Taking a minute or two to set yourself up.
If you need any extra cushions,
A bolster for under your knees,
A blanket for warmth.
So as you set yourself up for this journey,
Making sure that you're extra comfortable.
The first thing I'm going to invite you to do is relax,
Softening your body.
And that relaxation,
It comes through waves.
So moment by moment,
Relaxing again and again,
Seeing what it's like to allow the earth to catch you,
For her to hold you.
In this practice,
Again,
You're invited to relax over and over again,
But it's not just your physical body that's relaxing.
Potentially even deeper than that,
It's relaxing the need for this moment to be any different than it is.
Relaxing the need for this moment to be any different than it is.
So that as things arise within your system from inside out,
You open into an increased capacity to get curious about it.
As you dive into those dark corridors,
Into the shadowy aspects of our beings.
And as we keep breathing and slipping ever more deeply into our own bodies,
Our own hearts,
Receiving clarity around the lives that we're living.
And if there's a particular thing that you'd like clarity in,
Take a moment to connect with an intention.
What brought you here?
To this session?
Is there something in your life that you'd like some help around?
More understanding around?
And once you've got a sense of that intention,
Then I invite you to open up your mouth if that's the way that you're approaching this today.
Again,
The option is always to go through the nose if that's better for you.
And through that open mouth,
Vibrant inhales and surrendered exhales.
So there is a little bit of energy to the inhalation as you draw it in,
Inhaling about 80% ish,
And then letting the exhales fall out effortlessly.
Vibrant inhales,
Surrendered exhale.
And taking out the pauses,
The hesitations,
So that the inhales and exhales stream together.
And for this particular practice,
Ideally that means you're not even waiting for the inhales or exhales to fully end.
If you do that,
It can really kind of stretch it out and make it really long and more kind of oval shape.
So we're tightening it up into a circular shape with the breath,
As if your breath was a ball that could roll effortlessly across the floor.
Vibrant inhales,
Surrendered exhales,
No pauses,
No hesitation.
Softening your body and welcoming any building energy,
Any impulses.
Inhales.
Creator,
We give thanks for this most perfect journey,
This opportunity to be here together and share in this space.
We give thanks to all of our ancestors,
Our families,
And the beings on this world here with us now,
And those that have come before,
Walking this land that we live upon,
That we're nourished and held by.
And deep respect to all those beings that have come before us and that have stewarded this land,
Have supported us in being here in this way today.
We ask that this journey is an opportunity to connect with spirit ever more deeply,
To integrate any old patterns that no longer serve ourselves or our communities,
Or our communities,
Or this world.
We ask that we're blessed with the most perfect remembering and awakening as we travel into the dark.
And we call on all of our compassionate helpers,
Both seen and unseen,
To gather here with us today,
To hold us safely in the space and to help us bring light into any dark spaces.
We ask that you lead us from darkness to light,
From death to mortality,
From ignorance to truth,
And from the unreal to the real.
Blessings on your journey.
Vibrant inhales,
Surrendered exhale.
Connecting,
Connecting the breath so that it pulses through your system.
The rhythm of your breath,
The pulse of your breath,
Calling you back into this present moment,
Into the living intelligent energy of your own being.
Each inhalation,
An opportunity once again to feel,
To meet this life in this moment as it is and to feel.
Each exhalation,
An opportunity in this moment to essentially say,
Thank you,
I set you free.
I set you free.
I surrender.
And with part of you deeply present to the fact that you're here in a breathwork journey,
Diving in,
Supported,
Here in community,
Safe in your own space,
Another part of you can safely get curious about those old aches and pains in body or in mind,
Those things that might start to come up to present themselves as we remember that they're echoes,
They're echoes of the past,
Echoes in the world around us.
They're echoes.
And we may have shared some of those echoes and shaped ourselves in particular ways to hold on and be safe in the midst of those echoes.
But they're echoes.
And you get to be here breathing alive in this moment,
Meeting those echoes with your breath,
Bringing your presence into their shadows.
As you continue to breathe,
Vibrant inhales,
Surrendered exhales,
Without the pauses,
Hesitations.
