Somatic Movement: Grace, Power, & Ease In Walking

Hi,

This is Meg Rinaldi and welcome to Body Centered Inquiry and welcome to this somatic movement audio,

Grace,

Power and Ease in Walking.

In this session you have the chance to discover how the simplest shifts in awareness can bring more,

Ease and grace to your walking,

Running,

Dancing,

Etc.

Have a padded or carpeted surface to lie upon.

Remove your glasses,

Jewelry,

Belt.

Have clothing that allows for warmth and ease of movement.

And have head support nearby,

Ideally a rolled up bath towel in case you need it.

And when you're ready,

Please come to lie on your back.

Check in with yourself and scan through your body as it makes contact with the ground right now.

You may have your feet standing or legs long.

We often don't think of power and ease going together.

Power often implies struggle or push.

And ease implies,

Well,

What does it imply for you?

What does it mean to you?

It could mean easy,

Although what we're looking for is the path of least resistance,

Which could translate as ease,

A lightness,

A sense of going with,

Going with the flow,

A simplicity,

A contentedness in body and mind.

Become aware of your breathing as you allow your attention to turn inward.

Close your eyes or have them resting in a soft gaze.

Allow a softness in your mouth,

Jaw,

Face and throat.

And take all the time you need to settle in.

You can pause the audio and move at your own pace,

Which in itself is healing and restorative.

Imagine that there's always support available to you from the ground,

That it comes to meet you as you let yourself rest into it more.

Gravity is dynamic.

The ground is always there to meet us if we slow down enough to let ourselves feel it.

So again,

Being aware of your breathing,

Your connection to ground,

The quality of your mind.

Now bring your right foot to stand.

Allow your left leg to remain long on the floor.

Have your arms long on the floor,

Spread comfortably a good distance away from your body.

Take time to notice what's easy for you to access today,

What brings you ease right now.

And bring awareness to the sole of your right foot,

The toes,

The ball,

The arch,

The heel,

And the inside and outside border of your right foot.

Notice where contact is clear for you with the ground and notice where it's not so clear for you right now.

No need to do anything about it except notice it.

Now begin to gently push in with your right foot.

Push your right foot into the ground and gradually allow the pelvis to lift off the floor.

The weight of your pelvis shifts to the left and maybe your lower back and a few ribs on the right side begin to slowly,

Again the emphasis here is slowly and gradually,

They begin to peel away from the floor.

You're inviting a gradual rotation of the spine.

Standing eyes and face,

Throat and tongue soft.

And then with the same attention to detail,

Return your pelvis,

Low back and ribs to the floor where you began.

The right foot remains standing,

But the work of pressing and rotating has been released.

Allow the bones and muscles to reconnect to the ground.

Where would it be of greatest ease to you to have your arms?

Some people like them overhead on the floor.

Some people can't take them quite that high,

But have them a good distance from your body if that's comfortable for you right now.

And know that this movement can be very small.

It could be you initiating the movement and exploring sensation at that level.

Doing big movements do not reveal subtlety.

We're attending to all the little movements that make up the larger ones so that you can use your bodily instrument in ways that are smarter,

Not harder.

Begin again to press in with the right foot.

Allow your weight to shift,

The spine to rotate,

And be aware that your spine goes up to the height of the tip of your nose.

The full length of your spine is from the tip of the tail to the tip of your nose.

So as you shift your weight like this,

Could you allow the head to roll to the left as well,

Breathing,

And gradually return your body to the floor.

And allow your right foot to remain standing and keep your left leg long.

Now experiment with this.

Lift the heel of your right foot off the floor and then return it.

A simple movement.

Lift the heel of the right foot and put it back down.

The front of the foot stays on the floor.

You lift the heel and return it.

Do this slowly and simply three or four or five more times.

Standing Go slowly and then pause with your foot standing.

Now lift the front of your right foot off the floor.

The heel remains connected.

Only the toes and ball come up as you do this in a simple way.

Lift and return the front of your right foot off the floor and coordinate your breathing and foot movement.

When do you breathe in and when do you breathe out?

And again go slowly and then pause with that movement.

And once again press in with your right foot to lift the right side of your pelvis off the floor to whatever degree is comfortable for you today.

