Playful Mindful Movement: Sway, Stretch, And Soften

This is a playful,

Mindful movement practice.

You can do this either sitting or standing.

If you have any discomfort or pain,

You're welcome to just visualize the movements.

Choose whatever feels best for your body today.

Let this be a moment of listening and choosing what honors your needs.

Begin by standing with your feet hip-width distance apart and just allowing your arms to rest by the sides of your body.

As you stand upright in this way,

Just gently closing your eyes and seeing if you can naturally balance with your eyes closed.

And now as you breathe in,

Just gently lift your shoulders up towards your ears,

And as you breathe out,

Dropping the shoulders,

Noticing how that feels,

Enjoying any pleasant experiences or sense of letting go.

Again,

Slowly breathing in,

Lifting the shoulders up,

Really feeling the sensations in the shoulders as they go up towards your ears,

And then as you breathe out,

Just allowing them to drop.

Maybe just one more time if you want,

If it feels all right for you.

Breathing in,

Lifting the shoulders up,

Feeling the sense of tension and tightness,

And then dropping them as you breathe out,

Noticing if there is any ease or relaxation as you do that.

And now we're going to do some shoulder rotations.

So,

Gently lift your shoulders up towards your ears,

And then rotating your shoulders forward,

Then allowing your shoulders to drop down,

And then squeezing your shoulders towards the back,

So there's this rotation movement that is happening in your shoulders.

Up towards your ears,

Round to the front,

Comfortably down,

And then gently squeezing at the back.

And remember,

If it's painful or if you have a sense of discomfort,

Please feel free to hold back or be much more gentle on yourself,

Listening to your own inner wisdom to see what's the right thing for you to do.

And when you're ready,

Just going back in the other direction,

Up to the ears,

Then squeezing the shoulders to the back,

Feeling the chest opening,

Then the shoulders down,

And then shoulders together in the front.

Maybe one more rotation.

And now,

Still standing,

We're going to shake out the tension from the day.

So,

Just start shaking the hands a bit,

Shaking out any tension from the day or this morning,

As if the tension can come out of the hands and into the ground.

And maybe you can shake your legs,

Too,

Your right leg,

Your left leg,

Your right leg.

And then maybe your left leg.

Shake,

Shake,

Shake.

And just gently smiling,

Too,

Having a little bit of fun,

A little bit of playfulness.

Shake,

Shake,

Shake.

And now go back to standing still,

Just standing upright with your eyes closed and noticing any tingling sensations,

Maybe of the hands or the feet.

Maybe you can feel your heart beating a little faster,

Noticing what the experience is for you.

And now for a few moments,

We can continue with this playfulness by just imagining that you are like a plant that is at the bottom of a lake,

Just a flexible plant,

And as the water moves past you,

You can just move to the left or to the right,

Just swaying one way or the other as the water moves you in a natural,

Flexible way,

Just moving your body from one side to the other,

As if you're this lovely little plant rooted at the base of this lake.

And as the gentle movement of the water in the lake goes from one way to the other,

So you gently move or wave one way to another.

And as you embody this flexible plant,

Noticing how the weight shifts from one leg to the other,

And notice the movement of your arms.

Your body is flexible as you do this.

Maybe enjoying the movement,

Embracing the practice as best you can.

And when you're ready,

Just becoming still again,

Feet hip-width distance apart as we did before.

And now when you're ready,

Slowly lifting your arms up to form a T with your palms facing forward,

So it's almost as if you're about to give someone a big hug.

Palms forward,

Chest open,

And just taking a few moments to hold this posture and notice what it feels like to have this open body posture,

Maybe with your eyes closed,

Feeling the weight of your arms.

Coming out of this posture any time it feels uncomfortable or difficult,

Or certainly if it feels painful.

As you breathe out,

Lift your arms up above your head and allow your whole body to stretch so your hands are going up towards the sky,

Really stretching the body,

Enjoying the stretch.