I'm gonna invite you to bring your legs into the action a little bit.
So whatever position you're in,
On the exhales,
On the exhales,
Press out with your heels a millimeter or two,
A little action,
Just a little action,
Pressing out slightly,
With your heels on the exhale.
On the inhales,
Just let that rest.
You might even feel like the knees,
The feet dry in slightly in rebound.
Exhaling,
Pressing out a little bit with your heels.
Inhale,
The legs relax,
The knees might flex a bit.
It's a small motion that helps unite the movement in your legs with the rhythm of your breath.
Reminding us,
Reminding you that with each breath,
I've got strength in these legs to stand in this moment and meet myself in my aliveness.
Strength in these legs to stand up to those old anticipations and expectations and get curious.
And about their echoes and the way that they've shaped your body.
This breath in it's calling over and over again as it keeps coming,
May it call me back to a center,
A place where I can observe these echoes,
These old tensions in my body and in my mind.
And give them a little bit of space,
A little bit of compassion and love,
A little bit of respect for how they've kept me safe so many times over the years and the ways that they actually have served me.
If you're open to it,
Sense into your breath.
And if there's a bit of space there for you,
You might take in a little bit deeper inhale,
Filling yourself up a bit more without losing the rhythm,
Keeping that dance of your breath,
Pulsing,
Connected.
A slightly deeper inhale,
Again,
An affirmation of taking in life,
Welcoming all of you that every part of you is welcome here as you are.
Even those parts that have been anticipating or expecting challenges and defending,
Protecting.
And thank you for serving your purpose.
Thank you for keeping me safe.
And I'm safe enough now,
I get to be alive now in this moment.
And to maybe find some new ways,
New possibilities with each breath.
With each breath.
With each breath.
Your legs,
They may still be moving with your breath,
A little bit of pressure out with your heels on the exhales,
Relaxing.
They might come in a little bit recoiling on the inhales,
Resetting.
And if you're open to it,
For a couple of minutes,
I'm gonna invite you into moving your arms as well.
Bring your arms up over your chest a little ways and on your inhales,
Open your arms up to the sides and on the exhales,
Close your arms slowly in front of your chest.
Opening and closing with your arms,
Opening the arms on the inhalations,
Exhaling,
Closing your arms.
We'll keep doing that for a couple of minutes here.
Vibrant inhales as the arms sweep open,
Arms drifting closed on the exhale.
Letting that movement come right from the space of your lungs,
Your heart,
As if you could open right from the center of your chest every time you breathe in,
Opening your arm.
Letting your spine coil or bend or flex with the movement in your arms.
With every inhalation,
I get to take up space in this moment and bring my presence to the ways that I've maybe been holding on to my own shadows that I've maybe brought to this moment,
To this life,
By expecting things to be like they were in the past,
By anticipating.
But what if,
What if,
As I feel all of this,
What if I can sense new possibilities and feel new impulses,
New ways?
What if I breathe into those and follow them?
So as you keep moving,
I'm going to encourage you to ask yourself,
What if I could do this to actually feel for those little impulses in your body and your mind and see if you can follow them to get even a little bit more creative and exploratory with the movement in your body,
The movement in your imagination,
And to see if you can even surprise yourself with what happens,
With what you welcome in.
What if I simply said yes and opened into the life that wants to come through me right now?
The way that it wants to present and dance and unfold,
What would happen?
What would I be graced with?
And these movements in your body and in your mind,
They've got feelings connected with them.
They've got feelings that want to come through these arms and legs and up through this spine,
Through this pelvis and this belly and this heart.
And rising up through this neck and this mouth and tongue,
These eyes and ears,
Blossoming in this mind.
And with each breath,
I welcome myself here,
I welcome you here,
As you are,
In all that you are.
In all that you will be.
So let your body move spontaneously and freely as you breathe,
Your whole being getting to express itself as a gift,
As a gift.
As a gift for you,
For your family,
For this community,
This world.
And if emotion starts to come,
Please know it's so welcome here.
Every part of you is welcome here.
