Welcome,
Dear meditator.
Today I would like to invite you to a meditation around body centers.
For me it has a calming effect,
But also to balance out my awareness of different body parts,
To maybe become a little bit more whole again.
If we come from a stressful day and are more aware of your headiness or maybe feel a little bit tired and heavy on our feet,
To balance out.
I would invite you to start standing and later on you can prepare your seat so your knees are a little bit lower than the pelvis,
To keep your spine upright with least effort.
It's not necessary to sit in a lotus seat or with crossed legs.
A chair might even link your practice more to everyday life.
So if you're ready,
I invite you to join me standing hip-width.
What is most suitable for you to have a stable stand with the soles on the ground.
Maybe you can sway a little bit to left and right,
Back and forth.
Just a tiny movement,
Almost invisible.
And connect with your inhale and exhale.
Become aware of your knees.
See if your knees are more locked and rigid or if you can soften them a little bit.
See how your hip joints are.
You can relax the buttocks a little more.
And again,
Inhale and exhale.
Become aware of your lower back and your upper back,
The belly,
The chest.
And without changing,
Maybe you become aware of how the inhale and exhale moves your chest,
The rib cage,
Up and down,
Expanding and relaxing some more if possible.
Become aware of the posture of your spine.
Maybe imagine a little thread that is pulling your hind head upwards,
The chin is slightly towards your chest.
And from here,
Become aware of your neck and the shoulder belt.
Maybe with a deeper inhale and an exhale,
You can drop the shoulders some more,
Allowing them to relax and feel your arms.
How much can you allow your arms to hang loose,
If that is possible?
And for a moment,
I would invite you to open your eyes consciously,
If you had them closed for a while,
And orient in your room,
In your space,
In the space around you.
Really use your eyes.
Become aware of the corners and lines that make up your room.
Slowly turn your head along with your eyes,
Your eye movement.
Become aware if you're rushing,
Jumping from one object to another,
Or if you can allow yourself to really take in the lines,
Following a line on the ceiling,
On a wall,
Corner of a wall,
And maybe also becoming aware of the distance.
How far away is the wall,
The corner,
Or objects in your space?
And inhaling and exhaling.
And then come back with your head and torso to the center again.
Feel the soles of your feet again,
Touching the ground.
Inhaling,
Exhaling.
Feel your arms.
And bend your elbows slowly,
Slowly,
So your hands move upwards.
Very gentle,
Very slowly.
Move your hands upwards,
Feeling your feet while you do so.
Maybe also tuning in with your pelvis and bringing your hands upwards as if you would slowly,
Slowly reach into the sky above you as much as possible.
Not over-stretching,
Not over-arching.
And if you have some sort of handicap,
Just go as far as possible.
Maybe just lift your hands.
And if you can,
Follow with your eyes up into the sky gently,
Not overdoing.
And become aware if your shoulders can still drop downwards,
And just lifting your arms.
Inhaling and exhaling.
See how much you can connect to that up movement,
The ceiling,
The sky.
Feeling the feet on the floor and connecting to your pelvis area.
If your arms or shoulders feel heavy,
Feel free to release some more and lowering them a little bit,
So it feels comfortable again.
See what happens if you feel the feet on the floor,
The hands or arms upwards,
The eyes a little bit upwards.
Inhaling,
Exhaling.
I'm connecting to the middle of your vertical body,
The pelvis area,
The hip joints,
The lower belly.
And inhaling,
Exhaling.
And then slowly,
Slowly let your arms sink and become aware of what is happening.
What is happening?
Your muscle tension.
How much effort do you need?
Slowly,
Slowly bending your elbows back downwards and letting your hands gently sink to either side of your body.
And see what happens to your inhale,
Exhale.
Does it change?
Is it the same?
Feel your pelvis again,
Your knees and the feet.
And now I invite you to slowly move to your seat,
Get seated and see how that feels now.
Feel the soles of your feet on the floor.
Feel your pelvis,
Your buttocks on the seat.
And how would you like to rest your arms and hands for more contact,
For more stability?
You could have the palms on your thighs for a little bit more security or reassurance.
You could fold them in your lap in front of your lower belly or maybe also relax them there.
