Movement As Meditation

Join me for a gentle + inward focused practice of arm movement + breath. We utilize our deep inner knowing + understanding to feel into the body, into our joints, muscles, ligaments, + fascia, finding space + remembering the deep honour it is to be in our bodies.

Transcript

Let's take some time to utilize our breath and our awareness to get into the body. So I want you to find a comfortable seat take your time to get there and any seat will do and it doesn't need to be it doesn't need to be very intense or proper anything like that just find something that feels good this is most important and then when you land there you make any adjustments you feel you need you get comfortable and we'll take an exhalation together when we land here find your exhale let it go and bring it in breath let it go so we're gonna keep the breath flowing throughout our time here together and we're gonna find a little bit of movement in the body as a way of exploration and keeping everything moving and just noticing we're here for noticing and just letting it all unfold I'll take another in breath bring it in and softly press it out and then bring it in and softly press it out we were here to settle we're here to find the breath inhale and exhale we're not here to be too you don't need to be too serious you know just find the breath and we just take care of ourselves we're just here to take care of ourselves to slow it all down you know drop the jaw drop your intentions drop your expectations drop the ears drop the mind you know drop the knees everything drop just drop it let's drop it you let the shoulders drop and I want you to use your in breath and I want you to pick your shoulders up towards your ears and squeeze them up and exhale let them fall back down take an exhale and on your in breath just mindfully start to extend your right arm out to the side so your right hand is roughly about the height of your shoulder so it's out to the side in half of a capital T and I want you to notice I want you to tune into the shoulder space we're gonna keep breathing now I want you to notice this this joint you know the top of your your arm meeting your shoulder this is ball and socket joint and I just want you to really small just make some circles with your arm just send it back and just honor this joint honor everything that it does in this little way these tiny little circles see how controlled the movement can be can be and you could start to you could switch directions if you want to you go the other way and I want you to be in a place of noticing and exploration and I'll guide you but lead lead yourself and so if those circles need to become bigger let them become bigger if you want to bend your elbow and you want to stretch your arm back and forward and up and down and across the body and behind the body I want you to observe in the smallest of ways all the way to the biggest of ways all of the ways that your arm can move and where does it have limitation and where can it go how far can it go what way does it stop what way does it keep going just just honor the body keep breathing exhale inhale exhale and the movements can become exaggerated you know just stay in this place this place of openness this place of play exploration and curiosity you know like you've never been placed in your body before and when you feel ready when you feel like you've tapped in a little bit to the arm you could settle it settle it bring it back back in towards the body land it somewhere comfortable we take a few breaths to observe the feeling inhale exhale inhale exhale and we find the same we find the same on the other side so left arm extends out a little half capital T and then find the same little circles real small keep it easy keep it and this is where you stay the whole time it's beautiful tiny little circles and just notice the arm there's the breath there is the relation between the two you know when does the breath get cut off because is it when you start getting a little a little spicy here and you start switching it up like when does the breath start to get lost in this in this mix and if you feel like you want to switch directions and your circles you do and if you want to allow them to become big and you just see where the arm goes and how many directions can this thing go and then introduce those other movements maybe this side is is different you can bend your elbow and you can expand your hand and you can reach your fingertips forward and you can take your arm back and you can you can lift up through that space and you could stretch it forward and back and up and down and across and all of these ways you know what can the arm do what can these joints do what can that connection between your brain telling your arm what to do what can that do it's beautiful tune in tune into being a being keep it so simple and hold it in deep reverence and then take an exhale take an in-breath start to still it a little bit bring it back to that beginning place allow it to be slow and when you feel ready bring your hands back your left hand back in and we sit in a place of observation see if the breath was lost I want you to honor yourself honor your body honor its capabilities I want you to sit with this this softness you know this depth this deeper deeper understanding allow the breaths to keep flowing and start to relax the corners of your eyes allow your eye sockets to be spacious find the out-breath in-breath out-breath let's come into dhyana mudra meditative mudra so I want you to lay your left hand down in your lap first place your right hand inside of your left hand just on top of and then the tips of your thumbs they come to touch you can softly bow your chin in towards your chest just slightly let the face stay open now the energy to flow with that space in the body space in the face exhale together in-breath fill the lungs fill the ribs fill fill the front ribs side ribs back ribs exhale let it go out the mouth in breath you hold this space for as long as you need you stay you know make it your own make it what you need it to be always hold your body in respect and in love thank you so much for being here and sharing this practice space with me