For this practice, you’ll do some simple stretches and balancing exercises. I’ve described them here, and you’ll probably find it easier to do this practice if you download and listen to the guided audio, available at http://www.newharbinger.com/33766.
This practice is about…
This exercise explores stretching and balancing. As you practice, listen to the wisdom of your body and honor your limits, remembering that limits can change from moment to moment. Sometimes we are more flexible and stable than at other times. This is true not only physically but also mentally and emotionally. So offer kindness to your experience—this body, this mind, and this heart, right here, right now.
Begin by standing with your feet about hip distance apart; feel your feet making contact with the floor, allow your knees to soften, and let your spine lengthen.
Breathe.
Gently roll your left ear toward your left shoulder, feeling the sensations on the left and right sides of your neck and maybe even in the upper back.
Slowly roll your chin toward your chest, breathing, feeling the effects of this movement.
When you are ready, roll your right ear toward your right shoulder.
In your own time, allow your head to return to center.
Breathe.
Gently roll your shoulders up, back, down and forward. Feeling the rhythm of the movement, and the breath…and the changing sensations.
Come to stillness.
Slowly raise your arms above your head. On the next out-breath, reach your hands toward the left, making a smooth arc with your body. Breathing, feeling the stretch along the right side of the body and the compression along the left side. Exploring your limits, sensing if you can stretch just a bit more to the left, or if it would be kind to stretch a bit less.
Return to center.
When you are ready, curve to the right. Perhaps feeling the ribs separate just slightly with each in-breath. Again, stretching a bit more, or not.
Returning to center, breathing.
Placing your hands on your hips and bending your knees. Feeling the sensations in the legs…stretching, pulling, tightening, loosening. Adjusting as your body suggests.
In your own time, gently pull your left elbow back and look over your left shoulder, breathing, exploring this position.
When you are ready, gently twisting to the right, maintaining your attention through the movement from left to right, and into this new position. Maybe discovering stillness and quietness in this position.
And again, returning to center and to stillness. Standing tall and perhaps closing your eyes.
Breathing. Resting. Resting. Breathing.
When you are ready, opening your eyes and focusing on a still point in front of you.
Gently shifting your weight to your right leg, standing tall, and bending your left knee, and pulling it toward your chest with your left hand. Feeling the sensations in the back of the leg, the buttocks, and the lower back. Noticing what is happening in your right foot. Noticing how you are talking to yourself—are you criticizing, comparing, encouraging? Can you be kind?
Release your leg. Shake it out.
In your own time, shifting your weight to your left leg and pulling your right knee into your chest. It is okay to wobble, to touch your foot to the floor, and try again. Breathing. Balancing.
Realizing that balance is not something permanent that we get and keep. It is a continuous series of adjustments: some small, some big. And again this is true not only with physical balance but also with balance in other areas of our lives—like the balance between being independent and being in relationships with family and friends, like the balance between schoolwork and other activities, like the balance between activity and rest.
Again releasing the leg and shaking it out.
This next pose is a bit more challenging. Begin by moving the left corner of your mouth up toward your left ear and the right corner of your mouth up toward your right ear. Noticing the physical sensations, thoughts, and feelings that follow this movement.
For this next position, you may want to support yourself by holding on to the back of a chair or using a nearby wall. When you are ready, focus again on a still point and shift your weight to your right leg. Bend your left knee, and reach back and grab the top of your left foot with your left hand, pulling your heel toward your buttocks, feeling the stretch in the front of the thigh and perhaps in the buttocks and belly. Breathing, balancing, wobbling, stretching, being with the body. Bringing kindness and curiosity to your experience.
And releasing, and, if you need to, turning so that your left hand is closer to the wall. Then shifting your weight to your left leg, and reaching back with your right hand for your right foot. Pulling the foot toward the buttocks, breathing your attention into this position.
Releasing and coming to stillness. Feeling the effects of bringing kind attention to your moving body. Remembering that you can bring this type of attention to any movement—reaching for a glass, opening the refrigerator, pouring something to drink… And every time you bring your attention to the body, you are strengthening your muscle of awareness and discovering the stillness and quietness that exist underneath movement.