Welcome to your cushion.
Settle in,
Make yourself comfortable,
Put some socks on so you don't get cold,
Get your shawl and then if you haven't moved your body in the last couple hours,
Bring gentle rock to your pelvis.
Think about a seated cat and cow,
Just rocking your pelvis back and forth,
Arching and flexing your spine.
Let your breath naturally join you in this movement,
Working out a little kink here and there,
Then stretching your spine to one side,
To the other,
Letting your ear drop to your shoulder,
Back to the center,
Ear drops to the other side,
Back to the center,
Look up,
Let your shoulders drop away from your ears and then look down,
Feeling the stretch at the back of your neck,
Maybe between your shoulder blades,
Bringing the head to the center,
Look to one side,
Center,
Look to the other side,
Come back to center,
Settle in in your cushion,
Wrapping yourself in your shawl,
Making sure the bumps in the socks are in the right place and then make your spine really really long,
Center your head above your tailbone and come back to those pesky shoulders,
Let the shoulders drop away from the ears,
Let the ribcage hold the weight of your shoulders,
Of your shoulder blades,
No need to engage the muscles,
Know that your body is stacked just right,
So it won't fall over and you don't need to be engaging the muscles holding tightness anywhere and bring attention to the soles of your feet,
Soften the soles of your feet as if you were opening fists with your mind,
Soft feet,
Relax,
Do the same with the palms of your hands,
Relaxing the palms of your hands and the soles of your feet,
Bring your attention to the area around and inside your ears,
Relaxing your inner ears,
Your jaw,
Letting your eyes soften in the eye sockets,
Letting the bridge of your nose relax,
Relaxing the four corners of your eyes,
Eyes,
Ears,
Nose,
Jaw,
Relax your tongue,
Let it melt in the floor of your mouth,
Relaxing it from front to back,
Checking with the feet,
The hands,
Eyes,
The ears,
Tongue and then come back to your pelvic floor,
Relaxing your pelvic floor,
Your perineum,
The PC muscles,
Your lower belly,
Knowing that you don't need to hold tension in your belly,
Your pelvic bowl will hold all your internal organs in place,
Relaxing the muscles of your pelvic bowl to center,
Spine long,
Head above your tailbone,
Shoulders relaxed on a rib cage,
Belly soft,
Spine long,
Body relaxed,
Check back in with the soles of your feet,
Palms of your hands,
Eyes,
Ears,
Tongue,
Let your awareness come to your breath,
Not shaping your breath in any way,
Just notice,
How are you breathing today,
Is it a lower belly breath,
An upper chest breath,
Is it fast or slow,
Shallow or deep and then slowly deepen your breath,
Engaging ujjayi breath,
Constriction at the back of the throat,
An ocean sounding breath in and out of your nose,
Couple more rounds of the ocean breath in and out of your nose and then next we will do alternate nostril breathing,
So at the bottom of your next exhale,
Inhale through the left nostril,
Filling in the left side of your body,
Left lung,
Left energetic body and then exhale left,
Inhale both nostrils up,
Exhale down,
Right side in,
Breathing in through right nostril,
Filling in the right side of your body,
Right lung,
Right side of your spine,
Right side of your energetic body,
Exhale right,
Inhale both nostrils,
Exhale both,
Inhale left side,
Mental alternate nostril breathing,
Exhale left,
Inhale both sides,
Exhale both sides,
Inhale right,
Filling up the right side and then emptying the right side on the exhale,
Inhale both sides,
Exhale both sides,
Inhale left,
Exhale left,
Inhale both,
Exhale both,
Inhale right side,
Your doing side,
Your driver's side,
Feel the breath fill in the energetic side of you,
The sun side,
The fire side,
The drive to wake up and do things,
Exhale right,
Inhale both sides,
Exhale both sides,
Inhale left,
Moon side of you,
The being side,
The resting side,
The experiencing side of you,
Fill it up and then exhale on the left side,
Inhaling both,
Exhaling both,
Coming back to your regular breathing,
Checking with the feet,
Hands,
Ears,
Eyes,
Nose,
Pelvic floor,
Self and all points,
Spine low,
Body relaxed,
As you inhale we will fill in the left side of the body again,
Inhaling to the top,
Filling up the left side body all the way to the top and then exhaling cascading over the right side as a waterfall,
Inhale right side,
Filling up your right side and then exhale,
Let the fullness of the breath cascade over the left side like a waterfall,
Inhale left,
Fill up,
Exhale right inhale right,
Fill up,
Exhale left,
Come back to your regular breath,
Keeping the attention on your breath following the breath from the tips of your nose as it enters the nostrils,
Back of the throat,
Enters the lungs,
Expands the rib cage,
Belly and then follow it up and out contracting the rib cage,
Up the back of your throat,
Up and out your nose,
Air becoming breath,
Becoming you and then you becoming breath,
Becoming air,
Following your breath as it enters your body and exits your body,
This mysterious action,
Are you breathing or are you being breathed?
Is this breath voluntary or not?
Am I breathing air or is air breathing me?
Notice the slight whisper of the breath as it comes in and out of your physical vessel and notice that with this little whisper of the breath coming in,
Match this little whisper with the mantra Ham Sa,
Inhaling Ham,
Exhaling Sa,
So inhaling Ham as in I hung the clothes out to dry and the exhale is the whisper of the exhale Sa,
This mantra posing the question who am I?
Am I breathing or am I being breathed?
Who am I?
Then let the answer come if it wishes,
If any thoughts come in as a distraction,
Anything from the past,
Any recalls,
Just say Nati,
Nati,
Nati,
Meaning not this,
Not this,
Not this and come back to the mantra Ham,
Ham.
If the mind distracts you with any imaginings of future events,
Outcomes,
Wanderings,
Use the mantra Nati,
Nati,
Nati,
Playfully saying not this,
Not this,
Not this and come back to the mantra inhaling Ham,
Exhaling Sa.
If the mind shows up again and offers thinking Nati,
Nati,
Nati,
Thank you not now and come back to your mantra Ham,
Ham,
Exhaling Sa.
If any tension builds up again in your body,
Relax the soles of your feet,
Palms of the hands,
Eyes,
Ears,
Tongue,
Pelvic floor,
Groin region,
Spine long,
Body resting,
Supported in a posture by the bones,
Stacked,
Inhaling Ham,
Exhaling Sa.
Slowly come back to your body,
Feel the cushion underneath you,
Imagine the corners of the room that you're in,
Orienting your space and your body,
Feeling your body in space,
Imagining your body in relation to the walls around you,
Your body in relation to the floor,
Your arms in relation to one another,
The front of your body in relation to the back of your body,
The depth of your breath,
Slowly deepening your breath.
Thank you for spending time on your cushion.
Until next time.
