Embodied Mindfulness: A "Small Dance"

Based on the concept from Contact Improv co-founder Steve Paxton, this "small dance" is essentially a standing meditation, focusing on our body, weight, spine, and all of the little movements that occur as we maintain our upright posture.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to this opportunity to connect with your body, To practice embodied mindfulness, And to have a small dance with yourself. The small dance is a term and a concept coined by Steve Paxton, The co-creator of contact improvisation, Which is a very delightful movement practice that is often done between two people with a point of contact, And it can be energetic. It's very spontaneous, Ideally, And there's a lot of movement, However fast or slow, And this is taking things back to the fundamentals of just being in our body before any kind of movement or connection. So just really connect with where we are, And in the process, Notice some things that can be a small dance. So let's begin. This is a standing meditation. Let's begin just standing somewhere comfortably, Nice and straight, Relaxed, And just notice your weight in your feet on the ground. Gravity is pulling all of you down into the earth, And you can feel all of your weight on the bottoms of your feet. And let's follow that weight up slowly through our legs, Feeling the weight bearing down on our bones, On our muscles, Our tendons, And as we go higher, Maybe to the knees or thighs, We can feel that weight getting lighter until we go just above the hips, Just below the navel to our center of gravity. And as you stand, Notice your center of gravity, Even if you shift forward a slight bit or just backwards a tiny bit, And you can feel that weight in the middle of your body a few feet above the ground. And we'll continue to take that up, And again we're getting lighter up the spine, Vertebra by vertebra. Vertebrae, Which one is singular or plural? Upwards we go, Bone by bone, Cartilage by cartilage, Moving up between our shoulders, Feeling the weight carried on each of these bones lighten as we move up the spine, Into the neck, Until we get to the top of the spine at the base of the skull. And here we have our head, This roughly eight-pound ball at the top of our spine. And feel your head several feet above the ground, And notice any shift in your head or your spine or your body. All these little movements, These micro pushes and pulls in various places in our ankles, Our hips, Our spine, To keep us upright. So we're at the top of our body now, Very light, And imagine that some giant has a string tied to your head and very gently is pulling upwards and lifting your head and kind of straightening you out, Lifting you up so you can feel your spine elongating. And your head is up high and your spine is stretched long, And now the giant very slowly lowers that pressure so your head kind of very gently comes down. You can feel your spine compress very gently until we're in a kind of neutral place. And again, Feel those little shifts. I'm noticing that even as my body tips only maybe an inch backwards, I can feel it in my skull, My shoulders, My spine, My hips. All these little places that are conspiring to keep us standing upright. Just pay attention to them. Do they feel tiny? Do they feel much larger than they actually are from the outside? Has anything surprised you about these little movements as you stand here? How is your energy, Your physical energy? And even beyond that, How are you feeling? A little warm and tingly, Maybe heavy, Really feeling the weight of gravity. Just pay attention to how that feels in your body. So we had elongated our spine and kind of brought it back to neutral. And now, While we're standing here, We can imagine that that giant is letting the string go almost completely, Where they're just barely holding us upright. And our skull is kind of getting heavier, And maybe we feel our spine compressing more. Like there isn't that force lifting up our head and elongating us, And we're kind of sinking or melting a little bit. Can you feel the pressure in between the vertebrae of your spine? Feel your neck and shoulders and arms become heavy and hang? Where is your center of gravity? Can you feel it shift sometimes a little bit forward or a little bit backward? And feel the little momentum of these movements? And see if you can sink as heavy as you can without sinking all the way to the floor while still remaining standing. Can you relax as much as possible and still be standing upright? Think about how this feels in your body. Those little movements. Is it a little shift forward or a little. . . I have not tried from hip to hip. Maybe you've moved from one leg to the other. I've mostly been shifting forward and backward. And now I'm experimenting with one leg to the other leg very, Very slowly. And so this is your small dance with yourself. These little tiny movements. Maybe at first they were subtle and accidental, And maybe as we go along they're a little bit more deliberate. What does it feel like to shift one's weight ever so slightly in this way while doing this standing meditation? So maybe you've gotten very heavy and you've sunk down low. And let's once again imagine we're back up to our head. And our head is being lifted up high. And we lift it. Our chest is open. Our spine is nice and long and straight. And again just kind of taking the pressure off from above. Letting the head sink a little bit and the spine kind of come back to neutral. So we're once again standing tall and relaxed. I've had my eyes closed most of this time. I would invite you to open your eyes, If they're not already, And to look around a little bit. And as you look around your space, What do you feel in your body right now? Do you feel any more energy, Tingles, Warmth? Something that might be akin to a texture? Maybe energy that feels like a color? Just notice all the sensations in your body. From your feet and the weight of your body on the floor to little tiny movements as you maybe wiggle your body a little bit. Shift from side to side or front to back. Really feel your body, Your muscles, Your shape. And this is the end of our small dance. I really appreciate you taking the time to do this today, To tune into your body, To listen to my guided meditation. I appreciate that. I hope this has been valuable to you. I'm looking forward to creating more meditations around embodied mindfulness and really connecting our mind and our energy, Our spirit and our body. Have a wonderful day.