So we're going to come into a sitting meditation position.
So just grabbing hold of whatever you need to find a comfortable sitting position.
Once we have a comfortable,
Stable foundation,
We've arranged our legs such that we can sit up comfortably and we find that alignment.
We're going to tilt forwards a little bit and just bring the soft hands around,
Soft fists around to the lower back and then give yourself a nice vigorous rub on your lower back.
Up and down,
Generating a bit of heat all around lower back and kidneys.
And then when it feels like you've got a good bit of heat going on,
We're just going to flatten the hands on that area and just like holding the heat,
Letting it penetrate,
Letting it seep in to all of those tissues and joints,
Bones and the kidney organs themselves.
Good,
And then we can release and then settling the hands somewhere.
Maybe it's on the knees or the thighs,
Maybe it's tucked in towards your lap.
Sitting up tall,
Eyes soft,
Lowered,
Looking down with your eyes a little bit open or your eyes closed as you wish.
So we bring our body into an alignment,
An uprightness that helps the mind also to be present,
Alert.
But then we also soften,
Softening in the face,
The shoulders,
Hands,
Belly,
Helping the mind also to be soft,
Receptive,
Sensitive.
And we have these two qualities going on throughout the practice,
Alert,
Awake,
Aligned,
Soft,
Receptive,
Sensitive.
So our sitting meditation posture is simply an extension of our movement practice into stillness.
We're doing the same things,
Aligning the body,
Softening the body,
Bringing your attention around to your kidneys,
Just in front of the spine in the mid-back.
The associated color is a kind of royal blue or black,
Rich blue,
Rich black color.
I can imagine these two royal blue kidneys,
Vibrant,
Healthy,
And on top of the kidneys,
Our messaging system,
The adrenal glands producing,
Releasing hormones,
Telling your body messages from your kidneys.
The kidneys are the same,
They're the same,
They're the same,
They're the same,
They're the same.
So we're going to do that.
We're going to do that.
We're going to do that.
We're going to do that.
The kidneys,
Very sensitive to fear,
Worry,
Stress.
But when they're feeling healthy and strong and looked after,
All that worry and stress can turn into will and a kind of like motivation.
So you know that a little bit of stress can sometimes be a good thing.
There's a technical word,
They call it eustress,
E-U-S-T-R-S-S,
Eustress,
Means a kind of stress that helps to motivate.
Like a deadline helps to get us going.
But then when we have too many deadlines and too many things,
It all gets a bit too much and we get overwhelmed and that's when it turns into de-stress.
So the kidneys have these two sides,
Kind of like the yin and the yang of our stress reaction.
And then we can follow,
Using our mind,
Following the line from the kidneys down into the bladder.
Kidneys process the water and the wastewater ends up in the bladder,
Urinary bladder,
Right at the bottom of the body,
Resting on the pelvic floor.
So we can just notice,
How does it feel in your pelvic floor?
Is it engaged,
Soft?
Resting on the cushion.
The pelvic floor is like the gateway to the energy from below,
Energy of the ground.
Just like we have this gateway in the sole of the feet,
Which also connects to the energy of the ground.
So we just drop our attention down to the body,
Through the pelvic floor,
Into the ground,
Into the earth beneath us.
Letting whatever feeling comes in response,
As we open to the earth,
The ground,
Letting the energy of the ground come back through our root,
Our pelvic floor,
Swirling up into our belly,
Into our hara,
Into the tendon point,
The center of your hara.
So we drop down,
We open ourselves to receive the energy of the earth,
And that comes back up,
Swirling into our belly,
Swirling into,
Accumulating in our tendon.
And maybe for you,
This energy that is rising up from the earth has a color.
Maybe sparkling or shimmering.
Maybe for you,
It feels more like mist.
Or maybe it's more like a feeling,
Like a gushing or a seeping.
Swirling into,
Accumulating in your belly,
Building,
Energizing,
Nourishing.
Now we've been sitting here for a little bit of time.
If you'd prefer to come to lie down on the mat,
Then you could just go right ahead.
Making the smallest and softest movements you can to come to lie down,
If you want to put on extra weight.
So you can just go right ahead,
And then you can come back down.
So come to lie down,
If you want to put on extra layers,
Whatever you need to do,
Just doing it very mindfully,
Coming to rest back.
If you'd rather stay sitting,
Of course always,
Absolutely fine.
If you're coming to lie down,
Just imagine your kidneys becoming heavy,
Sinking into the floor,
Softening through your face,
The eyes,
A jaw,
The mouth,
Shoulders,
Hands,
Softening your breath.
If you're coming to lie down,
Just imagine your kidneys becoming heavy,
Sinking into the floor,
Softening through your face,
The eyes,
A jaw,
The mouth,
Shoulders,
Hands,
Softening your breath.
If you're coming to lie down,
Just imagine your kidneys becoming heavy,
Sinking into the floor,
Softening your breath.
If you're coming to lie down,
Just imagine your kidneys becoming heavy,
Sinking into the floor,
Softening your breath.
And as we come towards the end of today's practice,
If there's anyone or anything you want to offer or dedicate your work to,
Just take a moment and bring that to mind.
And we'll very slowly begin to sway the body a little bit from side to side.
If you've been lying down,
Maybe you want to take a deeper breath and then have a little wiggle in your fingers and your fingers and toes.
And taking all the time you need to come up into sitting.
We'll all meet together in sitting.
So if you've been lying down,
Just rolling over onto your right side,
Take a breath or two,
Coming up into sitting.
Hands coming together in front of your forehead.
Take a little bow to honor your own practice.
Coming up here,
Making this diamond shape on top of the head.
We'll lay it down on top of the crown.
And then we come out to the side,
We scoop up a bit of the energy from the room,
Bring it into the chest,
Bowing to this energy we've made together by practicing together over the airwaves.
And then from the chest,
We go forwards and down towards the floor,
Bowing and saying,
Thank you to our teachers and all the people in history who have passed things down for us to learn today.