And allow that movement of pressing to travel through your foot,

Ankle,

Leg,

Pelvis,

Low back,

Ribs and allow your entire spine to be invited into this gradual gentle rotation.

And remember it can just be initiating the movement.

You don't have to do a big movement.

In fact it's better if you don't because it's often in the big movements that we miss the nuance and in rehabbing and prehabbing reclaiming the nuance of even big movements is so important.

And then with equal awareness if you haven't already roll back to the floor.

And do this a few more times on the right side pressing in,

Lifting,

Rotating,

Gradually allow the spine to be free and supple all the way up through the neck and head.

Breathing keeping the breath at ease,

Your awareness supple and return and rest.

Let both feet stand or be long as you wish.

What's present for you as you rest?

Can you describe sensations in words to yourself?

Maybe words are not there yet but nonetheless note any changes you might feel right now and continue to rest.

Breathing being aware of the support that's beneath you all the time.

Being aware of the quality of your mind,

The quality of your awareness.

And whenever you feel that the audio is going faster than you can then please pause,

Pause the audio,

Take your time.

And when you're ready bring the left foot to stand and allow the right leg to remain long.

Be aware of any differences or similarities between the two sides as you shift feet.

Have your arms resting comfortably on the floor,

Preferably as far away from your body as is supportive for you today.

Bring your awareness to the toes,

Ball,

Arch,

Heel and inside and outside border of your left foot.

How is it the same or how is it different from the right foot as you recall?

And notice here I'm not asking why is it different but rather how is it different or the same.

Be aware of your breathing,

The ground beneath you.

Remain soft in the mouth,

Jaw,

Tongue,

Throat,

Eyes.

And now press in with your left foot and invite a gradual gentle shift of your pelvis from the left side to the right side of your pelvis and go slowly enough so you can attend to the nuance of this movement.

Ease is found in the nuance.

Ease is discovered in meeting the details with curiosity.

Knowing now that the length of your spine covers the space from the tip of your tailbone to the tip of your nose,

What would your head and neck like to do?

Could you allow them,

Could you allow the head and neck,

Allow them to roll gently to the right,

Echoing the rotation of the rest of you as you shift your weight like this?

So allowing the entire spine to rotate and breathe and gradually return your body to the ground where you started and really take your time with this.

In a living system,

In a whole living system which is the body,

Our body,

It only takes the most subtle of movement to invite change.

Resume pressing in again,

Allowing the weight of the pelvis to shift from left to right,

Following the trajectory of movement from the bottom of your foot all the way to the top of your head and then gradually return your body to the ground where you started and then pause with your left foot in standing and your right leg long and then play with lifting the left heel off the ground and return it.

Lift and return slowly.

Synchronize gentle breathing with movement as you lift and lower the left heel.

Do this three or four or five times,

Lifting and lowering the left heel and pause.

And now lift and lower the front of the left foot,

The toes and ball,

Breathing in and breathing out,

Listening for how to synchronize breath and movement.

Going very slowly like you're tapping your foot to very slow music.

Three,

Four or five times.

Being aware of the ground beneath you,

The softness in your eyes,

Face,

Throat,

Jaw,

Tongue.

And pause.

And now once again,

Press into the ground with the left foot,

Attending to how the movement travels from foot through ankle through your left leg into the pelvis.

Your pelvis lifts even just a little bit.

The spine rotates,

The ribs are carried along and then slowly reverse the movement until you have returned the bones,

Muscles and work to the ground.

Explore this movement on the left side of pressing in and following the trajectory of movement from foot to head a few more times at your own pace.

Take your time and pause the audio as you need to.

Keep your gaze soft or your eyes closed.

Your breath easy and available to you.

Listen through yourself for where you'd like to have your arms on the floor or on the ground.

And when you're ready,

Take a rest.

You can rest with your legs long or feet standing.

Make note of your connection to the ground now.

Be aware of your quality of mind and breath.

In your own time,

Slowly roll to one side and come up to sitting,

Then standing.

Linger in standing.

Then with awareness,

Begin to take a few simple steps around.

Then allow yourself to shift into everyday walking.

Notice the quality of your connection to the ground.

How each step you take travels through your legs,

Hips,

Torso,

Neck and head.

With each step we take,

The whole body responds.

Please take your time.

And thank you.

That's the end of this session.