Move Mindfully: A Break To Release Anxiousness

Welcome.

I'm Lisa and I'll be your guide for this meditation practice.

You're invited to find a posture that works for you in this moment.

You might be sitting or standing for this mindful movement practice.

You do not need any props for this practice,

But feel free to have any props that would feel supportive for you,

Whether it's a chair,

Blocks,

A yoga mat,

Or blanket,

Or anything else.

We can be quite heady humans,

Getting in our heads and our thoughts often throughout our day.

So mindful movement can be a great opportunity to connect with our bodies when we're experiencing anxiousness.

Let's begin.

You're invited to take a few moments to shift the body in any way that may allow you to begin to settle in.

Throughout the practice,

My encouragement for you is to lean into what will be most supportive for you.

Become aware of your experience,

What emotions are present,

Noticing any intensity of emotions,

Perhaps naming them on a scale of one to five.

Five being really intense,

And one being there but not so intense.

There's no right or wrong here.

We're simply inviting space so that we can bring more awareness to our current experience before we move our bodies.

We move all day long,

But mindful movement is the practice of attending to the movement,

Noticing what it's like to move throughout the space right here and right now.

And as we become familiar with our breath,

I'll invite you to take a deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth.

You're welcome to continue to notice the breath.

You might place a palm somewhere where you feel the breath,

Whether it's the abdomen,

The heart space,

Somewhere in front of the nose or the mouth.

As we become more aware of our body and our experience through movement,

You're invited to notice what it might be like to bring this phrase to mind.

No matter how I am feeling right now,

I fully accept myself.

Perhaps you've practiced yoga before or other mindful ways to move,

Or maybe you're new to the practice.

The invitation here is to always listen to your body and get what you need.

What I offer are simply suggestions,

Like a loose guide,

And I trust that you know your body best and will take what you need from this practice and leave what doesn't serve.

As we move,

We're taking a path of invitation,

Welcoming and moving with it rather than resisting our experience.

And starting just by moving your fingers,

Maybe wiggling one finger at a time or moving them all at once,

Just bringing awareness to the hands and the fingers.

Maybe spreading the fingers wide,

Stretching them and allowing them to rest and relax,

And then again spreading them wide,

Allowing them to rest and relax.

We'll bring the thumb and index fingers together.

And here we'll do a tapping practice with breath work,

With our thumb moving to our index finger on an inhale,

And on the exhale the thumb moving to the middle finger,

Tapping,

Exhale.

Thumb moving to ring fingers,

Inhale,

And thumb moving to pinkies,

Exhale.

And you can move backwards then,

Thumb moving to ring finger,

Inhale,

Thumb moving to middle finger,

Exhale,

Thumb moving to index fingers,

Inhale,

Thumb moving to middle finger,

Exhale.

You can move in any direction and at any pace you would like.

And if moving the fingers with the breath doesn't work for you,

You may breathe naturally and just move the thumb to each fingertip,

Bringing awareness to the sensation of thumb meeting each fingertip.

Go ahead and go through one more round and let's shake it out.

So just kind of shaking the hands as if you just wash your hands and you're shaking the water off your hands.

Great.

Let's go ahead and take a big sunshine arm.

So reaching the hands down by your sides,

I'm reaching up and around,

Up towards the sky.

Deep breath in,

And then exhale.

Palms touch through heart center and exhale out through the mouth.

Let's do that two more times.

Breathing in,

Up and around.

Arms reach up towards the sky.

Exhale out through the mouth.

Palms touch down through heart center.

Last one.

Breathing in,

Up and around.

And exhale,

Palms touch down through heart center.

We'll do some shaking next and we'll start by taking the right hand,

Reaching it up towards the sky and just beginning to shake out the hand,

The wrist,

Maybe the arm too.

And we'll be here for five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Take the left hand out,

Arm up,

Reaching the left hand up towards the sky and begin shaking for five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Take the right foot,

Right leg out,

Off and out to the right and begin to shake the foot to the ankle,

The leg.

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

And the left foot next.

Begin to shake.

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

We'll repeat this again with the right hand,

But this time for four.

So begin shaking the right hand,

Arm for four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Move to the left,

Left arm,

Left hand.

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Over to the right foot,

Right leg.

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Left leg,

Left foot.

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Right hand up for three.

So shaking right arm,

Right hand.

Three,

Two,

One.

Left hand,

Left arm.

Three,

Two,

One.

Shake the right foot for three,

Two,

One.

Left foot,

Three,

Two,

One.

Shake it out.

Right hand goes up for two.

Two,

One.

Left arm,

Left hand.

Two,

One.

Right foot,

Right leg.

Two,

One.

Left foot,

Left leg.

Two,

One.

Right hand,

One.

Left hand,

One.

Right foot,

One.

Left foot,

One.

And then go ahead and shake the body out.

Shake the arms,

Shake the wrists,

Shake the hands,

Shake the feet,

Shake the ankles,

Shake the knees,

Shake the legs,

Shake the hips.

Shake,

Shake,

Shake.

Take a deep breath in.

Reach the arms up and around towards the sky.

Exhale out,

Palms touch down through heart center.

And bringing awareness once again to your body,

To your experience.

After some gentle shaking,

Notice what that was like.

And let's get some gentle swaying side to side.

So if you're standing,

You might sway over to the right foot and leave the left foot on the ground,

On the earth.

Or you might gently lift up the left heel,

Or maybe the whole left foot.

And gently placing the left foot down as you sway over towards the left.

Right heel might lift.

The whole right foot might lift.

And you sway again over to the right,

Dropping the right foot down.

If you're sitting,

You might sway the hips side to side in the seat or chair you're sitting in.

You can also sway front to back,

Whether you're seated or standing,

Being mindful of anything that's around you,

Or in front of you,

Or behind you.

