Reconnecting To Your Playful Spirit

Welcome to your reflective meditation designed to reconnect you with your playful spirit.

My name is Coral and I will be guiding you through this practice.

I first invite you to find a restorative and easeful position in your body.

You might rest upright in a chair with the spine supported,

Or rest back on the bed or even lay out in the grass.

As we begin,

We'll find connection to this moment and our bodies through our breath.

Take a deep breath in and exhale.

Open your mouth and exhale.

Repeat the breath through the nose.

Open your mouth and exhale.

Take a deep breath in and exhale.

Taking that one more time,

Letting your mouth open wide as you release that breath.

Send any wiggles down through the body that release your shoulders.

Take a deep breath in and exhale.

Lengthen your neck and ground through the lower body.

Following that natural breathing pattern for a few more rounds.

Allow the body to adjust and find its space here.

As we move on,

We'll create a three-part breathing pattern.

In for three counts and out for three counts.

The first inhale fills the low belly.

The second sip of air fills the ribcage and lifts the heart.

And that third incremental breath in moves through the throat and jaw,

Softening the cheeks,

Creating lightness around the eyes and through the forehead.

And then we'll exhale down from the crown like a slow elevator ride through the heart,

Back to the root as the belly pulls in gently.

Inhale,

Low belly.

Inhale,

Ribcage and heart.

Inhale through the throat and the face.

Exhale from the face through the back of the throat.

And traveling down through front and back of the heart,

Through the belly and the low back.

Breathing in one,

Two,

Three.

And exhaling,

Three,

Two,

One.

Repeating that breath on your count at your rhythm for two more rounds.

At the bottom of that exhale,

Letting all of the breath go,

Emptying out all the air,

And then letting the inhale come naturally back in through the front of the body and softly release.

The breath has shared with the muscles and the organs and the limbs of the body.

Just feeling the body move here.

We'll move into the first part of our reflection,

Allowing the mind to wander with the images and ideas that come through your audio track.

Keeping your breath soft and natural.

I invite you to call forth the image of a young child,

Somebody around the ages of three to four years old.

It could be somebody you know.

It could be a younger version of you,

Someone in your family,

A friend,

A random stranger whose face you remember.

Or it could be somebody you create,

A neutral idea of.

This young child that you hold in your mind's eye,

Feeling the belly move with each breath,

With this image,

This person in your mind's eye.

Imagine this individual moving onto a dance floor,

Maybe at a wedding or a party or right in the living room.

This tiny human hears music and sees a space to take up space.

To move into.

You as the witness notice this child moving their limbs and their body in all different directions to the beat and the lyrics of the music.

This little child moves freely with smiles and giggles,

Dynamic,

Comical moves.

People watch,

They admire,

They smile back.

Continuing that slow,

Long breathing.

Check in with what you notice.

What freedom does this child hold?

Where did it come from?

How playful and silly is this person that you witness?

What makes them move?

What do they project from their tiny souls?

Continuing,

Staying with that breath.

Inquiring in your own mind what it would take to access this play.

What it would feel like to step onto that dance floor and make similar moves and gestures and language.

What would it feel like in your body?

What would be alive in your heart?

In what ways would your muscles and your skin move across your face?

And down through your shoulders and through your core,

Past the root,

Into the hips,

And down to your toes.

What would it feel like?

Where would that energy come from within you?

Staying with these inquiries without any rush to feel.

Find an answer.

Maybe feeling the heart swell or a warmth tickle your skin and flood your cheeks.

We breathe in,

Releasing the jaw with each exhale.

Our image now to a child who's six or seven or even eight years old.

And this child is in a similar venue and they get up to move towards that dance floor.

But as soon as they're about to give in to the rhythm of the music,

You see in their eyes and their face that they've registered judgment and perception and fear.

And instead of moving,

They freeze.

Or even return to the sidelines.

Restricted from moving.

Afraid of what others might think if they just let loose.

So instead of dancing,

This child retreats and sits politely and witnesses others.

Carrying a heavy,

Almost crushing feeling of restriction.

Of fear that once was not here.

We inquire,

What would that feel like?

How tight is fear's grip?

Where must it have come from in this child?

What thoughts linger in this moment?

What sensations fill the body?

Are the feet heavy?

Is the chest clenched?

Is the face squeezing back feeling?

Tightening around the eyes as the lips turn down?

We're not foreign to this feeling that our eight-year-old has come into.

Like the whole weight of the world landed into their soul in this very moment.

And they now have to decide how to carry it.

Will they please others?

Will they hold on?

Their joy?

Their freedom?

Their wild and unique expressions?

What does it feel like to hold that back?

To be aware that you're perceived?

Long breaths.

Letting the mind float through these questions.

And now,

Imagining that you are this child.

That you have this chance to be free,

To dance,

To play,

To spin in a crowd,

To let go of logic,

To be fully witnessed in your joy.

Playing,

Even when things don't seem perfect,

Or tasks aren't complete.

What would it take for you to find the playfulness of our three- or four-year-old and carry it through?

Development and adolescence,

Teenage years,

Into adulthood.

Where would that sense of play come from within you?

Breathe into it.

Let it swirl around at your center and reach down your limbs.

It's still there within you.

Where in your body does play live?

Does it have a color,

Or a texture,

Or a memory living within?

Is it a sense that expands and contracts in different environments?

Using the breath,

Finding the spot within,

Breathe more life into this play you found in your body.

And let it go,

Trusting even when you release,

You'll find access again.

To this home,

This soft,

Unworried,

Kind,

And expressive part of you.

Breathing in again,

Letting it grow like an orb,

Shrinking and expanding,

Radiating light wider with each inhale,

And each exhale grounding back,

Rooting from this place you've sensed this playfulness,

Letting the roots grow down,

Wide,

Spreading through the body.

Breathing in and out,

In and out,

Asking yourself,

What does my body need to connect back to this playful center?

Do I need more time of rest?

Do I need an empty room just to witness myself?

Do I need my friends and family cheering or joining me?

Witnessing every bit of who I am and always have been.

Do I need a boundary to say that's enough of the seriousness?

I value my serious inquiry and ability to manage many adult tasks,

But now I need a little boundary to stop this from overrunning my life.

So that there's space,

And time,

Awareness,

And willingness to move,

To sense,

Into play.

And what do you need to reconnect with your playful heart,

Your creative mind,

And your expressive body?

Is it simply a hand to your core,

And a message to yourself that you are playful,

You are allowed,

There is time for this part of your life.

What would that play feel like,

Radiating through your limbs and your smile?

Shining behind your eyes,

Flirting with the world,

Inviting the universe to show us just how good it can be.

The breaths might feel big as you call that play in,

And release the breath so free.

Slowly chipping away at the constriction and the ties that hold us back.

The rules and norms that we've internalized so deeply,

Snapping without any harm to you or others,

Becoming untethered.

So ready to feel your heart,

To laugh and giggle,

To smile when it feels juvenile.

Even in a work meeting,

At a stranger down the street.

What would it feel like to dance at the bus stop,

To spin as you walk across the parking lot,

To play a game in the grocery store,

To skip along the beach?

Feel that openness,

All of the air filling your chest and your belly.

This is in you.

It's always been here.

Ready for that reconnection with each breath.

Take a long inhale.

Stretch the limbs long in opposite directions.

On the exhale,

Let the body melt and double stack the palms on the heart.

Breathing in,

We repeat,

I am allowed to play.

Playfulness lives within me.

Repeating and breathing as long as you'd like this connection.

Knowing this practice is here any time we get too tied up in the seriousness of life.

All we need is to find that little tug within us where playfulness will always live.