So we're coming into a meditation posture to make sure we have a nice upright,
Aligned and balanced upper body.
So whatever you do with your legs,
It is a totally a matter of your own personal preference.
So we're in a posture which gives us a kind of triangular base.
If you're on a chair,
Sitting with your two feet flat on the ground and your knees slightly separated.
If you're kneeling,
Again,
Knees slightly separated.
If you've crossed legged,
You want your knees as much as you can coming close to the floor to create the triangle two knees and the sting bones.
This is a very strong and stable shape.
And from there,
Just allowing your body to grow upwards,
To lengthen and align.
Crown of the head,
Lifting up towards the ceiling.
Little bit of a tilt down in the chin as if you're holding an orange in towards your chest,
Just underneath your chin.
Your eyes soft and lowered,
Maybe having them slightly open or if you like having them completely closed.
Soft in your face,
Soft in your shoulders,
Soft in your hands,
Soft in your belly.
So as you bring your attention inside,
Getting a sense for how you feel,
For what's going on.
What's the general state of your body.
Any particular obvious sensations,
Whether you generally feel heavy or light.
So in the Chinese energy system,
We would see the internal organs as being part of a community.
All having a particular role to play to create an optimum balanced and healthy system.
So we've been focusing on the organs of the liver and the gallbladder.
So we now have a sense of where they are in the body on the right side,
Underneath the rib cage,
Just tucked underneath the diaphragm.
So the liver,
The largest organ in our guts,
Kind of like a triangular shape.
And we mentioned the color associated with a color bright,
Vibrant green.
The color of the new leaves as they come out on the tree.
The color of a new shoot as it comes up through the earth.
The vibrant,
Young spring green.
And then just tucked underneath it,
The gallbladder.
Also young,
Vibrant,
Clean green.
Playing their part in maintaining our healthy,
Balanced system.
Helping us to detox and process the fat content of our blood and of our digestion,
Amongst many other things.
So I'd like you to drop your attention all the way down to the root,
To your root,
To the bottom part of your torso,
To your perineum,
Pelvic floor.
And doing what you can to make sure that you're doing what you can to make sure that you're doing what you can to make sure that your pelvic floor is soft,
Is relaxed.
And allowing your mind to drop downwards from there,
From your pelvic floor,
Noticing the skin,
Touching your clothes,
Of your perineum,
Just at the very bottom pelvic floor.
The skin touching your clothes,
Your clothes touching your cushion or your chair.
Just allowing your attention to drop downwards from there,
From your pelvic floor,
The skin on your clothes,
On the cushion,
Down to the cushion,
Down through the floor.
Opening this area of your body energetically,
A sense of the gateway opening so that the energy of the earth,
The energy from what is below the ground,
We can sort of sense it beneath us.
Your mind dropping downwards,
Growing those roots,
Making sure the roots are strong and stable,
Are firmly in the ground.
And once the roots are down,
We can invite the energy of the earth to rise up and come into the body.
And this opening of the pelvic floor,
The softening of the pelvic floor is like the beginning of your invitation.
I'm reaching down with my mind,
I'm creating this root and upwards within this root can come the nourishment,
The energy of the earth.
So you may want to ever so slightly engage your pelvic floor,
Not a strong contraction,
But just a little tiny lift.
It's like it creates a sense of direction.
It strengthens this invitation.
It's almost like a tiny little kind of sucking quality,
Drawing up the energy of the earth,
Just like roots do for a tree.
There's a mechanism inside all plants,
Which draws the nutrients and the water up from the ground,
Brings it up into the plant.
So just like that for us,
Just a little engagement of the pelvic floor,
Little sense of lift,
A little sense of direction.
And then we can allow this energy of the earth to begin to rise on up into the body,
Like sap,
Coming up the plant.
And maybe for you,
This energy that rises has a color or sound associated with it.
Maybe it's one particular color,
Or maybe it's changing colors.
Maybe it's sparkling or shining,
Luminous.
Maybe it sounds like a roaring or rushing or fountain or something,
Whatever.
And as this energy of the earth rises into the body,
We can allow it to accumulate in our tendon point,
Two fingers width beneath the belly button in the very center.
This tendon point in the middle of the hara is an area in which we can really safely accumulate energy,
Store energy,
A little bit like batteries do.
So from the earth,
This sense of dropping our attention down,
Connecting with the earth,
With the ground beneath you,
And allowing the energy of the earth to rise up just with a little touch of an engagement in the pelvic floor,
A little lift,
Drawing energy up,
And allowing it to accumulate in your tendon.
This is the energy of springtime,
The rising energy,
This rising yang,
This bubbly,
Springy,
Bouncy,
Perhaps even a little bit silly energy,
Creative,
Abundant,
But at the same time,
Perhaps tender,
Vulnerable,
In need of nurture,
Accumulating in your belly.
Maybe for you this color or sound or whatever,
However you imagine this energy can kind of build in the belly,
Perhaps swirling around,
Perhaps kind of filling a container,
Perhaps getting brighter or louder,
The nourishment from the earth.
Sometimes just by intending like this,
The belly,
The hara can begin to warm up,
Perhaps it starts to feel warmer,
Perhaps it starts to feel more inflated,
A kind of pressure building inside the belly.
The strength of a plant that's growing tall,
Like a tree,
Comes from its firm foundation,
Its roots,
Strong roots,
But it also comes from a kind of springiness in its trunk and branches,
A sense of resilience.
We don't want to go too stiff,
Too rigid,
We want to stay springy,
Bouncy.
So we can test this in our own physical posture,
Just by making the tiniest movement left and right,
And just checking,
Are we stiff,
Are we rigid,
Or am I moving like a tree in the wind,
With my center of balance,
My center of gravity low in the belly,
So that I can just move and feel strong and stable,
Maintaining the center of gravity low in the body,
In the belly.
But we can also allow this energy of springtime to begin to sort of bubble outwards,
To reach out.
If we stay with this center of gravity in the belly,
Then we're not going to get pulled upwards and fall over.
So perhaps allowing the energy from your belly to expand out into the chest,
To the shoulders,
Down to the legs,
Down into the arms,
And all the way up into the head.
Your body filling with this bubbly,
Creative energy of spring,
But yet staying centered and grounded in the belly.
And maybe the sense of wanting to move,
This energy wanting the body to move,
Vibrate,
Move,
Shift,
Fidget,
And in which case,
Just let it happen.
Don't feel like you need to stay still.
If the fingers want to move,
If the lips want to move,
Shoulders,
Whatever it is,
Just kind of let them fidget.
If it feels like your body is staying still,
Stay with it.
Absolutely no need to make anything happen.
Just seeing if we can maintain our center in the belly.
If your mind wanders off and we get distracted thinking about something else,
Just guiding it back,
Coming back to the sense of right here,
Right now,
Energy centered in the belly,
But yet sparkling around into our arms,
Legs,
Head.
Michaelrian Fiveholders.
.
So very gently beginning to sway the body a bit from side to side.
Maybe take a deeper breath if you like.
And then when you're ready,
Letting your eyes lift.
Do you feel like we've had enough time since lunch to do a bit of movement work?
Come back and have a look at our sequence.
Well,
What I suggest to do,
I'm going to go through it.
