Free And Gentle Movement

So today we're doing a movement-based mindfulness practice.

And we're gonna use awareness of our body to call us into the present,

To call us in touch with ourselves,

To get us more present to the breath and to this moment.

There is nothing in this practice to get right,

To do right,

To do differently,

To try harder,

To be better.

We're really bringing a welcoming sense of awareness to our experience,

To include whatever's happening for us.

So begin by standing up,

Standing in your room,

Or in the street or in the park or wherever you're listening to this.

And feel your feet on the ground.

And transfer the weight between your two feet.

Feeling the ball of the foot,

The heel of the foot,

The ground underneath you that supports you,

That holds you and where your foot meets the earth.

And wiggle your toes and your heels.

And feel your ankles.

And your calves and your knees,

And maybe take some steps forward,

Sideways,

Backwards.

There is no right way to do this.

To move,

To come into a body,

To come closer to our experience is a good way.

To lose the focus and bring ourselves back to the body a thousand times is a good way.

A thousand times is a good way.

And from your knees,

Feeling your thighs,

And your hips,

Moving your hips,

Your tailbone,

And softening your belly,

And softening your breath.

And from there,

Moving your spine forwards and backwards and sideways,

Arching it,

Stretching it,

Finding what feels good,

Finding how good it feels to come into your physical form and into your body.

Notice that your breath might deepen,

You can sigh,

Ha,

Or breathe,

Or yawn,

Or stretch.

Feel that,

Oh,

Good morning stretch in your body as we wake ourselves up,

As we take the body as our objective awareness.

Soften the centreline of the body.

And then move your head forward,

And then bring awareness into the shoulders.

Bring your shoulders forwards and sideways,

Up and back.

Notice if they feel like concrete or soft.

Just notice,

Just bring awareness to this part of the body.

It carries so much for us.

And continue to wiggle and move your body and stretch.

And then bring the awareness into your upper arms,

To move your arms,

Your elbows,

Your lower arms,

To reach and stretch with your arms,

And to breathe while you're doing it.

Yeah.

And to feel your fingers in your hands,

These fingers that reach out and touch and tend to 100 things a day.

The miracle of these fingers and all they do,

All they do for us,

To sense our fingertips,

To touch,

Touch our fingers,

To touch,

Touch our palms,

Touch our hands,

Touch our own skin on the forearms.

Oh gosh,

I'm not just a walking mind.

I have a body.

Ah.

And it may move.

And begin to be curious about your hands want to move,

How your fingers might want to move,

How they might want to stretch or reach.

And if impulses to move arise,

Then let yourselves follow them.

And if you feel unsure as to what you are supposed to be doing,

Then find the movement of that.

It might be a shrug of the shoulders,

Or a sense of tightness like,

Oh,

I don't know,

I feel uncomfortable being in touch with myself.

Ah.

How does that move in the body?

Is that familiar to me?

And keep deepening the breath and keep softening.

Keep giving yourself permission to be just as you are in this moment.

To be touched,

Confused,

Lost,

Present,

However it is for you.

To welcome that into the body.

To come closer to the sensations of the body.

And then to move your head and your neck.

To soften your gaze so you're not staring out.

You might look downwards,

Soften the area around your eyes,

Soften your jaw.

Oh,

How are you on?

Keep wiggling your neck to relax your brows.

To relax the top of your head,

To wiggle your body,

To stretch,

To come into your physical form.

To take refuge in this feeling of being a human here in the body.

To dare to stay present with the feelings,

To keep breathing,

To keep stretching,

To keep lessening.

And let the movements transform.

They might grow bigger.

You might stretch,

Reach,

Stamp.

You might want to curl up,

Lay down on the floor,

Stretch out.

Permission to let yourself follow the impulses of your body.

To trust that your body knows what it needs.

Knows how to take care of itself,

How to stretch into muscles.

But we do not need an expert to guide us.

That if we lessen in,

Our body has much wisdom and has many gifts to offer us.

And to acknowledge yourself for taking the time to make space to listen to these gifts.

So to keep moving,

Keep stretching,

Swaying the hips.

Notice you may feel a sense of being more present in yourself,

Of more located in your body.

And if your mind wanders as it will,

As minds do,

Then come back to a part of your body that feels particularly delicious.

Like a sense of a piece of fabric on your skin,

A piece of clothing.

Or a particularly good stretch between the shoulder blades.

So make that the object of mindfulness.

Really feel the muscles involved in a stretch.

To keep dropping down from the mind and into the body.

The feeling of your feet on the ground.

Or your body on the ground.

To keep calling yourself here,

Back into this moment,

Back into this now.

It's a practice in becoming present.

We may need to tend to this a thousand times to call ourselves back.

And each time we notice we have strayed,

It is a victory to come back.

And a bravery to stay here with the sensations of being human,

To not space out or numb out or get lost.

Ah,

Here I am breathing,

Moving,

Stretching,

Feeling.

Gosh.

Wow.

I've got all of these feelings inside of me,

All of these sensations.

It is a miraculous thing to be human.

It does not always feel easy.

But we can resource ourselves with the breath.

And with the bodily sensations.

So that we can stop our mind spinning and come back.

Rest into the power of our own presence,

Rest into our body.

Being breathed,

Being here.

To take time to tend to our heart.

To listen to it,

To hear what it wants to whisper to us.

To be present with ourselves.

So that we can resource ourselves.

That we may not feel scattered,

But we feel close to our own experience.

We know what we need.

We can advocate for it and therefore we can reach out and set forth in the world.

So,

Place one hand on your belly and one hand on your heart.

Give thanks for this body.

It may not be in perfect health,

It may not be in perfect shape,

But you are here.

And breathing.

And living.

And alive.

And that is a miraculous thing.

And that is a miraculous thing.

To feel the joy,

To feel the pain,

To feel the aliveness of life.

This is our moment to be here on this planet.

To feel your physical form beneath your two hands and to give thanks for it.

To give thanks for your perfectly imperfectness.

To give thanks for your hopes and your fears and your humanness.

It is okay to be human.

To struggle.

To find joy.

It is okay to be here,

To be you,

To be now.

And let your hands drop down.

And if your eyes are closed,

Then gently open.

And come back to feeling your feet,

Or whatever part of you is touching the ground.

To looking at the world around you.

Seeing that maybe if just after a few minutes of presence it seems a bit brighter.

You can see clearer.

If you feel more present,

More embodied.

To notice that this practice fruits.

So I thank you for your practice today.

And I wish you a most beautiful day.