If you would like to be more receiving,
You could open them up towards the ceiling and rest the back of your hands on your thighs,
For example.
See what lands best for you and if it feels right for you.
If you're not too tired or if you're not so likely to zoom away,
You can close your eyes or leave them slightly open in a peripheral vision on the floor in front of you.
Or if you are more tired,
Bring them up to a spot on the wall,
A little higher,
A little more upwards where they can rest.
And become aware of your inhale and exhale,
Body parts that touch the ground,
The feet on the floor or maybe the calf muscles in a cross-legged position touching the ground.
Inhaling and exhaling,
Become aware of your body weight and see if there is a direction in the body.
Is it more settling downwards?
Is there some nervousness pushing you a little upwards?
What is happening in you?
And I invite you,
If that is okay for you,
To bring awareness to your lower belly,
Like a hand with under your navel and move your awareness into the center of that area.
Maybe you find the cross point of two lines coming from front to back and left to right in the middle is where you focus on.
Maybe your inhale and exhale helps you to feel a little movement in your lower belly,
If that is possible.
There is no wrong or no right.
Or just go with your imagination.
The center of your lower belly,
Maybe a little bit in front of the lower spine,
Within the body,
The guts,
The organs.
And inhale,
Exhale.
If possible,
Try not to judge anything.
If this particular area is too difficult for you,
You can always open your eyes and move away from there.
Just become aware if this is more distraction or really being more kind to you,
To shift attention.
If it's more about distraction,
Try to give it another 30 seconds and see how it lends to connect to your lower belly,
The part that connects the torso,
The upper body,
To your legs,
The muscles,
The joints,
Bending and stretching your legs connected to the spine and the pelvis.
How is it to inhale,
Exhale with attention on that area?
Maybe you can use your inhale and exhale to become aware of your lower belly and relax a little more,
If that is possible.
Imagining to drop the weight into the surface,
The ground.
Then bringing the attention a little more upwards into the chest,
The center of your chest,
About the middle of your sternum,
Sternum,
The line from the front to the back,
The middle of your shoulder blades,
And maybe another line from left to right armpit.
Imagine that crossing point of the two lines in the middle of your chest.
Maybe it is a little easier to become aware of the movement in your chest with the inhale,
Exhale.
See what comes up,
Maybe some emotions or some tightness or relaxation.
How easy is your inhale,
Exhale in your lungs and the middle of your chest.
And then slowly bring your attention upwards to the center of your head.
Imagine crossing point somewhere about your tongue muscle,
The line from your eyes to the back of your head and maybe another line from the from the top of your hind head towards the tongue muscle,
Somewhere in the lower brain,
Upper jaw of your skull.
Inhaling and exhaling,
Become aware how it feels to rest with your attention in the center of your head as good as possible.
There is no right,
No wrong.
How is your head in this moment when you pay attention to that center point?
And as we are slowly coming to an end,
Of course you can continue as much as you want,
But as we are coming to an end,
I invite you to connect again to the center of your head.
Maybe place one hand on your chest and the other hand of your lower belly.
Inhaling and exhaling and close.
Wander with your awareness from your head to your chest to your belly,
The centers and the vertical,
To your pelvis and the buttocks,
To the knees and the feet.
And see how much you can feel the presence of your body.
How aligned are you?
How much can you feel the different body parts or your whole body?
What is present for you or less present?
And gently wiggle your toes,
Moving your ankles,
Maybe shifting your pelvis a little bit to left and right,
Slowly releasing your fingers and opening,
Closing your hands.
Maybe turn your wrists,
Elbows,
Circle your shoulders if you like.
Maybe stretch one arm after another into the air.
And if you haven't done so before,
Slowly open your eyes and take in the surrounding,
See how it feels to let your room,
Your space,
Become more aware.
And when you're still seated,
Look around in your space,
See how the lines and corners and objects in your room feeling right now and how your body relates to this.
Where's your position in this room?
How present are you right now when you look around?
And I hope that this practice would balance you a little bit and it might inspire you to use the orientation a little bit in your daily life or connecting to one of the centers or maybe you find other centers to connect to.
And I wish you a good time.
Thank you for joining me.
