Okay,
So we'll go ahead and get started moving in our bodies,
Closing the eyes if it feels comfortable for you,
Taking a deep breath into the belly,
Letting it go,
And begin by making circles at the base of the spine.
You can make these circles as big or as small as you want.
Moving fast or slow,
Whatever your body needs.
As you move in circles,
Imagine the energy starting at the base of the spine spiraling up,
The mid spine,
Upper spine,
All the way to the neck.
And then go ahead and change directions.
As you do this movement,
Allow your breath to be deep,
Full.
Again you can make the circles as big or as small as you need.
Starting with the awareness at the base of the spine,
Up into the mid spine,
Upper spine,
To the base of the neck.
Go ahead and make the circles really small now,
Slowing down,
And then coming to a stop.
Interlace the fingers in front of you,
Stretch them up and over.
Breathing in deep through the nose,
Out through the mouth,
Reaching a little bit higher,
And then on the exhale release the fingers,
Interlace the fingers behind the back,
Stretching the arms back,
Lifting the chest up.
Going deep,
Full,
Into the low belly as you do so.
And then release the hands,
Go ahead and place the right hand onto the earth,
And bring the left hand up and over,
Reaching the fingers up,
And then pressing the right hand into the earth.
You can play around with the shoulder here,
See what it feels like when you stretch completely out and reach the fingertips,
And also see how it feels like when you plug the shoulder in.
There's no better or worse,
They just lead to different stretches and different sensations.
And then go ahead and release the top arm down,
Come to the other side,
Left hand on the earth,
Right hand up and over.
As you press the left hand into the earth and reach with the right fingertips,
Breathe into the low belly,
See if you can rotate the torso up slightly,
And then play with the shoulder when you stretch it completely out.
And then what happens when you plug it in a little bit?
Maybe it's completely different on this side.
We're just noticing sensations and breathing in the body.
And then go ahead and release the top arm down.
If you can,
I know some of you are seated in chairs,
But go ahead and bring the soles of your feet together,
And we're just going to lean forward a little bit.
So soles of the feet are together,
And then go ahead and reach the head forward.
Let your head hang,
Let your neck hang.
Notice how the mind just kind of relaxes as you do this.
Few more breaths here.
And then inhale to slowly rise up.
From here,
Go ahead and place the hands slightly behind you,
Fingertips pointing towards the legs,
Lift the chest and then let the head rest back.
Opening up the chest,
Opening up the throat and the neck.
And then coming back slowly,
Noticing as you did that,
It created more energy in your system.
And then go ahead and find a normal cross-legged position.
From here,
Go ahead and close the eyes,
Tilt the neck down,
And then bring the right ear to the right shoulder,
Left ear to the left shoulder.
Go back and forth,
Being really gentle with the neck.
Then coming back to center,
Letting the head rest,
Placing the right hand on the earth,
And then tilting the head over to the left side.
Breathing into the neck and into the shoulder.
As you breathe into the neck and the shoulder,
Let the exhale release any tension down and out the arm,
Releasing it back into the earth,
Into the ground.
And then go ahead and bring the neck back to center,
The head back to center.
Go ahead and do this on the other side,
Left hand on the earth,
Tilt the head over to the right.
Again,
Inhaling into the neck,
Into the shoulder.
With each exhale,
Allow any tension to drain down and out the arm into the earth.
And then coming back to center,
Bringing the head back.
And one last stretch,
Taking the fingertips and interlacing them,
Putting them out in front of you,
And then bringing them up and over.
Really stretching out the arms,
Releasing the shoulders,
The neck,
And bringing the hands down,
Closing the eyes,
Placing the hands on the knees.
Deep inhale in,
Exhale,
Release,
Relax,
Let go.
Right away,
Noticing the breath.
As you notice the breath,
Allow the forehead to relax.
Allow the face to relax.
And let the body follow.
As you relax in your body,
Allow it to be a relaxed awareness.
Where even though your body is relaxed,
You're very present and aware.
In this space,
See if you can let your spine grow a little bit taller as your sits bones become a little bit heavier.
As you do this,
Notice what happens to your breathing.
If it feels like the breath becomes more constricted as you adjust your body,
See if you can allow the body to open so more breath can come in and out with ease.
It's very subtle work.
Soon you'll realize you haven't breathe wait for the breath to come back.
So again,
We're noticing the breath,
Allowing the sitz bones to become heavier and the spine to grow taller as we relax and open with as much awareness in this moment as we possibly can.
You may notice that the mind wants to run off and just be compassionate and guide it back to all the subtle sensations that are happening in the body as you breathe in this moment.
There we go.
In our practice,
Thoughts will arise.
And the body will want to react to it,
To do something.
And the practice is to notice it,
To be with it.
Allow the thought and the impulse to arise and not react.
Observing how the thoughts create sensations in the body.
Noticing how a sentence in the mind creates feelings.
Oftentimes,
The thoughts,
If you let it,
Will run wild.
Unconscious thought creating feeling,
Creating action.
And in this practice,
We can catch the thought,
Notice it,
Observe it,
And choose whether or not that's a thought we want to act upon.
Let yourself come back to this moment.
Deepening in to the awareness in the body.
Let yourself come back to this moment.
Let yourself come back to this moment.
Let yourself come back to this moment.
Again,
Noticing how the mind wants to run off and just bringing it back,
Working with it to stay engaged to all the subtle sensations in the body as you breathe.
Let yourself come back to this moment.
Let yourself come back to this moment.
In these last few moments,
Let yourself consciously choose your thoughts,
Inviting in a gratitude practice,
Noticing and naming to yourself things that you are grateful for.
Small or big.
All forms of gratitude are welcome.
All forms of gratitude are welcome.
Keep working with the gratitude.
Realizing the thoughts.
Inviting in people that you are grateful for.
The availability of clean water.
The opportunity to look at your thoughts.
To have a home.
Clothes.
Food in the fridge.
As many big or little things as you can name.
To seal off the practice,
Go ahead and place the hands together,
The center of the chest.
Taking a deep breath into the low belly.
Letting the head bow down and in towards the heart.
Thanking yourself for showing up today.
Namaste.
