In this meditation,
We will invite in a somatic experience of our third chakra,
Our Manipura chakra,
That's located right at the solar plexus.
And the intention here is to come into our experience with no agenda,
No need to fix or change any part of our experience,
And to simply remain open to whatever might be happening or moving within you at any given moment of time.
So really keeping your attention and a fresh kind of awareness onto your body and specifically this energy center,
The solar plexus.
So you can begin by finding a comfortable place for yourself to be.
We'll start with a long spine.
And as this meditation goes on,
You'll be invited to move or release the shape.
But to start,
Find a place where you can have a really tall spine,
A spine that feels spacious and fluid.
So this can mean you're either sitting down,
You can have your legs crossed,
You can sit on your knees,
Maybe with a cushion.
Or you can find a chair or a ball or a couch or a bed to sit on top of.
As long as you feel like you're right on top of your sitting bones and that there's a kind of ease in your spine,
Maintaining a vertical shape.
Your spine can also be horizontal if you would like to lay down on the floor,
That's fine too.
You can lay down with your knees bent or with your legs straight.
You can always put a cushion underneath your knees for a little extra support.
So take a moment here just to find your shape and your position.
And once you've settled,
Start to relax into wherever you are.
Let your eyes start to soften.
Let your gaze cast down to the floor or whatever is in front of you.
Or you can bring your eyes to close.
See if you can relax behind your eyes.
Let all of those muscles in your face start to melt.
Release your jaw and relax your tongue to the bottom of your mouth.
Let all this kind of melting sensation drip down your whole body.
And invite in your breath here.
Let yourself come into your breath however you need.
So you can let your breath be exactly as it is now.
Or if you'd like to sort of wake up your breath by taking in a few deep inhales,
Maybe take a yawn out of your mouth.
You can stick your tongue out to help relax those muscles a little bit more.
So in whatever way,
Just say hello to your breath.
And know that at any given point in time,
You can always use your breath,
Your exhales,
Any sound to come out of your mouth to help come into your experience a little bit more.
And let's start by resourcing from our lower two chakras,
Finding support through root and sacral center.
So bring your awareness down to your legs.
Start to feel into your experience of weight,
Density.
Start to wake up any sensation that's present here through your feet,
Your legs,
And also your pelvic floor.
Wake up sensation through your own awareness by bringing your attention to these parts of your body.
Or you can invite in a little bit of movement or self touch.
So feel free to bring your hands down to your legs,
Your feet,
Your pelvis.
You can also move your breath a little bit deeper.
Imagine your breath traveling down through your legs down to your toes.
So waking up felt sensation through awareness,
Touch,
And some subtle movement.
Feel into the lower half of your body from waist down as the ground of your body.
The ground of your experience.
Feeling into some kind of weightedness and connection to where you are currently located.
You can invite in the color red or orange.
Bring your awareness up just a little bit higher below the navel.
Sense into your internal organs here.
Let there be some kind of softness here.
Maybe imagining that smooth and soft tissue of your inner organs.
Relaxing the pelvic floor.
And receiving your own sense of ground.
And then let your awareness arrive at your solar plexus.
So just above the navel.
Feel that center inside of your body.
Notice if your breath starts to change in any way as you bring awareness to your solar plexus.
Notice any immediate changes in movement and sensation.
Any sort of expansion or contraction.
And as you come into this chakra,
You can also invite in some movement or some self-touch.
Simply exploring your own felt sensation.
So let your spine be supple enough and spacious enough for you to be able to tune into some subtleties of movement and sensation through your solar plexus.
Imagine that there is a sun located at the solar center.
Imagine the light of this star expanding and emanating out in all directions.
See if you can connect this image with your direct felt sensation in this moment.
Let the image and the sensation come into a kind of dialogue or relationship or co-creation.
Notice in this moment how bright is this light in your center.
And what is the feeling associated with the level of brightness that is currently present right now?
Notice if anything starts to change as you hang out with this image and sensation a little bit longer.
See if you can let this sun express itself,
Speak for itself without any need to change or fix or make it into anything else.
And from here,
Invite in some kind of movement of embodiment.
So you can feel free to respond to whatever might be happening in your sensation and image in this moment.
You can let your spine start to release this vertical form.
Allow your body to begin to move in response to this light that's right in your center.
And again,
Paying really close attention to the level of brightness of this light,
The movement of this light.
Simply feel and follow to respond.
And most importantly,
Allowing for change to happen.
You can allow your sensation to move in whatever way it needs to move.
Allow any image or feeling to change and move the way it needs to move.
Really following what's happening in the present moment.
Let yourself be wherever you are.
And continue this process of moving,
Responding with sensation and feeling.
And start to slowly come to a closing point.
Maybe bring your attention back to the ground that is connecting with you or your breath.
Let go of whatever process you might have been exploring.
And if your eyes are closed,
Start to slowly open your eyes,
Letting some light come in,
Receiving your vision,
Receiving the environment that you are in right now.
And take a moment to acknowledge yourself and your body for showing up to this practice today.
Acknowledge your presence.
Acknowledge your curiosity.
Acknowledge your attention.
Take a moment to acknowledge the light that is within you.
Acknowledge the light that is within you all the time,
No matter how bright or how dim.
Pay some gratitude and reverence for the wisdom that your body's felt sensation gives you.
And everything you have to still learn about yourself.
You can close this meditation with a deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth.
