Standing Meditation Practice

Let's pause for a moment,

Allowing ourselves to go from there to here.

The only directions are to turn inward and rest quietly,

Letting your body and mind take care of the rest.

Let's pause for a moment,

Allowing ourselves to go from there to here.

Now I invite you to stand in body or in spirit.

These are a few helpful alignments.

Place your feet hip-width apart and balance your weight equally on each foot.

Spread your weight front to back on the foot and side to side.

This can also be done from a chair.

Bend your knees gently.

Let your tailbone naturally tuck downward so that your spine straightens.

You can notice your spinal cord as it naturally adjusts itself to straighten a bit.

Let your shoulders be relaxed and tuck your chin just a bit to open up the back of your neck.

This doesn't need to be perfect.

And let's stand for a little while now.

Simply feel the body standing.

It's normal for your body to kind of adjust.

You might start rocking.

You might feel like you're tilted.

There's all kinds of sensations that can come up.

What we're mostly doing is putting all of our attention and awareness into this simple everyday activity of standing.

Okay?

Thank you.

Let gravity allow the spaces in the body to let go.

Feel that downward pull of gravity,

Maybe your arms just really hang down next to you.

You may want to bounce your knees slightly.

Feel the ligaments in your shoulders slightly stretching from the weight of your arms.

Just allow anything in your body that's ready to relax and let go to do so.

Nudge your awareness toward the jaw bone,

The joint in the jaw that we often clench so much.

Invite it to let go.

Let the shoulders melt down.

Let go of any kind of containing and holding in the belly.

You might have a big belly,

Let that belly really relax.

Explore the pelvic floor.

Same thing if there's clenching.

Invite it to let go.

Perhaps even give yourself a moment of self-compassion.

Our body can hold so much pain and some bodies just need to know that it's safe right now,

It's safe to relax.

Doesn't have to be vigilant.