Releasing Tension: Belly

Hi,

This is Paige.

Lots of us spend a lot of time being really hard on our bellies,

Trying to contain and control them,

Criticizing ourselves for what we do or don't put into them,

And then wondering why they don't always effortlessly digest,

Relax,

Look great,

And let us get on with our lives.

Today's embodied meditation offers some breathing,

Movement,

And guided meditation to relieve all that tension in your belly and to acknowledge this physical space that the yoga tradition considers the center of vitality,

A place of absorption,

Assimilation,

Nourishment,

And deep wisdom.

We'll start sitting,

So you can be on a yoga mat,

You can just be on a rug or a blanket on the floor.

You may want a little something to sit on,

A cushion or a folded blanket.

Make yourself comfortable and then settle in.

As you allow yourself to ground here,

Allow your body to breathe,

Let's direct the breath gently into the belly.

When you're ready to draw in your next inhale,

Imagine that it could fill deep into your belly gently,

Like a balloon filling.

As you exhale,

Let the breath release,

Like a balloon gently deflating.

Inhale,

Filling into the space of the belly.

And exhale,

Feeling,

Allowing it to empty out.

Inhale as if the breath could reach all the way into the belly,

Letting it fill gently like a balloon.

Exhale,

Allowing that balloon to deflate ever so gently,

Emptying out.

Allow yourself to rest into this breathing for a few more rounds.

Modern science is beginning to back up what ancient yogis had to say about the belly.

Scientists are now talking about the gut brain or the second brain.

They've discovered that our bellies contain some 100 million neurons and the second highest level of neurotransmitters in the body,

Creating a vital part of the nervous system.

The second brain responds to life on an intuitive,

Instinctual,

Nonverbal level.

Those gut feelings we all have access to when we allow ourselves to quiet down,

Calm down,

Relax the top down control and listen.

Continuing this relaxed,

Almost full body breathing,

Begin to transition onto your hands and your knees,

Coming into a gentle tabletop shape.

Start to move into some cow and cat movement and breathing.

So as you inhale,

Your spine will lengthen so much that maybe your belly drops down toward the earth a bit as you lift your sitting bones toward the sky and let your chest broaden.

And then as you exhale,

Beginning to round in with the belly drawing up toward the spine,

The head could drop,

Pressing the hands into the ground.

Do that a few more times,

Maybe letting this movement feel as if it's originating right in the belly,

Inhaling,

Dropping the belly down toward the earth and exhaling,

Letting it empty and draw back in toward the body as you round.

Breathing and moving from the belly,

Inhaling,

Releasing the belly toward the earth and exhale the gentlest,

Most comforting hug of the belly back up toward the spine.

One more round like that,

Inhaling,

Extending,

Letting the belly drop toward the earth,

Exhaling,

Rounding your way in.

And from there,

Maybe just coming back to that neutral tabletop shape and just allowing your whole torso to swirl around a little bit,

Kind of like the barrel of your torso is moving in big circles.

So there's really no right or wrong,

Just allowing that swirling action of the belly,

The rib cage,

Letting the breath wash through the movement of the shape and then letting it swirl its way around the other direction a few times,

Whole barrel of the torso,

Letting the belly just massage through the swirling action,

Torso rolling around through space,

Breath washing through the shape.

Nice and easy,

Let yourself dissolve back into a still tabletop shape for a moment.

And we'll start to move from this shape back and forth into Child's Pose.

So we'll just start by moving into a Child's Pose with the hips sinking back toward the heels.

Maybe you feel a little bit of release in the low back when you do that.

And when your body's ready to inhale,

Simply draw yourself back up to your hands and your knees.

And when the body is ready to exhale,

Let the hips sink back toward the heels again.

Inhale,

Drawing up to your hands and your knees.

You might even drop the belly a little bit and arch back into something like that cow stretch.

And as you exhale,

You might gently round in through that cat tuck,

Sinking the hips back toward the heels.

And we'll continue to move like that now a few breaths,

Inhaling back to hands and knees,

Maybe at the top of that inhale,

Dropping the belly,

Arching the spine a bit.

Exhale,

Rounding in,

Sinking the hips back toward the heels.

One more like that,

Inhaling back through hands and knees,

Maybe gently arching and letting the belly drop.

Exhale,

Washing through that shape all the way back to Child's Pose,

Hips sinking back toward your heels.

And we'll just pause and rest here.

Maybe you widen your knees a bit and let your big toes touch so the belly can relax and release right in between the thighs,

Resting down toward the earth.

Arms can be stretched up alongside your ears or wrapped around the body.

Whatever helps you settle in here and drop into some really easy breathing back into the belly.

Science also tells us that about 95% of our body's serotonin,

A chemical necessary for mood regulation,

Is stored in and partially controlled by our guts,

Meaning the state of our belly can relate to levels of stress,

Anxiety,

Depression.

A few more breaths here,

Cultivating a state of ease and release.

And as you're ready,

So gently and slowly,

You can peel up and make your way all the way onto your back.

Once you make your way to your back,

If it feels nice,

Hug your knees in so your arms can wrap around your knees or your shins.

And then let your hands rest on your knees.

And as you inhale,

Just press your knees forward,

Away from your belly,

Away from your body a little bit.

And then as you exhale,

Very gently hug them back in just as much as they want to move in.

So as you inhale,

You just press your knees forward and away from the body a bit.

And as you exhale,

Draw them in,

Continuing to breathe and move like that,

Receiving this gentle pulsing massage of the belly.

Maybe one more cycle of breath,

The inhale,

Knees gently pressing away,

Exhale knees gently hugging in.

From there,

We'll move into happy baby pose.

If you know that shape and it's familiar to you,

You can simply,

If not,

Just let your knees widen a little bit so your knees and your thighs move out toward the sides of the body.

And you can just cradle your knees there and the crooks of your elbows.

Let yourself sway a little bit side to side,

Open,

Relaxed.

And as you feel ready,

Let that swaying action get still.

Put your feet on the ground and then see how it feels to have your knees drop toward each other.

You may adjust the position of your feet.

Maybe they get a little bit wider.

So there's no effort at all in the legs or the inner thighs for the knees to just restfully drop toward each other.

And then if you like,

Rest your palms right on your belly.

So you feel the weight and the warmth of your hands resting there,

Shoulders and arms relaxed.

Imagine the physical parts of this belly region,

Stomach on the upper left,

Where what you take in is processed.

And the deep intertwining coils of your small and large intestines,

Where nutrients are absorbed,

Digested and stored.

All of these physical parts dropping surrounded by space,

Slowing down,

Resting.

Sink into an easy rhythm of the rise and fall of your breath.

You can feel it maybe.

Belly rising into your palms on the inhale and receding ever so gently on the exhale.

An effortless filling and then empty.

Just for now,

Practicing allowing rather than directing.

Receiving and listening rather than controlling.

Tapping into this deeper,

Older part of your body's wisdom,

Source of wellbeing.

As you prepare to move on to what's next,

I hope you feel a little more connected to your own vital energy,

Able to nourish it and allowing it to nourish you.

Thank you so much for making this time for yourself.

I'll be with you again soon.