then after a while,
Zooming out again,
And opening to the body as a whole as it sits here,
Breathing.
The mind wanders,
You notice where it went,
And we gently bring it back,
Back to just sitting with sensations right here,
Right now.
You may notice feelings of intensity or discomfort.
If you do,
There are two options to choose between.
First is to adjust your posture to try to relieve the intensity.
If you do this,
Bringing awareness to the movement so that it becomes part of the practice and not a break from it.
The second option,
Always to be done with kindness and gentleness,
Is to bring a sense of allowing to these feelings,
Letting them be here,
Perhaps even moving in and feeling them more fully,
Seeing if it's possible to bring a sense of softening and opening to what is here.
When the intensity stops pulling your attention,
Or if it feels too much,
Bringing your awareness back to a sense of the body as a whole,
Sitting here,
Breathing,
Experiencing,
Tuning into whatever is arising in the body in this moment.
The mind wanders,
We notice where it went,
We gently bring it back.
As best we can,
Allowing things to be just as we find them,
Allowing this experience to be just as it is,
Allowing ourselves to be just as we are in this moment.
And for the last few moments of the practice,
Bringing your awareness back to the sensations of breathing,
Moving in close,
Aware of the full duration of the in-breath and the full duration of the out-breath,
And reminding ourselves that the breath is always here,
Always available as an anchor to bring us back to the present moment,
To help us steady the mind when we're feeling unsteady,
To come back to a sense of ourselves as whole and complete,
Just as we are.
Thank you.
