Gentle Laying Embodiment Practice

This is a gentle embodiment practice, done while laying down. Take some time to rest and find soft movements while allowing your process to unfold and be supported by your breath. Explore the invitations offered or go with what moves you in this moment.

Transcript

Hello friend!

Thanks so much for joining me.

Today we're going to do a short and gentle movement practice.

This practice is designed to just drop you back into your system,

Slow everything down,

And hopefully take you out of a sympathetic response if you're finding yourself in fight-or-flight.

So that being said,

Find a place where you can lie down.

And this can be on a couch,

In bed,

On the floor,

If it's warm enough,

On the earth,

Outside.

And take the next few cycles of breath just to wiggle the body,

Taking care of any last biological needs you might have.

Water,

Lip balm,

Adjusting hair,

Clothes,

Whatever.

And as always,

Knowing that this time is for you,

So if what I'm saying doesn't apply to your body,

Doesn't resonate within your system,

Feel free to disregard,

Modify as needed.

And if at any point you are feeling a strong call to do something completely different,

Then please follow that.

Your body knows the way.

So finding ourselves first flat on our back,

Legs out long,

Arms can be at the sides,

Or you can place them on the belly.

And we're gonna take just a few minutes to check in.

So using your eyes,

Bring your gaze around your space.

Noticing the objects that you're sharing your environment with.

Noticing the quality of light.

Acknowledging any sensations you're finding in the physical body.

Checking in with the quality of mind.

Busyness.

Repeating thoughts.

And then checking in with the heart space,

So any emotional movements.

Once you have an idea of where we're starting,

You're just gonna bring your awareness down the length of the body and into the toes and feet.

Take a moment to spread the toes wide,

And then relax them.

Doing this a few times.

Noticing any differences from side to side.

And as you feel complete with that,

Start to point and flex the feet.

Pointing the toes,

And then bringing the toes all the way up towards the knees.

Pumping those ankles.

And then taking a moment just to check in with the breath as you're doing this.

Noticing if you're holding,

Gripping,

Or if the breath is flowing.

And then on your next exhale,

Releasing the breath.

Maybe making a little bit of noise and changing the movement of the ankles to rolling the ankles in circles.

So just drawing nice small or nice big circles with the feet.

Rolling out the ankles.

Changing directions when it feels appropriate.

Allowing the breath to be soft.

And then releasing the legs.

Letting everything be soft for a cycle of breath.

Noticing where your body is contacting the surface you're laying on.

And then for your next few breaths,

We're just gonna play with gentle contraction in the quads.

So tensing the thighs just enough where your kneecaps kind of shift a little bit.

This may look like no movement at all,

Which is actually great.

Just a little tensing of the upper thighs and then relaxing.

Tensing the upper thighs.

And then releasing.

It's bringing some tension.

Feeling the tension.

And then letting the tension go.

Doing this at a speed that feels comfortable.

One more of these wherever you are.

Drawing your awareness up from the knees into the glutes,

The butt.

And then we're just gonna play with gently squeezing the cheeks.

So you can engage both of them at the same time.

Just softly.

And then relax.

Maybe even pretending like there's something valuable in between you're trying to hold on to.

Playing with this for a moment.

And then seeing if you can switch to alternating sides.

So just engaging one glute.

So squeezing one cheek and then letting it go.

And then squeezing the other side.

And then letting it go.

Taking the bum for a little walk.

Letting that breath be soft.

Remembering that you can allow your system to move in any way that it needs to in order to settle.

A few more reps of the glute squeezes.

And then when you feel ready,

You can soften.

And on your next exhale,

Just checking back in.

Noticing where your body is contacting the surface you're laying on.

And then as you feel ready,

You can draw one knee and then the other knee up towards the chest.

So you have a few options here.

You can keep the hands at your sides or laying on the abdomen or chest somewhere.

You could reach the hands forward to catch the knees or the shins or even the feet and the toes or ankles for a more traditional happy baby vibe.

You could just keep the knees up and the arms down.

We're just going to take a minute here to breathe into the low back.

Maybe taking a few gentle twists.

Tipping the knees to the left and then the right.

Or maybe drawing small circles.

An option here,

If you want something a little bit more restorative,

You can either place the heels close to the butt,

But keep the knees bent.

And then let the feet come out a little bit wider than the hips.

And then drop the knees in to the center.

So finding something more restorative.

If your hips want a little bit more opening,

You could always keep those heels close to the glutes and then let the knees fall outward to a more butterfly shape.

Stretching the inner thighs,

The groin.

Or you could still just be rocking back and forth.

Drawing circles with the knees,

Breathing into the low back.

One more breath cycle here.

And then whenever you're ready,

If your feet aren't contacting the surface that you're laying on,

Do that.

And then super slowly just slide the heels out along the surface,

As slow as you can.

Just really feel into sacrum,

The low back,

The tailbone,

The hips,

As you do this.

Beautiful.

If that felt yummy,

You can feel free to do that again.

If you'd like to move on,

We're just going to bring the hands up in front of the face,

Spreading the fingers wide,

Then making soft fists.

Finding speed that feels comfortable.

Letting the breath be soft.

Allowing the body to orient in whatever way it feels that it needs to.

And then taking a minute to rotate the palms towards the face and then turning them out towards the sky or towards your feet.

Just flipping back and forth for a minute,

Rotating the wrists.

And then taking a minute to make soft fists again and to roll the wrists in full circle.

So rolling that joint,

Drawing circles with the hands,

One way and then the other.

Speed and rhythm that feels good.

Releasing the breath,

Re-stretching the jaw wide,

Finding a yawn.

And then once you feel complete with the arms and hands,

You can let them fall back down,

Either at your sides or contacting the body.

I'm just going to draw awareness up into the head and jaw.

So we're gonna let the teeth and the lips part.

Taking any stretches or movements here with the lips and the jaw,

The tongue that feel good.

Maybe exaggerating that yawn motion and really letting the inside of the mouth and the soft palate open up.

And really giving yourself permission to work with your breath here.

So maybe finding a little bit more energy on the exhale.

A little bit of sound,

Perhaps if it feels safe.

And then taking a moment to just reach the crown of the head gently up and away from the tail.

So this is not a large movement,

But it is engaging the neck.

Allowing yourself to find a little bit of soft space here.

Reaching the crown up and then relaxing you may find it that your chin kind of tucks in.

And you reach the crown of the head up and then rocks back up when you release.

So feel free to ride whatever wave that you're noticing.

Engaging and releasing.

Once you feel satisfied,

Just gently tipping that one ear to the surface that you're on.

And then the other way.

Using as much movement or as little movement here as you really feel like you need.

Give them a little head shake.

Remembering to release the breath.

Taking a moment to return back to reaching the crown up.

And then releasing.

Reaching the crown up.

Finding a little bit of a nod here.

One more there.

And then feel free to return to the left and right.

Shaking the head.

Beautiful.

And your next few cycles of breath are just gonna be to tune in and to give yourself anything else that you need.

Letting the system orient in the way that it needs to.

And then as we wrap up we're just gonna use the eyes again to scan the space.

So if the eyes are closed you can bat the eyelids open.

Take a look around your space.

Just notice what you notice.

It's a good introduction if you want to keep moving or find some stillness,

Some rest,

Some other sort of self-care,

Devotional time.

Thank you so much for taking the opportunity to practice with me.

I'll see you next time.

Reviews

Loved this gentle session. It was exactly what I needed, super restorative and relaxing.