And now leaning your body to the left,

Just gradually leaning,

Leaning towards the left,

Forming a gentle curve with your body,

Feeling the stretch on the right side of the body.

Remember,

This is a mindful exercise.

We're not trying to do a physical exercise,

So being gentle with yourself.

Now going back to center,

Then leaning to the right,

Forming a curve as you lean toward the right,

Feeling the stretch in the left part of the body,

Not pushing yourself too hard,

Noticing if you have any tendency in that way,

And staying present,

Staying with the physical experience of the body,

And gently coming back to center,

And then slowly bringing your arms back to that T-shape,

And continue to slowly,

Mindfully bring your arms down to the sides of the body,

And really feel that sense of letting go,

Of the muscles relaxing as your arms go back by the sides of your body,

And letting go of all sense of judgment,

Especially self-judgment.

That's what it's all about,

A kindly awareness.

And now,

If you wish,

You can just bend your body down a bit,

With your knees just slightly bent,

Leaning down,

Slowly vertebrae by vertebrae,

Just to see how far your arms go down towards your toes.

It could be just halfway.

Maybe it's a little more.

Remember,

This is not a competition.

We are not trying to achieve something.

If anything,

We are just trying to let go and be with the experience as it is,

Feeling that release in your back as you lean down towards your toes,

Only doing what's comfortable,

Closing your eyes with your knees slightly bent,

Breathing in,

And slowly breathing out.

Just see if you can naturally bend a little deeper into the pose,

Noticing the sensations in your back,

Your front,

Your arms,

And the back of the legs,

Keeping the knees slightly bent.

And then when you're ready,

Slowly vertebrae by vertebrae,

Coming up again to that upright posture,

Taking your time,

And maybe just placing your hands on your hips,

Continuing to lean back so that your head is just gently tilting back,

Looking towards the ceiling,

And then arching your back the other way to rebalance it after we bent forward,

And then slowly coming back to the standing upright posture.

And with your hands on your hips,

Leaning your hips to the left,

And then rotating them around to the front,

And moving your hips to the right,

And then to the back,

Really taking your time as you do this hip rotation to feel all of the sensations that are involved.

There's a shift in weight of your feet.

There's the movement of the hips as it goes round and round.

And then there are the various muscles that engage and disengage in your back,

All sorts of sensations available,

Maybe closing your eyes so that you can really notice the sensations,

Just going gently,

Going slowly.

Remember,

This is a mindful exercise,

Moving gently with kindness towards yourself,

Then rotating the other way,

Switching directions,

Rotating the hips around,

Just doing the best you can today.

There's no right or wrong.

Whatever you're exploring or experiencing with the body is correct.

These are just simple physical movements of the body to help you become more in touch with your physical sensations.

This is a time for you.

And then just coming back to a neutral standing position,

And just having your arms by your sides again,

And noticing how your body feels now that you've done this playful,

Mindful movement exercises for about 10 minutes.

Just noticing what effect it has had,

And noticing how you feel right now,

Noticing what effect this playful,

Mindful movement exercise has had on you,

What effect the day has had on you,

And the attitude that you brought to the meditation.

This is not a time to judge yourself as if you did it wrong or bad,

But just to notice and to learn.

And if there's an attitude that seemed to work,

Then that's an insight for you,

Something to note.

And I invite you to consider that you can connect with your body at any time during the day,

Doing any movement.

It doesn't have to be a formal practice.

There's so much available to us in the body when we check in,

When we take the time to notice.

As we come to a close,

Take a moment to thank your body for moving,

For feeling,

For being willing to play.

And remember,

Mindful movement doesn't have to look like formal exercise.

It can be as simple as stretching while you wait for the kettle to boil,

Rolling your shoulders between meetings,

Or feeling your feet on the ground as you walk.

Your body is always in the present moment,

A gentle anchor whenever your mind drifts to the past or worries about the future.

So feel free to return to movement throughout your day,

Not to fix anything,

But to come home to yourself,

One breath,

One motion at a time.