Swaying.

And again,

You might play with balance by swaying upon the ball of the feet or ball of foot on one side or both feet as the heels lift.

They might come up as you move forward.

Heels might come down.

And as you slightly move back gently,

The toes might lift.

And noticing your breath as you sway from side to side,

Or front to back,

Or in a circle.

And you can stay with the swaying motion here or pause that.

And let's get a little twisting.

So you can bring your arms down by your sides.

And with momentum,

Kind of moving the arms,

Laying the arms,

Hang down heavy.

And sway and twist the arms.

I like to think of like a washing machine or car wash.

And kind of allowing the arms to move freely.

Maybe the elbows bend.

Finding your breath as you twist,

As you sway.

And you can move as slowly or as quickly as feels supportive for your body.

If a twist that you're in would feel good to stay there,

You can stay twisting to one side and take a few breaths before switching to the other side.

Beginning to slow down the swaying and twisting.

And taking a deep breath in through the nose.

And letting it go.

Let's bring some awareness to the wrists.

And hands can be,

Or fingers can be extended,

Or you might make fists with your palms,

Rolling the wrist in any direction.

Hands can be down by your sides or lifted up.

Suspending in the air.

And then rolling the wrist in another direction.

And gently shaking the hands out.

Letting the hands rest down by your sides or on your knees.

Checking in with the neck and head.

Let's draw the chin towards the heart.

So looking down.

And then rolling the chin over towards the right.

And then rolling the chin back down through center.

And taking the chin over towards the left.

Rolling back down through center.

Going over towards the right.

Coming back through center.

Rolling over towards the left.

Coming back through center.

Gently bringing the head back up to a neutral gaze.

And let's take the shoulders high up by the ears.

And then rolling them down and away from the ears.

Taking the shoulders up towards the ears.

And rolling them back down and around.

And doing this a few more times.

Maybe inhaling as the shoulders come up.

And exhale as the shoulders come down and around.

Go ahead and go in the opposite direction.

So if you're moving the shoulders backwards.

Moving them forward.

Allowing the shoulders to soften down and away from the ears.

Letting the shoulders rest.

Let's take the arms.

Reach them up and around towards the sky.

Catch the left wrist with the right hand.

And lean over towards the right.

If you're sitting leaving both hips on the seat.

And if you're standing leaving both feet on the earth.

Opening up through the side waist of the left side of the body.

From fingertips all the way down towards the left hip or the left leg.

Deep breath in.

Let it go.

Come up through center.

Releasing the hand.

And then catching the right wrist with the left hand.

Leaning gently over to the left this time.

Opening up through the right side of the body.

Seeing if you can soften the right shoulder down.

Taking a deep breath in.

Exhale out.

Let's take a forward fold here.

If you're sitting in a chair.

Gently bringing the arms to the thighs or the knees or down by your sides.

If you're standing.

Bring a big bend to the knees.

And slowly roll the spine down.

Chin hugs in towards chest.

And arms might rest on your thighs.

Or hang down by your sides.

Or maybe they touch the toes or the floor.

Take a deep breath in and out.

We'll slowly roll the spine up.

Allowing the head to come up last.

Taking your time.

And we'll begin some more tapping.

And perhaps you're familiar with emotional freedom tapping.

And if not,

That's okay.

I'll guide you through it.

But let's take our left hand off to the left or in front of us.

With our palm turned towards us.

And then our right fingertips are going to tap the outside edge of our left hand.

So kind of like the karate chop side of the left hand.

The pinky and the left side of the palm.

And begin to tap there gently.

And we'll come back to that affirmation.

As we tap different points throughout our body.

Saying this aloud or in your head.

No matter how I am feeling right now.

I fully accept myself.

And then bring both fingertips to the inside of the eyebrow.

So left and right fingertips to the inside of the eyebrow.

And gently tapping the eyebrow right on the brow bone.

No matter how I'm feeling right now.

I fully accept myself.

And bringing the fingertips to the outside of the eyebrow.

To the edge of the brow.

And tapping gently here.

No matter how I'm feeling right now.

I fully accept myself.

Bringing the fingertips to the cheekbones.

Tapping gently here.

No matter how I'm feeling right now.

I fully accept myself.

Bringing the fingertips to the upper lip.

Gently tapping.

No matter how I feel right now.

I fully accept myself.

Bringing the fingertips to the chin.

No matter how I'm feeling right now.

I fully accept myself.

Go ahead and bring the right fingertips right under the armpit.

Just below the armpit of the left arm.

And begin to tap there.

No matter how I am feeling right now.

I fully accept myself.

Now bringing the fingertips together.

Left and right fingertips together.

And tapping gently.

No matter how I am feeling right now.

I fully accept myself.

And bringing the fingertips to the very top of the head.

And gently tapping there.

No matter how I am feeling right now.

I fully accept myself.

Let's bring the palms together and begin to rub the palms.

Creating a gentle heat.

And placing the palms anywhere that would feel nourishing to you.

Maybe the eyes.

The forehead.

The cheeks.

The top of the head.

Taking another deep breath in through your nose.

And out through the mouth.

As we bring this practice to a close.

Noticing how you feel in this moment.

After inviting some movement into the body.

With awareness.

And after inviting the affirmation.

No matter how I am feeling right now.

I fully accept myself.

Perhaps finding a day or a time throughout your week.

That you might dedicate to some mindful movement.

Or simply take a few moments throughout a busy day.

And just bring awareness to your body.

How it's moving and connecting in the space you're in.

And maybe offering that affirmation again to yourself.

If it feels helpful.

Let's take another collective breath into our nose.

And out through our mouth.

Welcome home.

Thank you so much for practicing with me today.