Hi and welcome to Pressing Pause.
I'm your host,
Ray Louise,
And today's session will be a short five-minute practice of breathing and moving in synchronicity to help us settle the nervous system,
Slow down the thinking mind,
And return to a more grounded state.
So we'll start this short practice today seated,
And you can sit in a chair or on the ground or a cushion or maybe you're even seated in your bed or in your car right now,
Wherever you are,
Just letting yourself settle into the support of the ground underneath you.
And we're going to turn our attention towards coordinating our breathing and our moving together.
We're just going to use the arms,
So no big movements here today,
And you can choose to omit anything in this practice that doesn't serve you or doesn't feel right in your body.
So we'll start today by maybe letting the eyes close and just trying to let the muscles of the face relax,
And by turning our attention towards the breathing.
Even if your breath is feeling a little agitated or shallow right now,
That's okay.
Chances are it will gradually soften and open up a little through this practice.
So to start with,
Just letting the arms rest on the lap or over the knees.
I want you to take a deep breath out,
Just emptying your lungs,
Clearing out.
And at the bottom of that breath,
Taking an inhale,
Just letting the arms stretch up towards the ceiling or towards the sky.
And as you exhale,
Letting the arms fall back down slowly into the lap or over the legs.
We're going to take that three more times,
Inhaling,
Stretching upward,
And even let the shoulders shrug.
And as you exhale,
Just letting the arms slowly float back down into the lap.
So two more like that.
Inhale,
Really filling up,
Stretching upward.
And exhale,
Floating back down.
And one more time,
Inhale,
Stretching upward.
And exhale,
Releasing.
And we're just going to add to this.
So as you inhale again,
Reaching up,
Stretching upward.
This time as you exhale,
Leave your left arm,
Take your right fingertips to the ground beside you.
And just let your body start to gently lean to the right.
And then as you breathe in,
We're going to come right back to the center,
Reaching up with both arms.
Exhale,
Just take the left hand toward the ground,
Leaning to the left.
So just a gentle side bend.
Again,
Inhale,
Center,
Reaching up tall.
Exhale,
Right hand down,
Leaning to the right.
Inhale,
Reaching up tall.
Exhale,
Left arm down,
Leaning to the left.
Inhale,
Back to center,
Both arms up.
One last time,
Each side,
Leaning to the right as you exhale,
All the breath out.
Inhale,
Stretching up through center.
Exhale,
Leaning to the left.
Inhale,
Reaching back up.
And then we're just going to add on one more time.
Exhale,
Take your left hand to your right knee.
And just let your right arm fall down behind you.
So we're taking a gentle twist to the right.
And as you breathe in,
Come back to the center again,
Reach both arms up.
And we're going to go the other way.
Exhale,
Take the right hand to the left knee.
Just let that left arm fall down.
And we'll take that back and forth again.
Inhale,
Reaching both arms up to the center.
Exhale,
Twisting to the right.
Inhale,
Reaching up,
Big,
Big breath.
Exhale,
Twisting to the left.
One more time,
Each side.
Inhale,
Center.
Exhale,
Twisting to the right.
Inhale,
Center.
Exhale,
And exhale,
Twisting to the left.
And this last time,
Inhale back to center,
Reach up.
Exhale,
Just let the arms fall back down into the lap or over the knees.
And then we'll just take a moment here to let your breathing settle just back into its own natural rhythm.
And to just take a moment to notice how your breathing is feeling now,
How your heart rate is,
What the tension is like in your body,
Or where there is maybe a little more ease.
I hope you can take this with you where you go from here today.
Thank you for joining me in this practice.