One of the ways that we actually hold back old memories and keep them repressed or suppressed is by not expressing,
Not communicating,
Not speaking,
Not emoting.
It keeps us safe.
And it keeps us carrying things,
Carrying things.
Shadowing things.
And your expression is so welcome here.
Every part of you.
Doing what feels good and right for your body as you express and breathe.
As you share who you are with.
As you share who you are in this moment.
For those parts of you that have been hiding in the recesses,
Tucked away,
Exiled.
Those parts that have been maybe managed or controlled in order to protect and stay safe in some way.
This breath is for you,
For every part of you.
To billow in and seep in and find those dark corners and places where the light hasn't shone for a while.
You call them awake,
Awake with each breath.
Awake with each breath.
Awake with curiosity.
What did you need?
What do you need right now?
To be loved here.
To be seen here again and heard here again.
And felt and embraced here again.
Each breath,
Welcoming yourself home.
Resting when you need to,
Moving when you need to and feeling all of it.
If the space around you is safe enough to do so,
I'm gonna invite you to also,
On a couple exhales,
Make some sound for yourself and let the sound,
Maybe it's an ah sound or some other kind of tone or growl,
Whatever sound feels right,
As it comes out to feel the vibrations in your body.
To feel the way it shakes you from inside out.
Sounding how your body feels as it moves and breathes.
Letting your voice be part of your expression.
Communicating to this world what's needed to be said,
What's needed to be heard.
So if you're still moving a fair amount with your body,
As it feels appropriate to,
Just slowly let it come towards resting.
Letting your body rest.
And if there's still some feelings trickling through your system and opening up for you,
It's like,
What sound,
What sound would express the way it feels?
If you were to offer that up into your space and if you need to,
You could always do it quietly as well in your mind.
The sounds,
The words that may need to come.
After you make those sounds inside or out,
And I'm going to invite you to slow the breath down.
Let it come back into a natural,
Easy rhythm,
Natural rhythm through the nose eventually.
And we'll spend the next few minutes resting.
You may feel all kinds of different sensations,
Feelings,
Emotion,
Images,
Thoughts.
Shifts in consciousness.
And we take the time to bear witness as it leads you from inside out.
Bearing witness.
Bearing witness to every part of your experience,
Even the parts that may scare you.
Even the parts where there might be some fear.
That even those things,
And especially those things,
Are welcome here and are good to express.
It's so natural,
So normal.
And ultimately all of it is so lovable,
So worthy of compassion.
And as you settle in and bear witness,
Dear one,
Please know that we're so happy that you're here,
In your shape,
In your form,
With your stories,
The life that you've lived,
And the gifts that you bear.
And we're so grateful for you and that you exist.
Thank you for your courage,
Your heart.
The more light we can bring to those shadows,
To the darkness,
The more creative energy we bring to bear.
And it's a deep honor to co-create this moment with you,
Together,
Reminding each other what it is to love again,
To care again,
To express again,
Create again.
To be free again.
Grateful once again,
With every step we take.
Creator,
We give thanks for this most perfect blessing of this moment,
This opportunity to gather here together in a good way,
In a way that supports us in a way in our walks in this life,
That helps us come back into our bodies a little bit more clearly,
And to do a little bit of the housework internally,
As we shed some light in those dark,
Dusty places,
As we clear out and express what's needed to be shared,
As we organize and clarify things.
And we ask Creator that it's not only a blessing for each of ourselves,
But that it's ultimately a blessing for our families and loved ones,
For our community,
For this world,
And its lands that bear us.
Thank you for any privilege that we bear.
Thank you for this opportunity to use it in a good way.
And thank you to all of our helpers,
Both seen and unseen,
For gathering here with us and holding us safely in this space as we journey.
And we set you free.
Thank you,
Thank you,
Thank you.
Thank you.
When you're ready to bring a little bit of movement back into your body,
Shift and stretch,
I'm going to eventually have you do that and then transition into a couple minutes of jotting some things down in your journal.
Taking a couple minutes to make some notes when it feels appropriate.
Thank you for your courage and journeying.
