Day 13: It’s Good to Slow Down

Hi, my name is Chloe Freytag with Get Healthy U TV. As we start to explore our meditation practice, you might find that you like to try different things on different days. And so today's practice is going to be different than maybe what you're used to or maybe what you thought meditation is. We're going to use poses that come from the yoga tradition and utilize those as the postures that we're sitting in. So for example, instead of just sitting tall, we'll stay in a yoga posture for a little bit longer and just get into that conscious breathing and find the meditation in that posture.

So it's different than just sitting still, but it's also not quite movement and, like, actually flowing. So give it a try with us and let's see how it works out for you. When we do add movement therapy into our practice, it has the benefit of improving our mood and reducing stress, so let's give it a try. We will start in our comfortable seat, and I do recommend you to utilize carpet, maybe, a towel, a yoga mat. Anything that kind of has a little extra cushion for you, as we will be moving a little bit through the postures.

So find your comfortable seats. Let your hands relax wherever feels comfortable. Lift up through your chest, and then make the decision to close the eyes or softly gaze to the floor. We'll open our meditation with three long deep breaths, in through the nose, out through the mouth. And if you'd like to bring your arms with me on the inhale, reaching them up, and on the exhale, sweeping them down to clear out your energy, make more space in your mind for your meditation, you can do that with me.

Inhale deeply, arms maybe lifting up, and then exhale mouth, clearing away that stress. Again, inhale, reach it up. Exhale, let it all go. Last time, inhale, reaching up. Exhale, arms relax down.

Hands find their way onto the knees for a moment. Just find that conscious breath, so get into your natural pace of breathing and see if you can start to elongate it. Letting your breath be slow, soft. Staying aware of your breath as we start to move now into a child's pose. So keep your eyes soft and gazing down, and just transition your body where your knees can be as wide as your mat or a little bit wider than your hips potentially if you're on the carpet.

Hips sit back to your heels. Reach your arms out in front of you and then relax your body forward as much as possible for your spine. Potentially the head comes down to the floor. Stay in this posture here and just take long, deep breaths. So relax your hips back towards the heels.

Relax your forehead onto the floor in front of you if it touches, or just keep softening through the neck and shoulders. And find the conscious breath through this movement. So as you stay in this posture, just allow your breath to flow in and out and stay very present with those breaths. See how deeply you can relax your spine, relax your jaw, your face. Just enjoy a few more moments of rest in this pose.

Keep relaxing your hips, your shoulders. Take about two more breaths. And on your next inhale, start to lift your gaze back forward. Stay on your elbows here, but crawl them out in front of you so you have space to relax your hips now onto the floor. Your elbows just gently press into the floor so you can lift up your chest.

Sphinx pose. Stay here for just a couple breaths, getting that nice extension in the spine, opening your chest, your shoulders, relieving the stress and tension that we hold in that area of the body. And take a big deep inhale in. As you exhale, release this right hand to thread it through underneath the left. Your left knee starts to bend, and you're transitioning towards a twist.

So you just allow that left arm to relax back to the floor on the other side of you, and just find a comfortable transition so if you need to adjust your shoulders or any minor adjustments. And then relax your body into this pose. Feel free to keep the eyes closed or just softly relaxing the eyelids, keeping a soft gaze. Again, long, deep breaths. Really stay conscious with that breathing, remembering that the essence of meditation is the breath.

And that simple act of deep breathing reduces stress, improves your mood, provides so many benefits for your body, for your mind, can increase your focus. Long, deep breathing for a few more breaths in this gentle twist. And gently find your way back to your sphinx pose. So roll your chest around, back towards your floor, and then release your left knee back. Unwind your right hands.

Come back on both your elbows in front of you, lifting the chest. We'll transition and twist the other way, so now the left hand just gently threads its way through. The shoulder follows, bending into that right knee so that your chest can roll around and your right arm just rests on the floor comfortably. Again, if you need any minor adjustments here to provide more ease and comfort in your body, feel free to make them. And when you do feel comfortable, just stay in the posture and connect again into that conscious breath, big full inhales in, complete exhales out.

Keep relaxing through your face, your eyebrows. Your jaw relaxed. When our face relaxes naturally, alleviates tensions in the mind, alleviates agitations, so keep your face relaxed. Keep your breathing long and deep. Eyes are closed or soft eyelids.

Few more breaths here, letting your body be comfortable, heavy, totally resting. And we'll find our way this time to transition onto our back. So just keep rolling your body around. You might have to readjust if you're on a mat to find your way back to the center. Bend your knees and plant your feet onto the surface below you.

Go ahead and find your way to cross your right ankle up and over your left knee. Let the right knee just gently relax out to the side here. Your arms can kind of open up a little bit so you have space or keep them by the sides, however's comfortable. Allow this whole position to transition to the left. So just rest there comfortably.

Again, you can keep your gaze with your eyes closed or just soft eyelids, letting the body rest into this gentle hip opener, relieving the tension in the low back. We tend to hold a lot of stress in our low back and our hips, so gently opening it like this can provide that relief, can make you feel more balanced, more at ease in your body and your mind. Remember to stay conscious with your breath. Really breathe all the way down into the belly, the inhale inflates the belly a little bit and the exhale softly contracts the belly back in. So you're using the full capacity of your lungs, really getting down into the bottom of those lungs as you breathe.

Taking a couple more breaths in this posture. Find more relaxation through the body, through the mind. And softly start to transition the legs back through to the center, and release that right leg up and off the left so the foot comes back to the floor. Switching, your left ankle comes on top of the right knee. Let that left knee just relax gently out to the side.

Minimal effort, so you don't have to press it out. Just soft. And then go ahead and transition the legs over to the right now, falling towards the floor. You don't have to touch, just allow it to get into a comfortable, sustainable position, and long, deep breathe with your eyes closed or soft. Staying present with our breath, allowing that long, deep breathing to keep you present in the moment, to keep you aware and connected to your body.

Let the breathing be as slow and as full as possible. When we slow our breath down, it naturally slows the heart rate, which provides that relief of stress that we're all looking for. So create that through your lungs. Deep breath, take a few more in this position. And softly start to transition our way back through to the center here, releasing that left foot off.

One final posture. Let the soles of the feet come together. Knees drop out to the sides. One hand can rest on your heart, one hand rests on your belly. Take three deep breaths in this posture, feeling the heartbeat under the one hand, the breath under the other, big inhale in.

Exhaling out. Again, deeply inhale. Exhale, let it go. Last time, really fill the belly. Breath in, exhale out.

Gently start to close your knees. You can hug them into the chest or however you want to transition up to seated, maybe roll to the side. Press your way back up into your comfortable seats so we can close this meditative space together with one big deep inhale. Inhale those arms, reach up. Pause for a moment as the hands press together, exhaling, mouth, heart, hands come to heart center.

Finding that space of gratitude just for a moment. Being grateful to yourself for taking this time to reduce your stress, to improve your mood, to improve your life through these simple practices. Gently let the hands rest back to the knees. Blink the eyes open. Thank you so much for meditating with us today.

See you tomorrow.